It was reported in the Hamilton Advertiser on Saturday the 5th of July 1862 that, “Stolen on the afternoon of the Sabbath last, between two and four o clock pm from Chanting Grove, Union Street, two hen chickens of the golden Spaniel breed…..Whoever will give information of their whereabouts at the office of this paper, or at the Hamilton police-office will be handsomely rewarded.”
I myself can’t help but think, that those two Golden Spaniel Breed chickens would have made a delicious Sunday dinner for the persons family that stole them.
Mary with her grandaughter Agnes McNamee at 8 Back -o-Barns.
Mary Ellen Connolly was born on the 25th of December 1875 at James Street in Sligo Ireland, she was the daughter of Michael Connolly (A Baker) & Maria Carr.
Mary lived in Sligo with her parents, 5 brothers & 3 sisters and later moved to 9 Cranmore Street. She was married at the age of 25 to a local man called Patrick McAuley. They immigrated to Scotland in the summer of 1902 and moved to Motherwell where Patrick gained work at one of the local coal mines.
On the 29th of October Mary gave birth to twins Mary & Annie at Fairfield Place in Coursington Street, Motherwell, where they lived for a further 9 years before moving to Glasgow for a short period.
The family then moved to Hamilton where Patrick was working as a railway plate layer and lived at 28 Bailles Causeway. Sadly Mary’s husband Patrick became ill and died of Pneumonia on the 25th of April 1913. Mary gained employment as a laundry worker and moved to 8 Back-o-Barns where she would live the rest of her life.
Six years later, Mary met a widower called James Brunton who was a carter and originally from Peebles, he lived in Hope Street and they had a son in the year 1919 who they named James Brunton. Mary & James later married on Mary’s birthday on the 25th December 1934 at St. Mary’s RC Chapel.
James Brunton & Mary McAuley’s marriage Cert.
Sadly James died on the 11th of April 1947 and Mary was once again a widower. Mary’s daughter, Mary continued to live in Hamilton and has an extensive family who are the McCallum’s, McNamee’s Poultons & Mitchells. Annie (Mary’s twin) later immigrated to Canada where she met a local man Amos Anderson and they raised a family with two daughters who they named Thelma & Olla. Sadly Thelma Died in 2008.
Annie Josephine McAuley.
Olla who is married to Jim Stephens have their own family and still to this day, Olla keeps in touch with her Scottish cousins Janette McCallum,James Poulton & Anne-Marie & Mary Mitchell.
Mary’s grandaughter Olla Stephens from Canada.
Mary continued to live at 8 Back-o-Barns for the next eight years until she sadly took an epileptic fit on the 18th of March 1951 and unfortunately when this happened she was standing at her fireplace and when she collapsed and her apron caught fire. She was taken to Hairmyres Hospital in East Kilbride where she died the next day of second degree burns.
Mary was survived by her three children and she was sadly missed by all.
The Higgins Brothers from Cadzow, Hamilton, were great characters who exemplified the courage and hardship of the time in and after the First World War. Miners and fighters all.
They lived in the Miners rows and also lived upstairs from the Ranche Bar, a famed miners pub in Eddlewood. There was 13 of them, including the children! Mary Higgins the mother, was Mary Murphy before she married and was a bleach-field worker in the Paisley mills. Her parents were Irish. Dominick Higgins, the father, came from an Irish family who moved into Hamilton probably at the time of the Irish famine.
They typify the families of the area, resilient, real characters, miners, and Irish. Mary Higgins, my grandmother, also worked at the pit-head and was every bit as tough (with a heart of gold). She moved to Hall Street and then to Arden Court before she died. She was a great character and lived until she was 93. Jim Higgins became British and Empire bantamweight champion in 1920 and won the Lonsdale belt outright in 1921 in a record time of under one year (the win and two defenses) which stood until the nineteen fifties when Peter Keenan missed the chance the to break it, but he didn’t do it, so it was never matched or broken.
It is said he was robbed of a lot of his winnings from his fights by his manager. It is said he sold his Lonsdale belt to an American sailor and is now in the states somewhere. It is unique, because it was the last belt won under the British and Empire Championship (before this was changed to just British). It is said the Higgins’s laid the foundation for boxing in Hamilton and one of the brothers maybe Jim or Terrance set up a boxing club there, where a Joe Gans, father of Walter McGowan learned from Jim Higgins. Jimmy died in his sixties after acting as a bouncer in a bookies shop in the Gallowgate in Glasgow.
Jim Higgins British and Empire Bantamweight champion
Tommy (Mouse) Higgins, a younger brother was also a famed boxer from Cadzow in the 1930s winning many professional and national championships. He was called Mouse because he was under five foot and weighed in at seven stone six pounds. A flyweight, he fought Benny Lynch for the British championship and he was only beaten by points decision, even though Benny was nine pounds heavier. He fought Lynch three times and Benny went on to win the World championship. Harry Lauder was in the Cadzow pits and he may have worked alongside the Higgins’s.
Tommy (Mouse) Higgins.
