Angela Seagrave sent us another picture of her dad, Tommy Seagrave and his brother Jim Seagrave and there nephews Billy Bowes and Jim Byars in the Peacock Bar which is now the Tap Room.
We want to see your pictures from nights out in Hamilton. Send them to us by PM (private message) or by email on historichamilton@icloud.com.
THE ANGUS HOTEL
The Angus Hotel was situated across the road from the Avonbridge Hotel and it occupied the piece of land where flats are currently built.
The Twaddle family owned the Avonbridge Hotel and the Angus Hotel was the annex. The family sold the Avonbridge to Mr Martello in the 1980’s but kept and ran the Angus as their main business.
David Laurie worked at the Angus Hotel in the mid 1970’s when Ken Twaddle and his sister Morag ran the business. David was a part time barman and he worked there for extra cash and he told Historic Hamilton that it was a fun place to work!
The building later fell into disrepair and had to be demolished. I wonder if it would give the Avonbridge a run for it’s money if it was still there today.
Angela Seagrave sent us a picture of her dad and his work colleagues at Philips lighting. The picture was taken around the late 60s or early 70s.
Would you like to share your old work photos?
Send them to us on a PM or by email to:
HistoricHamilton@icloud.com
Terry Bouette sent this picture of St Johns Grammer School somewhere late 40s or early 50s.
Terry Bouette is 3rd from right. Eric Forlow is 3rd from left.On third row right in middle is someone called Patterson. I remember the boy 3rd row third from left whose father was caretaker in Hamilton Mauseleum.
Can anyone else be identified.
The Laurie family of Burnbank owned one of the towns best and most noticeable businesses. They were the owners of  Chieftain Buses that was based at their depot on High Blantyre Road.
In the picture above, back row L-R are James, John & David Laurie. Middle row is David & Margaret Laurie and the kids in the front row are Wilma and Bob Laurie.
The company was started by James Laurie. When he came out of the army in 1918, he started with a taxi and built it up into a bus service.
The family later moved to number 81 High Blantyre Road and then set up a bus depot right next door to their house. The business was thriving and had employed local people to work at the depot, as well as all of the Laurie family who were involved in some way.
David Laurie who is the grandson of David Laurie Snr told Historic Hamilton that “all of the family were involved in some way, driving my dad did along with coach building and my uncle’s did mechanics and driving right up to the 60’s when they sold the business”.
The family depot in Burnbank was a busy place and as previously mentioned, it employed local people who include, Carrie (Mair) Clark who was a conductress on the Hairmyres route, her sister Elsie also a clippie on the Hairmyers route, her brothers Willie and Robert all worked for the Chieftain buses for a number of years.
Robert Wilson, Bob Mair & Robert Clements were a few of the drivers on the Chieftain Buses.
The company ran all the way up to 1961 until it was taken over by the SMT group. The old Chieftain garage became Jamieson’s Builders yard for many years and later was sold to the council and it was eventually landscaped.
Historic Hamilton would like to thank David Laurie for telling us his family’s story & sharing some pictures and also Robert Stenlake for supplying some of the local pictures of the Chieftain Buses.
We would like to hear from you! What was your memories of the Cheiftan Buses at High Blantyre Road in Burnbank. Send them to us at HistoricHamilton@icloud.com
One of the major companies in Hamilton round about the turn of the 20th century was Scott, Stirling & Co!
Scott, Stirling & Co were local coach builders in the town and they were founded in 1862 under the name J & C Stirling. They started off as a small business but quickly grew due to their excellent workmanship and at the time coach building was one of the oldest industries in Hamilton.
In the year 1862 when the firm was established the business advanced rapidly. So mush so, that in a comparatively short period of time, it was found necessary to make considerable extensions, and from an original small shop, the firm now occupies an area of nearly one acre of double storied buildings, elaborately fitted with the most modern wood-working machinery.
Scott, Stirling & Co were so reputable that not only did they build coaches and do repairs in Hamilton, they did work all over Scotland, England & Northern Ireland.
They later built ambulance & fever hospital vans all equipped with the “latest improvised fittings”. They also built spring vans, message vans, bakers vans ans then moved on to light & heavy lorries.
They were noted as stating ” A supply of these vans are always on hand, or can be built at the shortest notice” They could possibly have been the Quick Fit of it’s day in the late 1800s.
Below is an advertisement for the carriage works that was gave to Historic Hamilton by Lesley Fife. There is also a Yellow outline marking where the possible site of the coach works were situated just next to the Hamilton Advertiser building, this was taken from the 1847-1895 map of Hamilton.
Window cleaners Pat Hughes & Tommy Wynne cleaning the windows of the county buildings in 1964. It must have taken them some amount of time to clean the 20,000 windows two hundred feet up!! Picture courtesy of Stuart McAllister.