This material was researched and kindly sent to us by Morag T. Fyfe of the West of
Scotland Family History Society.

Glasgow Herald (Glasgow, Scotland), Wednesday, December 9, 1863; Issue 7462

DEATH OF JOHN STRANG, ESQ., LL.D.

With no ordinary regret we announce the demise of our City Chamberlain, which took place yesterday morning at two o’clock, and we are certain that similar regret will be felt by thousands of our fellow-citizens when the sad event is made known to them. At the beginning of the present year he found his health somewhat impaired, and during the summer he sought repose and improvement by his wonted sojourn on the Continent; but no real amendment followed, and now, after a brief confinement, he has paid nature’s last debt.

He was the son of John Strang, Esq. of Dowanhill, a wine merchant in Glasgow, and was born in 1795. When only fourteen years of age he lost his father; and his tutors designing him for mercantile life, while they bestowed on him a moderate amount of classical learning, devoted a more than ordinary portion of his youth to the cultivation of modern languages, particularly French and German, in both of which he became a proficient. He succeeded to his father’s business, but did not attempt to extend it or even to preserve it, preferring the exercise and enjoyment of his literary tastes, in which a competent share of this world’s wealth, left him by his father, enabled him to indulge.

He visited and resided some time in France and Italy in 1817, and his previous fondness of French literature was strengthened by his mixture with French society. During his whole life, indeed, one of his chief and frequent enjoyments was a visit to the Continent, especially to France. At home, he spent much of his time in translating from the French and German languages the more attractive tales and short poems published in these languages, and the periodicals of the day contain many translations from his pen.

While yet comparatively young, he translated from the German and published anonymously a small volume, titled ” Tales of Humour and Romance, from the German of
Hoffman and others.” These pursuits led to a somewhat extensive and very friendly acquaintance with the literary men of London, Paris, and Germany; and his intercourse with them, at all times a source of great pleasure to him, ended only with his life. In addition to the literary tasks alluded to Dr. Strang early in life indicated a partiality for the Fine Arts. He profited by his opportunities of inspecting the picture galleries of the Continent, and as a critic on art, at once genial and discriminating, he excelled. One of his contributions to Fine Art criticism appeared in a little volume, published in 1830, under the pseudonyme of Geoffrey Crayon jun., “A Glance at the Exhibition of the Works of Living Artists, under the Patronage of the Glasgow Dilletanti Society,” in which he foretold the future success of various artists then obscure and unnoticed, and now well known to fame. But he was more than a critic—he was also a sketcher, and many of his sketches possessed considerable merit. It was in these sketches that he first exhibited his love of his native city. He was indeed a true Glasgowegian.

Accordingly, in the exercise of this art, he discovered, and in numerous cabinet sketches depicted, the odd habitations and memorable relics of Glasgow; and, from the same source, we are inclined to trace the deep interest he felt in the improvements of his native city. To him we are indebted for one of the most beautiful garden-cemeteries in Europe. He found an almost barren hill, crowned with a few Scotch firs, and totally unproductive, which frowned on our time-honoured Cathedral, and he saw at once in the worthless Fir Park an admirable site for a Necropolis. With great energy he devoted himself to the conversion of this old and worthless Fir Park into a picturesque cemetery, and after pressing this change on the attention of his fellow-citizens in the newspapers of the day, he published in 1831 a small volume titled ‘Necropolis Glasguensis,’ in which he strongly advocated the measure. His advocacy was successful—the Fir Park gave way to the Necropolis, and thus the Merchants’ House of Glasgow now draw a large revenue from a piece of ground and rock which formerly yielded nothing, and Glasgow possesses a cemetery which for beauty of situation is, perhaps, unsurpassed in Europe.

Dr. Strang had always a parental fondness for this child of his taste, and on his deathbed expressed a decided wish to be buried within its precincts, though possessing a family burial place in one of our church yards. Often, too, did he refer with pleasure to the visit of Von Raumer, the celebrated Professor of History in Berlin, and a traveller in many lands, who, shortly after it was opened, declared his conviction, after having seen almost all the cemeteries in Europe, that the Necropolis of Glasgow would yield to few in picturesque beauty, and to none in romantic effect.

In the same year, 1831, Dr. Strang made a very extended tour through Germany, and during its progress he addressed letters from the principal cities and towns to a friend in Glasgow, conveying his impressions of the people and their country. This tour was also productive of another gratification to him; he strengthened and increased his friendships with German men of letters—among others, with the translator of the works of Shakespeare and Burns. Other avocations occupied his time for three years after his return, and it was not till 1836 that he collected his letters and published them in two octavo volumes, under the title of “Germany in 1831,” which were well received by the public, and reached a second edition.

In 1832 Dr. Strang undertook a task of no ordinary difficulty—the editorship of a Glasgow daily paper of a literary nature, supported by amateurs, each number consisting of eight folio pages. In London, thirty years ago, such a task, even when supported by paid contributors, would have been a very onerous one; in Glasgow, it was one of overwhelming difficulty. Yet, for six months, from 2d January to 30th June, 1832, each morning regularly produced its “Day.” Many of Dr. Strang’s shorter pieces in prose and verse, original and translated, appeared in this periodical.

