1930s Jeannie Scott at 102 Victoria St. Shared by Betty Weaver
Thank you to Betty Weaver who recently has kindly shared several wonderful photos from her own family album.
Elizabeth told me, “I’ll start with this one, in memory of our mother Jeanie Scott, who was born in the house we also grew up in, at 104 Victoria St. This is her in the neighbour’s garden in the early 30s, playing on a rocking horse which belonged to our neighbour’s son – so the photo is of the garden at No 102. Jean was the youngest of 8 children of Robert and Jessie Scott (nee Campbell). She married Bill Weaver in 1945 and owned a shop in High Blantyre (Kiddiwear, along from the PO) in the 50s and 60s. The houses in the back are Morris Crescent.”
The houses had been built in 1925 (Elizabeth has shown me a birth certificate of her mother from 1925 at Victoria Street, which prompted me to date the construction date of the houses from 1928 to a more accurate 1925), so the houses were only a few years old at the time of this photo, something the young looking hedgerow plants support. This was state of the art housing for Blantyre at a time when new accommodation was greatly sought after in the area. Judging by how manicured the garden is, with its neat lawn edging, I’d say people were fiercely proud of their new homes which must have been luxurious by comparison to the standard of the older miners rows.
Jeanie looks real happy in this photo. A large new housing estate full of other children of similar ages, must have been both exciting and a great place to grow up in.