Full name of worker at H.M. Factory Gretna (and any other names they are known by) : William Leonard Scotcher; ‘Len.’
Gender: Male
Date and place of birth: 7th May 1890, Millwall
Date and Place of Death: May 2nd 1982, Niagara Falls, Ontario
Nationality: British
Childhood: East end, Poplar, overcrowded (note: this is the scene of BBC series ‘Call the Midwife.’)
Parents : Ernest William and Priscilla nee Gray
Parents occupations : Metal turner
Schools / universities attended and years of attendance:  Leonard studied chemistry at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich prior to 1914.
Occupation: Analytical chemist
Place of residence at Gretna: No 6 Staff Quarters. Eastriggs
Marital status: Married twice (after being widowed in 1932, he married again in 1938).
Children : Two daughters
Travels : Emigrated to Canada
Awards/recognitions:  Freedom of the City of London
Positions held: Described as manager on valuation roll for Eastriggs
Trivia / any other information:

Yes
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Biography 

William Leonard Scotcher 1890-1982

William Leonard Scotcher, known as Leonard and appearing as such in various documents such as census returns and Freedom of the City of London papers, was born on 7th May 1890 in Millwall, East London.  

He was the first child born to Ernest William Scotcher the son of a Publican and Priscilla nee Gray the daughter of an engine driver from Plaistow, West Ham. He was the eldest of 8, indicated in the 1911 census return although there is only evidence of six. A seventh and eighth could have been stillborn or died in infancy in between census documentation.

In 1899 Florence arrived followed by Henry in 1900. Leonard would now be 10.

The 1901 census tells us that the Scotcher family have moved to 76 York Road, Walthamstow. Ernest now 32 is a metal turner, Priscilla 33, Leonard 10, Ethel 9, Gertrude 7, Harold 5, Florence 2 and Henry 9 months.

Sadly on 8th June 1901, aged 8, Gertrude died followed by 1 year old Henry in December. Their burials were at St John’s. The cause of these premature deaths is not evident but could be linked to poor East End overcrowded housing conditions.

The next evidence is of Priscilla in the 1911 census when she was in St Bartholomew’s hospital, Smithfield. Here she is aged 40 – this is a discrepancy with her earlier recorded ages- and she has had 8 children, 4 have lived and 4 have died. The 1911 census for Leonard and his father could not be sourced. Hopefully Priscilla was out of hospital and fully recovered by 12th August when 19 year old Ethel married George Archibald Frederick Scott and went to live in West Ham. Leonard would have been 21 and probably studying or having studied chemistry.

Leonard studied chemistry at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. At the outbreak of the First World War, he was sent by the Ministry of Munitions to the Royal Gunpowder Factory, Waltham, Abbey, England. Later in the war he was sent to start up nitroglycerine units at H.M. Factory, Gretna, Scotland where he finished the war as an assistant manager. After the war Leonard became Chief Chemist at St Helens Colliery, near Workington, Cumberland whose quarries, coke ovens and mines produced raw material for a cyanamid plant in Odda, Norway. He joined American Cyanamid (at Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada) in 1923 and completed 32 years with them until retirement in 1955.

Leonard in November 1915, aged 25, is given the Freedom of the City of London. The Official documentation gives his address as 31 Carisbrooke Road, Walthamstow- his parents’ home. It is not clear why this “Analytical chemist” is given this high honour and he is not included in the Wikipedia list of recipients which does not claim to be exhaustive; however it could have been related to his duties as a gas quality chemist for the London gas lamps. Ernest as the father is named on the document. This must have been a very proud  moment for this East end boy and his parents.

We know that Leonard was employed at H. M. Factory Gretna (the factory was nine-mile rural site, stretching from Longtown in England to Dornock in Scotland just before Eastriggs which was one of the two townships – the other being its namesake, Gretna – built to house all those who came at the munitions factory) as his name and address are included under “Staff” in the Dornock Farewell magazine of 1919. The was a magazine created by the staff of the Dornock section of H.M. Factory Gretna to remember and commemorate their time working at the munitions factory, once they knew the factory was closing. (Similarly, there was another another – The Mossband Farewell magazine – written by the staff at the Longtown section of the H.M. Factory Gretna for the same reason.)  His address is the family home at 31,Carisbrooke Road, Walthamstow. He was employed at the factory as a manager and is listed in the valuation roll for 1918/19 as Leonard W Scotcher, manager living No 6 staff Quarters, Eastriggs. It is possible that he was employed from 1916 or 1917.

On 7th October 1918 Leonard now 28 married  Mary Morrison Booth , 26 at Coatbridge, Lanarkshire. The marriage registration lists Leonard as an analytical chemist living at the No 6 staff quarters , Eastriggs. Mary is a surgical nurse. Her father, deceased, was an ironmonger and Leonard had listed his father as an “engine fitter (journeyman)” The wedding took place at the Wesleyan Church, Coatbridge which was Mary’s home town.  This couple obviously met whilst Leonard was working at Gretna, Mary could have been there as well.

Mary was born on 23rd May 1892 in Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, the 5th of 6 children to Alexander of Dundee and Janet of Glasgow. In the 1901 census there are 5 girls and 1 son. Two of the older girls work for their father as ironmonger’s assistants. By 1911 , Mary is listed as a clerkess – the nursing must have come later.

