The Gorbals has a diverse and fascinating history. Over the years, many people have shaped its development or have become famous - or infamous.
Take a look through this list of names and see how many you recognise. Most likely, you’ll say "Oh, so that’s who did that!" or: "They’re from the Gorbals?"
Find out the origin of 'Private Eyes', or who put the 'Greek' into a famous church in the area. Who left Celtic in 1965 before getting a European Cup Medal with Manchester? Who threatened to paint his Park Circus home tartan to wind up his neighbours? Who got the DCM from George VI?
From boxers to shop owners, their stories are remarkable...
John Anderson was one of Glasgow's earliest and best-known shop-keeping entrepreneurs. In 1837, his first single-windowed drapery shop in Clyde Terrace gained such a reputation for selling 'bargains' that the premises soon became too small.
He moved to the Polytechnic Rooms in Jamaica Street before even larger shop in Argyle Street where Anderson's Royal Polytechnic was long to be a familiar landmark.
In its day it was regarded as the largest department store in Scotland. It survived until 1929 when it was taken over by Lewis's.
As a result of a rich diversity of products and successful advertising campaigns he became extremely wealthy and moved his home to the very fashionable Park Circus.
His neighbours resented a mere shopkeeper in their street and began to denigrate him. He declared that if any attempt was made to further belittle him he would paint the outside of his house a very bright tartan.
He has been credited with the principle of offering goods for sale at £4.99 or £9.99, convincing us that we have to buy them because we haven’t had to spend £5 or £10.
top of pageBorn in the Gorbals in 1890, George Buchanan became a messenger and copy boy in a newspaper office before becoming an apprentice pattern maker. He was to rise to become Chairman of the United Patternmakers Association from 1932-1948.
It was, however, in politics that he achieved renown. After a spell as a local councillor he became the first MP for the new Gorbals constituency and served as its Member from 1922-1948.
He turned down the post of Minister for National Insurance and preferred to accept the post of Under-Secretary of State for Scotland with responsibility for housing. He became Minister of Pensions and then the first Chairman of the National Assistance Board. He died in 1955.
top of pagePat Crerand was born in Thistle Street in the Gorbals. The family was later to live for many years in Crown Street and Pat was educated locally at St. Luke’s Primary School and later Holyrood Secondary.
Having joined Celtic Boys Club it was with that club that his professional football career began. His passing ability became legendary.
He left Celtic in 1965 and at Manchester United gained a European Cup Medal. His cousin Charlie Gallagher, born in Cumberland Street, also played for Celtic and was part of the winning European Cup squad.
top of pageJames Dick was one of Glasgow's greatest philanthropists. Though he and his brother, Robert Dick, were born in Kilmarnock, they were young boys when the family moved to Glasgow in 1832. Their mother opened a grocery shop at the corner of Crown Street and Govan Street (later Ballater Street).
On leaving school James became an apprentice upholsterer while Robert trained as a watchmaker. The boys were fascinated by the possibilities of a strange new material - natural rubber - and began to experiment over the washhouse stove with the heated gummy substance.
They saw the potential of using it rather than leather as the soles for footwear and they opened a shop in the Gallowgate. They were pioneers in the manufacturing and selling of composite footwear with leather uppers and rubber soles.
By price-cutting they ensured that they had a ready market for their products and demand steadily grew until they had a huge factory and a chain of shoe shops. One of the firm's greatest successes was its later production of rubber and canvas Balata belting used to drive machinery.
top of pageWith the First World War just started The Eaglesham brothers from the Gorbals joined up in September of 1914, Todd Eaglesham and his brother John enlisted into the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). Another brother Daniel also enlisted into the Cameronians but according to his army records I managed to obtain from the Nation Archives in Kew he was later transferred to the 11th Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers and then to 8th Battalion Kings Own Scottish Borderers and eventually to the 10th Battalion Highland Light Infantry. It was with the HLI that in 1918 he was sent to France, only to be sent back home some months later after being wounded at the front line. He was discharged from the army in March of 1919.
