The Arts

Randolph Schwabe was born on the 9th May 1885, at Alsbach House, Barton, Lancashire. Randolph was one of two sons, Eric being the eldest; of a Manchester cotton merchant Lawrence Schwabe, a cotton manufacturer whose father had emigrated from Germany in 1820, and his wife, Octavie Henriette.

Educated at a private school in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, and although not coming from a notably artistic family, Randolph Schwabe showed a remarkable talent for drawing from an early age. He could best be described as a precocious child

Artist James Whitelaw Hamilton was born on 26th November 1860, the eldest child to wood turner James Hamilton, and his wife Mary Stevenson of 1 Morris Place Glasgow.

Whitelaw Hamilton was to spend most of his life in Helensburgh after his parents moved the family to the town. The family took residence in Thornton Lodge, 107 Sinclair Street, Helensburgh.

Ryan was born on the 27th October 1990 at the Vale of Leven hospital. He became interested in music during his early years at Cardross Primary School, when he would spend much of his spare time singing. He fell in love with the violin after watching Scottish music legend Aly Bain play on television.

Gregor Ian Smith was born in Helensburgh on the 18th April 1907, one of three children, a sister Mary and a brother Harold, who sadly died in infancy. Perhaps inspired by the artistic talents of his father, John, a painter, decorator, artist and musician, the young Gregor soon displayed signs of the creativity that was to serve him throughout his life. It is said that Gregor was drawing and painting at the age of three, so it appeared inevitable that he would follow his love of art through his school days.

Born in 1988, and having grown up in Helensburgh, former Hermitage Academy pupil Kyle started learning pipes at the age of eight and now attends the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama where he is in his final year studying a BA(hons) in Scottish Music - Piping.

Kyle has always excelled at the pipes and was an influential member of the Lomond and Clyde Pipe Band, helping the band achieve an increase of 4 grades in 5 years and in 2008 played with the famous Strathclyde Police Pipe Band - Scotland’s premier grade one pipe band.

“The story of Gareth Hoskins Architects is an important element in the early 21st century revival of contemporary architecture in Scotland – an architectural movement that is notably original, outward-looking, and confident.” Hugh Pearman, Editor of the RIBA Journal

It is entirely appropriate that Helensburgh, world renowned for the architecture of Mackintosh, Paterson, Leiper & Wemyss, should be home to one of the fastest rising, and most influential, stars on the British Architectural scene today.

Ann Ailsa Louise Tanner was born on the 23rd June, 1923, in Kilmarnock, but her family soon moved to Shanghai, where her father, Dr Cecil Robertson, had accepted a post in public health with the Shanghai Municipal Council.

From her parents, Ailsa inherited a spirit of independence, a liking for travel and a leaning towards the arts. Her mother and father both painted - indeed her mother was the distinguished artist Eleanor Allen Robertson (née Moore). In later life Ailsa was to bring her parents work to a wider audience with her arrangement of an exhibition in the Lillie Art Gallery in Milngavie and a well-illustrated booklet, My Parents, in 1997.

After returning from Shanghai, Ailsa went to school in Edinburgh and when the Second World War began she joined the Women’s Land Army, spending nearly three and a half years working on farms in the Tighnabruaich area.

Norah Neilson Gray was born on the 16th June 1882 at Carisbrook in West King Street to George William Gray, a Glasgow shipowner and wife Norah Neilsen, the second youngest of seven children. The large family garden stimulated Norah's early love of flowers and colour. Another early influence for Norah was a the Gray's Nanny who told the girls wonderful stories of fairies and celtic legends. The effect of these stories can be clearly be seen in Norah's later works.

Norah began her artistic career at “The Studio”, a private drawing establishment at Craigendoran with her teachers Miss Park and Miss Ross.

Rickey was born on June 6, 1907 in South Bend, Indiana. When Rickey was a child, his father, an executive with Singer Sewing Machine Company, moved the family to Helensburgh.

Robert Wemyss was born on 5 March 1865, the son of John Wemyss, Inland Revenue Officer and Phyllis Pate.

He served his articles with Duncan McNaughtan. After completing his apprenticeship he worked as assistant for McNaughtan, for Burnet Son & Campbell where he was principally employed on railway work, for William Leiper, and for other unidentified firms before. He spent his holidays travelling and sketching in England, Scotland and Ireland. He commenced independent practice in Glasgow in January 1896, and was admitted LRIBA on 24 June 1912, proposed by John Bennie Wilson and the Glasgow Institute of Architects, which he had joined in 1907.