Francis Douglas Sinton

BMDB data

     Francis Douglas Sinton was born on 6 Jan 1882 Kelso, ROX, SCT.^1,3,4
     Francis Douglas Sinton married Margaret Alice Runciman, daughter of Margery Weatherly Runciman, on 23 Apr 1904 at the Pres. Meeting Hse, Crookham, Dist of Glendale, NBL, ENG, cert. shows Francis as 22, police constable, resid. Achklington, s/o John Gillis (sic) Sinton, police constable and Margaret as 24, cook (domestic) resid Mardon, Branxton, d/o Thomas Runciman, farm steward, dec. (her birth cert shows her as illeg. dtr of Margery Runciman, no father given, this Runciman family appears not to be related to Francis' mothers forbears.)^5,2,6
     Francis Douglas Sinton died in 1971 reg. Dist of Northumberland Central, NBL, ENG.^7,4,5,8

Census/Where lived/Occupations

     The census of 1891 showed George and Francis in the household of their parents John and Isabella Sinton The Butts Police Office, Kelso, ROX, SCT, enumerated as SINTON: John 46 police constable b Cavers; wife Isabella, 49 b Jedburgh; Children: George 12 b Hawick groom apprentice; Francis D 9 scholar b Kelso. Also 2 lodgers both police constables: James MORRISON, 35 b Huntly, ABD; Robert MIDDLEMAS 29 b Kelso.^3,9
     The census of 1901 showed Francis in the household of his mother Isabella No. 1 Landlands Bank, Hawick, ROX, SCT, enumerated as SINTON: Isabella 60 head, house keeper domestic b Scarborough (sic), ROX; Son Francis Douglas 19 laundry vanman b Kelso, ROX.¹⁰
     Fr 1902 - 1947 Francis Douglas Sinton was a policeman. The book I mention above states that "had been in the force for 18 years" (as at 28 Feb 1920) "eventually recovered ... he continued serving with the force until he was 65", and that he was awarded the Kings Police Medal for his bravery in this incident.⁴
     Francis Douglas Sinton appeared on the census of 1911 Walbottle, Newburn S O, Dist of Castle Ward, NBL, ENG, with Margaret Alice Runciman, enumerated as SINTON: Francis Douglas 29 County Police Constable b Kelso, ROX; wife Margaret Alice 28 marr. 7 yrs 3 children all living b Graden, ROX; Children: Isabella May 6, John William 4 both b Acklington, NBL; George Arnold 2 b Wooler, NBL.¹¹

All the other info

     I was first put on the trail of Francis having possibly moved south when I read a March 1920 issue of The Scotsman which reported : "a dastardly attack.. on P C Francis Sinton, at the quiet little village of Rothbury... seriously wounded"
At the time I didn't have any information to place him in "my" extended family, but tucked the info away. As more info becomes more readily available I find myself reviewing families to see what else might now be found. Lo and behold a marriage in England of a Francis Douglas Sinton in the right sort of timeframe. Looked very promising. He had married a Margaret, either a Bryson or a Runciman. So off I went searching further. I found a mention of him in the book "Tough Times & Grisley Crimes" in a chapter headed "A Wild West Drama" which not only outlined the attack that related to the 1920 report in The Scotsman, but much more importantly gave him an age, which matched the Francis Doulgas S. I was looking for. In the meantime I'd also acted on my hunch that his wife would be the Runciman lady and traced cousins living in Northumberland who remembered some sort of relation of the family visiting many years ago, a PC John Sinton of Lynemouth. Sounded even more promising. And sure enough, when the marriage cert. turned up, all was confirmed.
I'd very much like to complete this quest (much summarised above) by tracing living descendants of Francis and Margaret.^12,4,7

     As suspected, the Isabella May Sinton, birth reg. in the Dist of Alnwick was indeed a dtr. Family memory down the Runciman side is that PC John Sinton had a dtr Isabella, but I think this might turn out to be a sister as I've not found any trace in the records of a dtr in the right timeframe, but did find this 1904 dtr.¹³