Another Quick Note

by Chris Jones on January 20, 2019

First, I would like to wish “A Guid New Year Tae Yin an Aw, an Mony Mae Ye See”. I hope 2019 will be a good year for all of us.

During the past year, new chapters, including “Glasgow from the Green, 1828” and “Glasgow’s Trolleybuses”, were posted and more photographs and information added to the existing chapters, “Argyle Street”, “Jamaica Street”, “Renfield Street”, Sailing Doon the Watter”, and “Glasgow’s Crosses”. With respect to the latter, 40 crosses are now listed and images have been obtained for some of the more elusive ones, including Baillieston Cross, Nithsdale Cross and Pollokshaws Cross. I’m still looking for early photographs of Albert Cross, Alexandra Cross, King’s Cross I, Cessnock Cross, Cowcaddens Cross, Knightswood Cross, Shettleston Cross, Victoria Cross II, and Whiteinch Cross.

In the Autumn, four photographs from the archive were reproduced in Perilla Kinchin’s new book, “Miss Cranston: Patron of Charles Rennie Mackintosh” published by National Museums Scotland. This is a very fine work, richly illustrated and well-researched.

Thank you for visiting www.GlasgowHistory.com

{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }

Naya March 12, 2019 at 10:05 am

Hi Chris,

Many thanks for all the work and effort you put into this website – it’s truly inspiring!

We’re thinking of organizing a small open-air expo to remember and celebrate the history of Glasgow’s city centre (Sauchiehall Street, Blythswood and the Broomielaw). Ideally, we’d like to focus on prominent (political) figures and key historic buildings of the area. It’d be very interesting to see how this part of town has evolved over the decades!

I’d be grateful if you could get back to me regarding the following:

-Is it possible for us to use the photographic material and relevant content?
-Could you recommend any resources (online, archive etc) that may be helpful for this type of project? I’m particularly interested in material that is focused on Sauchiehall Street.
-Could you direct me towards somebody that would be willing to contribute as consultant in this project?

Please don’t hesitate to email me and I’d be more than happy to discuss further details with you.

Thank you so much for your time and investment in revealing Glasgow’s history!

Naya

Chris Jones April 1, 2019 at 8:36 pm

Hello Naya,

Thank you very much for your communication and kind comment. I can certainly feel your enthusiasm for Glasgow in your proposed endeavour.

With regard to your questions, you are most welcome to use the resources of this site. Photographs that do not acknowledge a named collection or other source are all from my own archive and the descriptions are based on my research. Please acknowledge https://www.GlasgowHistory.com if there is an opportunity to do so. As for your interest in covering the Broomielaw, many of those early photographs were provided by Graham Lappin and I’m sure he would have no objection to them being used in your project with acknowledgement. Other contributors would probably feel the same way.

With respect to information on Glasgow’s buildings and on local areas, I am hugely impressed with Gerald Blaikie’s Scotcities site https://www.scotcities.com into which he has put an enormous amount of work. There is also the excellent and very comprehensive, https://www.theglasgowstory.com plus you may wish to make use of the ample resources of the Mitchell Library, https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/libraries/venues/the-mitchell-library . Certain local areas of the city are also well represented online, such as Bridgeton and Dalmarnock http://www.GlasgowHistory.co.uk and Parkhead http://parkheadhistory.com .

I don’t know who to recommend as a local consultant but ideally it should be someone living in Glasgow or nearby, perhaps one of the local authors. I am far from the Dear Green Place at the present time but this website helps me to keep in touch.

Wishing you the best of success with your project.

Chris

Naya April 22, 2019 at 4:28 am

Hi Chris,

Thank you so much for your reply and much needed advice. I will have a look at the websites you’ve suggested. Your material and detailed posts are also very helpful! We will definitely acknowledge the contribution of the GlasgowHistory.com website and we’ll clearly mention where each photograph is taken from. We only want to share local knowledge and to prompt people to find out more about their neighborhood – and your website is a great place to do so!

It’s a shame that you are not in the Dear Green Place, you’d be an excellent addition to our team!

