George Copland

George Copland was born on the 23rd of August 1903 to James Copland and his wife Agnes (Taylor).  He was born in South Ronaldsay, in Orkney.

The 1911 Census shows Agnes as the head with  George, James, Alan and Flora as the children. The 1921 Census only shows Agnes and Flora (visiting).

At some point George and/or the family left the Orkneys for the mainland.

On the 12th of December 1921, George married Sophia (Summers) in Aberdeen, George was a Fisherman and Sophia a Fish Worker from Peterhead.

George Copland was a fish merchant in Banff. In 1931, he was listed at 23 High Street, Banff.

A friend of George Copland's son, Alan, at the back of the Fishmonger was a small building that was full of grenades and sticky bombs during the war. The friend said that they would take some into the middle of the country and let some off. He also had a revolver and a Sten gun in a collection. He knew Jonathan Taylor of Forglen (Montblairy/Turriff Patrol), who gave him a Fairbairn Sykes knife and taught him how to break a person's back.

These were cleared out in the mid 1950s by George, who rowed a small boat into Banff Bay and dumped them over the side.

George was a keen angler and would therefore fish rivers in the area and enter competitions.