by rathbone » 27 Dec 2011, 08:21
On 25 June American troops finally arrived in France
Corporal J. Thomson of Portobello was reported killed in action, as was Lieutenant W. Urquhart of 8 John Street.
Sergeant G. Smith, Privates W. Archibald, S. Bayliss, T. Creamer and W. Sanderson were wounded.
Glasgow workers in large numbers flocked to Portobello, drawn by the favourable weather conditions. The limited train service proved insufficient to cope with the increased traffic, with the result that cars, omnibuses and charabancs were largely patronised. The Promenade and the beach were crowded. Thousands of people took their ease in the sunshine and in the vicinity of the pier there was scarcely room to move on the shore. The walk from the west end to Bath Street was necessarily slow. Neither old nor young betrayed any acute self conciousness.Nearly everyone wore caps and white canvas shoes and went without vests and with their coats open. Broad belts with coloured stripes were much in evidence.Youths, for the most part, were in parties of half a dozen or so and they made things lively. There were crowds waiting for ices and other refreshments. There were crowds who wanted to be photographed. Boating, as usual, was a popular pastime and the boatmen were charging 2s an hour instead of the ordinary 6d. The demand for bottled beer was enormous and stocks in several places were practically cleared out. Sugar also proved a great difficulty. Many of the visitors were now using condensed milk to make up for the lack of sugar. Many people who came to Portobello for apartments had to go elsewhere. They left matters to chance and found on their arrival that there was not an available inch of space them at all. Ransom prices were offered for rooms and in small houses rooms were fetching as much as £2 10s for the week. This left some of the visitors stranded and the spent the night in the open. Some walked about and others made a couch of the sand and, tired and dusty, slept soundly. The police reported that about 400 people had slept on the beach. Over the week the trams carried 22,000 passengers between Waverley and Portobello.
A Pierrot troupe and a military band performed at Portobello in aid of the Scottish Churches Hut fund. Miss Esther Cruickshank held a concert with Mr. Charles Creswick, Miss Bessie Simpson, Mr. and Miss O‘Hanlon and Master Harold Young in the Promenade Shelter Bandstand. A Cafe Chantant was held in the Rowing Club Boathouse.
A Regatta held at Portobello, despite being very much curtailed by rough seas, raised £50 for the Red Cross.
At Lady Elphinstone’s fete the Rosefield Quartette won first prize. in the promenade concert.
Douglas Thomson, the landlord of the pub at 227 Portobello High Streert was fined £10 for serving four half glasses of whisky to a man who was already clearly under the influence of drink.
Mrs. Elspeth Jeffrey, who had run the grocer’s shop at 47 Bath Street for 28 years, was fined £5 for selling a gill of whisky outside normal licensing hours.
John McLaughlin (21) of 1 Maryfield was charged with committing a breach of the peace on a tramcar, assaulting a tram inspector and three lance corporals in uniform, one of whom was now suffering from concussion of the brain. He was granted bail of £10.
Simeon Rathbone, of Portobello passed the piano examinations of the Royal Academy of Music.
Agnes Major of 25 Ramsay Lane obtained a divorce from Thomas Major on the grounds of infidelity. Thomas Major had absconded to Salt Lake City, Utah, with his mistress Nellie Hawthorn. Peter Drysdale of 6 Tower Street, who was currently serving abroad with His Majesty’s forces, obtained a divorce from his wife Margaret on the grounds of infidelity.
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