There are newspaper cuttings from 1932 which tells of Harry Lauder taking him under his wing, Tommy becoming his protégé. Terence Higgins lived in Millgate in Fairhill and died at the age of 88. He was a great character, an old tough miner with a great spirit. His mother Mary (Murphy) Higgins sent him a postcard (attached) when he was at the Front in France, during the First World War, it says: “My Dear Son Terence Higgins. Only a Post card from your mother in Hamilton to let you know we all well. Hopping you are the same and hope to God, seeing by the Papers, the Gordons have led the way in this big charge. I only hope to God, my son, you are one of the lively lads and God has spared you to pull your hard Battle through . My Son Terrence May God Guide and Protect you and send you a safe return to you mother. Good night son and good luck and god bless you and I will have for you. Terry night and day so cheer up son and have a good heart and will rite soon again. Hoping to hear from you soon. Kiss From Mother.
Postcard from Mary Higgins to her son Terrence.
This is so poignant because when she wrote the post card she wouldn’t have known whether he was alive or dead.
He came home though, even although he lost an eye! His granddaughter advised that Terry (Higgins) had told his son (David Higgins) that out of ten pals that joined up only two came back Terry Higgins and Terry Murphy (his cousin) both had been shot four times. He said a young man called Kit Rocks was the youngest soldier from Cadzow to be killed.
Terrence Higgins was always proud of the fact that he was the only man in two wars to survive being shot “6 o’clock in the bull” which was the term used to describe a shot between the eyes! That was in 1914, he went back to war and lost his eye after being shot again in 1918!
We were looking for a picture of the George Lloyd Motorcycle supermarket in Peacock Cross (Which is now a Carpet superstore) as i understood they were one of the largest motorbike suppliers in the UK. We couldn’t track a picture down, however we did manage to hear a little bit about the Bike superstore.
The Muir Street Garage.
I spoke with Yvonne Hamill who works at the Hamilton Motorcycle services and she did manage to track down a picture, she told us.
“In the picture is George Lloyd who is the one with the white shirt (far right) next to him on the left is Bert Sneddon then next is Hugh Adams only other one that I can recall is on far left who is Billy Strain.
George Lloyd died in 2013 and is buried in the bent cemetery. His business lives on through his wife and kids. This is the works shop the show room was in Cadzow street which became the rococo night club.
They then moved to their purpose build show room at peacock cross which is now a carpet shop. George Lloyd was the biggest motorcycle set up in Europe in the 1970s.
The last apprentice was a guy called David who served his time in the peacock cross hypermarket! He was there till they stopped selling bikes in 1987. Years later we opened Hamilton motorcycles in the 1st lloyds workshop. We opened Hms in April 2003”
Glenlee House was a rural mansion that was situated at Udston in Burnbank. It stood between two parallel burns, one was at the border with Blantyre and the other ran through Udston.
The house was a fine example of Victorian stature and was not only a large luxurious house but it also showed people how rich the owners really were.
Glenlee House.
The mansion was built in the mid 1800s and was first owned by Alexander Miller. It was a 2 storey building with 30 rooms and was accessed from Thorntree Avenue, which accommodated a turning point for horse drawn carriages. After going through Thorntree Avenue you passed through two stone pillars at Russell Street – which still stand to this day.
The turning point for the horse & carriages at Thorntree Avenue.The Russell Street entrance of Glenlee House.
You then travelled along a curved avenue of trees and over a bridge at the burn that runs through Udston and as you came to this bridge, Glenlee House was straight ahead.
The bridge that crosses the burn leading to Glenlee HouseThe former site of Glenlee House.
The imposing frontage of the 2 storey building with its further two storey glass tower, was set in the centre of an oval lawn. Ivy dressed the large bay windows, a weeping willow tree grew near the entrance door and there was further shrubs and lovely trimmed bushes that lead down the second driveway that took you to the gate keepers lodge.
After 1861 the house was owned by Lewis Potter, an owner of a shipping company, a director of the City of Glasgow Bank and who was famous, not for his businesses, but for his imprisonment for defrauding the bank in 1879. Lewis Potter had been director at the bank since 1858, he and his colleague Robert Stronach, were both found guilty of fraud and each sentenced to 18 months imprisonment.
The Udston Road entrance to Glenlee House.
In the year 1878 when Lewis Potter was Jailed, J Clelland, Chairman of the Cunard Steamship Company bought the mansion and owned it for over 20 years. The last recorded tenants in the house were the Burns family, who were connected with the Burns-Laird shipping line, a ships bell hung outside the house during the time that they lived here.
The house was taken over in 1914 just before the first world war by Hamilton Town Council for use as a hostel for Belgian Refugees.
In the 1920s Glenlee House was used as a tuberculosis hospital.
1892 Map of Glenlee House & today’s satellite image of the same area.Old ruin of unknown building at Glenlee House.Old ruin of Unknown building at Glenlee House.Old sandstone block left over from the demolition of Glenlee House, The block lying in the boundary burn between Blantyre & Burnbank.
By the mid 1960s the house fell in to decline and was unfit for purpose, so it was taken into private ownership, by Joe Gans, father of Walter McGowan (World Flyweight and British Bantamweight Champion) and was used as a gymnasium where Walter trained for his fights.
In 1971 the last known owner was Jan Stepek who was also the owner of the legendary TV rental shops, he only used the house for storage.
Glenlee House (South Front) 1965.
Sadly Glenlee House was demolished in the mid 1970s, partly due to subsidence from the underground coal mines but also because it was run down so badly. Glenlee House was another one of Hamiltons country mansions that had been lost as a result of the underground workings, and today, if it was still standing it would be a credit to Burnbank.
Glenlee House (South Front) Beams holding up the south front wall due to Subsidence from the underground coal mines.The Gatekeepers Lodge that was situated at the corner between Russell Street & Burnbank Road.
