Reader Ros Goulding sent me this message saying, “Hi I’m trying to find out who this boxer is please. The photo was found at my grandmothers after she died. Her name was Jane or Jeanie Gillan (was Duffy) born 25th September 1898. I believe in the Blantyre area. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.”
I retrieved Jeannie’s marriage certificate and know she married on 28th October 1918, just a fortnight near the end of WW1. Her husband to be was Thomas Gillan, who was serving in the Royal Field Artillary on leave back home in Blantyre, from France. They had been neighbours living only street apart at Dixon’s Rows.
I think there’s a strong possibility that this unknown boxer was a relation of Jeannie’s. Could he have been her son? I found out that Thomas and Jeannie had a son a year after getting married. Angus Gillan was born in 1919. If this boy was about 10 or so, this picture may be Angus in the late 1920’s and the photo could be close to 100 years old. Angus Gillan passed away in Park Circus, Glasgow in 1985.
