History of the Fife Pitcairns

326 THE FIFE PITCAIRNS.
He died of malarial fever in Java, in 1889, aged 28,
deeply mourned by his family and friends. He was an
ideal son, husband, and brother.
1, Edith Harriet; 2, Constance; 3, Emily Louisa; 4,
Mary Dalbiac ; 5, Alice Maude, married to the Rev.
Francis Sardeson, who was appointed in 1893, Rector of
Haughton Dale, by Bishop Moorhouse, and in 1902, ap-
pointed by Mr Eckersley to the Vicarage of St James's,
Wigan.
Canon Pitcairn's widow and children placed a brass tablet
to his revered memory on the wall of the old church where
he had preached for so many years.
Canon Pitcairn's constant care and thought for his
children in every minute particular, his intense interest
in all their doings, his loving care and his devotion to
his wife, were well known in Eccles : alas ! it made it
all the harder when he left them. The villagers even
used to say, " Where Emily is, there is James," meaning
my father and mother. Two gentlemen were overheard
talking in a train after his death. One said, " Well, Canon
Pitcairn's death is a sad loss to the place. He was a
thorough gentleman, and looked well after his flock." Car-
dinal Vaughan was heard to say, that of all the Man-
chester clergy, the one he most esteemed and respected
was Canon Pitcairn. One of the Roman Catholic clergy
went to his funeral at the graveside, and Mass was said
for him by other Catholics who were not present. He
had done so much for organising the relief of the dis-
tressed poor at the time of the Cotton Famine, without
distinction of creed, that his efforts were specially men-
tioned and thanked in the Roman Catholic Church by
Monsignor Kershaw.
His name is still green in the hearts of those parishioners
who loved him so much, and it is astonishing after the
lapse of twelve years what they say of him, and how
often they mention him, and quote his sayings.
One man who had received kindness from him insists
on still painting the railings of his grave, and keeping it