Fanny Trollope
Frances (pictured) and her sister Elizabeth Trollope, better known as Fanny and Betty, left the shores of Rio, Brazil in the 1920s to escape an arranged marriage to what they described later as "two unspeakable horrors".
They jumped on a banana boat and the two stowaways set forth across the Atlantic for Europe to meet their would-be suitors. They thought they were heading for Portugal where they imagined being swept off their feet by tall, dark, handsome men.
As the ship approached shore they expected to see the romantic palm-tree lined coast near Lisbon. Instead they found Paddy's Market and men in kilts. They got it wrong. They were shocked to see people selling their wares along the Broomielaw and more shocked at seeing snow falling from the heavens. They had never seen snow before and this was in the days before global warming, when it really did pelt down in Glasgow.
The girls decided to settle for a while in the City and save enough money for the next banana boat back home. After braving the treacherous waters of the Atlantic they were not eager to make the crossing too soon.
It was not long before the girls met and befriended twin teuchter brothers Hamish and Angus McKay. The highland boys gave the girls their names as they found their original names too difficult to pronounce. Fanny and Betty could never really ‘understand the brothers who spoke in a very strange tongue', however, they felt they were developing a long-term friendship with them both.
The girls grew increasingly fond of Glasgow and Fanny ended up working in a Cafe in Finnieston - the "Kelvin Grove Cafe" - at the corner of Kelvinhaugh and Argyle Streets. It was established in 1897 and the old name facia still exists to this day. Fanny was becoming a popular figure in Finnieston. She was recognised by her jaw-warmer; a clay pipe with its stem broken off at the bowl, the bowl sitting tightly at the mouth.
