Philip Doddridge, the famous divine and
hymn-writer, was on terms of the closest intimacy with Gardiner,
and about two years after Prestonpans he wrote Gardiner's
biography. There he gives a vivid and lengthened account of his
friend's spiritual experiences. Jupiter Carlyle, also, in his
autobiography gives frequent glimpses of him. Thus abundant
material is at the disposal of any one who wishes to make the
acquaintance of this brave and pious soldier. Doddridge is
evidently in doubt as to the year of his birth, as he gives
1687-8, but the tablet at Carriden has 1687.
Gardiner's father was Captain Patrick Gardiner,3 of
the family of Torwood Head, and his mother Mary Hodge, of the
family of Gladsmuir. The Captain served in the Army in the time
of William and Queen Anne, and died with the British foroes in
Germany shortly after the battle of Hochset.
The son, afterwards Colonel Gardiner, was
educated at the "Grammar School of Linlithgow. He served as a
cadet very early, and at fourteen years of age obtained an
ensign's commission in a Scots regiment in the Dutch service, in
which he continued till 1702, when he received an ensign's
commission from Queen Anne. At the battle of Ramillies, where he
specially distinguished himself, he was wounded and taken
prisoner, but was soon after exchanged. We are told that at this
battle, while calling to his men to advance, a bullet passed
into his mouth, which, without beating out any of his teeth or
touching the forepart of his tongue, went through his neck. The
young officer, like so many of the wounded engaged with the Duke
of Marlborough's army, was left on the field unattended, and lay
there all night, not knowing what his fate might be. His
suspicions at first were that he had swallowed the bullet, but
he afterwards made the discovery that there was a hole in the
back of his neck, through which it must have passed. In the
morning the French came to plunder the slain, and one of them
was on the point of applying his sword to the breast of the
young officer when an attendant of the plunderers, taking the
injured lad by his dress for a Frenchman, interposed, and said,
"Do not kill that poor child." He was given some stimulant, and
carried to a convent in the neighbourhood, where he was cured in
a few months. He served with distinction in the other famous
battles fought by the Duke of Marlborough, and rose to the rank
of colonel of a new regiment of Dragoons.
As a young man he was what would now be called
fast; but he was at all times so bright and cheerful that he was
known as the "happy rake." His remarkable conversion occurred
when waiting till twelve o'clock on a Sunday night to keep a
certain appointment. To while away the time he took up a book
which his mother had placed in his portmanteau. This was " The
Christian Soldier; or Heaven Taken by Storm." The result was
that he forgot his appointment, and became converted. Nor was
the change either fanatical or temporary. Gardiner was still as
careful, active, and obedient a soldier as ever, but now he
tried in his private life to avoid even the appearance of evil.
He was specially anxious to appear pleasant and cheerful lest
his associates might be led to think that religion fostered a
gloomy, forbidding, and austere disposition. At the same time,
he set himself sternly against infidelity and licentiousness.
The circumstances connected with Colonel
Gardiner's death at the Battle of Prestonpans are very tragic,
and have been frequently treated in history and fiction. The
brutality connected with his death cannot be excused and
scarcely palliated by the ignorance of his assailants. By all
who knew him—military friend or foe—his death was deplored.
IV.
William Wishart, Twelfth Principal oF the
UniversitY oF Edinburgh, 1716-1729.
Mr. Wishart was a son of the last minister of
Kinneil. There is no available evidence as to date and place of
birth, but it is highly probable that it was Kinneil.4 The
eldest son, afterwards Sir George, entered the Army, and
ultimately acquired the estate of Cliftonhall, Ratho; the next,
afterwards. Sir James, of Little Chelsea, was a Rear-Admiral in
the Royal Navy, and died in 1723; and the third became one of
the ministers of Edinburgh and Principal of the University.
William Wishart5 succeeded
the great William Carstares in the Principalship, and it is
thought that the latter recommended him to the Town Council,
with whom the appointment lay. William graduated at Edinburgh in
1676, and afterwards proceeded to Utrecht to study theology.
Like his father, he had to suffer imprisonment, for on his
return from Holland (1684) he was imprisoned by the Privy
Council in the " Iron House " on the charge of denying the
King's authority. He was released the next year under bond, with
caution of 5000 merks, to appear when called. He then became
minister of South Leith (it will be recalled that his father
also was minister in Leith after the suppression of Kinneil),
and afterwards of the Tron Church. Wishart was five times
Moderator of the General Assembly, and has been described as " a
good, kind, grave, honest, and pious man, a sweet, serious, and
affectionate preacher whose life and conversation being of a
piece with his preaching made almost all who knew him personal
friends." Two volumes of his sermons were published. His career
as Principal seems to have been uneventful.
We may mention here also that on the 10th
November, 1736, the Edinburgh Town Council proceeded to elect to
the fifteenth Principalship William Wishart secundus, son of the
above. The induction, however, was postponed till November of
the next year, a charge of heresy evidently barring the way.
When called to be Principal he also received a call from New
Greyfriars. The Edinburgh Presbytery interposed and objected to
the doctrine of some sermons published by him while minister of
a Dissenting congregation in London, in which he had maintained
"that true religion is influenced by higher motives than
self-love." After a keen debate the General Assembly absolved
Wishart from heresy, and he entered upon his charges. He is said
to have been more of a scholar and man of letters than his
father, and of an original turn of mind, adopting a different
style of preaching from that formerly in vogue. He was less
stiff and formal, dealt more with moral considerations, and used
more simple and, at the same time, more literary language. His
first act as Principal was to start a library fund for the
University. He also made an attempt to improve the system of
graduation in Arts by demanding literary theses from the
"graduates. The Principal took a great interest in the more
promising of the students, constantly visited the junior
classes, and used all means in his power to improve scholarship
in the University.
