The Reverend William Cuthbert Aitken (1834 – 1913) – father of Lord Beaverbrook
Next to Hilderston Silvermine is the ruin of a house called Windy Wa’s. The house is not a farm house. It has a very old base of stone (perhaps built as a mine house in about 1607) with later additions of brick and concrete. One source says that the newer house was associated with later mining activity. Alternatively, Petershill Limestone was extensively worked in this area so, possibly, the more modern house was built to house the quarry manager. It is recorded that the nearby big quarry (South Mine) was almost worked out by 1860.
Windy Wa’s lies just inside Torphichen Parish. Beaverbrook’s father, William Aitken was born here in 1834.
After leaving Bathgate Academy, William went to the University of Edinburgh to study to become a Presbyterian minister. After graduation, William went to Canada where he had charges in Ontario and New Brunswick. He married Jane Noble in 1867 and they had twelve children. Their first child, Sarah, was born in 1868. Significantly, their fourth child, Rebecca, was born in Windy Wa’s on 10th October, 1874. William’s father, Robert, died on the 17th October ,1874 so it is possible that William came back to see his parents for the last time. The seventh child, William Maxwell Aitken (‘Max’) was born in Maple, Ontario in 1879.
Max made his fortune in the world of high finance and he came to Britain in 1910. He entered Parliament, became a Cabinet Minister and was created First Baron Beaverbrook in 1917. In 1916, he wrote ‘Canada in Flanders’ which told of the magnificent achievements of the Canadian forces. In 1919, he took over the ‘Daily Express’. Later, he founded the ‘Sunday Express’ and he bought the ‘Evening Standard’. During the Second World War, among other posts, he was Minister of Aircraft Production 1940 – 1941. His son, Group Captain Sir Max Aitken was a war hero latterly flying Mosquitoes and commanding the Banff Strike Wing of Coastal Command. Lord Beaverbrook died in 1964.
Among Beaverbrook’s descendants are the politician Jonathan Aitken and the model Jodie Kidd.
Other descendants may still live in Bathgate because my father told me about (and named) some of Beaverbrook’s relatives in Bathgate.
Oddly enough, too, the Silvermine was reopened by Henry Aitken of Falkirk in 1870. Unfortunately, he could make nothing of it.
Bathgate Old Times 