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Martin Peters, England 1966 World Cup winner's familial association to 5-6 Free Church Place, Melrose. In 1861, George Frater Stuart (Stewart), 16, a gardener, resided at Free Church Place, Melrose, with father James Stewart, 62, a gardener, and mother Mary (Frater), 60. Three doors along stood Melrose Academy, a boarding school at 5-6 Free Church Place, run by the Free Church. It was built in 1844, the year after the Great Disruption, and is now a Category C Listed Building. In 1865 Valuation Rolls for the County of Roxburgh and the Parish of Melrose: record No.513 is as follows: - 513: House at Gaswork: Proprietors, The Trustees of the Free Church per John Scott, Treasurer, Melrose: Tenant and Occupier: James Stewart, gardener: Yearly Rent, £5, -, -.
James Stewart was George Frater Stuart’s father and, thus, Martin Peters’ great-great-grandfather. Given that he was living in a Free Church property, it is likely that he was employed by the St John’s Free Church of Scotland as their jobbing estate gardener. The Free Church had gardens to the front and rear of the schoolhouse, gardens at the Manse and parks adjoining the Free Church and the Manse, which at that time was occupied by Rev William Cousin FC. George had been assisting his father as a gardener at the Free Church at least since 1861. (Source: Pride of the Three Lions by Derek Niven (C) 2020 Chapter 10: Martin Peters. Derek Niven is the author pseudonym of John McGee)