Old Photograph Invercloy Scotland

Old photograph of cottages in Invercloy by Brodick, Island of Arran, Scotland. There was a synagogue at one time in the Invercloy Hotel. Wartime evacuees swelled the numbers of the community. There were also wartime refugees in Ayrshire, including Susanne Schaefer and Lore Zimmerman, who came on the Kindertransport and were fostered by the Hamiltons of Rozelle House. In addition there was a refugee hostel, Birkenward in Skelmorlie.There were Jewish families in Ayr from at least the early 1850s and a small but vibrant Jewish community had been formally established in the beginning of the twentieth century. The Ayrshire coast also had a number of kosher boarding houses, particularly in the 1920s and 1930s, catering principally for members of the Glasgow Jewish community, including the Invercloy Hotel in Ayr, reputedly Scotland's only kosher hotel. The Jewish reached its highest point during World War II, due in part to the influx of evacuees from Glasgow and elsewhere. Numbers began to decline following the war and the Invercloy closed, with the synagogue, in the 1970s There was also a war-time hostel for Jewish evacuee and refugee children at Birkenward in Skelmorlie, north Ayrshire from at least 1940.

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Old Photograph Bootmakers Kemnay Scotland

Old photograph of bootmakers in Kemnay, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The traditional boot maker would measure the feet and cut out upper leathers according to the required size. These parts were fitted and stitched together. The sole was next assembled, consisting of a pair of inner soles of soft leather, a pair of outer soles of firmer texture, a pair of welts or bands about one inch broad, of flexible leather, and lifts and top-pieces for the heels. The insole was then attached to a last made of wood, which was used to form the shoe. Some lasts were straight, while curved lasts came in pairs: one for left shoes, the other for right shoes. The 'lasting' procedure then secured the leather upper to the sole with tacks. The soles were then hammered into shape; the heel lifts were then attached with wooden pegs and the worn out sole was nailed down to the lifts. The finishing operation included paring, rasping, scraping, smoothing, blacking, and burnishing the edges of soles and heels, scraping, sand-papering, and burnishing the soles, withdrawing the lasts, and cleaning out any pegs which may have pierced through the inner sole.



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Old Photograph Royal Samaritan Hospital for Women Glasgow Scotland

Old photograph of the Royal Samaritan Hospital for Women at 69 Coplaw Street in Govanhill in Glasgow, Scotland. The hospital was opened in Hutchesontown in 1886 and relocated in Kingston three years later. The new hospital in Coplaw Street was built in the mid-1890s, designed by the architects Ninian McWhannell and John Rogerson. The design was an adaption of the 17th century Scottish Renaissance style and has just two storeys in the main. A dispensary was added in 1897 and two new wards were built in 1905 and 1924. The building with round towers in the foreground, on the corner of Victoria Road, was the Alice Mary Corbett Memorial Nurses' Home on the corner of Victoria Road. It was financed by Mrs Cameron Corbett of Rowallan and was built in 1904 and subsequently extended.



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Old Photograph Ardblair Castle Scotland

Old photograph of Ardblair Castle near Blairgowrie, Perthshire, Scotland. This Scottish tower house was built by the Blairs during the Norman period, on the site of a fort. In the reign of King Robert III, born 1390, died 1406, the lands of Ardblair were granted to Thomas Blair of Balthayock, remaining with his family until 1792, when the estate passed to the Oliphants of Gask.

Prominent Blairs in Scottish history include: John Blair, chaplain to Sir William Wallace; Robert Blair, born 1699, died 1746, a poet best known for the epic poem The Grave; his son Robert Blair of Avantoun, born 1741, died 1811, Solicitor General for Scotland under King George III, and Lord President of the Court of Session, equivalent to Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court; Doctor Patrick Blair, botanist and surgeon; Robert Blair, inventor of the aplanatic telescope; Eric Blair, a writer best known by his pen name George Orwell; Tony Charles Lynton Blair, born in 1953 in Edinburgh, educated in Fettis College, read law at Oxford University, in England, former Prime Minister of Great Britain, Robin Orr Blair, appointed Lord Lyon, King of Arms of Scotland by the Queen in 2001.

Blair is also a prominent surname in Ireland. These Blairs are primarily descended from Scots who settled in Northern Ireland in earlier centuries. Many moved on to the U.S. and the British Commonwealth, where they are found today, and were known as Scotch Irish.

The first Blair in America is thought to be Commissary James Blair, born in Edinburgh, educated in the University. of Edinburgh, who arrived in Williamsburg, Virginia in 1685. He founded the second oldest college in America, William & Mary College, and served as president for 40 years and was acting Governor of the Colony of Virginia from 1740 to 1741, while The Reverend John Blair, of Fagg’s Manor, helped found Princeton University. Other prominent Blairs in American history include John Blair, signer of the U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court Justice, appointed by President Washington; Francis Preston Blair, newspaper editor and confidante of several U.S. Presidents; Francis Preston Blair, Junior, Civil War General, U.S.Senator, and candidate for Vice President in 1868; Montgomery Blair, Postmaster General under President Lincoln; two state Governors, Austin Blair & James T. Blair, and a wife of a state Governor; numerous U.S. Congressman and Senators; John Insley Blair, a railroad magnate and philanthropist; Andrew Blair, Canadian Statesman, and Bonnie Blair of Champaign Illinois, Olympic Gold Medal winner for speed skating.



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Old Photograph Buchanan Retreat Bearsden Scotland

Old photograph of the Buchanan Retreat house in Bearsden, Glasgow, Scotland. Now known as Boclair House it was originally built as the Buchanan Retreat in 1890 by legacies from three Buchanan sisters of Bellfield, Ayrshire, to provide a home for elderly members of the Buchanan Clan. In due course the restriction to those called Buchanan had to be removed due to the lack of applications from people of that surname and, following an interest taken in the Institution by the Corporation of Glasgow, who were represented among the original trustees, it became a Home for elderly men. In 1960 the property was acquired by Bearsden Town Council and became the new Municipal Buildings. By 1975 the building housed the Administration and Finance Departments of the new Bearsden and Milngavie District Council.





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