Over the last few years I’ve tried to research what I thought was a myth about a visit by President Roosevelt to Crossbasket, High Blantyre. I’ve never been able to find evidence of that and even looked at his wife visiting Scotland after his death. But nothing in the papers or records showing the famous […]
The Rev Dr Donald Caskie opened a May fete at Crossbasket House, High Blantyre in 1967. He was better known as “the Tartan Pimpernel” for his exploits in helping servicemen escape from France in the war. He opened the fete at the James Little Training College in the grounds of Crossbasket in aid of […]
An extract from “The History of Crossbasket Castle” by Paul Veverka This charity was named in honour of the late American President who died during WW2. Franklin. D. Roosevelt (pictured in Figure 50 in this book). Roosevelt spent much of his adult life in a wheelchair. The polio virus, which infected him in 1921 at […]
Before I leave the Crossbasket John Kerr Clark story, I have one final and interesting thing to add. John Kerr Clark’s youngest son (of the five sons he had in Australia) went on to achieve great things, albeit away from Blantyre. The Dundee Courier Newspaper on Friday 6th July 1951 best describes this man upon […]
There is an unproven rumour that “during the 1960’s, Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, former American First Lady and wife of US President Franklin D Roosevelt visited Scotland and stayed as a guest at Crossbasket Castle.” Seeking to find if this was true, I searched for the record. She certainly had visited Scotland before. Once in 1905 […]