Time and time again I find the 1920’s an era of great unemployment for Blantyre and a time when hardships drove men (and women) to do things that would normally be grossly out of character. One such story is that of Alexander Walker Hunter, whom, in 1925 was 31 years old, a married man who […]
During the 1970’s, the plaque bearing the name of Blantyre soldiers who lost their lives in WW2, was stolen from the War memorial in High Blantyre Cemetery. (Sidenote, I can’t think of anything more disrespectful!). As Cemeteries were the responsibility of Hamilton District Council Leisure &, Recreation Departments back then, official set about on […]
February 1978 saw a spate of house and shop break-ins in Blantyre. Cleary Hairdressers at 208 Glasgow Road was subjected to a daylight robbery, with thieves taking money fro the till, a hairdryer and attempts to break into a phone coin box. During the same evening thieves broke into 1 Holmswood Avenue, 1 Heathcliffe Avenue […]
On the evening of Tuesday 19th September 1967, Matt Boyle, the High Blantyre publican had cashed up at his Main Street pub and was making his way home. He lived at a detached house near Kirkton Cross, which had the name “Parkhurst”, (pictured here in 2007 by Jim Brown) Matt, born in 1899 was 68 […]
“Mr. Andrew Edgar a miner of 67 Auchenraith Road, Blantyre, was convicted on evidence, at Hamilton J.P. Court on Saturday 19th September 1931 of stealing, in concert with others unknown, one ton of coals from a mineral train at Strathaven Junction, on the L.M.S. Railway line between Blantyre and High Blantyre. The Justices found the charge […]
Thefts from a Blantyre doctor’s house were described at Glasgow Sheriff Court on Monday 6th June 1932 when John James Devlin was sentenced to eighteen months’ imprisonment for having broken into Priory House, Thornhill Avenue, Blantyre, and stolen a coat, gloves, a clock, and bag containing surgical instruments, poisons, and dressings. The Procurator-Fiscal (Mr […]
Sentence of 30 days imprisonment was imposed on William Sommerville Ritchie, a young unemployed farm servant, who appeared in custody before Sheriff Brown Hamilton Sheriff Court on Boxing Day 1933. He had pleaded guilty to 2 charges of breaking into a shed situated in Barnhill Nursery on Hunthill Road, on December 25th and opening two lockfast […]