Old Photograph Hamilton Crescent School Partick Scotland

Old photograph of pupils outside Hamilton Crescent School in Partick, Glasgow, Scotland. The building was designed by William Landless for the Govan Parish School Board in 1887, and was originally a secondary school for up to 1,000 pupils. William Landless was born at Airdrie in 1847, the son of William Landless, portioner and later registrar of births marriages and deaths, and his wife Margaret Caddell Burnet who was the elder sister of the Glasgow architect John Burnet Senior. His father died when he was sixteen, and at or about that time he was articled to his uncle, remaining with him for a time as an assistant. He married Elizabeth Jane Bannatyne Lawson, the daugher of grocer Andrew Lawson, in a UP ceremony at 11 Graham Street, Airdrie on 7 June 1870. Landless commenced independent practice as early as 1873, the original backbone of his business being work for the Glasgow tramways. His practice rose to some prominence in 1882 when he gained two important commissions, the Gothic Glasgow Blind Asylum in Castle Street, and John Street School. He was a close friend of the second George Bell of Clarke & Bell, but no link between their firms was formed. Sometime before July 1885 Landless formed a partnership with H E Clifford, also from Burnet's office, but problems soon arose. Landless was a man of somewhat extravagant habits with a drink problem and in 1887 he applied for a post as clerk of works to Leeds School Board, and secured the post out of a large number of applicants. His wife had died on 23 March 1887 at Mayfield, Helensburgh. and her early death is almost certainly a factor in his move to Leeds that same year and possibly even in his drink problem. He retained an office in Glasgow for a further year after moving to Leeds, and his family appear to have remained in Glasgow until 1889, when he was appointed Leeds School Board architect, a post he held until 1893, designing at least four new schools for the Leeds School Board as well as additions to various older buildings; during this period he occupied a house at 9 Belmont Grove, Leeds, England. In the latter year he left Leeds for a destination at present unknown. He appears to have been in Liverpool in 1914. In the Glasgow Post Office Directories of the mid 1890s, an entry for Landless still appears,he is listed as at the School Board Offices, Leeds, suggesting that he still retained some connections with Glasgow



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