A forgotten story, retold here which reinforced the dangers of the arrival of Blantyre tramcars in 1903 and changes to pedestrian and vehicular safety. On the morning of 12th November 1903, Mr William Tait, a draper’s traveller was involved in an accident at Springwell, with a passing tramcar. He had been coming from his stable […]
In October 2021, local man Jim Donnelly posted these two photos of a strange object he found in or near the River Calder at Priory Bridge. It looks fairly rounded from being in the water but interestingly, lettering could be seen on it, spelling the word ‘ridge’. Given the location, the word is likely BRIDGE […]
A story of a former Blantyre gang next. Going back to 1912 and on Thursday 4th April that year, 12 young Blantyre men found themselves standing in the dock at Hamilton Sheriff Court. The trial proceedings were complex and lasted from 1.30pm until close to midnight. The charge? Taking a leading part in a serious […]
Pictured is local man, James Reynolds in his Lanarkshire Tramways Company Uniform. James was a tram driver but later became an Inspector. It is safe to say trams were well used. In the New Year holiday period in just a few days in 1903/1904, over 106,000 people used the trams, bringing in around £200. Inevitably, […]
Stephen Boyle shared this fantastic family photo with Blantyre Project this week. Previously unseen online, he writes, “Here’s a photo of my great grandfather James Reynolds, pictured at the controls of the the tram on the Blantyre route. He later became an inspector on the trams. I’m uncertain of the exact date or year but […]
On Tuesday 10th November 1914, a Blantyre boy had a lucky escape on Glasgow Road. A boy named Andrew Delinsky, while crossing the road at Merry’s Rows, fell in front of a tramway car which was passing at the time. The driver with great promptitude dropped tho guard, (a plow like device on the front […]
By the end of 1915, the initial earlier waves of support from men enlisting for WW1 active service had started to fall away slightly. The horrors of battles being reported back to Britain and realisation of so many deaths and that this was going to take longer than thought, meant fewer men were signing up. […]