V.
De. John Roebuck (b. 1718, d. 1794).
John Roebuck was born in Sheffield, where his
father was a manufacturer of cutlery. He possessed a most
inventive turn of mind; studied chemistry and medicine at
Edinburgh; obtained the degree of M.D. from Leyden University in
1742; established a chemical laboratory at Birmingham; invented
methods of refining precious metals and several improvements in
processes for the production of chemicals, including the
manufacture of sulphuric acid, at Prestonpans, in 1749, where he
was in partnership with Mr. Samuel Garbett, another Englishman.
In 1759, he, along with his brothers, Thomas,
Ebenezer, and Benjamin, William Cadell, sen., William Cadell,
jun., and Samuel Garbett, founded the Carron Ironworks, which at
one time were the most celebrated in Europe. - His connection
with Borrowstounness began about the same time when he became
the lessee of the Duke's coal mines and saltpans, and took up
residence at Kinneil House. The history of his partnership with
James Watt, the part which he played in the government •of the
town, and the unfortunate collapse of all his plans are
•elsewhere referred to. In 1773 the doctor, owing to his
financial misfortunes here, had not only to give up his interest
in Watt's patent, but had also to sever his connection with the
Carron Company. His spirit and business enterprise, however,
were undaunted, and, in 1784, we find him founding the Bo'ness
Pottery. He died here in 1794, and was buried in Carriden
Churchyard.
From the various works which he projected, all of
a practical nature; from his generous and kindly treatment of
James Watt, and his keen desire to promote the interests of the
inhabitants of Bo'ness, we readily conclude that, in ability and
real goodness, he was far above the average man. This is
attested by the monument to his memory which his friends erected
over his grave. The inscription is in Latin, but we give below a
translation7—
Underneath this tombstone rests no ordinary man,
John Roebuck, M.D., who, of gentle birth and of liberal
education, applied his mind to almost all the liberal arts.
Though he made the practice of medicine his chief work in his
public capacity to the great advantage of his fellow-citizens,
yet he did not permit his inventive and tireless brain to rest
satisfied with that, but cultivated a great number of recondite
and abstruse sciences, among which were chemistry and
metallurgy. These he expounded and adapted to human needs with a
wonderful fertility of genius and a high degree of painstaking
labour; whence not a few of all those delightful works and
pleasing structures which decorate our world, and by their
utility conduce to both public and private well-being he either
devised or promoted. Of these the magnificent work at the mouth
of the Carron is his own invention.
In extent of friendship and of gentleness he was
surpassing great, and, though harassed by adversity or deluded
by hope and weighed down by so many of our griefs, he yet could
assuage these by his skill in the arts of the muses or in the
delights of the country.
For most learned conversation and gracious
familiarity no other was more welcome or more pleasant on
account of his varied and profound learning, his merry games,
and sparkling wit and humour. And, above all, on account of the
uprightness, benevolence, and good fellowship in his character.
Bewailed by his family and missed by all good
men, he died on the Ides [i.e., 15th]
of July.
a.d.
1794, aged 76, in the arms of his wife, and with his children
around him.
This monument—such as it is—the affection of
friends has erected.
VI.
James Watt (b.
1736, d. 1819).8
The name and fame of this celebrated natural
philosopher and civil engineer are so well known that they
require little mention here. He was born in Greenock, but
Glasgow and Birmingham were the chief centres of his labours.
Bo'ness, however, has a right to claim more than a passing
interest in his early endeavours to improve the steam engine. He
had been struggling as a mathematical instrument maker to the
University of Glasgow when his friend Professor Black spoke of
him to Dr. Roebuck, who was engaged sinking coal pits. Roebuck
had been time and again thwarted in his attempt to reach the
coal by inrushes of water, his Newcomen engine having proved
practically useless. Therefore, when Dr. Black informed him of
this ingenious young mechanic in Glasgow who had invented a
steam engine capable of working with a greater power, speed, and
economy, Roebuck immediately entered into •correspondence with
Watt. Roebuck was at first sceptical as to the principle of
Watt's engine, and induced him to revert to the old principle,
with some modifications. Against his convictions Watt tried a
series of experiments, but abandoned them as hopeless, Roebuck
being also convinced of his error. Up to this time Watt and
Roebuck had not met, but in September, 1765, Roebuck urged him
to come with Dr. Black to Kinneil House and fully discuss the
subject of the engine. Watt wrote to say that he was physically
unable for the journey to Kinneil, but would try to meet him on
a certain day at the works at Carron, in which the doctor had an
interest. Even this, however, had to be postponed. Roebuck then
wrote urging Watt to press forward his invention with all speed,
"whether you pursue it as a philosopher or as a man of
business." In accordance with this urgent appeal, Watt forwarded
to Roebuck the working drawings of a covered cylinder and
piston, to be cast at the Carron Works. This cylinder, however,
when completed, was ill bored, and had to be laid aside as
useless. The piston rod was made in Glasgow, under his own
supervision, and when finished he was afraid to forward it on a
common cart lest the workpeople should see it, .and so it was
sent in a box to Carron in the month of July, 1766.
This secrecy was necessary to prevent his idea
being appropriated by others. Roebuck was so confident of Watt's
success that in 1767 he undertook to give him £1000 to pay the
debts already incurred, to enable Watt to continue his
•experiments, and to patent the engine. Roebuck's return was to
be two-thirds of the property in the invention. Early in 1768
Watt made a new and larger model, with a cylinder of seven or
eight inches diameter, but by an unforeseen misfortune " the
mercury found its way into the cylinder and played the devil
with the solder. This throws us back at least three days, .and
is very vexatious, especially as it happened in spite of the
precaution I had taken to prevent it." Disregarding the renewed
demands of the impatient Roebuck to meet and talk the matter
over, Watt proceeded to patch up his damaged engine. In a
month's time he succeeded, and then rode triumphantly to Kinneil
House, where his words to Roebuck were, "I sincerely wish you
joy of this successful result, and I hope it will make some
return for the obligations I owe you."
