Though there is no date or information about this photo, I think it relates to Blantyre Parish Council and suspect it was taken sometime in the late 1880’s or early 1890s. I think the photo could be 130 years old or so. The location is unknown, but may be outside the front go one the former farmhouses in Blantyre?
Now having written about so many figures from Blantyre’s past, I recognise many of the men. At the back the 3 Aitkenhead Builders, Pettigrew of Malcolmwood, Arthur Blakely of Causeystanes. On the front I see Scott farmers of Priestfield, Dr Grant and James Hastie.
These are men who helped shape Blantyre in late Victorian times. Running water supplies in, building schools, creating drainage systems, improving health and working conditions, building homes. Many of these men had their own businesses and were prominent in their own right.
