Eye on Millig: The mystery of Helensburgh's golden horse

Started by Burgh man Robert Ryan — now the proprietor of the Manse Brae shop in Rhu — in 2014, it provides residents past and present with the opportunity to reminisce, link up with old friends and schoolmates all over the world, and share old photos.

It also throws up mysteries and challenges, and one came my way recently when I was asked if Eye on Millig could find out what happened to the eye-catching golden horse which used to decorate the front of the former Waldie’s Garage, now an Arnold Clark branch.

It was a happy coincidence, as it had also been suggested to me by a retired town businessman a few months ago that the history of Waldie’s would make a good Eye on Millig topic.

It has not proved easy to research. Not much is on record about the early years, while much of what can be found about the later years is anecdotal. What follows is from a variety of different sources.

The company was founded by John Waldie in 1850, and had a coach and omnibus office in Carlton Buildings at 73 and 75 Sinclair Street. The entrance was between grocer W.G. Christie and shoemaker David Templeman, underneath what is now the Mackintosh Club.

It offered open and closed carriages, two and four-wheeled dog-carts, waggonettes, omnibuses, lorries, spring-vans, carts, waggons, hearses and mourning coaches. The horses were kept in stables at the rear.

Waldie’s was listed as 'cab proprietors and carters' in Battrum’s Guide to Helensburgh 1875, with premises at 45 and 47 Sinclair Street. John Waldie lived nearby at 17 East Clyde Street.

Mr Waldie died in 1876, and the business was continued by former Cardross man Hugh Snodgrass, who might have been a relative.

About 1894 a new company, Waldie & Co., was formed by William McMurrich and lemonade producer James A. Reid.

A good description of district transport in the early 1900s was given by local artist Gregor Ian Smith in an article he wrote in 1975. It conveys the atmosphere Waldie’s operated in.

“Transport was simpler in the old days,” Gregor wrote. “You either swam, sailed, walked, used a bicycle...or took a cab. As a result, most of my memories are associated with transport by horse.

“They pulled a variety of vehicles and came in all shapes and sizes. There are still a few of us around who are able to recall the departure of the mail from Helensburgh by coach-and-pair.

“And probably still more who remember the ubiquitous cab, and cabby, complete in tile hat, claw-hammer coat and riding boots.

“Cabs met all trains, often in association with badge-porters — a group of licensed luggage carriers whose headquarters were at the station.

“Cabs, broughams or landaus from Waldie’s or Frew’s stableyards conveyed us on urban and limited rural journeys, day or night.

“Tales of cabs and cabbies varied from the sublime to the horrific. As youngsters, we stole rides by sitting on the rear axles until the cabbies used their whips to dislodge all but the most foolhardy.

“And when a cab-horse was transferred temporarily to the shafts of the municipal watering cart, we followed it barefoot as the double-spray laid the summer dust.

“In winter we were still literally rubbing shoulders with cabs. For when the snow fell we sledged down Sinclair Street, down Colquhoun Street, Charlotte Street, Grant Street - indeed any streets with enough snow to speed the ‘runners’.

“Unfortunately cabs demanded their fair share of the highway even in snow, and there are veterans in our midst who have sledged at high speed under the heaving belly of a cab-horse and lived to tell the tale.”

Waldie’s did provide the local mail posting service, as well as a ‘Blue Bus’ service from Helensburgh to the Rhu-to-Rosneath ferry and nearby villages.

The introduction of the motor vehicle was embraced by the firm, replacing horse-drawn transport. By 1920 it also had a West End branch at 20 Glasgow Street, and an important part of the business was as funeral undertakers.

In December 1927 a motor ambulance car was acquired by the directors of the Victoria Infirmary and was stationed at Waldie’s premises in Sinclair Street.

The ambulance was available day or night at the usual rate of 1s 6d per mile, with a minimum charge of 5s, by telephoning the garage.