The model was so satisfactory that it was at once
determined to take out a patent for the engine, and Watt
journeyed to Berwick, where he obtained a provisional
protection. It had been originally intended to build the engine
in "the little town of Borrowstounness." For the sake of
privacy, however, Watt fixed upon an outhouse in a small
enclosure to the south of Kinneil House, where an abundant
supply of water could be obtained from the Gil burn. The
materials required were brought here from Glasgow and Carron,
and a few workmen were placed at his disposal. The cylinder—of
eighteen inches diameter and five feet stroke—was cast at
Carron. Progress-was slow and the mechanics clumsy. Watt was
occasionally compelled to be absent on other business, and on
his return he usually found the men at a standstill. As the
engine neared completion his anxiety kept him sleepless at
nights, for his fears-were more than equal to his hopes. He was
easily cast down by little obstructions, and especially
discouraged by unforeseen expense. About six months after its
commencement the new engine, on which he had expended so much
labour, anxiety, and ingenuity, was completed. But its success
was far from decided. Watt himself declared it to be a clumsy
job. He was grievously depressed by his want of success, and he
had serious thoughts of giving up the thing altogether. Before
abandoning it, however, the engine was again thoroughly
overhauled, many improvements were effected, and a new trial
made of its powers. But this did not prove more successful than
the earlier one had been. "You cannot conceive," he wrote to
Small, " how mortified I am with this disappointment. It is a
damned thing for a man to have his all hanging by a single
string. If I had the wherewithal to pay the loss, I don't think
I should so much fear a failure; but I cannot bear the thought
of other people becoming losers by my schemes, and I have the
happy disposition of always painting the worst." Bound therefore
by honour not less than by interest, he summoned up his courage
and went on anew. In the principles of his engine he continued
to have confidence, and believed that, could mechanics be found
who would be capable of accurately executing its several parts,
success was certain. By this time Roebuck was becoming
embarrassed with debts and involved in various difficulties. The
pits were drowned with water, which no existing machinery could
pump out, and ruin threatened to overtake him before Watt's
engine could come to his help. The doctor had sunk in his coal
works his own fortune and part of that of his relations, and was
thus unable to defray the expense of taking out the patent and
otherwise fulfilling his engagement with the inventor. In his
distress Watt appealed to Dr. Black for assistance, and a loan
was forthcoming; but, of course, this only left him deeper in
debt, without any clear prospect of ultimate relief. No wonder
that_ he should, after his apparently fruitless labour, have
expressed to Small his belief that, "Of all things in life,
there is nothing more foolish than inventing." The unhappy state
of his mind may be further inferred from his lamentation
expressed in a letter to the same friend on the 31st of January,
1770—"To-day I enter the thirty-fifth year of my life, and I
think I have hardly yet done thirty-five pence worth of good to
the world; but I cannot help it." By the death, also, of his
wife, who cheered him greatly in his labours, an unfortunate
combination of circumstances seemed to overwhelm him. No further
progress had yet been made with his steam engine, which, indeed,
he almost cursed as the cause of his misfortunes. Dr. Roebuck's
embarrassments now reached their climax. He had fought against
the water until he could fight no more, and was at last
delivered into the hands of his creditors, a ruined man. His
share in Watt's invention was then transferred to Matthew
Boulton, of Birmingham.
VII.
This was the turning-point for "Watt. Birmingham
was an excellent trade centre, and within it were to be found
experienced mechanics. The firm of Boulton, Watt & Co. was
formed in 1774, and Watt's success was thenceforward ensured.
Although Roebuck had to give in, there is no
doubt that Watt was so much indebted to him at the beginning
that, without his aid and encouragement, he would never have
gone on. Robinson says, " I remember Mrs. Roebuck remarking one
evening, ' Jamie is a queer lad, and without the doctor his
invention would have been lost, but Dr. Roebuck won't let it
perish.' "
Watt's connection with Kinneil and Bo'ness must
have lasted a number of years. There are many stories concerning
his engines,8 probably
mostly experimental, which were in use at the local pits. These,
no doubt, were in operation, and attained a considerable degree
of success before he removed to Birmingham, but too late to be
of any practical assistance to his partner Roebuck. Of the
engine at Taylor's pit the workmen could only say that it was
the fastest one they ever saw. From its size, and owing to its
being placed in a small timber-house, the colliers called it the
" box bed." The one at the Temple pit was known as Watt's
spinning wheel. The cylinder of his engine at the Schoolyard pit
lay there for many years. It was in the end purchased by Bo'ness
Gas Company, in whose possession it now is. The outhouse at
Kinneil in which Watt constructed his first engine and conducted
his many experiments still remains, but it is in a dilapidated
condition. Undoubtedly Watt's mental endowments were great, but
he was called upon to suffer disappointment after disappointment
and bitter reverses of fortune. His courage, force of character,
and mechanical genius ultimately carried him towards complete
success, so that he retired with a handsome fortune.
VIII.
Dugald Stewart (b.
1753, d. 1828),
Professor of Moral Philosophy in
the Edinburgh University.
