Johnstone History Museum
Johnstone History Society • Scotland

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Exploring J-story in Detail
Eras and themes: Research and Feature Articles

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Eras

Early Johnstone

The Glasgow, Johnstone and Ardrossan Canal and Railway
29-Nov-2022
By Stuart Rankin
The construction of a Canal from Glasgow to Ardrossan only reached Johnstone before the construction was stopped. The present Railway from Johnstone to Ardrossan is built on the land originally meant for the Canal.
Johnstone Journey : A genealogical quest
08-Apr-2022
By Rod McDuff
A personal church and graveyard tour.
Johnstone Street Names : Volume 1
19-Nov-2021
By Graham Rooney
This video explains historic and modern street names in Johnstone.
Johnstone - The “Cap of Liberty” and the “Radical Rising”
19-Nov-2020
By Angela Gillespie
The Brig O' Johnstone its History Explained
08-Oct-2020
By Angela Gillespie
This article explains the historical importance to the History of the Town of Johnstone

World War One (The Great War)

War Horses
31-Aug-2019
By Angela Gillespie
Jane's search for the story behind the name Frank Downs
12-Jul-2018
By Jane Cassidy
WWI Roll of Honour
31-May-2018
Here's a link to the list of Johnstone soldiers, sailors and others lost in The Great War.
Charles Clunas 13th February 1894 — 8th February 1916
28-Sep-2017
On the list of Johnstones War Dead compiled by the late John Kenny there is an entry for Lance Corporal Charles Clunas, Service no. SPTS/1068, of the Royal Fusiliers. Date of Death, 08/02/1916.

World War Two

Captain Thomas Stevenson Craig M.C.
19-Mar-2023
By Angela Gillespie
The story of Capt Thomas Craig M.C. and his connection with the house 'Ravenswood' Johnstone
The Strange Story of Max Schiller
17-Oct-2021
By Angela Gillespie
VE Day In Johnstone
08-May-2020
By Angela Gillespie
VE Day comes to Johnstone
The Final Stand-Down of the Johnstone Home Guard
16-Apr-2020
By Angela Gillespie
Johnstone Hero of the Coventry Blitz
16-Apr-2020
By Angela Gillespie
Gecas the War Criminal - His Johnstone Connection
30-Mar-2018
By Angela Gillespie
Among the hundreds of Polish soldiers who arrived at Johnstone Castle camp with the Polish Resettlement Corps after WW2 was Anton Gecas, the Nazi war criminal. In fairness his fellow comrades were probably unaware of his murderous past, except perhaps tho
Rudolf Hess - The Johnstone Connection
09-Feb-2018
By Angela Gillespie
Johnstone Soldier was Winston Churchill's Batman
09-Feb-2018
By Angela Gillespie
The Night Bombs Fell On Johnstone
09-Feb-2018
By Angela Gillespie
Johnstone's Military Encampments 1939 to 1940
09-Feb-2018
By Angela Gillespie
Johnstone's military encampments in WWii
Identity of German POW Artist Revealed
08-Feb-2018
By Angela Gillespie
Karl Heil painted numerous works while a POW in Johnstone.
24th Polish Lancers Played Role in WWII Defence
04-Feb-2018
By Angela Gillespie
A Polish unit reacted to a provocative German air sortie in 1940. The "raid" turned out to have propaganda rather than military objectives.

20th Century Miscellany

New Municipal Building
23-Jun-2025
By Eddie McRorie
The Council propose building a new Municipal office in Collier Street sufficient for all municipal and Police needs
Glasgow Overspill
01-Jun-2025
By Eddie McRorie
Johnstone prepares for the arrival of the "Overspill"
Town Hall
11-Jan-2024
By Eddie McRorie
The history of the Town Hall
When Johnstone Police Wore Straw Hats
27-Jun-2022
By Angela Gillespie
A story of Johnstone Police from the past.
Capt. Donald
15-Oct-2020
By Iain Murray
This is an article about Capt. Donald.
Stories of Quarry Street Police Station
11-Jun-2020
By Angela Gillespie
stuff in syn
The Use of the Birch in Johnstone
11-Nov-2019
By Douglas Gillespie
Johnstone Man Killed In Vietnam War 1968
09-Feb-2018
By Angela Gillespie
 

