I just love this photo of Blantyre kids at Broompark Avenue. When Alex Bowie shared it with me, I recognised right away Croftpark House in the background, which is now demolished and now Saint John Ogilvie Church. The house once belonging to the Jope Doctors.
This is photographed from Broompark Avenue, I believe in 1905, just after the houses were built and the Avenue formed. Now, the reason I think this is 1905, is I recognise one of the child residents, Robert Ritchie (the wee boy with white collar and cloth cap with beaming smile). Knowing the street was built by then, and knowing his date of birth and taking a guess at his age dates this photo to 1905.
Behind the barbed wire, where now Broompark Grove is, was a former pigpen, confirmed by valuation rolls.
Robert as a child lived first at School Lane, then at Broompark Avenue. Later in life, he moved to Main St High Blantyre. He died in 1977 and is buried in High Blantyre Cemetery. He married and had 2 children, David and Myra. (I hope I have that right!)
I think the kids pictured here came from backgrounds of mixed fortunes. The children all look clean and healthy and none are barefoot, which is great to see. Some however, have holes or rips in their clothes. Most of the kids are in play clothes, but some of the children on the right, look like their mothers have quickly dressed them up for this photo, wearing little suit or dresses with neatly brushed hair. I see a mother’s touch in some of the staging for this fantastic photo!
