This remarkable School photo was taken in 1880, for little Jessie (Jen) Hunter Brown is pictured on the far left who is known to have been born in 1876. Jessie was the eldest daughter of Archibald Brown and Christina Braid. She was born at Boathouse, Blantyre which must have been a nice place to grow up, surrounded by orchards, the banks of the Clyde and open fields. However, things would change in that area as the bing grew larger and more imposing nearby at Blantyreferme.
Almost 140 years old, this makes this one of the oldest local School photos and is shared here by Jenny Day, the granddaughter of Jessie. How unhappy many of the children look, perhaps a sign of how strict schooling was. I can’t help but wonder what those little souls would make of the modern world today.
I’ve zoomed in on little Jen separately, whom I have to say looked very much like her dad, and by all accounts spoke of her father very highly.