It was called out 85 times during 1928, travelling to Inveraray, Lochgoilhead, Dunoon, Larbert and Glasgow.

From at least 1932 Waldie’s was run by William Aitkenhead, who had moved from Glasgow to live at Hilden, 45 Charlotte Street. He served on Helensburgh Town Council and became a Bailie.

In the 1939 Helensburgh Directory, Waldie & Co. was listed as 'funeral undertakers, motor hirers, motor car renovators, and carting and motor transport contractors', 32-34 Sinclair Street, with the garage at 19 Maitland Street.

The firm also offered Sunshine Coaches, Buses or Private Cars for excursion parties. The funeral department had Rolls-Royce hearses, and arranged cremations.

William’s grand-daughter, Gill Aitkenhead, Vice-Lieutenant of Dunbartonshire, tells me that her late brother Michael was an expert on the history of Waldies’s, but she is not.

In my lifetime, the name most associated with the firm was that of Gill’s father, George Aitkenhead.

Educated at Larchfield School and Glasgow Academy, he went virtually from school to service in the Second World War.

He survived serving in corvettes in the horrific convoys to Russia, and later survived again when, on a Mediterranean convoy, his corvette was sunk and 87 shipmates lost their lives.

This experience left its mark in lung trouble which was to plague him for the rest of his life, but he went on to take part in the invasion of Sicily and serve in the coastal forces supporting the D-Day landings in Normandy.

After the war he returned to the town, served his apprenticeship as a motor mechanic, and, at the age of 25, became managing director of Waldie & Co. Ltd.

It was a position he held for more than 20 years, and he remained with the firm after it was taken over by Burmah Oil in the late sixties, working for them as general manager and a director.

Like his father, he served on Helensburgh Town Council.

During his time in charge the Sinclair Street entrance with the golden horse above it was closed and converted to a shop, with the entrance becoming a forecourt created in East Clyde Street — with the golden horse on top of a wooden petrol kiosk.

In 1972 George, whose wife Isobel ran the Sinclair Street drapers shop G. Arthur MacInnes Ltd. for many years, left to go back in business for himself with Helensburgh Motor Company in John Street.

He was succeeded at Waldie’s by Angus Black, who managed the business for Burmah.

Another aspect was recalled by Carolann Cameron on Helensburgh Memories. She wrote: “Waldie’s garage had a pend in Sinclair Street and on a Sunday they showed films on a big screen for their staff.

“They put out chairs and people could take their wives and girlfriends. My dad took my mum and they watched ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’. My Dad said it was thrilling as the sound echoed and was loud.”

Some of the well-known employees of the Aitkenhead era including director Bert Dunn, sales manager Neil MacMillan, workshop boss Harry Daly, storeman Davie Nicholson, George Coll, Alex and Donald Murray, Robert Crossan, and Alex McConnachie.

Pat McGinley, who first worked there as a petrol pump attendant, went on to become an apprentice mechanic.

Later he and sister Kathleen moved to George Aitkenhead’s West End Garage, which is now Helensburgh Toyota.

He said: “The workshop had a concrete ramp inside which was to allow horse and carriages access to an upper level which at that time still had old coffins stored in it.”

Elizabeth Trueman says that in the late 1950s that upper part was taken over and became a nut and bolt factory — run by Stephen Newall and Bob Park — and later it moved to James Street.

At the far end was the bodywork and spray painting part of Waldie’s.

She added: “I worked in the nut and bolt factory. One day I walked down the ramp to go down to the toilet and the door to the undertakers was open and there was a body in a coffin. I got such a shock they had to send me home.”

Waldie’s continued to trade there until Arnold Clark took over in the early 1980s. For a time they also had a temporary car showroom across the road where the flats beside the Old Parish Church clock tower now stand.

So what happened to the golden horse? It has been said that it was stolen by sailors in a drunken prank, but, according to the late Harry Daly, it ended up in the Burmah Oil boardroom.

Email: milligeye@btinternet.com