Helensburgh has been shaped by and helped shape many famous, talented and industrious people. Some of Scotland’s most admired architects of the Victorian era have built in Helensburgh and their work is still in evidence in the many fine residences, churches and municipal buildings of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Hill House may be the best known house within the town but we also have fine buildings by “Greek” Thomson, Lieper,Honeyman and others which are of great interest.
Helensburgh Heritage Trust organise a series of “Town Walks” during the summer months
John Logie Baird
(1888 – 1945) Born at The Lodge, 121 West Argyle Street, Baird had demonstrated by 1900 his flair for electrical engineering by installing the first electric lighting in Helensburgh, in his own
home. Moving to London, he first televised a human face on 2 Oct. 1925, making a public demonstration of this pioneering achievement in Jan. 1926. Baird made little out of his invention ; he turned down a large sum
of money for the patent and remained untempted by William Chrysler, the American magnate. Then, in 1937, he faced the disappointment of having his system turned down by the Television
Advisory Committee for use by the BBC, the EMI-Marconi system being chosen instead. A secretive man, Baird continued to experiment with video recordings, three-dimensional colour television
, and radar. He was buried in Helensburgh, where he is commemorated by a bronze bust on the West Esplanade and a stained-glass window in the West Kirk
Henry Bell (1767 – 1830) trained first in Glasgow, and then London, as a millwright, ship model-maker and engineer. He settled in Helensburgh during the 1790s disappointed by the Admiralty’s
refusal to investigate his proposals for steam navigation (this despite recommendation in his favour from Lord Nelson). In 1807, he became the town’s first Provost and immediately sought to capitalise on Helensburgh’s growing
reputation for sea-bathing by commissioning John Wood of Port Glasgow to build the the paddle-steamer Comet in 1812 linking Glasgow, Greenock and Helensburgh. To his energies the town owes
its early expansion. Bell worked on the supply of drinking water to Helensburgh from Glen Fruin. He was buried in the Parish Churchyard at Rhu, where the monument raised in his memory by Robert Napier takes pride of place.
Deborah Kerr - Deborah Kerr was born
Deborah Jane Kerr Trimmer on September 30, 1921 in Helensburgh, Scotland to Arthur Charles ("Jack") Trimmer, a civil engineer and his wife Colleen. Deborah displayed a penchant for dramatics at a very early age
when she would stage presentations for her family. Her co-star in these productions was usually her baby brother, Teddy, whom she costumed in dresses. In school, she was active in singing, dancing, painting and piano.
From this early start she went on to become one of Hollywood’s most famous actresses starring in films with John Wayne, Cary Grant and others.
Andrew Bonar Law, Born September 16, 1858, in Kingston, N.B., Canada, and educated at Larchfield School, Helensburgh, Andrew Bonar Law became the first prime minister of Great Britain from Oct. 23, 1922, to May 20, 1923, to
come from a British overseas possession. He was the leader of the Conservative Party during the periods 1911-21 and 1922-23.
Niel Munro - Inverary lawyer's clerk turned romantic novelist and journalist, was in semi-retirement when he moved to Helensburgh.
In his descriptive book The Clyde the author of the Para Handy tales described the town thus: There is a certain air not, strictly speaking, hauteur, let us call it dignity or self-respect about
Helensburgh which makes it stand aloof from the vulgar competition of other coast towns for popular recognition …
And although the burgh is, in a generous sense, a suburb of
Glasgow, it is in secret communicable relation with the wilds.,
ARCHITECTS
The people who helped shape our town in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Charles Rennie Mackintosh
George Lieper
Honeyman
“Greek” Thomson
POLITICIANS
Andrew Bonar Law
INVENTOR
John Logie Baird
STARS - SCREEN & STAGE
Deborah Kerr
Jack Buchanan
Jimmy Logan
WRITERS
Niel Munro
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