Nicola Sturgeon Family History

Nicola Ferguson Sturgeon was born on July 19th, 1970 to Robin and Joan Sturgeon in the town of Irvine in North Ayrshire.  They lived in a terraced council house in Dreghorn, a village some three miles outside of Irvine.  Nicola was the elder of their two daughters.

She had a working class upbringing.  Her father was an electrician, her mother a dental nurse.  The dark days of Thatcher made them politically conscious and they became early members of the SNP (the Scottish Nationalist Party).  Nicola herself joined the SNP at the age of sixteen.

She was a quiet girl growing up, “the sensible one” as her younger gadabout sister Gillian put it.  Nicola herself said: “I lived in a house where I was surrounded by books and I much preferred to sit with my head in a book than talking with people.”

She later said that, whereas she may have appeared a confident and combative leader, underneath she was a “painfully shy” introvert who “always struggled to believe in herself.”

Her Political Rise.  She studied law at the University of Glasgow School of Law, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws in 1992.  That same year she stood for office in the 1992 general election.  At twenty-two she was Scotland’s youngest candidate.  She stood –  unsuccessfully again – in 1997.

But things then moved fast.  She was elected to the Scottish Parliament in 1999.  She served in the SNP shadow cabinet in various capacities.  In 2004 she entered its leadership election, but later withdrew in favour of Alex Salmond.  She became his deputy leader.  In the 2007 election the SNP emerged as the largest party in Scotland and formed a government.

For a time things went even better.  The SNP won a landslide victory in 2011.  Alex Salmond pressed for a referendum on Scottish independence.  But when the Scottish people said “no” in 2014, he resigned.  Nicola Sturgeon became the First Minister at the age of forty-four.

The SNP continued to enjoy electoral success during her eight years in office.  She was seen as a stablizing force in the Brexit and COVID years, particularly in relation to the chaos that was happening in London.  But she resigned her leadership in 2023, claiming burnout.

Her Political Fall.  There were other factors at play by that time.

Her husband Peter Murrell, who had been the chief executive officer of the SNP, was arrested in 2023 on the charge of embezzling party funds.  Lurid details began to appear in the papers about his spending habits.  In May 2026 he pleaded guilty to the embezzlement charge and was sentenced to five years imprisonment.

Nicola announced that she and Peter Murrell had separated and were to divorce.  She claimed no knowledge of his crimes.  But the public thinks otherwise.  How is that possible that you have been with this man for over twenty years and are ignorant of such matters?

Sturgeons in Scotland and Ireland

The Sturgeon name in Scotland seems to have had its origin in SW Scotland, in Dumfries and Galloway.

During the religious strife of the 17th century, Sturgeons appeared on both sides of the fence.  In 1644 Sir John Sturgeon, the Laird of Torrorie in Galloway, was put on trial for his Royalist sympathies.  Forty years later it was the Covenanters, such as William Sturgeon of Barncrosh in Galloway, who were being harassed.

Covenanter Sturgeons fled across the Irish Sea to Ulster at that time.  They came mainly to county Down.  Some stayed, others migrated in the 18th century to Pennsylvania.

But there was a return migration later because of the Potato Famine.  Robert Sturgeon was from Killinchy in county Down, the son of a weaver William Sturgeon and his wife Mary.  He decided to bring his family back to Scotland for a better life.  In 1847 they arrived at the small village of Dailly in South Ayrshire where Robert found work as a farm laborer.

Robert and his wife Mary raised six children there, four boys and two girls.  The second of their sons was James Sturgeon, born in 1843, who based himself in Maybole – eight miles north of Dailly – and was Nicola’s two times great grandfather.

The Maybole Line

The market town of Maybole in South Ayrshire lies within the historic district of Carrick which, with its scattered villages and rugged terrain, was a favorite haunt for persecuted Covenanters in the 17th century.  Thus there was a familiarity for Scots Irish like the Sturgeons returning there.

Maybole with its population of 6,000 was thriving in the 19th century.  The town took in many Irish handloom weavers and later developed a boots and shoe industry.  In 1901 something like a third of the town’s population was employed in this industry.  Maybole’s population since has gotten older and been diminishing in numbers, dropping to around 4,300 today.

The Sturgeon line in Maybole ran as follows:

• James Sturgeon (1843-1915) m. Mary Martin in 1867
• James Sturgeon (1875-1946) m. Marion Simson in 1906
• Robert Sturgeon (1920-1977) left the area and then returned
• Robin Sturgeon (b. 1948)

James Sturgeon had settled in Maybole in 1868, soon after his marriage to Mary Martin.  His son James, grandson Robert, and great grandson Robin were all born there.  But overall these Sturgeons have left little record of their presence in Maybole.

Robert Sturgeon left Maybole around the time of World War Two, but did return.  And the Sturgeon name is still present in Maybole today.

The Mill Line in Durham

Nicola has links with Durham in the northeast of England through her grandmother Margaret Mill.  Surprisingly, Margaret’s grandfather there was Scottish.

The Scottish Connection.  Robert Mill had been born in 1843 in Arbroath on the east coast of Scotland.  A hairdresser by trade, he had arrived in the Sunderland area of Durham sometime around 1870.  He married a local girl Christina by whom he had six children, all boys.  Then Christina died in 1889.

Robert Mill met another woman, Alma Hill, by whom he had three further children.  But they did not marry.  Thus their son Joseph – who was born in 1892 and took the Mill name – could be considered illegitimate.  Robert himself died in 1898 at the age of fifty-five and Alma had to raise their three children by herself.

Joseph Mill and His Daughter Margaret.  We find Joseph with his wife Harriet and their newly-born baby Margaret in the 1921 census.  They resided in Ryhope, a village just outside of Sunderland.  They lived on Arthur Street in one of the single-storey so-called Sunderland cottages.

Joseph was by trade a shipwright.   During the war he had worked for the Royal Navy at Devonport.  But by the time of the 1921 census commercial shipping was slack in Sunderland and he was temporarily out of work.

Margaret grew up in Ryhope.  The three of them – Joseph, Harriet and Margaret – were still at the same Arthur Street cottage in the 1939 census.

By chance another Scotsman came to Sunderland.  His name was Robert Sturgeon and he was from Ayrshire.  He married Margaret in Ryhope in 1943 and took her and their young child back to Scotland.

Ayrshire Again

Robert Sturgeon returned to Maybole, with their son Robin being born there in 1948.  Robert worked as a gardener at an estate out at Dunure.  He died in 1977, Margaret in 2001.

Robin and Joan.  Robin – like his elder brother Leslie – attended Carrick Academy in Maybole.  He married Joan Ferguson from nearby Prestwick in 1969.  They would live there and then in Dreghorn near Irvine (some nine miles further north) where they have remained.  Robin worked as an electrician, Joan as a dental nurse.

The dark days of Thatcher made them politically conscious and they became early members of the SNP.  Joan was elected to the North Ayrshire council in the 2007 Scottish local government elections.  She sat on the council for ten years, representing the Irvine East ward.  She also served as Provost of North Ayrshire.  Her husband Robin meanwhile stood for the Irvine West seat in 2016 but was unsuccessful.

They have of course been fully supportive (and proud) of Nicola’s political career.

Nicola Sturgeon’s Family Tree

• Robert (Robin) Sturgeon, electrician m. Joan Kerr Ferguson from Prestwick, dental nurse (b. 1952) in Prestwick, Ayrshire  in 1969
• – Nicola Sturgeon (b. 1970), former Scottish First Minister
• – Gillian Sturgeon (b. 1975) m. James Owens in 1998 now separated, online life coach