People

THE colourful life of a Kilcreggan-born doctor included active service in World War One — and later being a member of the ringside team of a world boxing champion.

John Cameron was born on December 8 1881 at Prince’s Terrace, the second son of master plumber and later Cove and Kilcreggan Town Council member and JP Alexander Cameron, and his wife Elizabeth McFie.

ONE of the last and most famous of the older generation of Scottish travelling people was born in Helensburgh in 1910.

Willie MacPhee was born when his mother and father were doing casual farm work around the town, planting the potato crop. Both his parents were natives of West Dunbartonshire and belonged to one of the biggest of the travelling clans, found all over the west of Scotland.

SATURDAY January 16 2010 was the 144th anniversary of the birth of aviation pioneer Percy Sinclair Pilcher, whose early experiments in gliding were undertaken in fields at Cardross.

Percy used the fields of the thriving Wallacetown and Auchensail Farms for his experiments with three different gliders between 1893 and 1896.

ONE of Helensburgh's most famous residents for almost 20 years had the unusual distinction of being both a sea captain and a successful novelist.

Captain (later Sir) David William Bone, Kt., C.B.E., LL.D., lived from 1915-34 at Underwood, 9 Lower Sutherland Crescent, and had an astonishing and varied career.

A BRILLIANT young student from Helensburgh went on to play a major role in child health in both Britain and India.

Dagmar Florence Curjel, who lived at Daneholm, 37 Campbell Street, matriculated to study medicine at Glasgow's Queen Margaret College in 1909, and built up a glittering academic record.

ONE of Glasgow’s best known landmarks is the Mercat Cross in the south east corner of the Merchant City – and it was the gift of an Arrochar couple.

William G.Black, CBE, LLD, FSA, JP, who was senior partner in a firm of city solicitors and was Deacon of the Trades House of Glasgow in 1916-17, presented the Cross in 1930 to replace a similar one which had been removed in 1659.

IT is quite a journey from cycling around the town on behalf of the Helensburgh Gas Company to a senior post at the United Nations, but that is what happened to a lass from Shandon.

Margaret Gillatt Orr Allan, who left the burgh in 1925 and died in New York in 1982, finished her career as Head of Documents at the UN and retired in 1965, two years after she received the MBE.

THE Kidstons of Ferniegair have lived in and been involved with Helensburgh since the 1830s, and were notable benefactors in many aspects of burgh life.

In one of the obituaries in the local paper it was said: "The name of Kidston is writ large in all the recreative and philanthropic institutions of our beautiful town."

A CARDROSS man who has spent most of his life in Canada is a proud holder of the highest honour of the International Metallographic Society and a renowned expert witness.

Dr Iain Le May, whose speed skater daughter Catriona is the only individual Canadian to win back to back Olympic gold medals, received the honour in 2005.

A MATHEMATICIAN from Helensburgh is considered to have been one of the outstanding problem-solvers of 20th century maths.

John Hammersley, who was born in Morefield, Granville Street, on March 21 1920, formulated many problems of significance for theoretical and applied science, and made remarkable progress towards their solutions.

A HELENSBURGH man who became a professor of mathematics at the age of 33 was the author of important mathematical books and a key figure in establishing maths in Australia.

Horatio Scott Carslaw, ScD, DSc, LLD, FRS, was born in the burgh on February 12 1870, the fifth son of Free Church minister and religious author the Rev William Henderson Carslaw DD and his wife Elizabeth, and educated at Glasgow Academy where his talent was identified.

BORN Susan McGlone in 1847, Susie, or Suzy, as her name was sometimes spelled, was a well-known character, not only at Portincaple, where she lived for many years until her death, but also much further afield as well.

Susie's personality alone would probably have been enough to make her a local celebrity, but the extra factor that ensured her a place in the hall of fame lay in the fact that home was an upturned boat.