After relinquishing the duties of his Chair in
1809 this eminent Scotsman retired to Kinneil House, which his
friend the Duke of Hamilton had placed at his disposal. Here he
spent the twenty remaining years of his life in philosophical
study. From Kinneil he dated his Philosophical
Essays, in
1810, the second volume of the Elements, in
1813; the first part of theDissertation, in
1821, and the second part in 1826; and, finally, in 1828, the Philosophy
of the Active and Moral Powers, a
work which he completed a few weeks before the close of his
life.
Dugald Stewart was born in the precincts of
Edinburgh University, where his father, the Professor of
Mathematics, resided. He studied at the University there, but
after a time was attracted to Glasgow University, like a good
many others, by the fame of Professor Reid, who occupied the
Chair of Moral Philosophy. At the age of nineteen he was
accepted by the Senatus as his father's substitute during the
latter's illness, and returned to Edinburgh. Two years later he
was appointed assistant and successor. With three days'
preparation he, in 1778, undertook the work of the Chair of
Moral Philosophy when Adam Ferguson made his visit to America.
In 1785, the year of his father's death, he exchanged Chairs
with Ferguson. It was a happy exchange for Stewart. He was so
versatile that he could, at a moment's notice, occupy any Chair
in the University, and there is no •doubt that as Professor of
Mathematics he discharged the duties with distinction. But his
reading, his studies, and the natural bent of his mind
peculiarly fitted him to be the popular exponent of Dr. Reid's
commonsense philosophy. His fame became so great that he drew
young men of family and fortune to attend his classes. He was in
the habit of boarding students, and it has been said that
noblemen did not grudge £400 for the privilege of having their
sons admitted to Professor
Stewart's charming home. Among those who attended
his class were the young men who afterwards became Lord
Palmerston, Lord John Russell, Lord Brougham, Lord Cockburn, and
Lord Jeffrey.
Lord Cockburn has left us some very vivid and
sympathetic recollections of Stewart as a lecturer, and of the
influence he exercised over his students. Entrance to Dugald
Stewart's class was, he says, the great era in the progress of
young men's minds. To him his lectures were like the opening of
the heavens. He felt that he had a soul; and the professor's
noble views, unfolded in glorious sentences, elevated him into,
a higher world. Stewart, he affirms, was one of the greatest of
didactic orators, and had he lived in ancient times his memory
would have descended to us as that of one of the finest of the
old eloquent sages. Flourishing, however, in an age which
required all the dignity of morals to counteract the tendencies
of physical pursuits and political convulsions, he had exalted
the character of his country and of his generation. Without
genius or even originality of talent, his intellectual character
was marked by calm thought and great soundness. His training in
mathematics may have corrected the reasoning, but it never
chilled the warmth of his moral demonstrations.
All Stewart's powers were exalted by an
unimpeachable personal character, devotion to the science he
taught, an exquisite taste, an imagination imbued with poetry
and oratory, liberality of opinion, and the highest morality.
His retiral made a deep and melancholy impression on his
students and on all those interested in the welfare of mental
philosophy.
In his earlier years Mr. Stewart had resided at
Catrine House. Catrine, originally the country-house of his
maternal grandfather, and there he met and entertained the poet
Burns. This friendship was renewed on the poet's visit to
Edinburgh.
His biographer has
told us that Mr. Stewart's time at Kinneil was almost
exclusively devoted to his literary labours.
Dugald Stewart.
By permission from "Scottish Men of Letters in
the XVIII. Century" by H. Grey Graham (Black).
He, however, relieved these by friendly
intercourse, and by the calls of those strangers whom the lustre
of his name led to pay a passing visit to Kinneil. Among his
friends was Sir David Wilkie, the painter. He was always in
search of subjects for his pictures, and Mr. Stewart found for
him in an old farmhouse in the neighbourhood the cradle chimney
introduced into the " Penny Wedding." Other friendly visitors at
Kinneil included Lord Palmerston and Earl Russell. A detailed
account of the life and writings of his father, which abounded
in anecdotes and notices of the many distinguished men with whom
he was on terms of intimacy, was prepared by Mr. Stewart's son.
Most unfortunately this memoir and the greater part of the
professor's correspondence and journals were unwittingly
destroyed by the son in a fit of mental aberration brought on by
a sunstroke. Little record, then, is left of his long and
interesting occupancy of Kinneil. In 1822 he was struck with
paralysis. The attack affected his power of utterance and
deprived him of the use of his right hand. Happily, it neither
impaired any of the facilities of his mind nor the
characteristic vigour and activity of his understanding. It,
however, prevented him from using his pen, and Mrs. Stewart
became his amanuensis. From a letter written by her to a friend
in 1824 we find that Mr. Stewart's health was as good as they
could possibly hope after the severe attack three years
previously, and that he walked between two and three hours every
day.
In 1828 Mr. and Mrs. Stewart went to Edinburgh on
a brief visit to their friend Mrs. Lindsay, No. 5 Ainslie Place.
Here Mr. Stewart was seized with a fresh shock of paralysis, and
died on 11th June. He was buried in the Canongate Churchyard. A
monument to his memory, erected by his friends and admirers,
stands upon the Calton Hill.
Mr. Stewart was twice married. His first wife was
Helen, daughter of Neil Bannatyne, Glasgow, and the marriage
took place in 1783, after a long courtship. She died in 1787,
leaving an only child, Matthew, on whom his father centred all
his affections. He in time entered the Army, and rose to
distinction. The professor's second wife was Helen d'Arcy
Cranstoun, third daughter of the Hon. George Cranstoun, youngest
son of William, fifth Lord Cranstoun. This marriage took place
in 1790. Mrs. Stewart, we are told,9 was
a lady of high accomplishments and fascinating manner—uniting
with vivacity and humour depth and tenderness of feeling. She
sympathised warmly with the tastes and pursuits of her husband,
and so great was his regard for her judgment and taste that he
was in the habit of submitting to her criticism whatever he
wrote. Mrs. Stewart also held a high place among the writers of
Scottish song. She died in 1838. There were two children of this
marriage—a son, George, a youth of great promise, whose death,
in 1809, occasioned the deepest affliction to his parents, and
led to Mr. Stewart's retirement from professorial duty—and a
daughter, Maria d'Arcy, who survived her father and mother, and
died in 1846. Miss Stewart was endeared to a very extensive
circle of friends by the charms of a mind of great vigour and
rich culture, manners the most fascinating, and a heart full of
warmth, tenderness, and affection.
