DUNN, WILLIAM,
of Duntocher, an enterprising mechanic and successful agriculturist, was
born at Gartclash, in the parish of Kirkintilloch, county of Dumbarton,
in October 1770, and was educated at the parish school, and partly at
the neighbouring village of Campsie. Before attaining his eighteenth
year, he was deprived of his father and mother, and left with four
brothers, all much younger than himself, and a sister, dependent on him
for advice and support. From early life, he evinced superior mechanical
skill, inventive powers, and an acute mind, and was remarkable for his
sagacity, industry, and perseverance. The first situation which he held
was in the establishment of Mr. Waddington, a cotton-spinner, at
Stockingfield, near Glasgow, with whom he learnt iron-turning and
machine-making. There he remained for three or four years, and was
afterwards in Messrs. Black and Hastie’s works, at Bridge of Weir, from
which he went to Pollokshaws, to the works of John Monteith, Esq. About
the year 1800 he determined, with the proceeds of the sale of Gartclash,
a small property of which his father was proprietor, and to which he had
succeeded as eldest son, amounting to a few hundred pounds, to attempt
business for himself, and commenced a manufacture of machine works in
High John Street, Glasgow, which has long been on an extensive scale.
About 1802 he
acquired a small spinning-mill in Tobago Street, Calton of Glasgow, and
six years afterwards he purchased the Duntocher mill, situated about
seven miles from that city, which had been previously used for spinning
wool and cotton yarn. A few years afterwards he purchased from the
Faifley Spinning Company the Faifley mill, which stood about a mile
distant from the other, and applied it to the same purpose. In 1813 he
purchased the Dalnotter Iron works, which had been used for slitting and
rolling iron, and manufacturing implements of husbandry; and after
having greatly enlarged the two mills he already possessed, he was
encouraged by the constantly increasing business that flowed in upon
him, to build upon the site of these iron works, the Milton mill, the
foundation of which was laid in 1821, and which was burnt down about
1846. Finally, the Hardgate mill was built in the same neighbourhood in
1831. All these works, lying contiguous to each other, were exclusively
applied to the spinning and weaving of cotton. The change which they
produced in the neighbourhood was immense. When Mr. Dunn completed his
first purchase, in 1808, the village of Duntocher hardly deserved the
name of a village; but under his auspices it soon became a thriving and
populous locality. The men and women employed at the works, previous to
that purchase, did not exceed a hundred and fifty, while their number at
the date of Mr. Dunn’s death was about two thousand.
The profits
which his constantly increasing business brought him, he expended on the
purchase of land in the neighbourhood of his works; and at his death his
estates formed one compact and unbroken property, extending upwards of
two miles along the banks of the Clyde, and about three miles along the
banks of the Canal. Upon this property, about twelve hundred acres of
which was farmed by himself, he employed as quarriers, wrights, farm
servants, and others, more than two hundred and fifty men. The total
amount of wages which he annually paid in the parish was about
thirty-five thousand pounds sterling. The wages of the engineers and
others employed in his works in Glasgow were also of a high amount.
Mr. Dunn died
at Mountblow, on the 13th March, 1849, leaving, it is said,
upwards of five hundred thousand pounds. By his last will, after several
annuities, and a bequest of a thousand pounds to the Royal Infirmary,
Glasgow, besides various sums to other charities, amounting in all to
three thousand pounds, clear of legacy duty, he left his whole
possessions to his sole surviving brother, unfettered by restriction of
any kind, indicating, at the same time, that failing him, his property
should descend not to one individual, but in certain proportions amongst
those most nearly related to him.
