Retiree John Crow and his wife Annie were enjoying a day at home on 25th December 1878, when John decided that he was going to go out for a walk. His wife insisted he stay at home, as the weather was awful and it was already dark outside despite it being only 3pm.
Now, before you start wondering why they’re not celebrating Christmas, it wasn’t yet a public holiday in Scotland. After the Reformation of the mid-1500s, Christmas got banned – no more feasts and merriment – it wasn’t declared as an official public holiday until 1958!
Despite his wife’s protests, however, John was determined he was having this walk, so off he went. An ex-employee of the Dundee harbour, where he was employed as a carter, John was used to bad weather, and, in comparison to the storms that had been raging in recent days, today had been the best day, weather-wise for nearly a week.
Annie stayed at home in their house near the top of Gray Street, which had been provided for them to live in free of charge by family members after John had retired, with an allowance also being given to them for the maintenance and upkeep of the property. Having also recently celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary, John and Annie were living well in their retirement.
However, after a couple of hours had passed without John’s return, Annie began to get worried. Not only was it pitch dark outside, but the temperature was also dropping significantly. As late afternoon turned into early evening, Annie grabbed her jacket and went to her neighbours’ houses, asking if anyone had seen her husband. Nobody had, but a few people braved the elements to help Annie search.
As the hours passed, police were informed and began searching for John. Reports of a man matching John’s description seen allegedly destroying a greenhouse in Seafield also proved fruitless. The search continued until around 4am, when officers escorted a distraught and frozen Annie back to her home.
3 hours later, the police were back at Annie’s door. John had been found by a neighbour in Cedar Road, and, despite being unconscious, very much worse for the wear and ravaged by the extreme conditions of the December night, he was clinging on to life. John was brought home to Gray Street where the local doctor, Dr Sang, attended to him.
Unfortunately, John never regained consciousness and died around 10am on the morning of 26th December.