The Thom family must have moved into 5 Westbank Quadrant shortly after the tenement was completed in 1886 and can be found in the 1901 census. The head of the household was John Thom, a consulting civil engineer and owner of the successful business Thom, Lamont & Co. Ltd. that produced pumps for the steamship industry. John’s two sons would later each gain fame in their own way with Herbert becoming a legend of Scottish sailing and Dorian a World War I aviator.

(above) Thom Family Portrait c. 1895

In common with a great many West coast businessmen John Thom’s main relaxation was sailing. The Thom family had worked for generations on or by the sea; his father, also John, having been a Clyde fisherman. He was born at Inverkip in 1855 and on leaving school went into the drawing office of Scott & Co. in Greenock, one of the oldest Scottish firms. Here he designed and patented various technical improvements to steamships, the best known the “Thom Patent” for a special type of piston valve. These were adopted world-wide, and in 1887 Thom’s patent slide valves were used in the Royal Navy’s state-of-the-art torpedo boat, Fearless. Following this success Thom acquired his own company.

From his earliest years Herbert Thom would sail with his father. In 1903 he won his first yacht race, but it took until the 1931 season for him to gain fame when the Glasgow Herald remarked “Mr J H Thom dominated the Scottish islands class with his new boat, Gigha, which had the score of 29 prizes in 33 starts, including 18 firsts.” and he went on to have similar results in the following seasons for many more years. In September 1938 he joined a team of four British competitors in the British America Cup at Oyster Bay, Long Island. Although this race was a disaster for the British team, Herbert separately contested an individual event known as the Seawanhaka Cup, which he and his crew (including his son) won and then successfully defended the following year. The Second World War delayed any further victories to Herbert’s name but he returned to racing in 1948 to win the Solent Cup, and continued to dominate the Scottish islands class events up until 1963. In May 1957 the Scotsman found it newsworthy that Herbert Thom had not come first in a yacht race.

from the scottishislandsclass blog

William Dorian Thom was born on 3 August 1892 in the family home at 5 Westbank Quadrant. Dorian, commonly called Dorrie, probably attended the Glasgow Academy. He had just turned 16 when his father died after years of ill-health and would have joined the family business of Thom, Lamont & Co. at that point, as did Herbert. However the two brothers had vastly different personalities. Herbert was always serious, careful and meticulous, with a deep sense of obligation, whereas Dorian believed in enjoying life and taking risks.

The outbreak of war gave Dorian the opportunity to get out of the business and by the summer of 1916 he had a probationary commission as sub-lieutenant in the Royal Flying Corps in 34 Squadron. He flew the primitive and slow BE2es, single-engined biplanes with a maximum speed of about 70mph, which the pilots themselves called “Fokker fodder” and the Germans called kaltes Fleisch. When 52 Squadron arrived in France they were equipped with slightly faster RE8s, but which had the disadvantage that they easily went into an uncontrollable spin and crashed. The end result was that each squadron fancied the other’s machines, so they duly swapped them.

99 Squadron was formed in August 1917 and sent to France to fly twin-engined de Havilland bombers as part of the Independent Air Force. Dorian joined it and survived numerous bombing raids, when the squadron took horrendous losses. When the Royal Air Force was formed in 1918 the Army objected to their use of military ranks, so Dorian became a Flying Officer and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Prince Albert, who would later become King George VI following the abdication of his elder brother, was posted to the staff of the Independent Air Force at Nancy in the last few weeks of the war and got to know 99 Squadron. Dorian was appointed to escort him and took him up for a flight in his de Havilland. On Armistice Day, when the prince was 23 years old he sent the following letter to Dorian, who was then 25.

(above) Letter from Prince Albert to Dorian Thom

This is only a wee sample of the fascinating history of this family. You can read the rest at Ewan’s separate scottishislandsclass blog.

Before Unite

The Plan

The Result

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Send us your photos if you took any of the build.

Most of Glasgow’s tenements were built in the second half of the 19th century, and the tenements that form the Gibson Street, Otago Street and Westbank Quadrant (GOW) triangle are no exception. They are still as majestic as when they were first built over one hundred and thirty years ago, with their unique site near the river Kelvin and the park.”

