Unlike many other small villages in the UK, Lesmahagow has many claims
to fame because of its location and geological heritage and due to many
of its sometime residents having taken up influential roles in the
history of the nation. Andrew C. Scott's family lived in the village for
more than three centuries, and in this book he explores the fascinating
story of this unassuming settlement. More than 400 million years ago the
earliest fishes swam in its lagoons together with giant sea-scorpions.
The fossils of these amazing creatures are famous worldwide. The coals,
formed from peats when the area lay across the equator, fuelled a number
of revolutions in energy supply. Important to Scott is not simply the
industrial ecology, but the networks of families and people who made the
local community. Inventors from Lesmahagow designed new machines such as
the pedal bike, and experimented with innovative industrial developments
at New Lanark, bordering Lesmahagow on the River Clyde. Even the
pioneering 'man-midwife' William Smellie was born there. The end of the
nineteenth and early part of the twentieth century saw the remarkable
increase in schooling for all the children of the village, inspired by
one teacher in particular - Matthew Glover. His own children, James and
Edward Glover, went on to distinguish themselves in the new academic
discipline of psychology. However, it is one class of 1924 that catches
the eye, with three boys going on to distinguish themselves, two
becoming knights of the realm and one becoming a cabinet minister.
Another village boy, John Cairncross, is best known as the fifth
Cambridge spy.
