Here’s an interesting little story taken from a small book I’m writing about the Livingstone Memorial Church, Blantyre.
During the evening of Thursday 10th January 1895 sometime between 9pm and 10pm, an explosion took place in the Livingstone Memorial Church, Glasgow Road, Blantyre. The minister Rev Mr Hugh and the church officer Mr Walter Ewing, being injured. Both men were in the heating chamber which was in the basement to the rear of the building, for the purpose of examining the heating apparatus, which seemed not to be working satisfactorily.
Mr Ewing had taken Rev Hugh down to point out where he thought the defect was.
He had opened the damper and both men were looking into it, Rev Hugh somewhat more closely, when the boiler suddenly burst. A huge, explosion occurred and the apartment was filled with smoke and burning material from the furnace, the men falling back to the floor a distance of several feet away. Rev. Hugh was seriously burned about the face, but also on his neck, arms, and legs whilst Mr. Ewing escaped with slight injuries around his mouth. The interior of the apparatus was wrecked. Dr Cowan Wilson who lived adjacent was on the scene quickly and Rev Hugh conveyed home in a horse drawn cab.
The weather was known to have been very cold in January 1895, dropping to -18 degrees Celsius in the Scottish Highlands and below freezing in Lanarkshire for most of that month. Families struggled to heat homes and the River Clyde froze over with local men taking advantage of this to hold curling matches. The accident occurred around the same weeks as the opening of the new church hall and by the end of January, Rev Hugh who was attended on daily by Dr. Cowan Wilson, was making a good recovery. Mr Ewing had made a full recovery the week later.
AI Imagines the scene for illustration of this story.
On Social Media, the following comments were received on Facebook:
Blantyre Project Dr Cowan Wilson who attended, wouldn’t have had far to come. He lived next door at Parkville.