Boyack, James
James Theodore Boyack was born on 23rd March 1882 at 7 Hamilton Terrace (West) in Partick, with the West of Scotland Cricket Ground visible from the front and the railway line between Anniesland and Partick at the rear (beyond which were the goods sidings that would become the West End Retail Park at the foot…
Read MoreGowans, William
William Ireland Gowans was born at 5 Doune Quadrant, Kelvinside on 29th January 1892. He was the second of six children born to his parents William and Ida Margaret (nee Ireland). William (father)’s job was “woollen merchant” and on his death in 1918 we have slightly more detail, “Wholesale warehouseman, 111 Union Street, Glasgow”. His…
Read MoreCarslaw, John
John Howie Carslaw was born on 14th August 1896 at 8 Park Avenue, Glasgow. This wasn’t a street name I recognised, but it turns out to be the small road up the side of the St Andrews Building, off of Woodlands Road. Here’s the 1894 map and as it only shows one house on the…
Read MoreHood, John
John Hood was born on 8th December 1894 at 105 Buccleuch Street, Glasgow. Today, the National Trust for Scotland’s property The Tenement House is just a few doors away. His father, Archibald, has been described as a teacher, and this may have been true early in his career but at the time of John’s birth…
Read MoreEdgar, Walter
Walter Edgar was born on 28th June 1879 at 92 Sandyfaulds Street, Hutchesontown. This was on the west side of the street, just south of the junction with Cumberland Street (assuming the house numbering was the same in 1879 as in 1949). Map from 1892 shows where Walter was born (red circle), where he was…
Read MorePorritt, John
Eligibility for a name to be included on the War Memorial at Bearsden cross was by nomination and while there were probably eligibility rules, they seem to have been applied with a generosity of spirit appropriate to the circumstances. Thus, we have John Milligan Porritt, a brave man who paid with his life, but who…
Read MoreNiven brothers – Donald and James
John Niven was a wholesale grocer, who married Elizabeth Adam McLean in 1885 in Helensburgh: he was 35, Elizabeth was 20. They began married life at 90 Great Western Road, Glasgow: Today it looks like this: John’s business address according to the Post Office Directory of that year was 55 East Howard Street, seen on…
Read MoreKay brothers – Walter and Hugh
William Kay was born in Dunsyre, in South Lanarkshire in modern terms, on 27th November 1851, son of a joiner. He followed in his father’s footsteps and worked as a joiner and builder. He married Isabella Haddow on 10th September 1885. Between 1885 and 1891 William built four houses at what was then called Kirk…
Read MoreGuthrie, Charles Wilfrid
Charles Wilfrid Guthrie was born on 30th January 1898 in Kings Norton, Birmingham. His father was Charles Guthrie (1869-1953), son of the Advocate/Sheriff of Lanarkshire. His mother was Margaret Elizabeth (1873-1953), surname possibly Wilson; she married Charles on 14th April 1897 in Fulham, although they were both from the Edinburgh area. In the 1901 Census…
Read MoreMoir, George
George Walker Moir was 23 when he died during a phase of the Battle of The Somme. He was a Lance-Corporal with the 5th Battalion of the Scottish Rifles (known as the Cameronians). Having been spared the horrors of the first day of the battle on 1st July, the 33rd Division was transferred to the…
Read More