The image above is a 1902 photograph featured in the wonderful 'Largo: An Illustrated History' book by Eric Eunson and John Band. It features Andrew Thomson's baker's shop at the foot of Durham Wynd.  Thomson also had a bakery in Lundin Links and had a very long career in the trade.  Andrew Thomson was born in Dysart on 12 March 1826, the second child of parents Peter Thomson and Euphemia Imrie. His father Peter was a master baker in Fife - initially in Dysart and later in Kirkcaldy.  Peter died in New York in 1858.

Andrew married Elizabeth Taylor in 1848 and, after Andrew had a spell working in Glasgow, they settled in Kirkland, where they had a house, stables and bakehouse. In the 1851 census they had two daughters - Janet and Euphemia - and Andrew employed two apprentice bakers. By 1861, the Thomsons had moved to Leven and had four daughters (the younger two being Elizabeth and Catherine). Westwood's directory of 1862 lists the baker's as being located at 30 High Street, Leven. 

Circa 1865, Andrew Thomson moved his bakery business to Lundin Mill and his Leven premises was taken over by Robert Robertson. The Lundin Mill premises were at the centre of the north side of Emsdorf Street. In 1868, Andrew was involved in the founding of Lundin Golf Club. 1871 census records the family at Emsdorf Street and a son, Andrew, had been added to the family. Andrew senior was noted as "master baker employing 2 boys". In 1873, daughter Janet married George Nicolaus in Geneva. The following year, Andrew's brother-in-law, William Bunn, took over the Railway Inn at Lower Largo.

The entry below from the 1877 Worrall's directory lists the bakers within Largo Parish. Note at that time there was no Lower Largo based baker.  However, by 1881, Andrew Thomson had expanded his business into Lower Largo. It would seem likely that he was the first occupier of the building shown above. William Bunn died in 1879 aged 49 from asthma but in the 1885 valuation roll his widow (and Elizabeth Thomson's sister) Catherine Bunn was listed as proprietor of both the Railway Inn and the Lower Largo bakehouse and shop occupied by Andrew Thomson. 

Catherine Bunn and her Thomson relatives were very close - Euphemia Thomson residing with Catherine at the Railway Inn in 1881, and Catherine Bunn passing away in 1895 at Imrie Cottage, adjacent to Andrew's Lundin Mill bakery. The 1891 census found Andrew and Elizabeth Thomson living at Bonny Bay House (ie at the Lower Largo Bakery) with daughter Catherine and two Nicolaus grandsons, who were probably visiting for the Easter holidays.

May of 1899 saw Andrew Thomson celebrate 50 years in the baking business. The Dundee Courier ran the headline 'Jubilee of a Fife Baker' and provided coverage of the dinner and presentation:

"to few is it given to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of their starting in business and Mr Andrew Thomson, Largo, who on 15 May saw this anniversary, was in honour of the occasion, entertained to dinner in the Caledonian Hotel, Leven"

Mr Robert Robertson - the Leven baker mentioned above - presided over the event and remarked upon Mr Thomson's "unique position" of celebrating a second jubilee, having had his Golden Wedding anniversary the previous July. Further comments included that he...

"was not one of the old school of bakers but always ready to forward the interests of employer or employees, and was one of the first to set the sponge on Saturday night to do away with Sunday labour."

Mr Thomson was presented with a "gold watch and albert" (an albert being a type of chain with a t-bar to tuck into a button hole). Mr Robertson said that he had known "the guest of the evening" longer than anyone else around the table and that in those early days "Mr Thomson's large bulk and strength had astonished him and to be hoisted on his shoulders was a bewildering joy". In reply Mr Thomson shared his reminiscences including of his old baking days in Glasgow "where he had worked his eighteen and twenty hours a day...for six months". Mrs Thomson was presented with a silver tea and coffee service. Further speeches and toasts were made and songs sung. 

Elizabeth Thomson died in September of that year, at Bonny Bay House and in the 1901 census Andrew was recorded there as a widower and still at baker at the age of 75, living with his three youngest daughters. Soon after this, (c1905) James Bruce took over the Lower Largo bakery and Andrew Thomson retired. In 1909 he was able to reciprocate to Leven baker Robert Robertson by presenting him with a gold watch at the celebration of his Golden Wedding in the Caledonian Hotel.  By the 1911 census Andrew was at Durham House (behind Bonny Bay House) with his three youngest daughters. Andrew died in 1920 at the grand age of 94 at Imrie Cottage in Lundin Links. His daughters continued to live in Imrie Cottage after his death.

Finally, it is worth noting that Andrew Thomson's grandson George Nicolaus maintained that he was related to Alexander Selkirk on his mother's side. Further evidence of this is the Railway Inn link - this was owned by a (later) Alexander Selkirk before coming into the ownership of the Bunns.

The bastion of trees that stand opposite the Lundin Links Hotel - shown at the top of the above image and once widely known as 'Fir Park' - was almost lost back in 1914.  Whether this was averted by the action of the local people or by the onset of war is unclear but this area of woodland was reprieved and still survives today. Lundin Links was still in a period of growth in 1914, notably to the west along Leven Road. There was a "dearth of houses" according to a Fife Free Press headline on 30 May that year:

"The famine of houses reported in various parts of Fife is very pronounced in Leven District. Some twenty new houses have been finished lately but the number of families on the search for houses is astonishing. A proprietor a day or two had about thirty applications for a house"

However, a plan to feu Fir Park was met with alarm from the residents of Lundin Links as the article from the 6 June St Andrews Citizen below shows.

