This is the story of the occupants of 12 Marywood Square, and formerly known as 5 Princes Square. The terrace was built by Robert Weir in 1878-9 but the project led to financial ruin and Robert’s tragic suicide. The houses and debts passed to his father William, but the family never recovered, as detailed in this blog about the Weirs.

William Fenton

Once the terrace was complete in 1879, the first tenant was William Fenton, a wholesale jeweller with premises at 15 Gordon Street. He didn’t get an auspicious start in Strathbungo however; he was declared bankrupt in June of the same year . In July he failed to turn up for his bankruptcy proceedings and an arrest warrant was issued . No more was heard of him.

Robert Samuel Fischer

The next tenant was Robert Samuel Fischer.

Fischer was an intriguing figure. He was in the house by 1881, as he appears in the census, though how long he stayed is unclear; no resident was recorded in the PO Directory for the next ten years, and neither did he appear anywhere. His low profile means that, other than him being a warehouseman, we don’t know his line of business, who he worked for or where he worked. Fortunately, we can learn something about him from Ancestry records and contemporary newspapers.

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Rev Henry Fraser was the first owner and occupier of 12 Moray Place, until at least 1875. He was the first pastor of the United Presbyterian Church on Langside Avenue. The church opened in 1857 (as Langside Road UP Church), but was replaced with a new building by John Bennie Wilson in 1897. That church in turn became St Helen’s RC Church, a role it still fulfils today, on the corner of Deanston Drive.

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In 2017 on Armistice day I wrote of Corporal Aitken, a former resident of my house who gave his life at the Battle of Loos in the Great War.

Glasgow honoured all its fallen in a Roll of Honour published in 1922. It is available to view at City Chambers, with a copy in the Mitchell Library, and on line. It may not be entirely accurate or complete, but it has enabled me to compile a Roll of Honour for Strathbungo. Over 60 local men gave their lives during the First World War, and they are listed below.

With research I have managed to learn a little more about some of them, and include their biographies. Many are taken in part from local projects to research church and school memorials, notably those on the Pollokshields Heritage site.

A similar Roll exists for the Second World War; reproduced in time for the 75th anniversary of VE Day in 2020.

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