Mr. Hugh Mayberry was born in Kirkmaiden, by Drommore , Wigton, Scotland on 21st December1847. Coming to Glasgow he acquired for himself a most influential position in the business circules of Glasgow.
He always had a keen interest in public affairs and was for 14 years a member of the Cathcart Parochial Board, whilst also a Magistrate for the Burgh of Crosshill.
He was employed by Lord Blantyre as Commissioner of the Blantyre and Barrowfield Estates, both belonging to Joseph Francis Monteith.
It was Hugh who first thought it necessary to mark the place of David Livingstone’s birth and to this end in 1897, he commissioned a plaque which can still be seen high up on the gable of Shuttle Row. Major Ness presided over that ceremony in front of 3,000 people. Hugh resided at Rhodesia House on Thornhill Avenue.
It is thought that Mayberry was intrumental in the renovation of Low Blantyre Train Station, then considered one of the most handsome in Lanarkshire.
He also raised funds to erect a railing around the old burial ground at Blantyre Works Cemetery, in which many of the earlier residents of the village were interred, some of whom were the forefathers and family of David Livingstone.
A Street in Blantyre just off Glasgow Road next to St Joseph’s Church and between Livingstone Memorial Church is named in honour of this man. The tenements there affectionately known as Purgatory. Another set of tenements behind Ulva Place adjacent to Cross Row at Blantyre Works was named after Mayberry.
Mayberry lived outwith Blantyre at Rosegarth, Maxwell Park and had a coastal residence at Avondale, between Inellan and Dunoon. In politics, since 1886, Mayberry had been a Unionist but in 1903, became a Liberal.
Like a true Scotsman, Mayberry was a devoted student to Burns and was vice president of the Sandyford Burns Club. Besides assisting the local Blantyre library, he delighted worshippers and the U.F. Church with the gift of a handsome organ.
In his latter years following 1904, business engagements took him away from his interest in public affairs. He passed away on 19th December 1913 then described as property agent and land valuer. Upon his death, his widow Margaret Kerr became a trustee. Hugh Mayberry had at least 5 children. Later, when Margaret died, his son also Hugh Mayberry (b1885) was trustee of their property including continued business interests in Blantyre.
According to the valuation roll of 1930 his son Hugh Mayberry Jnr then owned the two, triple storey-stone tenements on the north side of High Blantyre Main Street at Kirkton. These were located to the west of the Old Parish Church Halls and the rear faced into a sawmills and High Blantyre Primary School. The tenements had addresses 366 to 370 Main Street, with shops located on the lower floor of 366 and 370 at either end. The buildings were well planned, set back off the Main Road, with a small accessible loading area at the front of them.
From “Blantyre Explained” by Paul Veverka (c) 2016