Birchburn Cottage

1921 – 1925 Sandy & Emily Dallas

By 1921, Sandy was 47 and still living in the 4 roomed Birchburn cottage. His occupation was then carting contractor, showing the evolution of the business as cars took over from horse and carriage.   Living with him was his wife Emily, 41 and his mother, Marion aged 72. By this time, Sandy and Emily had three children of their own: Elizabeth born 1916, aged 5, Alexander born 1917, aged 3, and Frederick/Freddie born 1920, aged 1. ^[6]

Living at the house /stables next door was Sandy’s younger brother, George (34) also carting contractor. His wife Catherine was 33 and like Sandy & Emily, the couple also had three children: Janet aged 8, May aged 5 and George a new-born 1921.^[6]

Later the same year Marion Dallas died at home of ‘old age’. ^[3]

Sandy and his family were still living at Birchburn cottage in 1925 when the Skelmorlie Reservoir Disaster tragically took the lives of two of their children Alexander and Freddie as well as their niece Winne. ^[9]

Author’s Note: The details of the disaster and the impact on the Dallas family below are taken from an account of the Skelmorlie Reservoir Disaster, written by Wilma Menhennet Davidson, niece of Winne Menhennet.

Wilma prefaces her account by saying she first heard about the tragedy when she was a child. Her father told her about how his 8-year-old sister and two boy cousins had died when the reservoir above the village, burst its banks and 3.5 million gallons of water flooded down to the shore in the space of ten minutes.

The following account focuses on what happened at Birchburn cottage, the full story can be found at Skelmorlie Reservoir Disaster

 

“On Saturday 18^th April 1925 it was extremely wet and stormy with a very high wind from the north. In the yard of Birchburn cottage, Sandy Dallas was preparing his horse and cart for that morning’s coal deliveries around the local farms and villages. His cottage, Birchburn, was situated alongside the Halketburn which served as an overflow from the reservoir. The burn descended steeply through a deep glen behind his property, flowing through his coal yard and alongside his cottage. The three railway men who were his lodgers had already left for their early morning shift at Wemyss Bay station. In the cottage were his wife Emily, his daughter and two sons, & their cousin Winifred aged 8.

Winnie Menhennet was on holiday from Glasgow. She was a frequent visitor, but on this occasion, she had been suffering from a bad bout of measles and had been sent to stay with her relatives in Skelmorlie in the hope that the fresh sea air would help to speed her recovery. She had been due to return home the previous day, but because the weather had been so awful, keeping the children indoors for much of their Easter holiday, the family decided that she should remain in Skelmorlie for a further week ….. a fateful decision.

Skelmorlie endured the dreary boredom of a wet Saturday morning. In homes all over the village, breakfast dishes were cleared away, and children played indoors, watching the rain coursing down the windowpanes, and leaving deep muddy puddles all around. A few people plodded through the torrential rain with shopping baskets. The morning wore on wearily, Sandy Dallas continued his round of deliveries. As the clock moved on families sat down to lunch. Elizabeth Dallas, known as Lizzie, who was 10 at the time, was sent to the shop for milk and eggs. She trudged out into the rain, complaining loudly.

At around two o’clock a family living about fifty yards below the reservoir (Glengyron) heard a loud crack and noted with alarm that two fissures had suddenly appeared in the embankment, and water was starting to seep out. A few seconds later the embankment gave way along a 30-foot length under the tremendous pressure of the water, and the flood suddenly surged with awful force down the steep slope on which the village is built.

At Birchburn Cottage Emily Dallas heard the noise of the first escape of water, and rushed outside to see what was happening.  She saw immediately that the overflow from the reservoir had suddenly and dramatically increased. She got the children outside, with the intention of warning the occupants of Taymouth House,slightly downhill from her own house, that water was escaping from the reservoir. She called on the children to follow her through the flood, but frozen with fear, they hesitated. At this moment a second great burst of water came thundering down with terrible force. She watched in horror, helpless as her home, and the three children were swept away.

James Robertson of Mount Pleasant had seen the avalanche of water strike the cottage and ran down through his garden to try to help. Sandy Dallas and a local farmer, John Paton, climbed onto the precarious corrugated iron roof of the stables behind the house, with the flood waters swirling around them, to try to locate the missing children. All three men were soon wading waist deep in the fast-flowing water, endangering their own lives, but to no avail.

When the torrent had passed the scene in the village was one of utter devastation. A great chasm could be seen where the reservoir embankment had collapsed. Trees and shrubbery were uprooted and strewn all over the place. Deep fissures were torn in the roadways at several places, and Birchburn Cottage was completely demolished. What had been a happy family home only fifteen minutes before was now a shattered ruin, with not one wall remaining. Only the tiled grate remained standing in the centre of the cottage, and part of the stables at the back. The family’s furniture and belongings were scattered all down the hillside, describing the course of the torrent.

