1864-1940
Gentleman farmer, land owner
Ary was born in Semarang, Java, in the Dutch East Indies, into a wealthy sugar manufacturing and trading family. Ary can also be spelled Arij, with ‘ij’ being a single letter in Dutch, a digraph.
The family was involved with businesses associated with the descendants of Scottish-born Gillian Maclean (1798-1840), an East Indies entrepreneur who had a Dutch wife.
Ary married Maud Stansfeld (1866-1945) in London in 1894, the daughter of James Stansfeld (1816-1882), a Yorkshire coal company owner who retired to Italy.
Maud’s maternal grandfather was Colonel William Borthwick (1786-1867), an officer in the East India Company who fought in the Napoleonic Wars. According to a note on a family photo, he dealt with the ‘Thugs‘ in India.
Colonel Borthwick had Longwood house built for him in 1865, just outside Langholm, but died within two years. His widow Elizabeth nee Stansfeld lived there until her death in 1903.
Ary and Maud moved to Longwood in the early 1900s. The first mention by the E&L of their presence there was in 1904, when they hosted a torchlight parade by the Boys Brigade. In 1915, the house was owned by the trustees of Maud’s mother and was later purchased by Ary.
Ary was naturalised as a British subject in 1911, after meeting the minimum requirement of five years’ residence in the UK. His certificate was issued by Winston Churchill, home secretary under Prime Minister H H Asquith.
By the early 1910s, Ary was also tenant of Broomholmshiels and Rashiel farms, and later bought them.
During the war, Maud Miesegaes made regular gifts to the Red Cross hospital, including vegetables and flowers.
Although Ary and Maud continued to live in Longwood, they were registered as voters at Worth Hall, Worth, Sussex from 1919 to 1929, and then at 7 Southwell Gardens, South Kensington, London.
The E&L published the following obituary for Ary in 1940:
Death of Mr Miesegaes of Longwood
His many friends in Langholm and district were shocked to hear of the death, which occurred suddenly on Friday, of Mr Ary Miesegaes of Longwood.
Mr Miesegaes, who was well-known over a wide area, came to reside at Longwood about thirty-five years ago. Possessed of a quiet and very kindly disposition, he took no active part in the public life of the town, but every good cause found in him a willing champion.
A keen sportsman, he was particularly fond of shooting and fishing, and he was never happier than when taking part in one or other of these pursuits, which led him midst the hills and valleys of the countryside he had come to love so well.
Mr Miesegaes was held in high esteem by all who knew him, and his passing will be mourned by a large section of the community.
The funeral took place to Langholm Cemetery on Monday, and was largely attended.
E&L, 25 Sep 1940
Below is Ary’s nephew Gustaaf Miesegaes (1903-1982) with his Phantom II Continental Rolls Royce in the Dutch East Indies in around 1935.
Ary’s grand-nephew Stanley Miesegaes (1933-1990) financed the first two albums of the 1970s music group Supertramp, but withdrew his funding before their later hits.