Extract – read the full text in our pdf download :

Download the GOW tenement and washhouse history document published in 2005.  It runs to 24 pages, so too lengthy to reproduce in full on the website.

May 2010

All the hard work, meetings, fundraising and most difficult of all, breaking very bad habits, has been worth it.
We now have a backcourt that we can enjoy, tend and reflect in.
A little oasis in an energetic area is just what we all need to recharge.

Live local, love local…

Take a photo journey through the transformation of our dear backcourt.

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If you have any photos for submission from around GOW or the local area, please send them to gowcommunity@gmail.com

For individual tenants, this video meant the opportunity to express what the renovation of the communal space meant to them. It’s also a reminder for us all, that it doesn’t take long for closes and the backcourt to become a mess which no-one takes responsibility for, if even small degrees of neglect creep in.

The 9 minute DVD was made as part of a national action research project, ‘Demonstrating the Links’, funded and supported by Greenspace Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage, Communities Scotland, NHS Health Scotland and the Scottish Community Development Centre. 2006

(Director: G-MAC with Editing by Craig Walker 2007)

Related : Glasgow City Council Heritage Trails

GOW is the community group established by those who live around the backcourt bordered by Gibson Street, Otago Street and Westbank Quadrant

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Why ?

We work for the physical and social improvement of our community. Our journey began with the transformation of our shared backcourt.

The GOW backcourt is an open communal space with access through two gaps in the surrounding sandstone tenements. The refurbishment of the backcourt included re-organising the open space, improving the bin storage, dealing with security and access problems, planting and artworks.

The improvement project was neccessary because the GOW backcourt had suffered years of neglect. The backcourt was also vulnerable due to the lack of security, giving the public free access for a range of unsavoury and illegal activities.

View the transformation here

Where do we Go From Here ?

We aim to maintain the standards we have set. To upkeep our beautiful communal area and to encourage everyone in our community to both enjoy and be responsible for it.

We will enhance our community’s understanding of the history of this little part of Glasgow and appreciate the huge strides made within it. We will encourage action, progress and care for the wider environment.

Our belief is that a cohesive, involved community with pleasant surroundings, creates a better environment and inspires everyone to make a difference.

We’ve begun to build on our success and offer more opportunities for community involvement. Join us now.

A Brief History of GOW

In 2000, a group of students from 97 Otago Street decided to have a clean up. They posted around notes inviting residents to come along and help. Armed with heavy-duty black bags donated by Glasgow City Council, they and other residents made some inroads into the dreadful mess, filling a huge number of bags.

GOW community group tentatively formed in late 2001 and in February 2002 had their first public meeting held in an empty local shop. The aim was to find out what the residents wanted from the backcourt and to find out what was possible.

With the assistance of Kelvin Clyde Greenspace, who formed the Sustainable Backcourt Initiative (SBI) in 2003, we were able to build on the efforts of residents to clean up the area.

Kelvin Clyde Greenspace, assisted us both in terms of practical help (cutting back of overgrown trees and bushes) and advice (how to obtain funding, a bank account and organise GOW etc.). Our group gained confidence in realising a backcourt intended to be used by all, not just abused by a few.

Work was completed in 2006

• 1820         Westbank House built by David Smith
• C1875         Westbank house demolished
• 1876 –1885     GOW tenements built by William Young designed by architects John Burnet & Sons
• 1891    GOW becomes part of Glasgow when burgh of Hillhead joined the city
• C1920       Private road (Westbank Quadrant) became the property of City roads department
• C1900        Smith Street renamed Otago Street
• 194?        Bomb fell in the backcourt
• 197?        Westbank Court Association formed to try to improve backcourts
• 1972        First recorded residents Clean Up reported in Glasgow Herald
• 1980        Backcourt restyled with City Council funds to become open plan
• 1992        Tenements on north side of Otago Street demolished
• 2002        GOW formed after meeting in local shop
• 2003        First Tenement Fair with “Shakespeare in the Back Yard”
• 2005        Backcourt refurbished with Scottish Office funds to promote recycling
• June 2005    First “Gibson Street Gala” when street closed a part of West End Festival