Bill was brought up surrounded by his mother’s family in Rutherglen, Glasgow. Jeanie had left New York when Bill was 15 month’s old. He never knew his father and met him in New York only once in the 1960s. He lived with his mother, grandfather and maiden aunt. The only child of 3 sisters, he was adored and nourished by their unforgiving wit and passion for life, adventure and politics. His grandfather was a socialist councillor and boiler maker on the Clyde. Visits to the ship yards where the great steam ships were being made fostered a fascination of the sea. He carried and felt his maternal family’s profound love for him throughout his life and his own family were gifted the same adoration and affection from him that he had so benefitted from. His family were the subject of many of his paintings.