227 Glasgow Road, Blantyre, Glasgow. G72 0YS. Tel: 01698300105.
Thomas Rae ran the Stonefield Tavern, Blantyre and the Old House, Rutherglen. Mr Rae was President of the Hamilton Wine, Spirit and Beer Association. He was born in East Kilbride in 1862, his father, George Rae was proprietor of the Torrance Hotel which he held for over 30 Years. Young Rae received his education in East Kilbride and at the age of 14 he was sent to Glasgow for a mercantile education, be became employed with Messrs Tudhope Brother’s a celebrated Ironmonger in St. Enoch Square and travelled daily from East Kilbride to Glasgow. He remained with the firm for 5 years when he took the charge of the hiring establishment in connection with his fathers hotel.
When about 10 years in this department he was called apon by his father to assume the management of the entire hotel. During those years Mr Rae owned a horse which was known far and near in Scotland as “Funny Willie,” a famous trotter. 7 years after Mr Rae assumed charge of the hotel his father died. Mr Rae carried on for several years. When he sold it and removed to Hamilton and purchased the County Hotel in Cadzow Street. This was in jubilee year during which Mr Rae got married.
After conducting the County Hotel for 4 years he sold it to concentrate his energies on the Palace Bar which he had acquired a couple of years previously. At that time Mr Rae was proprietor of the Stonefield Tavern. Blantyre and the Old House, Rutherglen, the latter he held until 1893. Early in 1895 Mr Rae in conjunction with his brother in law, Mr James Craig took over the old established business of Messrs John & Andrew Yuill, drysalters, spices and seed merchants, 118 Broomielaw, Glasgow. This was a large and lucrative business. In the same year Mr Rae bought the business of the Hamilton Aerated Water Company. He was proprietor of several handsome tenements of houses in Hamilton, Blantyre and Rutherglen. He served 21 years in the Queens Own Yeomanry and retire in 1894 with the rank of Quartermaster, he was also President of the Four in Hand Club, Hamilton.
1907, the burglary at the Stonefield Tavern, Blantyre. John Davidson, miner, Coats Land, Blantyre and Daniel McGuire, miner, Dixon’s Row, Blantyre were charged at Hamilton Sheriff Court with attempting to break into the Stonefield Tavern, Glasgow Road, Blantyre on Tuesday morning of the 6th August 1907, evidence showed that the masonry of the window sill had been smashed with a causey-set, a stanchion torn away and glass broken, the accused were disturbed and ran away without entering the premises, Sheriff Thomson sent each of the accused to prison for 60 days.
The Stonefield Tavern on the left from an old Postcard.
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