The fourth brother Matthew joined the Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders Todd and younger brother John soon headed for the battlefields of France with the 10th Battalion of The Cameronians. Todd was soon to prove himself as a fighter and by December 1916 he was awarded "The Military Medal" for bravery in the battlefields of the Somme. Two years later on the 28th of March he would be killed in action in the battlefield of Arras. One Historian described that day as "If ever the lid was lifted from hell then the 28th of March 1918 was the day it happened"
John Eaglesham was later transferred to the Gordon Highlanders where he served until he was pensioned out of the army in October of 1918 after being badly wounded in France. John's brother in law Robert Pickles was killed at the Battles of Loos in September of 1915 whilst serving with the 12th Battalion Highland Light Infantry In the book on the history of The Tenth Battalion, The Cameronians it reads " At the same time the battalion lost a most devoted and gallant NCO in Sgt Todd Eaglesham, the provost sergeant, who had been with the battalion from the first. He also had won the Military Medal".
The award of the Military Medal to Todd for bravery on the battlefield was published in the London Gazette on the 9th December 1916.
More information can be found at www.weetoddy.com
top of pageBorn in Mathieson Street in 1912 John Gaughan had four children in 1940 and his wife, Mary, was expecting another when he announced that he had joined the army.Mary was shocked but he explained that if men did not volunteer the Germans would win the war and Britain would be invaded. After a spell in Malta and Gibraltar he went with the Seaforths to Burma.
He distinguished himself in battle and when all his superior officers were killed he led the platoon to safety through the jungle. He returned home with a Japanese sword as a Souvenir of his exploits and at an investiture at Buckingham palace King George VI presented him with the DCM. He died in 1965 at his home in Orchard Street.
top of pageRalph Glasser was the son of Russian Jewish immigrants who lived on the top floor of a three storey tenement in Warwick Street. He left school at fourteen to become a soap-boy in a barber's shop and then presser in a garment factory. He studied diligently at night school for many years and won a scholarship for Oxford University.
He became a distinguished psychologist and economist with a great interest in the problems of the Third World. Growing up in the Gorbals, the first volume of his three autobiographical works, vividly described Gorbals in the Twenties and Thirties.
top of pageAgnes Hamilton first opened her grocery shop in Main Street, Gorbals before moving to Commercial Road In 1857. When she died in 1860, Agnes decided to leave much of her estate of £23,000 to establish a trust to help the people of the Gorbals.
Members of her family took legal action to secure what they regarded as their just inheritance. After a lengthy dispute, The Hamilton Estate Act 1866, set down how the estate was to be shared and established the rules for the administration of the trust.
top of pageA Gorbals resident and only nineteen years old, Joseph Hughes was stationed at Lymun Barracks in Hong Kong where he was involved in clearing the aftermath of the war, including landmines. He was driving a 3 ton vehicle carrying ammunition and explosives into the magazine area at the Barracks. As the vehicle was entering the storage area, it started to smoulder and caught fire.Knowing full well that his truck could explode at any moment, Joseph did everything in his power to put out the fire, firstly by trying to remove the burning camouflage netting, then by using fire extinguishers. Unfortunately the truck blew up and two days later Joseph died of his injuries.Joseph was subsequently awarded the George Cross for gallantry and is remembered by those in his regiment and the Hong Kong holiday village which is now situated where Lymun barracks used to be. Here in Glasgow and the Gorbals in particular few have heard of Joseph and his heroism.A plaque containing a replica of the George Cross medal awarded to Joseph Hughes, and a brief summary of his bravery (including photograph) is now hanging inside the entrance (to the right) of the St. Francis Centre, 405 Cumberland Street in the Gorbals area of Glasgow. It is fitting that this should be in the area where Joseph was born and will be a place that people can pay their respects to a brave young soldier who gave his life for so many others. This has been possible only with the help of Glasgow City Councillor James Mutter (HUTCHESONTOWN WARD 66) and Mr George Donnachie of the RASC/RCT Association.
