TEMPLETON CARPET FACTORY DISASTER 1899 at the MITCHELL LIBRARY

Bill Black presented a lecture about a largely forgotten incident that resulted in the deaths of 29 young Woman due to a massive structural fault in the design of one of Glasgows most famous landmarks.The story is surrounded by a lot of myths and downright erroneous information that has seeped in considerably into the "official" narrative , especially the false notion that "repeated design proposals had been rejected by Glasgow Corporation".In fact there is only a very small desultory sentence that appears in the records of the Glasgow Corporation of the time which suggest planning consent ( such as there was at the time) was given to Templeton for the building on a passing nod without any consultation or in-depth consideration from the planning authorities.

This blog contains some artifacts and newspaper illustrations of the reports of the disaster at the time.

This report from the Evening Times Newspaper gives an update about the restoration of a monument from the ladies that died in the disaster.

"The names of the 29 workers who died live on mirroring the tender ages of Victorian Britain's workforce: sisters Elizabeth, 17, and 21-year-old Agnes Broadfoot; Margaret Arthur, 20; Margaret Blair, 16; Helen Bradley, 21; Margaret Cassidy, 18; Lilias Davitt, 19; Agnes Dickson, 16; Jane Duffie, 20; Janet Gibson, 16; Dinah Gillies, 19; Jean Glass, 20; Sarah Groves, 22; Ellen Wallace, 23; Margaret McCartney, 17; Minnie McGarrigle, 24; Agnes McGregor, 17; Martha Mackie, 20; Elizabeth McMillan, 15; Rose Ann McMillan, 21; Jeannie Marshall, 22; Jemima Morris, 23; Grace McQuillan, 19; Margaret Shields, 22; Elizabeth Sinclair, 25; Mary Ann Stewart, 16; Annie Strathearn, 19; Mary Turnbull, 15 and Annie Wilson, just 14."

This blog entry gives some stories from the relatives of the victims

"I have an old bible that was presented to my Gran, Catherine Dunsmore in around 188?.
It states that it was presented to her because of the calamity that occurred in Greenhead, Glasgow in 188?. Couldn't find any old records of an incident around that time ............
I found out about the Templeton Building through your website. I had been looking for an answer to a message in my Gran's bible which gave her sympathy for the Greenhead Incident in 1889. She was only 13 and must have been a survivor.
Thank you for solving a mystery for me."