On Saturday 17th November 1906, the body of a man was observed in the River Clyde at the weir at Blantyre Village. The police were immediately informed and the body was moved to the River Bank for identification. It became known the man was John Stewart, a 23 year old missing man from Barnhill Farm […]
On 5th June 1907, thirteen year old Patrick McArdle of 4 Millhouses, Blantyre Works was playing at the riverside in front of his home. The general scene would be where the modern picture is on the banks of the River Clyde at the Village. When his ball fell into the water, the plucky youngster waded […]
On 18th May, the body of a woman was sadly found in the River Clyde at Blantyre. As if this shock wasn’t bad enough for Blantyre residents, he reporters at the time went to great lengths to publish the state of decomposition, something I won’t do here. From the description, approximate age and clothing described […]
I recently told the story the other day of seventeen year old Hugh McNeil who drowned in the Clyde in Summer 1915. That Summer was hot and it may surprise you to know that another person drowned only the week before. Little Robert Shearer was only 9 years old in July 1915. His father was […]
In September 1916, an anonymous volunteer involved in the rescue and recovery of people in difficulties in the River Clyde was concerned about the frequency of drownings in the Village. He wrote to the papers making an appeal, as follows word for word: “As I was one of the voluntary rescue party the recent drowning […]
On 31st July 1917, during WW1, a number of small boys were amusing themselves at the River Clyde riverside at the former Blantyre Works Mills. It was quite common in those days for groups of 5 or 6 year olds to be out on their own but this was a day to end in tragedy. […]
About 9 o’clock on the morning of Sunday 13th October 1867, the body of man named Matthew Arneil was found laying face down in the Calder River under Newhousemill Bridge, on the boundary with East Kilbride Parish (back roads). Matthew was a miner residing at Newfield, Blantyre. When found quite dead, he appeared to have […]