Mrs. and Miss Stewart were the last occupants of
Kinneil House, and their departure after the professor's death
was much regretted by every inhabitant of the parish. The active
benevolence of the family was extensive, and was long and
gratefully remembered.
X.
Donald Potter (b.
1756, d. . . . ).
In one of the privately enclosed burial-places
alongside the east wall of the lower churchyard lie the mortal
remains of Donald Potter, captain of the Royal Navy. This is
almost all that can be gathered of this worthy, for the
lettering on the memorial tablet is so eaten away as to be
indecipherable. On the top of the stone-there is still to be
seen a splintered cannon ball hooped with iron. Beneath are
carved a crown and an anchor.
Donald Potter was a native of the parish of
Livingstone, in this county. His father was James Potter, and
his mother Katherine Mitchell. At an early age he joined the
Royal Navy, and by good conduct, gallant deeds, and long and
efficient service rose to an important position. He specially
distinguished himself under Admiral Howe in his crushing defeat
of the French fleet off Brest on the 1st of June, 1794. In
October, 1809, Potter received a commission as lieutenant of His
Majesty's ship the " Bellona," and in February, 1811, was
appointed to the same position on board the "Princess." Much to
his regret he had to retire about 1814, when he settled in
Borrowstounness, where he had some relatives. Upon the
mantelpiece of his sitting-room he kept an interesting relic of
the famous battle in the shape of a cannon ball. On every
recurrence of " the glorious first of June " he had the ball
gaily decorated with ribbons, and, dressing himself in his full
naval uniform, paraded the town. Thus arrayed he would call at
various inns to drink to the memory of his old admiral and
success to the British Navy. In 1829—some years before his
death—the date of which is not now ascertainable—he appears to
have purchased his burial-place, erected his headstone, and left
instructions for the fixing of his much-prized curio upon it
after his death. The following year—November, 1830—he was
appointed to the rank and title of a commander in His Majesty's
Fleet (retired). He was then seventy-four, and from all accounts
lived for some years afterwards.
Mr. William Thomson, of Upper Kinneil, was one of
the captain's intimate friends. To Mr. Thomson he left the
portrait (a photograph of which we reproduce) and his sword and
pistols. Mr. William Miller received other relics from a
grand-nephew of Potter's many years ago. Among these are a
miniature of the captain painted on ivory, and his three
commissions, two of which bear the signature of Lord Palmer ston.
XI.
George Husband Baird, Eighteenth
Principal op Edinburgh University (b.
1761, d. 1840).
This distinguished divine was born in 1761 in a
now-demolished house attached to the holding of Bowes, in the.
hollow to the west of Inveravon farm-house, in the Parish of
Borrowstounness. His father, James Baird, while a considerable
proprietor in the county of Stirling, at that time rented this
farm from the Duke of Hamilton. Young Baird received the
rudiments of his education at the Parish School of
Borrowstounness. Upon his father removing to the property of
Manuel the boy was sent to the Grammar School at Linlithgow. It
has been said of him that as a schoolboy he was more plodding,
persevering, and well-mannered than brilliant. In his thirteenth
year he was entered as a student in Humanity at Edinburgh
University. There he speedily evoked favourable notice because
of his devotion to his classwork and the progress which he made.
In 1793 he succeeded Principal Robertson in the Principalship at
the early age of thirty-three. Baird had married the eldest
daughter of Lord Provost Elder, who had paramount influence in
the Council, and exercised it for the election of his youthful
and untried son-in-law. We believe it used to be jocularly said
that his chief claim to the Principalship was as " Husband" of
the Lord Provost's daughter. Nevertheless the appointment turned
out well, although he was at a distinct disadvantage in
succeeding a man of high literary fame like Principal Robertson.
Baird held the Principalship for the long period of forty-seven
years, saw the students increase from 1000 to 2000, new
University buildings erected, the professoriate augmented, and
great developments in other ways. He lived through many long
strifes and litigations, and died leaving the Senatus still at
war. He was one of the ministers of the High Church of
Edinburgh.
But Baird did most excellent work,10 and
made a lasting name for himself outside the University. Towards
the close of his life he threw his whole soul into a scheme for
the education of the poor in the Highlands and Islands of
Scotland. He submitted his proposals to the General Assembly in
May, 1824, advancing them with great ability and earnestness.
Next year the Assembly gave its sanction to the scheme, and it
was launched most auspiciously. So intense was his interest in
this work that in his sixty-seventh year, although in enfeebled
health, he traversed the entire Highlands of Argyll, the west of
Inverness, and Ross, and the Western Islands from Lewis to
Kintyre. The following year he visited the Northern Highlands
and the Orkneys and Shetlands. Through his influence Dr. Andrew
Bell, of Madras, bequeathed £5000 for education in the Highlands
of Scotland. In 1832 the thanks of the General Assembly were
conveyed to him by the illustrious Dr. Chalmers, then in the
zenith of his oratorical powers. He died at his family property
at Manuel, and is buried in Muiravonside Churchyard.
XII.
Henry Bell (b.