The 23rd of March sees the anniversary of Joseph’s passing. Thanks to his cousin Irene Finn, Gorbals Live website has the opportunity to make public the fearless actions of this young Gorbals hero.
top of pageHelena Kennedy QC was born in the Gorbals in 1950 and educated at Holy Cross Primary and Holyrood Secondary. She studied English Law in London and appears for the defence in the courts of the Old Bailey. She is interested in civil rights and is a peeress.
She has reached a wider public through her work on television. In the BBC Scotland series Time Gentlemen Please she examined change since the turn of the century but especially in the 75 years since women first got the vote.
top of pageDuring the Great War, Isaac Kerr, of Caledonia Road, served with the 13th Battalion Scottish Rifles, 14th Battalion Highland Light Infantry, 2nd Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers, 3/4 Seaforth Highlanders and 4th Battalion Black Watch. He saw action at Delville Wood, Guillemont, and Loos.
Like many soldiers, it is the bravery of others rather than their own that they recall. He remembered the scene at Festubert where the Gurkha Regiment were annihilated in 1916 when they threw away their rifles and stacked the Germans with their knives.
top of pagePat Lally was the Leader of Glasgow City Council from 1986-1992 and was re-elected in 1994. He has been one of the most successful, if controversial, of recent civic leaders. He was born and raised in Thistle Street and, like many of those from the Gorbals, moved to Castlemilk.
He has been to the forefront of putting Glasgow on the cultural map through the Garden Festival and Cultural Capital initiatives. His involvement helped secure Glasgow as the 'City of Architecture & Design 1999'.
top of pageBorn in Portugal Street in 1860 John Lindsay went to Gorbals and Hutchesontown Schools. He began work in a solicitor's office in 1873 and took the chance to study at Glasgow University.He joined the City Corporation and, in 1896, became Clerk of the Police Department. It covered fire, street lighting, cleansing, sewage and public health. With experience in this range it was perhaps not surprising that he became Town Clerk in 1912. He was knighted for public services in 1915.
Few men from the Gorbals have risen from such humble origins to such a position of adminstrative and powerful importance. He was Town Clerk when Glasgow truly was the Second City. As befitted a man who for almost fifty years served the city his home at Newark Drive, Pollokshields, was justly and proudly named 'St Mungo'. He had served St Mungo's City with great distinction and had been co-author of one of the volumes of its civic history. He had not only made history but he had written it.
top of pageSir Thomas Lipton was born in Crown street in 1850 where his parents later opened a shop. Impressed by American business methods on a trip to the USA he opened his own groceries shop in the city at the age of 21.He soon established a huge chain of shops with branches in almost every town in Scotland and England, employing 10,000 people. He cut out the middleman and was able to undercut competitors and give good value to his customers.To make sure of his tea supplies he bought Ceylon plantations; in the USA he bought packing companies and meat stores. He also gave generously to charities. Through Italian connections he almost founded the First World Cup Football competition but was snubbed by the English Football Association.
He later indulged himself in his love of the sea and became a noted yachtsman. He made several attempts to take the Americas Cup. Though he died in London he was laid to rest in the Southern Necropolis.
top of pageBenny Lynch was born in Florence Street. He is perhaps justly regarded as Scotland's greatest boxer.His life was also the classic rags to riches and back to rags tale. At 21 he was the first Scot to win a world title - the flyweight championship - beating Jackie Brown in Manchester. Because of a dispute, he then had to fight Smallman Montana in London, merely confirming his prowess.His most celebrated local fight was when he beat Peter Kane at Shawfield and he remained unbeaten and his title was lost on the scales - he was 6lbs overweight.
Twelve years later it all came to an abrupt and sad end. After a career of so much fulfilled potential, he was penniless and whisky had knocked him out permanently.
top of pageJohn Mains was born in Waddell Street, the son of a tailor, and he lived for many years in Rosyth Street, Oatlands.In 1949 he was elected to Hutchesontown Ward and for 23 years served as the local councillor. His highest honour was to become Lord Provost of Glasgow but his greatest achievement was as Convener of the Health & Welfare Committee. He led the mass radiography campaign of 1957 that did so much to help eliminate tuberculosis.
