The Dowds & Monaghan Family of Eddlewood Rows.
Peter Dowds sent us this fantastic picture of children from the 1930s, who lived at Eddlewood Rows and asked Historic Hamilton to look at the family history of his grandparents.
Here is what we found:
In the middle of the photo is Peter’s auntie, Bridget Monaghan with her
arms around Peters mother Mary Monaghan. Peter told Historic Hamilton that he doesn’t know who the other children in the picture are.
Peters mum Mary was born in 1920 and his auntie Bridget was born on the 23 July 1913, in the family home of 22 Eddlewood Rows at 5:00 am. Peter’s grandparents on his mum’s side were Thomas Monaghan & Nora Meaghan from Belmullet, Co, Mayo in Ireland and were married on the 8th February 1907, in their home town of Belmullet.
They emigrated to Scotland just after they were married and shortly after their first child Thomas, was born. Thomas, who was Peters uncle, was born on the 26th May 1908, at 11 Brown Street in Hamilton. Thomas’ father had gained employment and was working doing odd jobs as a general labourer. Peters auntie Sabina was born in 1910 also at the family home of 11 Brown Street.
Bridget & Mary (who are in the group picture) were 2 of 6 children. All the family & relatives settled in Eddlewood, Meikle Earnock and Quarter Road. Peter spent his younger years in Hamilton and he used to work for McKeon’s the “bookies”, he worked in Castle Street, Almada Street, Cadzow Street and in Paisley shops. He later joined the Lanarkshire Police and was posted to Baillieston.
He then moved to England for a few years and eventually left England and emigrated to Hong Kong where he joined Royal Hong Kong Police. After 9 years’ service, Peter emigrated once again, this time over to New Zealand and became a citizen of New Zealand on the 16th December 1974 where he now has settled with his family.
Going back to Hamilton, the houses in Eddlewood Rows consisted of two rooms with 2-bed recesses in each room which had drawers under them for storage. There was a coal range in one room and a fireplace in the other. The toilet was in the entrance way before the entry to the main part of the house. There was a copper and mangle in the communal wash house with communal clothes lines facilities. If you were the right height as a kid and you were running or walking in this area at night you were liable to get choked or nearly decapitated if someone had forgotten to take down their clothes line, Eddlewood Rows as all mining communities in the 1930s weren’t very well lit up at night! There was also a communal “midden” in the same area.
Some of the family surnames that lived at Eddlewood in the 1930s are listed below, they would have more than likely been the parents of the children in this picture.
John Marshall, Robert McCrum, John Henry, James Haughim? Thomas Martin, James McInnes, Alexander Crookston, John Lindsay, Robert Rodger, Harry Gray, Archibald Craig, John Cadenhead, Archibald Kerr, James Addis, William McDowall, William Wilkie, Joseph Addis, Thomas Monaghan (Peters relative), Allan Wilkie, James O’Donnell, Robert Patterson, James Wilkie, Daniel McCarthy, Edward McKenna, William Maxwell, John Riddell, John O’Neill, Alexander Hodge, Michael Fowler, John Neill.
I asked Peter what he could tell me about his dad’s side of the family and Peter told us that the family were Dowd’s and lived in the road that run down the side of the old gasworks in Hamilton, he told me that they were the gas works on the left coming down from Eddlewood.
I did a bit of digging and I found that Peter’s dad (who was called John) was born in Glasgow and married his mum Mary on the 26th of October 1940 at St. Anne’s Chapel in Hamilton. At the time they married, Peter’s dad was living at 4 Burnside Lane across from the Gasworks, his mum was living at 62 Eddlewood Rows with her parents.
Peter also didn’t know his grandmother, as she had passed away when he was very young, however, I managed to find her. Peter, your grandmother died when you were 5 years old on the 7th of August 1948 at her house in 4 Burnside Lane. She died at 11:00 am and the cause of death was Myocardial Degeneration (Heart Disease). Your uncle James was the informant of her death. A strange coincidence, but at the time your uncle James was living at 15 Farm Terrace in Burnbank, my own grandparents lived at 17 Farm Terrace and may have possibly known your uncle James as they would have been neighbours.
On his dad’s side, Peters grandparents were Peter Dowds & Cecilia McAtasney and his grandfather Peter was a Coal Hewer. In 1940, they were living at 4 Burnside Lane. His grandparents were a family from Maryhill in Glasgow and were married on the 18th of July 1908 at Maryhill. When they married, his grandfather was living at 46 Kelvin Street and his grandmother was living at 8 Park Place, she was a Paper Mill Worker in Glasgow.
When I looked back further I found that Peter’s great grandparents on his dad’s side, were John Dowds (also a Coal Miner who had died before 1908) and Elizabeth Donnelly. On his gran’s side, his great grandparents were called James McAtasney (a General Labourer) and Mary McGowan.
I also managed to track down another family member for Peter, I found a Helen Fitzpatrick Armstrong and I asked who she was, Peter told us: “My Uncle Peter Dowds married a lady called Helen Armstrong. After he died she sort of vanished from our lives. If it was the same person then she would have been a “good” age.”
Peter, I have found that your auntie Helen Armstrong died in Dunoon in 2008 aged 81. She was born in 1927. This connection has reference to Dowds & Fitzpatrick but as her death certificate will have to be ordered I can’t give you the full details. This Helen was also Born in Hamilton.
We would like to thank Peter for sending us his old family photos.
Do you have an old photo or want to find out what happened to a family member? Send us your pictures and requests and we will look into this for you.
