The Dalrymples

The Dalrymple family was heavily involved in the life of the Club in the early 20^th century while James Dalrymple was also making his mark on the city as manager of the Glasgow trams.

James C A Dalrymple was born on 15 September 1859 in Lancashire to an English father, James, and Scottish mother, Margaret (nee Adams). In 1871 , the 11-year-old James is living with his grandparents on Boreland of Girthon farm near Gatehouse of Fleet in Galloway.

In 1880 James joined the Union Bank of Scotland in Gatehouse of Fleet and was quickly promoted to the bank’s branch in Glasgow. Moving to the city in 1881 he found lodgings at 196 North Street. James then leaves the bank and starts working with Glasgow Corporation, first joining the office of the City Chamberlain and then the Department of the City Accountant and Registrar.

By 1890 he was a member of the Arlington Baths Club, with membership number 236. At this time he was lodging with James Annand, a tailor, at 7 Rupert Street, Woodlands.

In 1891 he gets married, to Elizabeth (Bessie) Gardner McGowan, and they move to 40 West End Park Street, where they stay from 1894 to 1901. Together they have six children:

Agnes Gardner (1893)
Margaret Isabella (1896)
James McGowan (1901)
William Borland (1903)
Hew Alexander (1905)
Mary Elizabeth Jane (1907)

In 1907 the family moved to 3 Doune Gardens.

Taking charge of the Glasgow trams

In 1894 Glasgow Tramways were taken over by Glasgow Corporation and James Dalrymple was appointed accountant. In 1902 he took on the role of General Manager of Glasgow Tramways.

Glasgow’s tram system was the most extensive in the United Kingdom with over 90 miles of routes, 5,000 employees and over 700 tramcars. James Dalrymple made many innovations, expanding the network, adding roofs to the top deck of cars and introducing night services.

The outbreak of the First World War lead to a massive mobilisation and many employees for the tramway were encouraged to enlist. One thousand men joined up and formed the 15th Highland Light Infantry’s Glasgow Tramway Battalion, with the nickname ‘The Boozy 1st”. You can see a short film on the National Library of Scotland Moving Image archive showing the tramway staff parading to the City Chambers on 7 September 1914 to ask permission of the Lord Provost to enlist: Response of Glasgow Tramway Men to the Country’s “Call to Arms”. The Glasgow Story also has a photo of James Dalrymple and the Lord Provost Sir Daniel Macaulay Stevenson inspecting the Tramway vounteers in George Square.

*Tram number 779 in the Riverside Museum, Glasgow, showing the name of the General Manager at the time: James Dalrymple*

The recruitment drive was so successful that staffing the tramway became a problem. James Dalrymple’s solution was to employ women for the first time as conductresses, employing them on the same pay and conditions as the men they were replacing. James Dalrymple was pleased with his new staff saying they were “strong physically and knew what it was to do a day’s work”. See the story of Eliza Orr, one of women who worked on the tram, on the Glasgow First World War website.

Managing the Baths

*AGM Report and Accounts of the Arlington Baths Club Joint Management Committee 1914*

James was elected to the joint committee of the Baths at the 43rd AGM on 14 May 1913 and joined the Billiard Committee on 22 May 1913, the billiard tables being an important source of income for the Baths.

He continued to be active in the life and management of the Baths during the War. For example, swimming competitions in the Baths were suspended or scaled back during the war years but in 1916 James Dalrymple suggested a competition for the boys. He became one of the six trustees of the club on 9 May 1917, alongside William Boyd Anderson, Andrew T Reid, F W Allan, Robert Dalglish and John Thomson Jnr. The trustees were a group of members in whose name the shares bought from the Glasgow Swimming Bath Company were registered.

He then took up convenorship of the House Committee in July 1919 and one of the first duties was to investigate replacing the teak decking around the pond with granolithic or terrazzo. He, and Mr John Ferguson from his office at the Tramway, considered the proposals and estimates and suggested to the Club committee that Toffolo & Jackson’s terrazzo would be the best choice. The cost of the terrazzo was £251. Once it was installed there was a function to reopen the pool.

James continued his interest in improving the fabric of the building by sitting on the Dry Rot Committee (1921). And he took organisational roles such as sitting on the Baths’ Jubilee Committee – he presided at the 8 July 1920 Ladies Jubilee Gala – and the War Memorial Committee. In fact, at the unveiling of the War Memorial on 11 April 1922, “Members of the Tramway Pipe Band played the Lament and sounded the Last Post and Reveille” (Glasgow Herald, 12 April 1922). Was this possibly arranged through his Tramways connections?

*Terrazzo surround installed in 1919 by Toffolo & Jackson replacing the previous teak decking surround*

He was re-elected to the Management Committee on 10 May 1922, by now James Dalrymple, CBE. In December that year he was asked to chair the Baths but declined as he felt he was too busy with his work commitments.

James Dalrymple resigned from the Glasgow Tramways in 1926. And in 1927 he did become Chairman of the Arlington Baths Club. Under his tenure the terrazzo was extended to the floor of the senior baths and there was extensive refurbishment of the club.

