OLD PHOTOGRAPHS OF LOCHWINNOCH

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Lochwinnoch is indeed fortunate to have had its physical and social development recorded in photographs and that this wonderful collection remains accessible to anyone with an interest in the village of the past.

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Peter Dewar is arguably the man to whom the greatest debt is owed by those who have viewed and enjoyed the earliest photographs of the village. Peter arrived in Lochwinnoch in the 1880’s from his home town of Whitburn. He was employed as an assistant to James Orr, the owner of a grocery, wine and spirits business located at the Cross. On the death of James Orr, Dewar became the owner and carried on the business until his death in 1923. Peter Dewar was the first villager to own a car, one of the first to own a camera, had one of the few phonographs, and was a keen astronomer. He was also Treasurer of the old West United Free Church. Peter was found dead in his shop where he had been working on the accounts. His house-keeper had a lifetime of his estate (on Peter’s death she could remain in the house until she decided to leave) and on her death the residue was divided between the West Church and the District Nursing Association. His photographic record of village life spanning over 30 years from 1890-1923 took the form of old “magic lantern” glass slides, half-plate negatives, and latterly, photographs. The collection in its entirety was bequeathed in his Will to Mr Gavin Love, father of the late Parker Love and grandfather of the late Sheena Robertson and her sister Kathleen Ross.

 

Parker enhanced the collection using photographs taken by another village resident, Mr David Smith who lived in Kinaros on Johnshill for some years. David Smith’s images covered the period from 1925 till the late 1930’s. Another source was Mr A.J. Fenn from Wiltshire whose interest in photographs of the village arose after he bought an album of Peter Dewar’s photographs in a bookshop in Dunkeld! Unfortunately, the photos of the village taken by Mr Fenn on his annual summer visits were not separately identified within the overall collection. Later, Parker Love was greatly indebted to Mr John Smith who reproduced the old glass slides and photographs as transparencies.

 

After Parker Love’s death, John Smith and his brother Pat (Senior) continued to present “magic lantern” shows for villagers. Both men were excellent photographers and added many of their own images of the village and of villagers to the presentations. This ensured that the original work of Peter Dewar continued into a new era of the village’s development. The photographs of John and Pat Smith form the nucleus of the “collection” covering the latter decades of the 1900’s. One particular project with which Pat Smith was associated with was the production of “travel card photographs” of villagers. Pat would set up a booth in the McKillop Hall and produce passport style photos for villagers applying for an early incarnation of today’s travel concession card.

 

John’s son, Brian, was asked to do a slide show of the village in 2017 repeating what his father had done in the 1980's. Brian had digitised his fathers collection by this time so transparencies gave way to jpg's. It was obvious a slide show could not do justice to the scale of the collection so Pat and Brian decided to make a website where this record could be made more widely available. It has been added to by both Pat and Brian and only a fraction of the collection has been uploaded to this website thus far. A second iteration of the website was published in November 2024 which incorporated over 50 articles covering Lochwinnoch's development and its industrial past. Future iterations are planned.

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The scope and the quality of the photographic record of Lochwinnoch, the people and the places both past and present, is a legacy that can still be added to. It is almost certain more  pictures of Lochwinnoch and its inhabitants from days gone by are lying forgotten and unseen in attics. Please dig them out and we can scan them, upload them and share them with everyone.