Wish you all the very best (wherever you are),

Naya

William April 24, 2019 at 4:34 am

Chris,

I am finding this site’s entries do not always download for reading. Why is this? I am particularly interested in Jamaica Street and the R.W.Forsyth building.

Is there no entry for Jamaica Street?

Thanks,

William

Robert L. Hughes April 25, 2019 at 9:13 am

Hello Chris,

I am a moderator on the Facebook group Kilts & Culture. Would you permit me to share information from your website there? I would credit your site. Your information on Glasgow would be of interest to the group.

Thank you.

Robert

Chris Jones April 28, 2019 at 7:24 pm

Hi William,

Thank you for your inquiry. I just checked in as a visitor and everything appears to be working properly. If you select Jamaica Street from the index on the right-hand side, a page opens up with Jamaica Street in larger black print. If you hover over it, the print will turn blue, and if you click on it, the full page will open.

Thank you for viewing and best wishes,

Chris

Chris Jones April 28, 2019 at 7:28 pm

Hello Robert,

Thank you very much for your inquiry and you are most welcome to share information about this website with your group.

Wishing you the best of success,

Chris

Helen Bagnall June 19, 2019 at 5:18 am

Hello Chris,

Your website is fantastic, so interesting, useful and informative. I love the mix of social history with facts – a great combination. Thank you for all the work you put in. It has given me a lot of pleasure. There is something I want to know and wonder if you can help. If someone were travelling from Skye to Glasgow in 1877 (you’ve guessed it another novelist!) how would they do it? I thought a passenger steamer via Oban to the Broomielaw or perhaps a commercial vessel… carrying sand or granite to Custom House Quay. Do you have any ideas please? Where on Skye would they embark and how long would it take them to get to Glasgow?

Please keep up the good work. You website is a mine of information and if you don’t do it, it would be lost!

All best wishes.

Helen

Chris Jones July 25, 2019 at 5:12 pm

Hello Helen,

Thank you for your very kind comments. I’m sorry for the delay in processing your request but I have been involved in another international move and the archive is currently in storage. I have contacted two friends who are experts on the history of steamers of the Clyde and Western Isles, and the routes they followed. We are compiling a response and it should be ready shortly.

Best wishes,

Chris

Chris Jones July 30, 2019 at 3:44 pm

Hello Helen,

I have now heard back from two friends who are experts in the history of Scottish steamers and West Coast services, and they are in complete agreement about the possible means to get from Skye to Glasgow in 1877. In addition, I was able to perform some online research regarding the likely railway services operating from Inverness to Glasgow at that time. The possibilities are as follows:

1.

Portree, Skye to Strome Ferry Steamer service: Dingwall & Skye Railway Steamer: P. S. Carham or S. S. Ferret

Strome Ferry to Dingwall: Via the Dingwall & Skye Railway

Dingwall to Inverness: Via the Inverness & Ross-shire Railway

Inverness to Perth: Via the Highland Railway

Perth to Glasgow: Possibly via the Caledonian Railway to Glasgow Buchanan Street Station

2.

Portree to Oban Service: Hutcheson MacBrayne Steamers: P. S. Clansman or P. S. Glencoe

Oban to Crinan Service: Hutcheson MacBrayne Steamer: P. S. Chevalier

Crinan to Ardrishaig Service: Hutcheson MacBrayne Steamer: S. S. Linnet

Ardrishaig to Glasgow Service: Hutcheson MacBrayne Steamer: P. S. Iona

3.

Oban to Glasgow round the Mull of Kintyre Service: Hutcheson MacBrayne Steamers: P. S. Clansman or S. S. Clydesdale

4.

Carbost, Skye to Glasgow Service: Martin Orme Steamer: S. S. Dunara Castle

5.

Skye to Glasgow Service: Hutcheson MacBrayne cargo or numerous Puffers

The fastest of the five options is most probably the first where much of the journey is by train.

I hope this helps.

