Old Photographs Bellabeg Scotland

Old photograph of cottages and bus in Bellabeg, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Bellabeg is located on the north side of the River Don opposite the village of Strathdon.

All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

View the most recent Tour Scotland photographs.

Old Photograph Entertainers Rothesay Scotland

Old photographs of entertainers in Rothesay, Isle of Bute, Scotland. During the Victorian era, Rothesay developed as a popular tourist destination. It became hugely popular with visitors from Glasgow.
Nathanael Chalmers was born in Rothesay on 22 August 1830. He was a New Zealand pastoralist, explorer, politician, planter, sugar miller and magistrate. He was a member of the Legislative Council of Fiji from 1879 to 1883. Chalmers was the first European to see the South Island of New Zealand inland lakes of Wakatipu, Wanaka and Hāwea as well as the valleys of the Upper Clutha River. He died on 2 December 1910.

Thomas Bannatyne Gillies was born in Rothesay on 17 January 1828. He was a 19th century New Zealand lawyer, judge and politician. He was the eldest of nine children of John Gillies, local lawyer and town clerk, and his wife, Isabella Lillie, daughter of a Glasgow businessman and granddaughter of a Huguenot refugee. Determined to train as a mechanical engineer, he was forced by his father to study law and trained in his father's practice for four years. He then went to Manchester, England, where he worked for Robert Barbour and Sons, with his next brother John taking his place in his father's firm. The two brothers intended to join the California Gold Rush but their father did not allow them to do so, and John emigrated to Australia instead in about 1850. John Gillies senior was so committed with various duties that his health suffered and after long discussions, it was agreed to emigrate to Otago, New Zealand. On 1 June 1852, Thomas Gillies married Catherine Douglas at Newcastle upon Tyne. The whole family, including their brother Robert Gillies, left for New Zealand on 24 July on the Slains Castle. They were soon joined in Otago by John Gillies Junior, who came over from Australia.



All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

View the most recent Tour Scotland photographs.

Old Photograph Gala Day Denny Scotland

Old photograph of Gala Day in Denny located seven miles West Falkirk, Scotland. Formerly in the county of Stirlingshire. It is situated 7 miles west of Falkirk, and 6 miles north east of Cumbernauld, adjacent to both the M80 and M876 motorways. Denny is separated from neighbouring village Dunipace by the River Carron. Until the early 1980s, Denny was a centre for heavy industry, including several iron foundries, brickworks, a coal mine and paper mills. Thomas Bain was born in Denny on December 14, 1834. He was a Canadian parliamentarian. He was the son of Walter Bain, and migrated to Canada with his family when he was three years old. They settled on a bush farm in Wentworth County near Hamilton, Ontario. He was elected to the County Council in the 1860s and became Warden. He was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1872 federal election as a Liberal. He was re-elected on six subsequent occasions, serving as a Member of Parliament for 28 years before retiring in 1900. In the House, he usually spoke on agricultural issues, and became Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture and Colonization in 1896. In 1874, he married Helen Weir. When the Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons, James David Edgar, died unexpectedly in July 1899, Wilfrid Laurier asked Bain to become the new Speaker for the remainder of Egar's term. Bain served as Speaker until the House was dissolved for the 1900 election in which he did not run. After retiring from politics, Bain became President of the Landed Banking and Loan Company and the Malcolm and Souter Furniture Company. He died in Dundas, on January 18, 1915, Ontario at age 80. Carl William Dunn Kirkwood was born on 30 April 1929 in Denny. He was the son of iron jobbing moulder William Kirkwood and his wife Ellen. He completed his schooling in Scotland and then served in the British Army in Malaya and Singapore from 1946 to 1948. He worked as a jobbing moulder, in Australia in 1955. He was soon active both in the Moulders' Union and the Labor Party's Preston branch. In 1970 he was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly as the member for Preston. He became spokesman on local government immediately, adding lands from 1976 to 1977 and dropping his front bench role entirely in 1981. Kirkwood retired in 1988. Of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to visit one day.



All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

View the most recent Tour Scotland photographs.

Old Photograph Rudha Nan Gall Lighthouse Mull Scotland

Old photograph of Rudha Nan Gall lighthouse, Isle of Mull, Scotland. This Scottish lighthouse is situated about one mile North of Tobermory, and marks the South West side of the North West entrance to the Sound of Mull. Built as part of the joint scheme of David and Thomas Stevenson, to build 29 lights between 1854 and 1878, it was first lit on 10 November 1857 and automated in 1860.



All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

View the most recent Tour Scotland photographs.

Old Photograph Glasgow Prestwick Airport Scotland

Old photograph of the airport at Prestwick, Ayrshire, Scotland. This Scottish airport began life around 1934, primarily as a training airfield, with a hangar, offices and control tower constructed by the end of 1935. The airport's original owner was David Fowler McIntyre, also the owner of Scottish Aviation with backing from the then Duke of Hamilton. MacIntyre and Hamilton were the first aviators to fly over Mount Everest in 1933. The United States Air Force, USAF, operated a base in 1952 on the site of the original airport using former Royal Air Force, RAF, facilities, the USAF Military Air Transport Service, MATS, 1631st Air Base Squadron), and in 1953 on the Monkton side of the airport, both used by the USAF MATS. The USAF base closed in 1966.



All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

View the most recent Tour Scotland photographs..