I’ve been posting the last few days about William Rae, the Blantyre bonesetter.

Whilst researching his efforts in trying to “cure” many limp people, I found this photo of him, which I believe is previously unseen online. It’s not one of the more commonly produced postcards and instead is a photo of him at home in Raploch Cottage on Station Road.

In a quiet moment, he was pictured by the Daily Mail in his attic room in October 1904, in front of his dormer window in the very room where he attempted these “miracle cures”.

William Rae had been formerly a miner and knew the skill of resetting bones back into their sockets. Although this fame found him later in life, he still had time to amass significant savings. He understood all about the quick replacement of bones back into their rightful positions.

I wonder what he would have made of Blantyre and its modern medicine and welfare , 118 years later.