On Saturday 17th November 1906, the body of a man was observed in the River Clyde at the weir at Blantyre Village.
The police were immediately informed and the body was moved to the River Bank for identification. It became known the man was John Stewart, a 23 year old missing man from Barnhill Farm House, Blantyre. The son of a carting contractor, John had been missing for about a month since 19th October 1906 (the night of the Hamilton Fair). He had been last seen in Hamilton that night and his disappearance had been a mystery. He had been in the best of spirits and health and did not look like a young man with any troubles. He had been out enjoying himself, as had many people his age.
John was the son of Robert Stewart and Marion Smith. The doctor wrote on the death certificate that it had probably been drowning which had killed him.
How he came to be in the water only deepened the mystery. Much sympathy was extended to the family who until the day he was discovered had held out in the hope he was merely missing.
