Bishopbriggs

This mystery donation was sent to Bishopbriggs Library in November 2013, and has since been added to the Archive collections. It arrived in the mail one morning, sent by second class post in an ordinary brown envelope. Luckily what was inside survived it's journey through the post, as the envelope revealed two volumes dating from the early 1800s. The first volume, dating from 1821-1825, appears to be a record of joinery work carried out at various places in 'Bishops Bridge' including Huntershill House, Cadder and Kenmure as well as surrounding areas such as Campsie Kirk. The work ranges from producing gates and doors to coffins and beehives. There is a record of individual men's work, together with a date, description of the work and the number of days taken to complete the job. There is also a second smaller volume with 'Mr John Henderson Bishop Bridge in account with James Martin & Sons' written on the front cover. This volume lists supplies purchased such as nails, screws, saws and hinges, and dates from 1827-1830. If you are the mystery donor, or if you have any more information on John Henderson of Bishops Bridge, please do get in touch.

View of the saloon steamer with passengers on the Forth and Clyde Canal at Cadder with cottages in the background. Along the Forth and Clyde Canal the ‘Queens’ were synonymous with the arrival of summer. There were five in all: ‘Fairy Queen’ 1, ‘Fairy Queen’ 2, ‘May Queen’, ‘Gipsy Queen’ and ‘Fairy Queen’ 3. The excursions were a family business run by James Aitken, a local grocery store owner. The May Queen was built at the yard of Peter McGregor and Sons of Kirkintilloch and her engine manufactured by Smith and Alan of Pollokshaws. It was asserted that she was the prettiest of Aitken’s ‘Queens’ with well-balanced proportions and graceful harmonious lines; a yellow funnel and white hull and deckworks. Apart from regular sailings, the ‘Queens’ were popular with groups who wanted to take advantage of their size for music and dancing. As a result, James Aitken found it profitable to have a second boat available for chartering to wedding parties, annual outings and Glaswegians who found going “Doon the Watter” too expensive.

Trams were known as cars or ‘caurs’ and bright flashes between the overhead power cable and the trolley pole attached to the tram were often seen before suppressor coils were introduced. ‘Sparking’ trams also caused radio interference for people with wireless sets. In the 1920s the tram fare from Jamaica Street in the centre of Glasgow to Bishopbriggs was tuppence ha’penny (two and a half pennies). “Our car takes us to Bishopbriggs, the still pleasantly rural village in Cadder Parish, said by some local histories and gazetteers to have derived its name from certain rigs or ridges of land which belonged to the Bishops of Glasgow… At Bishopbriggs you are welcomed by the country, and a pleasant country road leads one through verdant spaces screened by verdant foliage, down to the woods of Cadder, through which the canal runs like a silver thread among the woodland verdure. It is a little over a mile’s tramp to Cadder, another couple takes you into Kirkintilloch.” From the 2nd edition of ‘The Borderlands of Glasgow: A Tramway Guide to the Countryside around the City.’

Laura Mary Ann Marion Smith (1865 – 1943), the sixth of eight children, was born in Lancashire. In 1880 Laura moved to Edinburgh to train as a nurse and became a staff nurse at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow in 1891. By 1897 she was sister in-charge of the ‘Out-Patient’ Clinic and Dispensary in Cowcaddens. She saw first-hand the effects of poor diet on children and in 1898 she developed a milk formula as a substitute for breast milk. The treated cow’s milk had successful results and Sister Laura went on to market the formula, or baby food, for sale to the general public. In 1911, along with Duncan MacGregor, a yarn merchant; Margaret Moore, a baker and confectioner (who manufactured the baby food at her bakery) and solicitor, William Christie Cowan, she created ‘Sister Laura’s Infant Food Company Limited’. In 1920 the company was sold to Edward and William Watson who incorporated it into ‘Sister Laura’s Infant and Invalid Food Company Limited’, based at Springfield Works in Bishopbriggs. “You will agree it is only natural that I feel a just pride in the success of Sister Laura’s Food, a success made doubly sure by the confidence and co-operation of members of the Medical and Nursing Professions.” Sister Laura was a respected nurse and entrepreneur who improved the care and wellbeing of thousands of Glasgow’s children, many of whom chanted her name in a ball game: “Sister Laura walks like this, Pit a pat pat, pit a pat pat.” ‘Sister Laura’s Infant and Invalid Food Company’ continued to trade until 1981.

In 1792, at the age of seventeen, Thomas Muir abandoned his Divinity studies at Glasgow University in favour of Law. This was also the year Thomas’s father bought property at Huntershill in the Parish of Cadder and Thomas adopted the style of extended name then customary in Scotland and became Thomas Muir, Younger, of Huntershill. When the French Revolution stimulated a desire for parliamentary reform in Britain, Muir associated himself with the radical wing of the movement. He was charged with sedition and stood trial on 30th August, 1793 for “exciting a spirit of disloyalty and disaffection”, for recommending Thomas Paine’s “Rights of Man” and for distributing and reading aloud inflammatory writings. Muir defended himself at the trial but was found guilty by Lord Braxfield and four other anti-reform judges and sentenced to fourteen years transportation to Botany Bay in Australia. In 1796 Muir arranged his escape to America aboard the “Otter”. Shipwreck, captivity among American Indians, detention in Mexico and imprisonment in Havana followed. Whilst returning to Europe he was severely wounded in a naval engagement with the “Ninfa”. It was as a result of these wounds that he died less than two years later at Chantilly in France.

First Aid certificate related to Air Raid Precautions (ARP) issued by St Andrews Ambulance Association, June 1939 to Mrs Janet Y Primrose during WW2. This is a record of certification for First Aid related to ARP WW2. Brought to Trails and Tales by Carol Primrose, as part of a wide range of family material, the certificate belonged to Carol's mother in law, Mrs Janet Primrose, who was tragically killed when a German bomb was dropped on Bishopbriggs school - she was killed by the blast. Janet Primrose is on the Bishopbriggs war memorial as killed in enemy action. Other items include Willie Primrose's Air raid warden's note book and a notification of respirator inspections as well as a selection of post cards and photos belonging to Bill Primrose, during his time as an Army Signaller he was posted to Gibraltar where part of his work became as an interviewer - of people who travelled on/off the Rock - workers, refugees etc. He was transferred to Intelligence Core where his role was to monitor radio broadcasts - and he travelled widely as part of this. The collection of images, post cards reflects something of Bill’s journeys and locations where he was billeted and offers a window to the world from a very different time; there is a group photo where Bill can be seen on extreme left.