Marion Turner shared this old photo of her mother’s oldest sister (her aunt). The family think the little girl may be around 10 years old in this photo.
Pictured is Barbara Anderson Hamilton Denholm who was born in 1895 in Hamilton. The eldest 3 children of this family were born in Hamilton and the family moved to Greenhall. They moved there between 1886 to 1898 and the last five children were born at High Blantyre.
That would make this photo around 1905. This wee girl would have been quite used to playing around Greenhall Estate with her siblings.
The Denholm family originally moved to the stables are shown as living there in 1901. Thomas Denholm, her father was born in Douglas and married wife Jane, also born in Lanarkshire. That year the family stayed in the Greenhall stables which only had 2 windows, indicating it was likely small. Barbara was just 6 then and with her and her parents were older brother Thomas (7) and younger brothers Andrew (4) and John (2).
In subsequent years, no doubt as Thomas became a trusted and valued employee, the family moved to the coachhouse, the lodge to the west. The coachhouse is now turned into luxury 5 star accommodation, sold in recent years to Crossbasket by the McIntosh family. In 1910, the family emigrated to Australia, perhaps prompted by the Wardrop Moore’s of Greenhall’s passion for travelling to the other side of the world.
Though only in Blantyre for no more than 14 years, this article helps us see how the Denholm story fits as a little piece of Blantyre history.