Themes

Local Industries

Proposal to impose road toll at Peockland in 1864
23-Jun-2025
By Eddie McRorie
A proposal by the Road Trustees to erect a toll bar at Peockland was met with fierce opposition from all quarters.
Johnstone's new water supply
21-Jun-2025
By Eddie McRorie
In 1869 clean drinking water is piped into Johnstone for the first time.
The Thorn Mill
20-Jun-2025
By Eddie McRorie
The Thorn Mill is destroyed by fire in 1879 costing £50,000 in damages and the loss of 300-400 jobs.
Johnstone Gas Works Extension 1891
16-Jun-2025
By Eddie McRorie
Official opening of new gas holder in 1891
Johnstone Public School
14-Jun-2025
By Eddie McRorie
Johnstone Public School opens in 1895
Peockland Engine Works
08-Jun-2025
By Eddie McRorie
A brief history of the Peockland Engine Works.
Loudon Brothers
01-Jun-2025
By Eddie McRorie
Loudon Brothers machines are in demand worldwide
The Globe Gas Engine Company
01-Oct-2023
By Eddie McRorie
John Lang & Sons May 1960 -- Wickman Lang March 1973
02-May-2019
By John Steel
John Steel's Story of his career with Wickman Lang
Remembrance of Wickman Lang
08-Sep-2017
By Eddie McRorie
This is the story of my work as a time served engineering fitter at Wickman Lang ,Mary Street, Johnstone from 1971 till 1979 when the factory was closed.

Biographies

Frédéric Chopin and Johnstone Castle
24-Jun-2025
By Eddie McRorie
Frédéric Chopin visited Johnstone Castle during his concert tour of the UK in 1848.
Provost William Weems
23-Jun-2025
By Eddie McRorie
Provost William Weems served on the town council for 15 years with two terms as a Baillie before being elected Provost.
Hugh Paton 1852-1941
21-Jun-2025
By Eddie McRorie
Hugh Paton was born into the Paton family, but unlike his three brothers, he did not join the family business. Instead, he took a different path to prosperity in Canada.
Archibald Walker Finlayson
16-Jun-2025
By Eddie McRorie
Biography of Archibald Walker Finlayson, eldest son of James Finlayson, joint founder of Finlayson & Bousefield Linen empire.
Sir Archibald Finlayson Forbes
31-May-2025
By Eddie McRorie
Biography of Johnstone born industrialist and banker
Ludovic Houstoun 1779-1862
31-May-2025
By Eddie McRorie
Ludovic Houstoun Newspaper Eulogy 1862
William Malloch
31-May-2025
By Eddie McRorie
Wm. Malloch of Messrs Brown, Malloch & Co.
The Crawford Family
03-Oct-2023
By Eddie McRorie
The family behind the Lynnhurst Hotel and Crawford Dairies.

Great Houses

Cartside House
24-Jan-2020
By Dan Sweeney
Cartside House built in 1794 and birth place of the Last Laird of Johnstone. Later the Mansion rebuilt by Peter McLaurin.
Fordbank, a Brief Account of the House and its Occupants
02-Nov-2018
By Bill Speirs
Little Corseford, big changes. A country home. Originally published in 2016.
The Red House of Milliken Park
02-Nov-2018
By Blll Speirs
50 years in the life of a house, its owners and occupants, a brief history of its transitions from private home to inn to care home.

Photo Essays

 

Contemporary Johnstone

Johnstone Journey : A genealogical quest
08-Apr-2022
By Rod McDuff
A personal church and graveyard tour.
Johnstone Street Names : Volume 1
19-Nov-2021
By Graham Rooney
This video explains historic and modern street names in Johnstone.
 
 

Submissions

Submit your article as plain text using this form. You must be an enrolled member of the website and sign in to submit an article. We are working on ways to allow upload of other forms of text. The form will ask for descriptions of additional resources such as illustrations. Allow six to eight weeks for review.

Published articles will be reformatted to our standards, so bold or italicized text will not necessarily be preserved, and illustrations may be placed differently than in the original. We may also produce a downloadable PDF version of the published version.

All submissions are presumed to have content that is either original or within in the public domain, and by submitting an article the author so attests. To that end, authors should carefully and accurately provide bibliographic attribution to sources other than personal or common knowledge. Your article will be reviewed by a committee before publication.

LEGAL MATTERS

Articles will assert a joint copyright of the author and the Society subject to international fair use standards. By submitting your article you agree that the submitted article is your original work and that you own the right to publish or republish.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

If you have used artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to research or write your article, you must so state in the submission form. JHS may choose to place a statement to this effect either within the article or on the page on which it appears.

Development Plan

As the number of articles increases, we will further subdivide the list by topic. We encourage authors to suggest topical groupings.

Topics already in the queue: WWI, WWII, Great Houses, Families & Genealogy, and Biography.