Best wishes,

Chris

Graeme Smith February 24, 2020 at 3:32 pm

Hello Chris,
I’m researching James Scott of Kelly, developer of Bothwell Street, who in the 1850s bought over Simpson & Co’s huge cotton weaving and spinning mills in Bridgeton, the largest in Scotland. I came across a copy of their marketing booklet of the late 1850s which happily shows some drawings of the premises next to the Clyde but can no longer find it on your excellent site. The reference some months ago was http://www.glasgowhistory.co.uk/Books/Bridgeton/BridgetonChapters/Industry.htm If you can enlighten me please I would be very grateful, and hopefully find the correct link to the booklet, which may have been published around the time of the American Civil War.
Graeme

Chris Jones March 11, 2020 at 9:52 pm

Hello Graeme,
Thank you for your inquiry and kind comment. My website is https://www.glasgowhistory.com and not http://www.glasgowhistory.co.uk so this probably explains why you cannot find the information here. I could not get your link to work so I hope that you manage to track down the material that you are looking for.
All the best,
Chris

Raimondo Sciortino February 15, 2021 at 3:14 am

Hi Chris,

I would be most interested in contacting a Lucy Green, who posted on a message board on this site in 2018. It is with regards to Geremia Mancini. I’m his great, great grandson and I’d really appreciate any help you could provide.

Raimondo

Chris Jones February 20, 2021 at 5:30 pm

Hi Raimondo,

Thank you for your inquiry and I have posted your request here. I will let you know if I receive any feedback.

Best wishes,

Chris

Max Brem November 10, 2021 at 3:48 pm

Hello Chris,

I recently found your website and have been enjoying looking around. Thank you for all the work you do helping to preserve the history of Glasgow in words and images.

I lived in Glasgow until I was eight when my family emigrated to NZ. I’m writing an article about that migration journey, which took place in November-December 1951. That’s right, you guessed it, I’m 78! Rather than sailing directly from the UK, we went on an Italian ship from Genoa to Australia and transferred to a New Zealand vessel for the trans-Tasman crossing to Auckland. The first stage of the journey was going by inter-city bus from Glasgow overnight to London. I’d like to include a few descriptive details of the Glasgow bus station where we departed. Any idea which bus station that was or the bus line, and if it would have been a daily run from Glasgow to London or less than once a week? I wish I had the exact date when we left, but my guess it was maybe Nov. 6th. I recall it was late afternoon when we gathered to say our tearful farewells and it was dark when the bus pulled out, maybe 5 or 6 pm. Many more people, of course, left Scotland for NZ in those years, but the majority would have sailed from the UK via the Clyde, Southampton or Tilbury.

I’m also interested in brief descriptions of life in Glasgow at the time. The scars of WWII would have still been in evidence. My family lived at 239 Langside Road, above Blyth’s tobacconist shop, on the corner of Allison Street (?) in Crosshill. I had just started at Allison Street school. I wonder, does your site have any photos of those locations?

I’d also like to clarify which products were still subject to rationing then. I do remember going to some shops with my little ration book. Let me know if you can suggest a reliable source for information.

Any and all assistance would be highly appreciated.

Very best wishes,
Max (Toronto, Canada).

Chris Jones November 27, 2021 at 6:23 pm

Hello Max,

Thank you for your kind comments and questions. This is a quick note to say that I am working on your inquiries and I will amend my response once I have further information.

You would almost certainly have travelled to London overnight by the bus service operated by Western SMT. ( SMT stands for Scottish Motor Traction.) I will try to find out more about the types of bus that were operating on the route in 1951 and the Glasgow bus station from which they would have departed. You would have had quite a long journey to London in those days because the M1 and M6 motorways did not exist at that time.

Glasgow itself did not experience much bombing during the war but Clydebank was hard hit. So you would probably have not seen much, if any, bomb damage in the city or its southern suburbs.

I hope this information helps while I try to find out more. I am curious as to how you travelled from London to Genoa. Did you take the train from London to Dover or Folkestone and then cross the Channel to Calais before travelling on by train to Basle, Milan and then Genoa?

Best wishes,

Chris

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