Good morning Paul,

I am tracing my paternal family lines and would be incredibly grateful for any local insight, colliery employment links, or street photos you might have in your archives regarding my grandfather & great-grandparents.

• Grampa: John Benson Somerville

• • Local Hook: Born in Blantyre in 1920. He later moved to the Scottish Borders during WWII (marrying in Coldstream in 1944).

• Great-Grampa: John Somerville

• • Local Hook: Born in Blantyre in 1888. He passed away on June 7, 1961, at age 72.
  • Context: He lived and worked in Blantyre during the height of the local coal boom. He married Rachael Benson in nearby Hamilton in 1919.

Given the timing, I am highly interested to know if your database contains references to this specific Somerville line, particularly regarding which local miners' rows or tenement blocks they inhabited, or which local collieries (such as William Dixon’s Blantyre Collieries) John or his father might have worked for.

Thank you for your fantastic work in preserving Blantyre's unique history!

Kind regards,

Ryan Somerville