1767, d. 1830).
At the ruins of Torphichen Old Mill, on the banks
of the river Avon, about six miles from Bo'ness, there was
unveiled, on a blustery afternoon in November, 1911, a tablet
bearing the following inscription : —
Henry Bell, Pioneer of Steamship Navigation in
Europe.
Born in the Old Mill House near this spot, 1767 a.d.
Died at Helensburgh, 1830 a.d.
The tablet, which is of Aberdeen granite, is
placed in the centre of the old gable, the only remaining part
of the original structure. It bears a representation of the
"Comet," showing how the funnel of the ship was also used as a
mast.
This worthy son of Linlithgowshire had an
interesting connection with our seaport. For many years
shipbuilding-was extensively carried on at Bo'ness. A great many
of the vessels were built for Greenock merchants for the West
India trade. The business was owned by Messrs. Shaw & Hart, and
with them Henry Bell, when about nineteen years of age, found
employment. It is said that when here his attention was directed
for the first time towards the idea of the propulsion of ships
by steam. His connection with Bo'ness extended over a period of
two years, after which he settled in Glasgow. For a number of
years pressure of business kept him from pursuing his idea of
propelling ships by steam. At length he designed, engined, and
launched the "Comet" on the Clyde in 1812. The little vessel was
herself in Bo'ness in 1813, and the event was one indelibly
imprinted on the memories of that generation. She probably came
down from the canal at Grangemouth, and when first seen was
thought to be on fire.
Bell, it seems, had sent her round to the yard of
his old masters to be overhauled. When she resumed her sailings
several local gentlemen took advantage of the first trip by
steamboat from Bo'ness to Leith. Her speed was six miles an
hour, and the single fare 7s. 6d.
The Bell family have been well known in and
intimately identified with the Linlithgow district for many
centuries. Some of the older members were burgesses of the
burgh, and many of them were engaged in the millwright industry
in the district. They were also tenants of Torphichen Mill,
Carribber Mill, and Kinneil Mill. Another family of Bells were
owners of Avontown, and were connected at different times with
the ministerial and legal professions, one of them having been
town-clerk of Linlithgow.
XIII.
Robert Burns,
D.D. (b. 1789, d. 1869).
In his notes of Bo'ness Parish, Mr. M'Kenzie says,
"A considerable number of clergymen might be mentioned as
connected with this parish by birth or residence. One family has
produced four clergymen of the Church of Scotland, all of
distinguished excellence, though, perhaps, the editor of the
last edition of 'Wodrow's Church History' is best known to
fame." The family referred to was that of John Burns, surveyor
of Customs, Bo'ness. His four distinguished sons were the
ministers of Kilsyth, Monkton, and Tweedsmuir, and the subject
of this sketch.
Robert was
born at Bo'ness in 1789, educated at the University of
Edinburgh, licensed as a probationer of the Church of Scotland
in 1810, and ordained minister of the Low Church, Paisley, in
1811. He was a man of great energy and activity, a popular
preacher, a laborious worker in his parish and town, a strenuous
supporter of the evangelical party in the Church, and one of the
foremost opponents of lay patronage. In 1815, impressed with the
spiritual wants of his countrymen in the Colonies, he helped to
form a Colonial Society for supplying them with ministers, and
of this society he continued the mainspring for fifteen years.
Joining the Free Church in 1843, he was sent by the General
Assembly in 1844 to the United States to cultivate fraternal
relations with the Churches there. In 1845 he accepted an
invitation to be minister of Knox's Church, Toronto, in which
charge he remained till 1856, when he was appointed Professor of
Church History and Apologetics in Knox's College. Burns took a
most lively interest in his work, moving about with great
activity over the whole colony, and becoming acquainted with
almost every congregation. Before the Disruption he edited a new
edition of Wodrow's " History of the Sufferings of the Church of
Scotland from the Restoration to the Revolution," in four
volumes, contributing a life of the author; and for three
years—1838-1840—he edited and contributed many papers to the
"Edinburgh Christian Instructor." He also wrote a life of
Stevenson Macgill, D.D., 1842. There is a memoir of Dr. Burns by
his son, Robert F. Burns, D.D., of Halifax, Nova Scotia; see
also "Disruption Worthies," and notice by his nephew, J. C.
Burns, D.D., Kirkliston.
XIV.
John Anderson (b. 1794, d. 1870).
John Anderson was known in his day and generation
as "the King of Bo'ness," and his name has been perpetuated in
the Anderson Trust, the Anderson Academy, and the Anderson
Buildings. He was the only son of John Anderson, teacher,
Bo'ness, and of Jean Paterson, his spouse, and was born and
lived all his days in the seaport. Possessing shrewd business
capacity, he in time became merchant, shipowner, and, later in
life, agent for the Royal Bank of Scotland. He conducted his
businesses with ability and success, and rose to considerable
influence in the place. In addition, he was connected officially
for many years with the local friendly societies, and devised
many schemes for their improvement. Mr. Anderson was a man of
strong will and tenacity of purpose, and left his mark 'on every
project with which he was associated.
Always fully alive to business possibilities, he,
to meet the increase in the population which followed the
establishment of Kinneil Furnaces, converted his extensive
cellarages in Potter's Close (now demolished) into
dwelling-houses. The consequent growth of the town at this time,
coupled with a renewal of the Greenland whale-fishing, led to a
great period of prosperity, in which he, as its principal
merchant, almost enjoyed a monopoly. He owned the whalers
"Success," "Alfred," and "Jean," and had a large share in the
boiling-house at the top of the Wynd. On the formation of
Bo'ness Gas Company, in 1842, he was appointed its first
chairman. To use a common phrase, Mr. Anderson was very lucky.
