LIKE many roads in old Kinning Park, Keyden Street lies forgotten beneath the M8 motorway as it sweeps through the area from the Kingston Bridge.

“You wouldn’t know by looking at the area now that this small street ever existed,” explains local historian Brian D Henderson. “Yet, if walls could talk, what a tragic and poignant story the tenement close at number 22 would tell.”

The story begins in Ireland in December 1916. It was during the height of World War One, and Private Francis Coreri was killed while availing of a free buffet provided to soldiers at Limerick Junction Railway Station.

Glasgow Times: Private Coreri's grave

When radio documentary maker Tom Hurley came across his grave more than a century later, his surname struck him as unusual, and he set out to investigate what exactly had happened to the young soldier.

The result is a riveting radio documentary which travels from Tipperary to Glasgow, with many twists and turns along the way.

Tom explains: “This soldier died in 1916, but in a way, that’s where the story begins rather than ends.

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“This is the story of a family, a journey that involves crime, the lives of people in World War One, buildings and landmarks, mystery and sadness. Glasgow features heavily in this story.”

Tom contacted Brian, an amateur historian who is a member of the Old Glasgow Club, for help.

Glasgow Times: Brian D Henderson pictured on the Gallowgate in Glasgow. In the background is Watson Street, where the the former Queen's Theatre was situated. Brian is holding a copy of a programme for the production of The Gorbals Story by Robert McLeish that was

Brian explains: “It was a fascinating journey for me. My research took me to the Glasgow Room and the City Archives, both at the Mitchell Library.

“I enjoyed immersing myself in this unfolding story – and I had never been interviewed for a radio programme before, so it was quite an experience.”

After his death, Private Coreri’s widow, Mary, his daughter Elizabeth and sister-in-law Nellie arrived in Glasgow, firstly to Wallace Street in Tradeston.

“What brought this grieving family to Glasgow?” says Brian. “Perhaps Francis’s death, its traumatic and accidental nature, might very well have fuelled a strong desire to leave Ireland completely.

“They stayed at Wallace Street for a short time, it seems, then moved westwards to Kinning Park.”

Here, the family moved in to 12 and then 22 Keyden Street, a compact road of four-storey tenements, running from the end of West Scotland Street south to East Vermont Street and parallel with the rear of St James Street (now Seaward Street).

“The 1881 census reveals that number 22 would have comprised a combination of one- and two-apartment houses, traditional ‘single ends’ and rooms and kitchens,” says Brian. “An unrelated poor relief application, from 1921, suggests the tenement had been sub-divided and it was in one of these smallest of houses that the Coreri family made their third home.

“In 1927, further sadness visited the family when Mary died at the then Southern General Hospital, formerly the Merryflatts Poorhouse and now the QEUH, from heart disease. She was only 53.”

Three years later, the Wall Street Crash briought the Great Depression in its wake, and Miss Helen Falvey (Mary’s sister Nellie) threw herself at the mercy of the Govan Combination Poor Relief authority.

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“She was listed as a ‘domestic’ in Thornton Hall on the south of the city, earning 10 shillings per week,” says Brian. “Her rent was 16 shillings and seven pence per month – the Poor Relief authority offered her a short term award of four shillings per week.”

Nellie died in December 1965, aged 79, and Elizabeth returned to Ireland.

“As for 22 Keyden Street, it disappeared in the late 1960s - but of course, the human stories did not vanish with the physical roads and buildings,” says Brian. “Rather, they became part of the culture and history of old Kinning Park. Tom’s documentary helps Keyden Street come to life again and ensures the twists and turns of Private Coreri’s family saga will forever be bonded with Glasgow.”

Brian is leading an Old Kinning Park and Plantation Heritage Walk for Doors Open Day next month. It will meet at Kinning Park Underground on Cornwall Street at 11am on September 17.

Limerick Junction Man was originally aired in June on Tipp Mid West Radio in Ireland. The programmes are now available on tippmidwestradio.com.

*Do you remember Keyden Street? Did you live in old Kinning Park? Get in touch to share your memories and photos.