In June 1893, Blantyre man Mr Robert Beveridge handed in his notice, resigning from Blantyre School Board. The other men on the board are recorded in the minutes of meeting as thanking him for his service and seemed somewhat taken aback that Robert was no longer wanting to be part of the School Board which had helped shape ‘modern’ education in Blantyre.
Robert was a grocer and provision merchant, with a shop in Blantyre which he’d operated for nearly 20 years. A prominent man on the School Board, he was still relatively young which made me wonder why he would give up such an eminent position.
Looking back at newspapers, a month or so earlier, his name cropped up often, but things were not well. He was being subjected to bankruptcy with newspapers asking those people who were owed by him to come forward. All very public.
It made me realise that Robert Beveridge likely resigned from the School Board for these very personal and public reasons, perhaps recognising himself that his position on the Board could not be maintained. It must have been a difficult time indeed.
There was another Robert Beveridge in Blantyre, a railway inspector who died in 1928 aged 54 but could not have been this older chap.
The infant school in Blantyre is pictured in 1977, built during the time of Robert Beveridge’s resignation from the Board.
