Titanic link in family’s visit
Carluke former home of drowned relative
A Canadian family arrive in Carluke last week to see the home of a relative who drowned when the Titanic ocean liner sank.
Kathleen Bromley, from Vancouver, has organised a family holiday which will include a week in Scotland.
They plan to make a stop in Carluke as her husband’s great-uncle James Kelly from the town was aboard the Titanic when it crashed into an iceberg with the loss of more than 1500 lives.
Kathleen said: “We will be there on September 15 with our luggage in tow, as we commute by train from Edinburgh to Glasgow with a stop in Carluke.
“There will be four of us travelling together, my husband Rob and myself as well as our son Michael and his wife Alannah. We’re looking forward to exploring Scotland.
“We thought it would be interesting to find the house, Kirklea on Kirk Street, where James was brought up and take a few photos.
“My mother- in- law visited family there quite a few years ago and had her photo taken on the front stairs, we want to do the same. We’re pretty happy that the house is still standing.
“I sent a letter to the occupants to let them know we’d like to come by and take a few photos on the front step – and they are in fact relatives.We had heard that the house had been sold a couple of years ago but didn’t realise it stayed in the family.
“We also plan on visiting the jam factory that my husband’s grandma worked at before she came to Canada.
“I’ve been in touch with the historical society to make plans to visit the museum with artefacts from the Titanic and James Kelly.”
There had been some dispute about whether the James Kelly mentioned in the Titanic sinking did indeed come from Carluke as his place of birth on the passenger list was given as Ireland – making it hard for historians to pin down.
But our sister paper Carluke and Lanark Advertiser archives from their edition on April 27, 1912, confirm the place of James Kelly (19) on the boat and his unfortunate death.
He was a house painter by trade and had boarded the Titanic with the intention of travelling to Canada.
Speaking in 2012 on the 100th anniversary of the Titanic’s sinking, Christine Warren, chairman of Carluke Historical Society said: “I have found the relevant entry on the 1911 census. James is there aged 18, a house painter living at Kirklea, Kirk Street, Carluke, with his family.
“The house is still there because that street has hardly changed.”
James’s parents William and Robina Kelly had 14 children and at the time of the 1911 census, 13 of them were still living and nine were still at the family home. It is believed that two of his sisters later settled in Canada.
Anyone who can help Kathleen Bromley with any other family information should email kebromley@ gmail.com.