Lloyd's Emslie Gene-Stream

Clan Gordon

Lloyd's Emslie Gene-Stream
Emslies are originally of the Gordon Clan, of Scotland, from the Aberdeen area.
The origin of the surname is from the Old English 'Lea' meaning 'at the Elm, and many spelling variations occurred over the years'.
Inasmuch as we do not choose our ancestry, for those, whom God knows will be His in Christ, He has made that choice,
as part of our physical and psychological equipment for the special responsibility which our earthy existence lays upon us.

A Coat of Arms associated with this Scottish family (to the right), probably unregistered according to the Act of 1672,
was found in The British Herald by Thomas Robson. The family's Arms also described in Parma's 'South African Family Coats of Arms' as –

Shield: a Displayed Eagle, Or.

Crest: on a Wreath of Colour, a Thistle Proper.

Motto: Prenez Garde ("Always Alert").

The surname may be of English origin, but its earliest recorded use is in Scotland.

The earliest Emslies recorded:

Robert de Elmeley -	Of Aberdeenshire rendered homage to Edward I of England in 1296
Thomas Elmyslie -	Admitted as Burgess of Aberdeen in 1498.
William Elmslie -	Residare at Ruthven in 1574.
Robert Elmslie -	Residare in Cultballoch in 1599.
James Emslie -	Of Loadhead was the first to systematically quarry granite in Aberdeenshire 1715-1745.

(Based on "The Surnames of Scotland" by G.F. Black 1946)

Recent Scottish Emslies:

Lord George Carlyle Emslie (Former head of the Scottish judiciary, deceased November 2002)
Lord George Nigel Hannington Emslie (son of the above, appointed to the Supreme Court bench 2001)
("The Emslie family is often described as Scotland's premier judicial family")

Recent South African Emslies:

Trevor Samuel Emslie, Cape Town (Advocate of the High Court, part time), Associate Professor of Law at Univerity of Cape Town:
grandson of Henry Norman Emslie (#5 below)

Photographed by Adv. Trevor Emslie near Port Alfred

Robert Emslie I = Jane, Duchess of Gordon (1750-)

Robert Emslie II (1771 – October 11, 1838), born at Harwich, Essex, married Jane Villett Gordon (1770), who was the cousin of Robert Gordon of Gordon's Bay, Western Cape, South Africa

(Robert Gordon named the Orange River in honour of the Dutch royal house for its Protestant convictions)

After the death of his first wife, he marries Sarah Greasley, 28 March 1809 at Harwich,
and migrates South Africa.

From Military Records, Robert Emslie –

•	Enlisted in the Gordon Highlanders (75th Foot) 15 October 1789.
•	Saved the Regimental Standard during the storming of Seringapatam, Mysore, India: May 1799.
	served until 24 July 1805 (15 years, 345 days)
•	Transferred to West Riding Regiment (76th Foot) 25 July 1805
	served until 31 May 1813 (7 years, 311 days)
•	Served in the East Indies for 15 years, 198 days
	as Corporal for 5 years, 110 days
	as Sergeant for 14 years, 125 days
	wounded at Jamulahad, India, 6 October 1799
	wounded at Bhurtpore, India, 21 January 1805
	contracted "intermittent" fever on Island of Walcheren, Holland, 1809
•	Honourably discharged 31 May 1813 at Aberdeen, Scotland
	after 23 years, 291 days total service in consequence of the 3 gunshot wounds and 'intermittent fever, on pension of 2 shillings, 3 pence per day.
Emigrated to South Africa 1820 with wife and children, and allocated land in Albany between Grahamstown and Port Alfred. After attempting to farm for two years he later became 'chief constable' in Grahamstown.

William Kenward Emslie (1816-1894) (son of Sarah Greasley, d.1831), married Amelia Norman.

•	Worked as transport rider for Captain Thomas Charlton Smith to Port Natal where they are besieged by the Afrikaner Voortrekkers under Andries Pretorius.
•	A dispatch needed to be taken from one British military unit to the other which were hemmed in by the Voortrekkers. William volunteers to swim the river between them with the message and the siege is ended 26 June 1842.
•	The transport riders return via sea to Port Elizabeth as their oxen had been seized by the Voortrekkers.

George Gordon Emslie (1846-1906) (son of Amelia Norman of Sevenfountains).

See in photo below – fourth from left in the middle row.

•	In 1877 he serves in the Gaika-Galeka War (sometimes called the Ninth Kaffir War, which results in annexation of the Transkei by the British) under Captain R Gush, with the rank of sergeant, refuses a commission to serve as lieutenant, and is a comitted member of the local Weslyan church.
•	In 1896 George is appointed 'Justice of the Peace' for the District of Albany, Eastern Cape.

Henry Norman Emslie (1880-1966) (son of Helen Long). See in photo below – second from left in the back row.

Olive Gertrude Thomas (1907-1976) (daughter of Gertrude Alice Underwood),

sister of Rex (1913-1982), Havelock, and Denis Emslie.

Lloyd has a precious childhood memory of his mother singing to him –

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,
You make me happy when skies are grey.
You'll never know dear how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away.

Lloyd Emslie Thomas (1941-) | Ruth Lydia André | Helen Olive Lee (children of Joseph Reginald Thomas of North Wales).

See: Lloyd Emslie Thomas Genealogy

Durban Cemetery, KwaZulu Natal

Emslies, Normans, etc, of the Albany Defence Force, Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa. See below for description.

The sons and grandsons of William & Jane Norman in the Albany Defence Force, Eastern Cape, South Africa.
Back Row (LTR) –	1. John Samuel Norman, 2. Henry Norman Emslie, 3. Arthur Charles Norman, 4. Edwin Gordon Emslie, 5. Ebenezer Emslie, 6. Percival William Emslie.
Middle Row (LTR) –	1. John Charles Emslie, 2 John ..., 3. Robert ..., 4. George Gordon Emslie, 5. Charles Frederick ..., 6. Frederick Gordon ...
Front Row (LTR) –	1. Richard Gush (brother-in-law of Ebenezer Emslie), 2. Guy Robert Bradary, 3. Lennox Field.

– Information supplied by Laura Thompson (nee Emslie), daughter of Henry Norman Emslie –