Old Photograph Garscadden Gates Scotland

Old photograph of Garscadden Gates in Drumchapel in Glasgow, Scotland. The Girnin' Gates, as they were known were built at the southern entrance to Garscadden House in 1789 for James Colquhoun, who was the laird of Garscadden. The Fleming family owned Garscadden Estate, in the 14th century, after which it fell heir to Sir Robert Erskine, and then to the Galbraiths in the 15th century. It was in 1664 that Archibald Colquhoun of Camstradden, near Luss by Loch Lomond, became it’s latest owner. In 1938 Garscadden House was acquired by Glasgow Corporation and evacuees were sent there during the Second World War. It was destroyed by fire in 1959.



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Old Photograph Jimmie Guthrie Memorial Scotland

Old photograph of the Jimmie Guthrie memorial in Hawick, Scotland. Tour Scottish Borders. Andrew James " Jimmie " Guthrie, born 23 May 1897, died 8 August 1937, was a Scottish motorcycle racer famous for 19 motorcycle Grand Prix wins and 3 victories in the North West 200 and 6 wins at the Isle of Man TT Races in his career. On leaving school he became an apprentice engineer with a local firm. He joined the Border Battalion of the 4th King's Own Scottish Borderers and on his 18th birthday headed off to the horrors of Gallipoli and the Great War. In a dreadful accident, 215 men were killed just miles from home, when their troop train collided with a goods train at Gretna and was subsequently hit by an express. Guthrie did not return to Hawick until the war ended, a gruelling tour of duty that took in Turkey, Egypt, Palestine and the Western Front in France. He died aged 40, riding his favourite Norton motorcycle while leading the field and thrilling a crowd of 250,000 people packed into the Sachsenring circuit in Germany. He he was on the final lap when he came off his bike on the notorious Noetzhold corner, suffered terrible injuries and died soon afterwards. The Germans laid on a special train and a military escort as Jimmy’s body made the solemn journey home to Hawick where his funeral attracted huge crowds.



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Old Photograph Lawrie Reilly Scotland

Old photograph of Lawrie Reilly who was born on 28 October 1928 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Lawrie was a Scottish football player. He was one of the " Famous Five ", the Hibernian forward line during the late 1940s and early 1950s, along with Bobby Johnstone, Gordon Smith, Eddie Turnbull, and Willie Ormond. Reilly is rated as the top forwards in Scottish football history and was inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame in 2005. He died on 22 July 2013.



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Old Photograph Neil Munro Memorial Glen Aray Scotland

Old photograph of the Neil Munro memorial in Glen Aray near Inveraray, Scotland. Neil Munro, Scottish journalist, newspaper editor, author and literary critic, born 3 June 1863, died 22 December 1930, was the author of the famous " Para Handy " stories, he spent much of his time in Glen Aray when young and his mother came from a farm close to this point. He was born in Inveraray, the illegitimate son of Ann Munro, a kitchen maid; his death certificate gives his father's name as James Thompson Munro. He was brought up by his maternal grandparents and an aunt. He attended Glencaddie Primary School and Church Square Public School, leaving at 14. For five years he worked in the office of the Sheriff Clerk of Argyll, a fairly prestigious post which has led to speculation that he may have had undisclosed family connections. He then moved to Glasgow, and worked briefly in the cashier's office in an ironmonger's shop in the Trongate, before working as a journalist on the Greenock Advertiser, the Glasgow News, the Falkirk Herald and the Glasgow Evening News. He died in Craigendoran, Helensburgh on 22 December 1930.


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Old Photograph Harry Lauder Scotland

Old photograph of Harry Lauder who was born on 4 August 1870 in Portobello in Edinburgh, Scotland. Harry was the eldest of seven children to John Lauder, a potter, and his wife Isabelle née Macleod. John Lauder, was a descendent of Lauders of the Bass, and Isabella was born in Arbroath in Angus, to a family from the Black Isle. Lauder's father moved to Newbold, Derbyshire, England, in 1882 to take up a job designing china, but died of pneumonia later that year. Upon his death, Isabella moved the family to Arbroath and Harry worked part-time at the local flax. The following year he moved independently to Hamilton, South Lanarkshire where he was employed as a miner, a job which he maintained for the next decade. On 19 June 1891, at age 21, Lauder married Ann, daughter of James Vallance, a colliery manager in Hamilton. At around that time, Lauder initiated a singing career and gained a reasonable reputation as a singer and comedian with local concert parties. To pass the time, Lauder sang to fellow miners who encouraged him to perform in local music halls. While singing in nearby Larkhall, he received 5 shillings, the first time he was paid for singing. He received further engagements including a weekly " go as you please " night held by Mrs. Christina Baylis at her Scotia Music Hall, Metropole Theatre in Glasgow. By the 1900s, Lauder had become the highest paid performer in the world, and was the first Scottish artist to sell a million records. He raised vast amounts of money for the war effort during World War I, for which he was subsequently knighted in 1919. He went into semi retirement in the mid 1930s, but briefly emerged to entertain troops in World War II. By the late 1940s he was suffering from long periods of ill health and died in Scotland in 1950.

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