This little girl is pictured outside Shuttle Row, at Blantyre Works. The photo dates to around 1900, meaning its now around 116 years old! A sweet photo as the girl poses for the camera or perhaps looks on in sheer curiosity. In the background is the office building at Shuttle Row (David Livingstone’s birth-house is out the photo to the left). How worn the steps are even at this time, with over a century of being trodden by many generations. The wooden door has chalk marks where the children have been playing naughts and crosses. Free roaming hens, must have provided some of the families with eggs and the occasional dinner!
She looks about four years old, and that got me thinking I’d like to try and identify her. Knowing the photo is around 1900, but allowing for being out a couple of years, I was looking for a girl born around 1896 to about 1898 and I was going to start by making an assumption that she lived at Shuttle Row.
The 1901 census was the best bet and having that already mapped out for Shuttle Row, again allowing for being out a couple of years, I needed to find a girl whom at that time was between 3 to 5 years old.
Candidates are Margaret Sharkey (5), Annie Mair (4), Mary Jane Jackson (5), Janet Hamilton (5), Elizabeth Heaney (5) and Susan McNair (3).
Of course there’s no way of knowing who she was but there’s a strong chance the little girl had one of those names.
On social media:
David Baillie Annie mair was my grans maiden name