On December 28, 1892, George Muirhead, a 55-year-old cart driver from Blantyre, suffered a severe accident when he struck his head on the masonry ceiling of a pend close while driving his cart. The incident resulted in spinal and rib fractures, leading to a poor prognosis for recovery.
On Tuesday 4th July 1893, Mr James Sommerville of the Blantyre business H&J Sommerville (Aerated Water Manufacturers) had the most miraculous escape. He was in Hamilton that afternoon delivering his fizzy water to Cadzow Rows when his horse suddenly bolted and dashed headlong down the steep hill there. Seeing the danger, Mr Sommerville at great […]
Summer 1894, saw an influx of miners into the Blantyre area. Though this was just before a general mining strike, word had spread beforehand that the new Priory Colliery was about to be sunk and that further opportunities existed in other mines in the District. Some of these incoming miners were from England and Ireland, […]
On the morning of Saturday 15th June 1895, a very serious accident took place at the new Whistleberry Colliery at the time being sunk for Mr Archibald Russell of Auchinraith. Two sinkers Hugh Connelly and James Kyle were ascending the shaft (which at the time had been dug down to 130 fathoms). The engineman having […]
Just when I thought my recent story about a Motor car collision in Blantyre was our town’s earliest mechanised vehicle accident, I’ve found an even earlier one, this time in 1898! This is a story about a vehicle accident, 5 years before trams! On Monday 24th January 1898, Hamilton man William Muir found himself in […]
Just when I thought I’d found the earliest mention of motor cars in Blantyre, along comes an even earlier story. Evidence next of motor cars as far back in this area as 1898. With no photographs available, this article is suitably illustrated by AI exclusively for this story. This article also reflects how far motoring […]
About 6am, on Sunday, 11th September 1898, Mr Dunn, the coachman of Calderglen House was awoken by somebody knocking at the stables attached to the grand house. On rising from bed, he found a man outside imploring for help. To his horror, amongst other injuries, one of the man’s hands was almost severed at the […]