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22 As chairman and managing director of D.C. Thomson & Co., Ltd., and John Leng & Co., Ltd., he ran from Dundee a Press empire which eventually controlled some 20 newspapers and periodicals including the Scots magazine. A quarrel between Mr. Thomson and Sir Winston (then Mr.) Churchill during the General Election of 1922 led to a famous attack on the newspaper owner by Churchill, who at that time was Liberal M.P. for Dundee and Colonial Secretary. At first Churchill implied that the Thomsons had been lackeys for the Earls of Airlie. Thomson then hurled the rural press against Churchill and the Colonial Secretary lost his seat and never returned again to stand for election in Scotland. Churchill made a speech of which he said of Thomson: - "He is a narrow, bitter unreasonable being; eaten up with his own conceit; consumed by his own petty arrogance; pursued from day to day and year to year by an unreasonable bee in his bonnet". Thomson worked long hours every day of the week. His only hobby was in adding accurately to the family chart. He hired three professional researchers from Edinburgh and published an outstanding hard cover chart in 1936 along with supplementary notes on the families Spenses, Eassons, Sinclairs, Coupers, and Osiers. Previously mention was made to three generations of Osiers starting with James Osier born around 1690. His grandson of the third generation was named Robert (born 1765). As mentioned previously, he married his first cousin Janet Osier and they produced a fourth generation amongst which is James (borne 1805) who was a joiner at Ingleston 23 of Eassie. This is the first reference to a joiner, a trade which took in a seven year apprenticeship. At this time this trade included the making and mending of furniture as well as carpentry work. James married Anne Roger and they produced nine children, these being members of the fifth generation. John was the fourth son of James and Anne. He had a fund of knowledge about the Osiers in past ages. It is to him we are indebted for the explanation as to how some of the Osiers changed the spelling of their name from Osier to Ostler, and then to Oastler. In each case a new schoolmaster made the change. In one case, at least the new schoolmaster was English and being a disciple of euphonic spelling he changed the spelling of the broad Scotch accent from Ostler to Oastler. Evidently parents at this time payed little attention to this. The first child in the fifth generation was Robert (born 1833). He and all his progeny signed their name as Ostler. When this change to Ostler first occurred in the Osier line from generation to generation cannot be exactly pinpointed. Robert had six brothers and two sisters. Because of the previously mentioned English school teacher these eight children and their progeny on the male side all signed their surname differently from their older brother Robert and his progeny, as they used the spelling Oastler. The third son in the fifth generation was James. He and the fifth son Andrew (born 1843) married sisters with the family name of Raitt. James married the older sister and she was noted for her beauty. It is interesting that she became the grand aunt of two girls who looked like her and were known to be the most beautiful girls in the Selkirk area of Manitoba, Canada.