Here’s a little known story you may not have heard about. On Saturday 17th July 1880, some 142 years ago, a railway accident of alarming character happened near High Blantyre Station on the Strathaven branch of the Caledonian Railway. The train was timed to leave Hamilton Central at 1.55pm for Strathaven and at that time […]
Next, an accident which took place near the West End of Blantyre on Friday 7th February 1908. That morning around 9 o’clock, County Councillor John Jackson left his home at Bardykes House to drive to Blantyre Station. By ‘drive’ in this era before many motorcars, I mean he was travelling by horse and trap which […]
Summer excursions during war years offered a chance for families to get away and still provide their children with a day out, despite fathers, brothers and uncles not being there. One such day happened in Blantyre on 30th August 1915. A motor Char-a-banc was loaded up with 23 women and children from the Village, with […]
Wednesday 11th October 1916 was the date of a horrific accident, which claimed the life of a Blantyre lady. Mrs Catherine McDade (nee Deeney) was the fifty year old wife of Patrick McDade, a miner. Catherine had been busy at home at 151 Main Street, High Blantyre, an address which at that time was closer […]
Reader, George Park from Arbroath sent me a little snippet one evening that presented a mystery. He shared a clipping from an 1894 newspaper which said, “Fatal Shooing Accident to a Young lady – A young lady, the daughter of Mr Mitchell of Blantyre, Lanarkshire has met her death under very sad circumstances. While […]
In December 1925, whilst pushing a rake of empty coal hutches up an incline in the Loanend Colliery, William Dowdles, James Mulvaney, and Thomas Wales were trapped by a runaway train of fully loaded hutches, which came hurtling down on them with sudden force. The Blantyre connection here was William Dowdles, who lived at 6 […]
On Monday 16th January 1967, the first phase of the EK Expressway was still being constructed and as normal, traffic coming from East Kilbride could only get into Blantyre by the Stoneymeadow Road, the quickest route at the time. That day, a lorry driver sped down the Stoneymeadow Road heading towards Blantyre and his […]