The aim had been to x-ray 250,000 people but instead almost one million adults and children were examined. He had also for a time been Convener of Parks and of Education but sadly, after only nine weeks in office as Provost, he died in 1972.
top of pageThe Rev George Matheson was born in 1842 in Abbotsford Place. His father had become a highly successful merchant and warehouseman but George was more academically inclined.He increasingly suffered from weakening eyesight and at the age of 18, while at Glasgow University, he became effectively blind.This did not discourage him and on graduation he became assistant minister in a Glasgow parish before moving to his own church at Innellan in 1868.
He gained a considerable reputation as a preacher but he is best remembered as a hymn writer.
top of pageRobert McLeish was born in the Gorbals in 1912. After becoming a plumber and heating engineer, the Depression meant slack times and unemployment. Always artistic, he started doing illustrations for local newspapers and got a job with The Bulletin and The Glasgow Herald.His interest in writing led to his involvement with Glasgow Unity Theatre. His best known work, The Gorbals Story, was a piece of social realism and it proved to be very popular, not simply with Glasgow audiences but on tour.
It is widely regarded as the finest and certainly the most famous play about Glasgow that has ever been written.
top of pageTommy Murray is well remembered as a local shopkeeper with shops in Cumberland Street and Rutherglen Road and a chain of shops outwith the Gorbals. He also played in the Silver Band at St. Francis.
In 1952 he was the Scottish Speed Skating Champion and broke the quarter-mile unpaced record. For many years he was the quarter and half-mile champion and for nine years, in the 1940s and 1950s, was the Scottish Speed Skating Captain.
top of pageThough born in Adelphi Street in 1819, Alan Pinkerton made his name far from home. As a Chartist, he was regarded as a political agitator and became determined to make a new life for himself across the Atlantic.In the USA he set up a detective agency and with his trademark of an open eye: the eye that never sleeps. The agency acquired the nickname ‘The Eye' - all detectives ever since have been called private eyes.His agency was forerunner of the FBI, the CIA and the CID. His men were involved in much historic crime-busting in the USA including the Jesse James Gang and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Pinkerton himself was also a friend of Abraham Lincoln and for a time was his protector.
top of pageOne of the most heroic actions of World War II took place on the attack at Kervenheim in Holland in 1945.Private James Stokes of the Kings Shropshire Light Infantry dashed ahead of his platoon without waiting for orders and routed two enemy strongpoints and captured 17 Germans single-handedly.
He finally fell, riddled with bullets, only 20 yards from the objective. This 29 year-old ex-labourer, born in Commercial Road, received the posthumous award of the Victoria Cross, the highest award possible, for what was undoubtedly an act of supreme courage.
top of pageAlexander ‘Greek’ Thomson, born in 1817, lived and worked in the Gorbals area. For several years he lived in Apsley Place in Laurieston.He designed several tenements in the Gorbals area. One was round the Cross, from Warwick Street along Main Street. Another was Queen’s Park Terrace in Eglinton Street. Almost everything he did in Gorbals is destroyed, the most notable remaining example being the Caledonia Road Church.
Though the ‘Greek’ nickname may imply a narrow description of his work, there are suggestions of Greece and Asia are evident in his churches or terraces, halls or villas. He died in 1875 and was laid to rest in the Southern Necropolis.
top of pageBorn in Hospital Street, Isaac Wolfson followed his father into the cabinet making business. He moved to London where he worked in the importing and exporting business and in 1931 became merchandising manager of Great Universal Stores.He soon took control of GUS and it grew to become the largest mail order business in the UK. In 1991 Wolfson died in his 93rd year, but his name lives on for he was a renowned philanthropist. Glasgow University gained Halls of Residence at Garscube and he gave much financial support to the Cancer Research Campaign.
The charity known as the Wolfson Foundation which he established has endowed colleges at Oxford and Cambridge as well as educational work elsewhere.
top of pageAdelphi Centre,
12 Commercial Road, Glasgow G5 0PQ, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 141 429 6314 Fax: +44 0141 429 2649
e-mail: webmaster@the-initiative.org.uk
home page: www.gorbalslive.org.uk