A Family Tragedy

David Wood Leslie was born on 8 December 1910, at Wemyss, near Buckhaven, Fife, Scotland. His parents were Patrick and Margaret Leslie (née Wood), who were originally from Larkhall in Lanarkshire. 

The Leslie family returned to Larkhall soon after, so it was here where David grew up. In the late 1920s however, the family moved to Twechar; a small mining village in Dunbartonshire.

When David was 22-years-old he married Rachel Hickie Burns, a local girl from Twechar, at the Roman Catholic church in nearby Croy. 

On 21 February 1937 the Leslies had a baby girl, whom they named Rachel. Sadly, tragedy struck soon after.

There was a write-up in the Kirkintilloch Gazette a week later, which went into further detail as to what happened on that tragic day. 

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CHILD'S TRAGIC DEATH AT TWECHAR.

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PRAM FALLS DOWN STAIRS.

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A tragic occurence took place at Twechar on Friday nightm resulting in fatal injuries to Rachel Leslie, the six weeks old daughter of David Leslie, miner, who had been living in lodgings at Burnbrae. The house is an upstairs one. Mrs Leslie had the little girl in a perambulator, intending to go out. There are a number of inside steps, then a landing, with other eight steps to the ground level. On reaching the landing, Mrs Leslie left the pram to return to the house, and in her absence the pram had moved and gone over the edge of the landing and down the eight steps. The infant was thrown out. It was found to be seriously injured. The child was taken to Yorkhill Hospital, where it was found to be suffering from a fracture of the skull. The infant succumbed on Saturday.

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On 4 May 1937, only three days after her death, Rachel was laid to rest in the family lair at Larkhall Cemetery.