*Chairmen and secretaries of the Arlington Baths Club 1870s -1980s hanging in the Baths Club*

The family at the Baths

Other members of the family were also busy at the Baths

The eldest daughter Agnes Gardner, born 31 December 1893, joined the Ladies Committee on 7 May 1914. Agnes was very active on the committee and was responsible for admitting new members in November 1919. In May 1920 she was deputised to find better costumes for the ladies and got some samples from Duncan’s of St Georges Cross, the department store which would become official outfitters to the Arlington Baths.

Margaret Isabella, born 12 February 1896, competed in the galas. In November 1914, aged 18, she came second in the four lengths race. Margaret married George Andrew Hood Baxter, a private in the Canadian Army Medical Corps who was originally from Gourock, on 21 December 1918 and moved to Canada after the War.

James McGowan Dalrymple, born 1901, held supernumerary membership number 129 and took up senior membership number 89 in 1919. After the war he emigrated to Australia.

*William Boreland Dalrymple aged 21 in 1924*

William Boreland Dalrymple, born 23 March 1903, was a supernumerary member (number 130) and became a senior member in 1921 (number 710). William became a prominent member of the water polo and swimming teams. His sporting achievements for the Club included being in the Arlington Team for the Grand Challenge match (Arlington v Arlington Challengers) at the Ladies Jubilee Gala in. 1920. In 1921 he was a steward at the water polo matches and represented the club in the Private Baths Select Team. He was in the winning teams of the 1921 Waddell Shield Scottish Senior Lifesaving champions and 1923 Western Counties Water Polo Cup Winners. He was also honorary financial convenor for the Jubilee Galas of 1920-21.

Following his wins in the water William then enjoyed succes on the radio: he commentated on the first ever live broadcast of a water polo match which took place at the Baths on 13 September 1935.

Hew Alexander Dalrymple, born 25 October 1905, became a senior member in 1924 (number 556). Like his older brother, Hew was also very active in the life saving and sporting teams of the Club. As a supernumerary member he was in the winning Arlington team in the 1920 Royal Life Saving Society Scottish Junior Lifesaving Championship along with G Hymans, A K Thomson and A B Downie. At the 1921 gala he was in the Invitation Junior Team Race against Dennistoun, Pollokshields, Victoria and Western Baths. He also competed in High and Low Diving, the 2 lengths handicap, 4 length Handicap, Club Championship (Challenge Shield) 12 Lengths, and the Goodnight Race.

As a junior member he was in the winning Arlington team (with H A Dalrymple, A B Downie, G Hymans and A K Thomson) of the Scottish Juvenile Lifesaving championship and the 1921 Scottish Junior Lifesaving Championship (H A Dalrymple, W McK Downie, G Hymans and J S Thomson). In 1922 he was winner of the Glasgow and District Pairs Lifesaving competition with G Hymans. He was also in 1923 Western Counties Water Polo Cup winning team with his brother William Boreland.

As a senior member he continued to represent the Club and gather awards. He was part of the Arlington team which won the Western Counties Team Championship for swimming in 1926 along with R C Chatfield, W McK. Downie, T F Stuart and J S Thomson.

“…a prominent Glasgow personality…”

In May 1930 WG Davidson took on the Chairmanship of the Baths but James Dalrymple CBE remained on the Committee of Management and was actively involved in reviving the Arlington Chess Association in 1930. He finally retired from the committee at the May 1931 AGM.

James Dalrymple died on 1 July 1934, aged 74 years, after a fall and succumbing to pneumonia. The Arlington Baths Club “unamimously agreed to record the regret of the Committee at the passing of such a prominent Glasgow personality and their appreciation at the services rendered by him on Committere and for several years as Chairman of the Club” (11 July 1934, Committee Minute Book 9). James, his wife Elizabeth, and daughter Margaret are interred in the Girthon cemetery at Gatehouse of Fleet.

Of the children, Agnes visited Canada in 1923. Returning to Glasgow, she married Ralph Gardner Smith in 1928. She died in 1968 in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, when she was 76 years old.

Margaret Isabella, who had moved to Canada after the First World War, died in Ganges, British Columbia, Canada, on 18 March 1972.

James McGowan became an engineer and emigrated to Melbourne in Australia on the ship Banalia in January 1923. He died on 29 November 1932 in Heidelberg, Victoria, in Australia.

William Boreland took up a role in the calico printing industry. He married Davina Simpson on 17 September 1930 at 19 Ashley Street and they had two children: Elizabeth ‘Joan’ Dalrymple (1932) and William Ainsley Dalrymple (1935). By 1941 he was an oilskin manufacturer based in Clydebank. He and Davina were divorced in January 1941 and William later married Margaret Hood Allison.

Hew Alexander married on 30 November 1927 in Madras, India. His wife was Lilah Muriel Hamilton from Maryhill (born 1904). Ten years later he and Lilah travelled back to Britain aboard the Bibby Line ship Derbyshire sailing from Rangoon to London. Also with them was their daughter Cecelia Gay, and the whole family returned to Glasgow to stay in Novar Drive in Hyndland.

Mary Elizabeth Jane was also well-travelled, living in Honololu and San Francisco.

Meanwhile Glasgow’s trams kept on running until 1962 when they rolled out of service and into history