Part of the terrace built by Daniel McNicol around 1865, in a street that was was originally to be called Annita Place. The house was first numbered as 35 Regent Park Square, but renumbered as 31 in 1929-30.

Alexander Brown McLachlan

Alexander was a son of Artt McLachlan, a portioner and publican from Luing, who ran his wine and spirit business initially from 72 Great Clyde Street, and from 1856 at 99-101 Great Clyde Street, in Glasgow. The latter property was just to the west of the Custom House and was known as the Custom House Vaults. While one son went to sea and another became a medical student, three of the boys, including Alexander, worked with their father in the wine & spirit business at Great Clyde Street.

The Custom House Vaults of Artt McLachlan, in later guise as St Mungo’s Vintners (between MacFarlane’s and the Custom House). Source: Glasgow City Archives

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The north side of Queen Square was built by Daniel McNicol to the same design as his terraces in Regent Park Square, and first occupied in 1866. Originally numbered 18, it was renumbered to 38 around 1929.

Matthew Waddell

Matthew Waddell was the first occupant in 1866. He was a hosier, glover and shirt maker at 122 Argyle Street, but also had several restaurants, such as at 126 Union Street. The 1861 census described one of his restaurants on Gordon Street as a “Temperance Dining Room and Coffee Shop, employing 8 girls”. He appears to have been present in Strathbungo for a year or less and later lived in Crosshill.

The Crarae Quarry Incident

On 25 September 1886 Matthew joined up to 1000 tourists on the paddle steamer Lord of the Isles to Inveraray. The trip was especially popular as the owners had promised to stop at Crarae Quarry on Loch Fyne to witness the last of the season’s big gunpowder blasts. The quarry was leased by Faill & Co to provide setts for Glasgow’s roads, and Faill’s had invited a party from the Glasgow Corporation on the trip too. With the steamer stationary off the quarry, it gave a blast on its whistle, and the quarrymen triggered the explosion, bringing down some 70,000 tons of rock in a tremendous display.

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This house was previously known as 24 Princes Square, and is the end house in Robert Weir’s terrace built in 1877-8. You can read Robert Weir’s story elsewhere, though I warn you it’s a sad one.

The subsequent residents were mostly typical Glaswegian middle-class businessmen, selling calico, timber, boilers, fish, ice and gas. Here are their stories.

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