Did harry Lauder have two sons?

Answer 1

Yes, he had two sons. The first son that was born to Sir Harry Lauder was James Reid born 30th June 1887 at 12 Waterloo street Glasgow. James's mother was Margaret Stewart Reid and was walking out with Harry Lauder at that time (his girlfriend) Harry and Margaret were about age 16 at the time and harry was not yet famous, so to speak. They met at a Salvation Army meeting and were regular visitors to the meeting halls. At that time when Margaret was pregnant, Harry got his eye on someone else at the hall (Nance, Annie Vallance ) and he went on to marry her and not Margaret. As the years went on, Margaret married someone else and had another family. James Reid (Harry Lauder's son) was brought up by his grandparents in Blantyre. Harry went on to have second son with Nance Vallance who was called John, so, James Reid and John Lauder were half brothers. James and Harry Lauder's family, including the Vallance family kept in touch over the years depending on where Harry was living as he travelled a lot. When James had his first son born in 1918(also called James) Harry was delighted, as this was his first Grandchild. Sadly John was killed in WW1 and James survived(James was a sniper in HLI ) Many times I have noticed that they refer to Harry Lauder having only one son, however, it maybe that during that era it was frowned upon to have a child out of wedlock. Harry certainly did not disown James. As Harry and James got older and Harry didn't travel as much, they saw each other every weekend at Lauder Ha' Strathaven and the Vallance family were their too. At that time James was living at Barncluith house in Hamilton, so they were in easy reach of each other. At times Harry would do the odd theatre performance in Hamilton and would stay at Barncluith overnight. We have photos of Harry's Rolls Royce sitting in the drive dating from the 1940s. They are both buried in Hamilton, Harry is in the Bent cemetery and James, his son, is buried in the Wellhall cemetery not far from each other. My family and I tend both graves as no other members of Harry's family bother about it. I am the daughter of Harry Lauder's Granddaughter Sarah Reid who is the daughter of James Reid. My family are the only descendants directly from Harry Lauder as he had no other children other than James and John. Some of our family have inherited some of Harry's talents as my two brothers and a nephew are Artists and my niece is in musical theatre. We are proud of who we are descended from.