History of the Fife Pitcairns

CANON PITCAIRN'S LIFE AT ECCLES. 325
From The Dowager Duchess of Roxburghe.
Broxmouth, 20 Dec.
It is just twelve o'clock, my dearest cousin, and my whole heart
is with you, for the papers say that at this hour your precious
husband is laid to rest. Your children will write to me — his dear
children, for whom you will try to live. So do not think of me
beyond the certainty that no one in your wide circle of friends is
sorrowing for and with you more tenderly and deeply than — Your
ever most affectionate Friend, S. Roxburghe.
From The Rev. Mr Robinson.
My dear Mrs Pitcairn, — I can only add to what I wrote
before, the assurance of my most heartfelt sympathy with you all
in the deep sorrow which there cannot but be, in the parting asun-
der of such tender ties. I learned the tidings from ' The Times '
last night.
For the dear one himself there can be no sorrowing — he is at
rest and in perfect happiness. Is it not a thought full of comfort,
that with those loved ones who have passed beyond the veil, there
is still in Christ a real communion ? The conscious ministries of
love are suspended — this is the trial — but the bond itself is not
broken ; in Christ we are still one.
I know you realise all this far better than I do. I am only
putting down what is passing through my own mind about him and
about you.
I wish I could have paid the last tribute of respect to my loved
friend. I should have come to the service had I been at home —
I was with you in thought. — Believe me, Yours affectionately,
F. W. Robinson.
Canon Pitcairn had nine children — four sons and five
daughters. Three children predeceased their father.
1, William, died an infant.
2, William Dalbiac Pitcairn, born at Longsight, died in
Canada.
3, Arthur Henry, born at Longsight, he married, had
one child (Herbert Pelham), who died aged three years,
his father dying in 1896.
4, Herbert, born 15th May 1861, married Willemien,
daughter of Colonel Sluiter of the Dutch Artillery.