He did not, however, concentrate all his powers upon self-aggrandisement.
In him the poor of the town had a good friend during his
lifetime, and by his will he provided pensions to deserving
persons. Interested all his life in education, he advanced its
cause by •erecting and endowing the Academy which bears his
name. The foundation-stone of this building was made the
occasion of a great Masonic demonstration on the 12th of June,
1869. Another function in which, a decade before, he played a
prominent part was the visit of the eleventh Duke of Hamilton
and his wife, Princess Marie of Baden. They were received in
great style by Mr. Anderson, and entertained to cake and wine on
board the Greenland ship. Their Graces afterwards proceeded to
the Town House, and there gave a handsome donation towards the
erection of the Clock Tower.
Mr. Anderson died on 14th April, 1870, and was
buried beside his father, mother, and sister Margaret in the
lower churchyard at the Wynd. This burial-place is covered by a
large, flat stone bearing some appreciative words concerning his
mother and sister. The former is described as " active,
cheerful, and constantly occupied," and as having " sought
pleasure nowhere and found happiness and content everywhere." Of
the latter he says, " Active in her habit, kindly in her
disposition, she was a sister highly to be prized."
Some years ago Mr. Anderson's trustees, who had
been instructed to renew and keep the family tombstones in
order, resolved to erect a new monument to his memory in the
cemetery, as the lower churchyard was now practically abandoned.
So, upon Saturday, 24th December, 1904, Mr. William Thomson of
Seamore, one of the original trustees, performed the ceremony of
unveiling a handsome granite block, suitably inscribed, which
stands near the main entrance to the new cemetery.
XV.
Below we reproduce a somewhat humorous, but, we
believe, •quite accurate genealogy and character sketch of Mr.
Anderson, which is prefixed to a presentation volume of the
poetical works of Robert Burns (London, 1828), in the possession
of Masonic Lodge Douglas. It refers to Mr. Anderson's initiation
into Lodge No. 17, Ancient Brazen, Linlithgow, which apparently
met at Bo'ness for the purpose. The volume was presented by
Mr. Anderson, and, either out of compliment to
him or at his own desire (but, in either event, with his
knowledge and consent), the chronicle we refer to was prefixed.
Here is what the scribe has written—
"1. And in the days of the Kings called George
and William and of Queen Victoria, mighty Sovereigns of
Scotland, there dwelt in the ancient town of Bo'ness a virtuous
man called John, of the tribe of Anderson.
"2. Now, the genealogy of this John of Bo'ness is
as follows: —There was a pious man called John the Preacher, of
the tribe of Anderson, who took unto himself Agnes, the daughter
of Bryson. [This is evidently his grandfather, who was a Burgher
minister at Elsrickle, near Biggar.]
"3. And she bore him a son, John, who waxed
strong in knowledge, and in process of time taught the people
many things out of the law and the prophets. [This was his
father.]
"4. And John, the teacher, took unto himself an
excellent wife, called Jane, of the tribe of Paterson, whose
ancient progenitors were mighty rulers in Italy in the latter
days of the Caesars and the Apostles, and hence is derived their
Roman name of ' Pater' and ' filius '—father-son, now Paterson.
"5. And this daughter of the tribe of Pater bore
unto the teacher, John of Bo'ness, and also Agnes, who married
Robert, of the tribe of White, who is a dealer in things that
are hard in the royal city of London, and Margaret, a fair
maiden of good understanding, and much esteemed and respected by
all who knew her.
"And John of Bo'ness is a man that deals in all
kinds of merchandise. He ' takes heed to his ways,' as reminded
by the wise men of old and the prophets, therefore he has gold
and silver and menservants and maidservants, and also divers
ships that go far off for riches, even unto the borders of the
Holy Land. Moreover, this merchant was much respected for his
wisdom and for his upright ways. Wherefore he was made a ruler
among the people,13who
bowed down their heads before him when he sat in the judgment
seat; and his good name went abroad, so that there was none like
unto him in Bo'ness for skill in shipping."
The chronicle then concludes by recording Mr.
Anderson's initiation on the 14th of September, 1849.
XVI.
Admiral Sir George Johnstone Hope, K.C.B. (b. 1767, d.
1818).
We have elsewhere dealt with the Hope family in
connection with their ownership of Carriden estate. The notable
careers of the two admirals, however, claim some mention.
Sir George was the eldest son by the third
marriage of the Hon. Charles Hope Yere, and fifth child of his
father, who was the second son of the first Earl of Hopetoun. He
entered the Navy at the age of fifteen, and after passing
through the usual gradations attained the rank of captain in
1793, and that of rear-admiral in 1811.14 During
the interval he had commanded successively the "Romulus,"
"Alcmene," and "Leda" frigates, and the "Majestic," "Theseus,"
and "Defence," seventy-fours. At the battle of Trafalgar he was
present in the latter vessel. He served as captain of the Baltic
fleet from 1808 to 1811. In 1812 he went to the Admiralty, and
the following year held the chief command in the Baltic. In the
end of the same year he returned to the Admiralty, where he
remained as confidential adviser to the First Lord till his
death on 2nd May, 1818.
He was a very distinguished officer, and highly
appreciated in the service for his exemplary discipline, his
decision, promptitude, and bravery, and his veneration for
religion.
Admiral Sir James Hope,
K.C.B. (b. 1808, d. 1881).
James Hope was a child of ten when his father,
Admiral Sir George, died. His youth therefore was spent under
the direction of his mother and of his father's trustees.