After the event, a terrible silence descended on the village, as the shock of what had occurred gradually dawned. People quickly round and in a desperate attempt to try to find anyone alive, willing hands shifted debris and men waded waist deep in the muddy waters. Sadly, early optimism turned to sorrow, as the victims of the disaster were found one by one.

Winifred Menhennet was found in the flood waters, caught on a bank, by Captain Scott and the manager of the hydro, Mr Campbell. They waded into the flood to retrieve the little girl. She was dead. Her skull had been fractured.

Freddie Dallas, aged 5, was found dead a short distance from his home.

Alex Dallas, aged 7.5, was carried half a mile right down to the shore and swept into the sea at high tide. His body was discovered only when the tide went out. He was half buried in the sand.

Beside him, motionless was his faithful dog, which had been swept away with him. Alex and the dog were constant companions. When they were discovered, a neighbour lifted the dog and took him to his own house, not wishing to burden the family further. Later that same evening the dog revived, having been knocked unconscious but still alive. He was returned to the family the following morning.

Lizzie Dallas survived the disaster which killed Winnie and her two brothers only because she had been sent to the shops and was away from the house when the flood occurred.” ^[9]

The funeral service for Alexander Dallas, Freddie Dallas, and Winnie Menhennet, was held on Wednesday 22^nd April at Ochiltree and conducted by Rev. Macaulay of the North Church together with the minister of the Menhennet family’s Methodist Church in Glasgow. ^[9][10]

It was a simple and stirring service attended by many Skelmorlie residents. Outside the local boy scouts, girl guides, and school children assembled to pay tribute to their dead friends. There was also a large gathering of mourners from the village. The children’s coffins were covered with beautiful wreaths and other floral tributes, a few of which had been brought by the children’s friends. One of the motor coaches was also filled with flowers.

The internment of the three children was at Largs Cemetery and marked by the gravestone shown. ^[9][11]

The wording on the gravestone reads: “ALEXANDER NIVEN DALLAS IN LOVING MEMORY OF HIS SONS ALEXANDER NIVEN DALLAS IN HIS 8^TH YEAR FREDERICK IN HIS 6^TH YEAR ALSO THEIR COUSIN WINNIFRED MARY MENHENNET IN HER 9^TH YEAR WHO LOST THEIR LIVES IN THE SKELMORLIE RESERVOIR DISASTER 18^TH APRIL 1925. O Rest in the Lord”

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What happened to the family?

Wilma Menhennet Davidson wrote the following postscript:

“Following the disaster, a fund was started locally to help the family, who’d lost not only two of their children and their niece but their home, business, and all their possessions. Enough money was collected from a very generous local community to set Sandy Dallas up in business in a local greengrocer shop, where he remained for some time.

However, he was haunted by the events of the disaster, and being unable to settle, he decided to move to Glasgow with his wife and daughter and found work in a shipyard.

He was tragically killed in an accident at work on 23 July 1929.

His widow and surviving daughter Lizzie lived on in their house in Clifford Street, Ibrox, but fate had another cruel blow for the family. Emily Dallas died in 1933, at the age of 53. This left Lizzie alone in the world at the young age of 18.

At first Lizzie went to live with her aunt and uncle, Nellie and William Menhennet in Craigton, Glasgow, but was unable to settle and moved away to live and work in Paisley. In due course she married Bill White, a caretaker and janitor. They had no children.

Despite her unfortunate family history, Betty (as she was latterly known) was always cheery, talkative and a great friend.” ^[9]

Betty White (Elizabeth Menhennet) died in 1978, aged 62 in Paisley. ^[7]

Authors Note: Sandy and Emily Dallas were buried beside their two children and niece in Largs cemetery. The same gravestone, albeit a different face was updated with their details.

“ALEX NIVEN DALLAS ACCIDENTALLY KILLED AT FAIRFIELD SHIPYARD, GOVAN, 23^rd JULY 1929 AGED 54 YEARS. EMILY MENHENNET WIFE OF ABOVE DIED 26^TH AUGUST 1933 AGED 53 YEARS”.

 At the foot of the gravestone, on the right, is a small plaque placed there by Sand’s workmates from Fairfield shipyard in Glasgow. ^[9]

Present

The site of Birchburn cottage, stables and house was cleared and as far as we know, stayed empty, although a brick wall and gateways were constructed around the site. Today, the gateways remain boarded over and the land enclosed left to go wild. For a while this area of Skelmorlie was known locally as “Dallas’s corner”. ^[9]

The ground to the north and adjoining Birchburn cottage and stables on Seton Terrace was an orchard when the Dallas family lived there. Today it’s the site of a row of white modern houses. ^[9]