Keanie

John Keanie had a large family, 4 daughters and 9 sons. The most recognisable son is James Young Keanie who went on to establish James Y Keanie Ltd. James recognised the growth opportunities for house building in the growing town of Johnstone and around 1896 moved his headquarters to Floors Street in Johnstone. At its peak Keanie employed around 700 workers. James married Isabella Hunter, the daughter of James Hunter who owned the Calder Chair and Cabinet works. Like his father James was a keen curler and represented Scotland on ten occasions against England. He was active in local politics serving as a councillor from 1914 till 1923 then as Provost between 1923 and 1925. For most of his life he was a member of Houston St Johnstone Masonic Lodge No.242. He lived in Laigh Park House on Park Road in the Quarrelton district of Johnstone. The photograph below is of a family reunion kindly provided by Archie Brydon whose wife was a member of the Hunter family.

The photograph was taken in July/Aug 1919 in front of James Y Keanie's house in Johnstone, Laighpark. It is believed to be a farewell gathering for Col John McAuchey, who was born in Beith, before he and his wife (Jean Hunter) returned to Saskatoon in Canada. Col. McAughey committed suicide in 1927.

Back row from left to right:-

James Hunter jnr (1881-1957 second son of James Hunter 1847-1918), John Hunter (1876-1947, eldest son), James Y Keanie (1871-1931), Richard Fleming widower of Margaret Hunter (1871-1906 eldest daughter of James Hunter), Col. John McAughey Canadian Army and husband of Jean Hunter, Andrew Hunter (1883-1928 third son of James).

Middle row:-

Margaret (nee Logan) widow of Alexander Hunter (1886 - 1916 Canadian Army who died in WW1 just south of Ieper), Isabella Hunter (1873-1967(?) wife of James Y Keanie and second daughter of James Hunter), Sybil wife of John Hunter, May wife of Andrew Hunter, Jean (Jane on birth cerrtificate) Hunter wife of Col. John McAughey (1878-1947(?)), seated Jessie King Wilson (1850-1931) widow of James Hunter snr, Elizabeth nee Macdonald (1876-1947) wife of James Hunter jnr.

James Keanie did not keep good health and died at Laighpark on May 24, 1931, shortly after returning from a visit to Italy and France. He was aged just 60. Mr Keanie lies alongside his wife, Isabella, who died on November 17, 1966, in her 94th year, and their son, Norman Young Keanie, who passed away on April 14, 1988, in his 85th year.

A younger brother of James was Alexander Wilson Keanie (1886-1946) who also established a building business. In the montage below are two of his invoices from 1923 and 1924 and Wattie Bishop is the Keanie employee leaning against the lorry.

Alexander Keanie had a yard off the High Street where No.61 now stands. The yard is long gone. It extended back to Muirhead Street. The montage below identifies its location. The aerial view is dated late 1950’s. The location of the yard is circled in both photographs. There was waste ground on both sides of the yard when I was growing up in the village. A handy short cut through to Mrs Warden’s for piano lessons. There are photographs of this area being redeveloped in the section on the High Street. After the montage there are photographs of some of his employees taken in Keanie’s yard.

In the top photograph Helen Low sits astride her (?) 1929 Rudge-Whitworth Special 500cc. The group below from left to right is Hughie Black (from Beith), Jimmy Sim, Dan Paterson, Helen Low, Harry O’Neil, Jock Hinds, Davy Lyle (machinist), Dick McKinlay. Those in the group of four photograph are Helen Low, Wattie Bishop, Jock Hinds and Dan Paterson (kneeling). The final photograph takes sharing a lift to new heights.

In Lochwinnoch Keanie built six two story tenements in Church Street around 1896/97. James was twenty five in 1896 and Alexander ten so these tenements were likely built by John Keanie probably with help from his son James. He extended the row with a further three, one of which goes round the corner onto Lochlip Road. If you look at the roof line of these buildings you will notice a drop after the 6th house which marks where the second phase started. The second phase was completed around 1900. The photograph below (probably taken 1898/99) shows the completion of the first phase. If you look closely at the gable end you will see what looks like the outline of fireplaces in preparation for phase two.

Keanie also got the contract to build the Parish Church hall extension in 1900 (Bryce Kerr was awarded the joinery work) and to modernise the Loch bridge on the road between the station and the village. It was increased in width by 10 feet and the parapets heightened. Apparently it generated a lot of interest with crowds watching how the water was dammed to enable the work to be carried out. The Loch Bridge is photographed below and it is hard to imagine the road being 10ft narrower at this point, it would be barely a path!

A lot of building was going on in Lochwinnoch at this time. The large tenement at No 9 St Winnoc road was built in 1892. The Co-operative buildings on Calder Street, Union Place, were build in 1902 by Bryce Kerr. The twelve two story tenements that comprised Harvey Terrance were build in 1896. They were condemned in the mid 1950’s and knocked down late 50’s early 60’s. An advert to purchase Nos 1, 2 and 3 is shown below indicating they were rented out for £117 per annum in 1900.

When I was born in 1955 my parents lived in No 1 Harvey Terrace. We stayed there till 1956 then moved to 42 Calderpark Street. The photograph below is of these tenements. If you look closely you will notice that the houses after the two folk at the RHS of the photograph have oriel windows. This was a second phase numbered 13 to 23 and these had the luxury of toilets in the close. The boy on the LHS sitting on the railings of No 1 Harvey Terrace is John Gillies.

He was born in 1897 and lived at No 15 Harvey Terrace and served with the Royal Scots Fusiliers. He was called up in 1916 aged 19. He looks to be a teenager in the above photograph which would date it to 1910/15. I spotted the following photograph of John Gillies posted in the facebook group Lochwinnoch Past & Present by Christine McArthur.