Anxious to follow in his father's footsteps, he entered the
Navy, and had an equally distinguished career. He has been
described by one who served under him abroad as a brave
gentleman and a good-hearted soul, and this is borne out by all
who knew him in this neighbourhood. When in command of the "
Firebrand " he opened the passage of the Parana, in the River
Plate by cutting the chain at Obligado in 1845. He was
Commander-in-Chief in China, and brought < about the capture of
Peking. On two occasions he was seriously wounded. The first was
during the attack on the Peiho forts in 1859. He was directing
operations from the bridge of the " Plover " when a shell struck
the funnel chainstay. A fragment glanced off, and, striking
Hope, became deeply embedded in the muscles of his thigh. This
entirely disabled him for four months. His recovery was very
slow, and he was lame ever afterwards. The ship's surgeon was
able, after some trouble, to extract the splinter; and a
photograph of it is preserved, with a note giving full
particulars of the occurrence. The second occasion was near
Taeping. Hope, because of his disabled condition, was directing
movements from a sedan chair, and was in consultation with the
French Admiral. A shell from the guns of the enemy struck the
latter under the chin and decapitated him. Hope himself was
violently thrown from his seat, and his old wound reopened. He
was gallantly rescued by the late Tom Grant, of Bo'ness, who was
all through this campaign with the Admiral. In later years his
old chief succeeded in getting Grant a pension, although he had
scarcely completed his twenty-one years' service.
The late Tom Thomson, of Carriden, another old
naval man,
Admiral Sir James Hope.
(From a photograph in possession of Mrs. James
Kidd, Carriden.)
was with Hope while on the "Majestic " when she
was with the fleet in the Baltic under Sir Charles Napier. Hope
was an out-and-out Scot, and in his younger days agitated for
the introduction into the Navy of a Scotch uniform, especially
the Balmoral bonnet. The experiment was tried, but given up as
unsuitable.
He took great interest in his men on or off duty,
and arranged many private theatricals on the main deck for their
amusement, taking a special delight in the presentation of " Rob
Roy" and other Scottish pieces. Thomson spoke highly of his
discipline and the thoroughness with which he instructed and
drilled his men.
After the Pekin Treaty, in 1862, Admiral Hope was
engaged as an adviser at the Admiralty. He afterwards resigned
his command, and went into retirement. For some time he lived in
London, and afterwards settled at Carriden. In conjunction with
Lady Hope he associated himself in his later years with many
religious and philanthropic movements in the district. He bought
up some of the old properties in the Muirhouses, and remodelled
and rebuilt the village, including the old school and
schoolhouse. He was twice married, but had no family. The
Admiral died in Carriden House, and was buried in the northwest
corner of the churchyard at Cuffabouts. A cable from one of his
old ships surrounds the grave. His tombstone bears the
inscription, " Sir James Hope, G.C.B., Grand Commander of the
Bath, Admiral of the Fleet. Born 8th March 1808; died 8th June,
1881."
The late Sir John Lees, private secretary to the
Marquis of Townshend when Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and who
afterwards filled the office of Secretary to the Post Office in
Dublin, was in his youth brought up, Mr. Fleming says, in
Carriden parish. He was eminently successful in life, and
afforded a memorable example of the distinguished place in
society to which the careful cultivation and judicious
application of superior talents may raise their possessor. He
was created a baronet on the 21st June, 1804.
XVII.
James Brunton Stephens (b. 1835, d. 1902)
To Bo'ness belongs the honour of being the
birthplace of James Brunton Stephens, the poet of the Australian
Commonwealth. His father was John Stephens, who filled the
office of parochial schoolmaster of Borrowstounness from 1808 to 1845 with
much dignity and ability. The school and schoolhouse were then
situated in what is now known as George Place. James was born in
August, 1835. His
early education was received from his father, and among his
schoolmates were John Marshall and John Blair, who became
well-known doctors, the first in Crieff, and the latter in
Melbourne, Australia. On completing his school education he
proceeded to Edinburgh University. In all his classes he secured
an honourable place, but abandoned his course without taking a
degree. He was tempted away from the mere diploma by an offer to
become a travelling tutor, and with the son of a wealthy
gentleman he travelled for three years to Paris, Italy, Egypt,
Turkey, Asia Minor, Palestine, and Sicily. On returning to
Scotland he became an assistant master in Greenock Academy. In 1866, his
health having given way, he was advised to emigrate to
Australia. Arriving in Queensland, he obtained a tutorship in an
up-country station, and spent several years in learning the
sports and occupations of the bush. During this time he wrote
"Convict Once," his best poem, and later " The Godolphin
Arabian," a humorous and racy account of the sire of modern
thoroughbreds. In 1874 Mr.
Stephens received an appointment as a teacher under the
Department of Public Instruction in Brisbane. Here he began to
contribute to the local Press, and in 1876 won
a prize of £100 offered
by the Queenslander for
the best novelette. At this period he married and settled in one
of the Brisbane suburbs. In 1880 he
published a volume of miscellaneous poems containing many
humorous pieces that strongly appealed to the public. Mr.
Stephens latterly filled the position of Chief Clerk in the
Colonial Secretary's Office at Brisbane, and was
greatly esteemed for his geniality and wit. He was very
Australian in the selection of his themes, his inspiration being
found in his immediate surroundings. Among the humorous poets of
Australia he held a first place, but, like Hood, he could be
serious on occasion. In this vein he was equally successful. He
was keenly alive to the importance of uniting all the Australian
States, and in 1877 his poem, "The Dominion of Australia," did a
great deal to stimulate flagging interest in federation. On the
1st of January, 1901, he published a poem in the Argus entitled
"Fulfilment," which was dedicated, by special permission, to Her
Majesty Queen Victoria.
In June of the following year Mr. Stephens died
in his sixty-seventh year, and was survived by his widow, a son,
and four daughters.