The previous post recalled the presence of the Highland Cyclist Battalion at Lundin Links during the First World War. From the beginning of the war, the main billets (ie lodging places for soldiers) for the HCB were St Catherine's and Fir Park. With St Catherine's being situated on the corner of Victoria Road and Station Road (extreme right in above image) and Fir Park being on the corner of the parallel Crescent Road (left of centre above), officers staying at Lindisfarne (positioned between the two - behind the street light in above picture) could easily observe both places.

However, on 12 February 1916, there was an unfortunate turn of events. The incident was sensationalised in the Fifeshire Advertiser (19 February) which asserted that "thrill after thrill was served out to the staid resort of Lundin Links on Saturday night, one villa being razed to the ground, and another having a narrow escape". To begin the tale....at around 9pm, a sentry went to an upstairs room within St Catherine's while all the other men were out (either on duty or on leave) and found it full of smoke. The Scotsman of 14 February gives the following account:

"The guard were called out, and attacked the fire, which had started in the parlour, the only place where a fire was kept. At this stage the flames were confined to the floor and had evidently risen from a cinder which had fallen from the grate.  Immediately after, however, the flames passed along the joists into another room in which the furniture of the villa was stored. There the fire burned fiercely."  

The Fifeshire Advertiser added:

"P.C. Flaws and other local men joined the military; fire extinguishers were secured from Mr Ferguson's and Mr Somerville's, and an increased attack was made. By some means the window in the parlour was broken; the wind got hold of the flames....and at once the place flared up like a pine torch."

The Buckhaven Fire Brigade were called. Unfortunately, their engine was under repair and they had to bring their apparatus in Messrs Smith and WIlliams' motor car. Moreover, once on the scene, they found that "the stand-up pipe would not fit the local hydrant" and so the motor car had to return to Leven to fetch alternative equipment. It was not until the arrival of the Kirkcaldy Fire Engine that "the real attack on the pile" began.  Under the direction of Firemaster Rough, the roof was cut and a curtain of water was employed to keep the flames from spreading to adjoining villa (Aird Bank). The Fifeshire Advertiser further noted that "Captain French had earlier in the evening caused the removal of a large quantity of explosives from St Catherine's but continual minor explosions told of cartridges going off" and "the fire was visible over a wide area and attracted a great crowd."

While the fire was at its height, about 11pm, another alarm was raised - Fir Park was also in flames. The Fifeshire Advertiser noted "this outbreak took place in a northern room, presumably from the same cause. Happily, it was caught before the wind caught hold of the flames.  All furniture was removed but the soldiers and firemen, pulling up the floor, soon got the mastery." The evening concluded thus: "St Catherine's fire virtually ate itself out. The bare walls were left when, at 1am, it could be said that the fire was under. St Andrews Fire Engine, drawn by two horses, arrived at about midnight; but the hose was not uncoupled."

Built in 1896, St Catherine's at the time of the fire was owned by the Misses Dickson (three of the daughters of Edinburgh master gun maker John Dickson) and consisted of three public rooms, six bedrooms plus kitchen, scullery, etc. It can be seen above with its twin pair to the left of St Margaret's and Mount Vernon. Fir Park was owned by postmistress Margaret Bremner. Damage at the gutted St Catherine's was estimated at £1500 while Fir Park's damage was around £50. Looking at St Catherine's today, it is easy to spot the parts of the original architecture that were lost. The red roof ridging and decorative eaves, seen on its counterparts, are absent (see below).

The Highland Cyclist Battalion was one of several cyclist corps within the British Army. With origins dating back to 1860, as part of the Volunteer Force and offering an alternative means of transport to the horse, it became an independent unit in 1908. During the Great War three Highland Cyclist Battalions were deployed. At the outbreak of war in August 1914 the First Battalion was headquartered at Hunter Street Drill Hall in Kirkcaldy. There were eight companies within the First Battalion:

• A Company – Kirkcaldy
• B Company – Cowie
• C Company – Tayport
• D Company – Forfar
• E Company – Dunfermline
• F Company – New Scone
• G Company – East Wemyss
• H Company – Bannockburn

More than one of these companies spent time stationed at Lundin Links, training and performing coastal guard duty. One of the HCB that spent time at Lundin Links was Private Douglas J. Thomson of Kirkcaldy. Having joined the HCB in May 1914, Douglas was called to report to the Drill Hall no later than 10:00 on 5 August 1914, the day after war was declared. Part of 'A' Company, after a spell in St Andrews, Douglas was based in Lundin Links and he can be seen on the right in the photograph below practising his camping cooking skills in the front garden of 'Fir Park' (5 Crescent Road). Neighbouring property 'Braddan' (7 Crescent Road) is identifiable in the background. Douglas was eventually posted to the Machine Gun Corps and went to the Western Front while still in his teens. You can read more about his wartime experiences and later life here.

We know that 'A' Company were in Lundin Links in October 1914 as the Fife Free Press reported (above) that a concert they had put on in the village raised over six pounds for the Belgian Relief Fund led by Captain Robert Lockhart.

'B' Company of the HCB also spent time at Lundin Links​. The photograph of them below accompanied an article in The Stirling Observer of 15 June 1915. The report said of the HCB that "the different companies of which it consists are scattered all along the East Coast of Scotland, where they have proved to be very serviceable". The group pictured below are No. 1 Platoon of 'B' company, who were stationed at Lundin Links - where, according to the article they were "having a pleasant experience".

As well as their training and duties, the men stationed at Lundin Links enjoyed some leisure time.  The club house of the Lundin Ladies Golf Club was used by the HCB as a recreation and reading room. They reputedly also played football on the course. The HCB's time in Lundin Links was not without incident though - more of that in the next post.

As we approach another Remembrance Day, let's reflect on what the folks of Largo Parish were going through a century ago in the midst of the First World War. Below is a sample of the news that was reaching home. Many of those named in the newspaper articles below are remembered on the Largo War Memorial.