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CHAPTER ONE<br >THE YOUNG CANADIAN， i879-i9o5<br >"Tam descended from eight or ten generations of agricultural labourers.<br > ]1 Therefore I feel quite equal to the Cecil family， with this difference，<br > _re.that none of my ancestors stole church funds." Thus William<br >Maxwell Aitken， first Baron Beaverbrook， assessed his family background，<br >with a touch of romantic exaggera~on which was characteristic of him.<br >The family tree of the Aitkens， taken in 1948 from the baptismal register<br >at Linlithgow by the editor of The ~qottish Daily Express， goes back six<br >generations， not eight or ten. The Aitkens were tenant-farmers and small<br >businessmen， not agricultural labourers， and they， too， looted church<br >property， though on a small scale. Their farm-dwelling， Silvermine， has<br >a few shaped stones that were no doubt quarried from the Hospital of the<br >Knights of St. John at Torphichen after the Order was dissolved at the<br >Reformation.<br > Still， the description is broadly true. The Aitkens lived at Silvermine<br >as tenants of the Marquis of Linlithgow from at least 1613， when the<br >Baptismal Register begins， until 1884. John Aitken was the first of them<br >on record--"date of birth unknown". After him， the tenancy passed<br >without interruption from father to eldest son: James Aitken， born 1627;<br >John Aitken， born I661 ; James Aitken， born 1711 ; John Aitken， x752-<br >184o. On the latter s death， yet another John Aitken， born 18Ol， occupied<br >Silvermine for a few years. Then it was taken over by his second brother，<br >Robert Aitken (i8o5-i874)， Max Aitken s grandfather. Robert s widow<br >remained at Silvermine until her death in 188o， and James， his youngest<br >son， finally relinquished the tenancy in 1884. Beaverbrook tried to renew<br >the family connexion in 1943 and offered to buy Silvermine from the<br >Linlithgow estate， meaning to turn it into a youth hostel. The offer was<br >refused--unwisely: Silvermine， still inhabited twenty years ago， is now a<br >tumbledown ruin.<br > Silvermine is composed of two substantial cottages of the usual one-<br >storeyed Scotch type， run into one. The name derives from workings in<br >the nearby fields， which provided the kings of Scotland with their supply<br >of silver--an appropriate background for one who became a very rich<br ><br >