In December 1911, a Blantyre born resident of Dunoon was left a nice inheritance.

Mr James Guy had left Blantyre in the 1870s to live in Dunoon and had worked there for the best part of 40 years. Approaching his elderly years by 1911 he was ready to retire and continue living his modest lifestyle. Then suddenly, one day in December 1911, he was contacted by an Edinburgh solicitor and told he had been left a sum of money by his Uncle in Australia.

It turns out the Uncle had left Blantyre too, around the 1880s going to Australia. He took up farming as a profession and had made a huge success of it, accumulating many animals and expansive lands. Outliving any family he had there, when he passed, his large inheritance was to be left to his only nephew back in Scotland. Thankfully, the solicitor managed to track down James by letter and you can only imagine the reaction when he read that despite not seeing his uncle in 40 years, a man on the other side of the world had left him £10,000, a sum which today would have been worth around £1,500,000 !!

Some may say, this is a story about a Dunoon or Australian resident, but all I see is a Blantyre family looking out for one another, over time and borders.