In 1921, Leonard’s brother Harold, now a fireman, married at St John’s, Bethnal Green.

Less than a year later on 28th August 1922,  Leonard and Mary emigrated to Canada to live at 1105 Valley Way, Niagara Falls. The declaration for entry to Canada shows that Leonard has Freedom of the City of London.  They sailed to Quebec from London on ‘SS Minnesota,’ “ visiting relatives and possibly business.” The passage was paid by themselves, First class, Leonard declares that he speaks “English etc.” They are destined to Toronto via Montreal to a brother-in-law , J Murray Esq., 287 Oakwood Avenue Toronto. They were 32 and 31 and intending to live in Canada. Leonard an analytical chemist and Mary a housewife.

Tragically Mary died on 19th June 1932 aged 41 years, 2 months and 22 days having been in Canada for 10 years and at 834 Fifth Avenue, Niagara Falls for 9 years, The death registration yields a wealth of information. Her birthplace is recorded as Coatworth rather than Coatbridge- a slight error. She died following a hysterectomy performed due to cancer of the uterus plus secondary brain cancer.  Her burial was at Fairview Cemetery, Niagara Falls. The gravestone sourced in the Fairview Archive also yields  many unanswered questions. Also buried there are Leonard, a daughter Vera and a granddaughter Jacqueline Elaine who was Vera’s third child and who died at the age of 20 months, and a grand daughter Jaqueline as well as his sister Florence and second wife Alice. Leonard’s eldest daughter Muriel Scotcher Slinn passed away at Niagara Falls, Ontario, in April 2025, age 100.

We now know that Leonard and Mary had two daughters, Muriel Margaret born 23 April 1925, Vera Mary on 10th April 1930. This leaves Leonard widowed with a 2 year old daughter. Mary’s grave inscription simply reads “Wife, Mary M Scotcher, 1891-1932, Always of good cheer.”

The above information probably explains the three-month visit made by Ernest and Priscilla to visit Leonard, granddaughters Muriel and Vera Mary and the grave of Leonard’s sister Florence who we learn from the Fairview cemetery record had died in Arizona in 1929. Now aged 66 and 68 they sailed on “SS Scania” from Southampton on 21st July 1935. The passenger lists give their address in Canada as 834 Fifth Avenue and we know that they stay for 3 months as  they appear on the incoming passenger listing for “Auraria” to London on 6th October 1935. Their UK contact is given as Harold Scotcher of 106 Grove Road, Hoe St, Walthamstow. Perhaps they met Alice Jacobsen whilst there who was to become Leonard’s second wife.

On 17th July 1938 Leonard married Alice Jacobsen, 43-year-old and dressmaker. The Marriage registration informs us that she was born in London, is presbyterian and her parents are Charles and Blanche Lahey. Jacobsen being her married name. Leonard is a 48-year-old, an analytical chemist of 834 Fifth Avenue, Niagara Falls. There is a slight indication in further documentation that Ernest attended his son’s marriage. Daughters Muriel would have been 13, and Vera Mary would have been 8.

Alice had been born in London in 1895 and had emigrated with father Charles, a farmer, mother Ella and  brother George born in 1896. The 1921 Canadian census  informs us that they emigrated in 1905. Alice’s first marriage was to Jacob Jacobsen a tool maker from Stavanger, Norway. This marriage registration gives the date of 9th February 1918 in Niagara Falls. Jacob became a naturalized US citizen. Naturalization papers give us a good description of Jacob in 1924, brown hair, blue eyes, 5ft 6ins with stiff right thumb. He gives an address for Brooklyn, New York.

The 1939 register for England places Ernest and Priscilla still at 31 Carisbrooke Rd, Walthamstow, now a retired Metal turner. The register for Harold  lists his as a Record Keeper (civil servant) inland revenue Somerset House. He has a wife and son who is a Chemist assistant at the London Coop and ARP St John’s Ambulance. Harold died in 1967 and is buried in Newham.

Ernest lived until April 1946 – he was 76 and Priscilla until March 1949. There is no evidence to say that they visited Canada again.

Leonard appears again on Voters lists for Niagara Falls. He and Alice are  still at 834 Fifth Avenue in 1958. Their eldest daughter Muriel had completed nursing school and married local engineer and RCAF Veteran John Edwin Slinn in 1947. Muriel and John had five children: Brenda, John Jr, Pauline, Kathy, and David. Younger daughter Vera Mary married a local Canadian electrician, John ‘Jack’ Charles Campaigne, and they had three children: Susan Blanche (1950-2024), Leonard Oliver (1952-living), and Jacqueline Elaine (1954-1956). Sadly, Jacqueline died aged 20 months in 1956. Their son-in-law Jack died from heart disease in 1973.

We learn eventually from his gravestone that William Leonard Scotcher died in May 1982. He was 91. Alice survived him by a couple of years, passing February 7^th, 1984.

Canadian records show that Vera lived until 2015. Her daughter Susan passed from diabetes complications in 2024. Son Leonard retired from the RCAF as a Lieutenant-Colonel in 1996, worked in the US aerospace industry and in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, until full retirement in 2016, and as of 2025 lives in Arizona, USA.