At length, in the spring of 1834, the responsible office of Glasgow City Chamberlain became vacant, and the public voice at once pointed to Dr. Strang as the only gentleman who ought to fill it. To this voice the first reformed City Council at once gave effect, and without solicitation or canvass he was appointed—an appointment applauded, at the time, and which during thirty years never elicited a complaint or even a regret from either Councillors or constituency.

The office Dr. Strang now held brought him so prominently and frequently before the public, and our readers must be so well acquainted with the admirable manner in which he discharged its duties, that it would be unpardonable to continue our sketch at any great length; but we may be permitted to observe that in one respect his literary accomplishments and gentlemanly demeanour were productive of no ordinary advantage both to the city and its Chief Magistrates. It would scarcely be fair to expect that in a busy manufacturing and commercial community like that of Glasgow, even its Chief Magistrates should be qualified to administer their courtesies in the languages of France and Germany to distinguished natives of these countries who might visit us.

In Dr. Strang, however, they had always a ready and an agreeable substitute; and so unostentatiously, yet so effectively, did he perform the duties which thus devolved on him, that no Royal or noble foreigner left our city without the expression of the highest satisfaction and the warmest thanks. But this portion of the Chamberlain’s duties was rather a relaxation to him than a business. Accordingly, he threw his whole mind into the real labours of his office—the pecuniary affairs, the statistics, and the improvements of Glasgow and its population. In the performance of these duties he was more interested than in the management of his own affairs; and the result was, clear and satisfactory statements of accounts, laborious and frequent reports full of statistical and sanitary information, and well-considered suggestions of future improvements. In some of these duties a qualified successor may be found—in the whole of them, Glasgow by his death has sustained a loss that we despair of seeing adequately supplied.

Dr. Strang’s official duties and his annual elaborate reports on our manufactures, departments of labour, employments of the population and their crimes, general statistics, and sanitary as well as moral condition and improvement, occupied his time so completely that nearly twenty years elapsed before he published another work. In the end of 1855 he did publish “Glasgow and its Clubs,” in which will be found an exceedingly curious history of our society and manners during the latter half of the last century. This work also went through two editions. We have already mentioned that during the last summer he visited the Continent in the hope of improving his health. We may now add that he spent nearly two months in France and Italy, and amused himself by writing letters from various cities in these countries, which appeared in our journal. After his return to his official duties, he found his strength unable to bear the daily fatigue, and in the beginning of November he was obliged to confine himself to his house, where he found pleasure in collecting and revising the letters addressed to us, and last week they were published in a little volume, titled “Travelling Notes of an Invalid in Search of Health.” Only two weeks ago he penned the modest little preface prefixed to this pretty volume.

Our townsman maintained, until the last, an intimate correspondence with many men, distinguished in science and letters, both in this country and on the Continent; and it is worthy of notice that some years ago the University of Glasgow conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. In December, 1842, Dr. Strang married Elizabeth Anderson, daughter of the late William Anderson, M.D., one of the most distinguished physicians in Glasgow of his day. Mrs. Strang survives him.

Thus has passed away from among us a man of mark whom Glasgow can ill spare. Gentle, accomplished, modest, and laborious, he held the even tenor of his way well known to his fellow-citizens, and by them universally beloved. In a literary and statistic view, he has done more for his native city than any of her sons; and his municipal services have been appreciated and acknowledged by every magistracy since be received his appointment. He had many personal friends who frequently sought his company, and by whom he was highly esteemed. Only two months ago he received a gift from a few of their number of almost princely magnitude. The best epitaph of humanity may be freely accorded to his worth- he has not left an enemy. For ourselves, so serene was our intercourse, so open and honest our confidences, that we fail to realise, and can scarcely admit, his departure. A judicious friend, uniformly kind and forbearing, of sterling integrity, amiable, unostentatious and intelligent, a scholar and a gentleman, has closed a career of great usefulness, and amidst regrets which will be felt most keenly by those who knew him best. We may not pursue the painful theme.

During forty years of intimate friendship no jarring word ever marred our pleasures—no difference of opinion ever lessened the warmth of our association; and now that the silver cord is broken, we look with sadness on the void thus left, and feel more intensely than ever the vanity of earthly wishes and enjoyments.

Digging For A Dearest Mother

The following article first appeared in the May 2007 edition of  Scottish Memories magazine
It’s reproduced here by their kind permission.

Diana Burns investigates clues in a search for the occupant of an ornate but unmarked grave in the City of the Dead.

To the Victorian mindset, death was an ever present fact of life and part of the fabric of existence, to be accepted if possible and whose power was to be somehow neutralised. In Glasgow alone, infant mortality peaked in 1871 at 191 young deaths for every thousand born, while a demise at the birth, on the part of the mother, the baby or both, was commonplace. Even minor illnesses and mishaps could prove fatal, yet our forebears were more comfortable with the Grim Reaper and even went about funerary arrangements with some style and flamboyance.

This dark energy still survives in the fine architecture of our magnificent 19th century cemeteries; and, driving on the west-bound M8 in Glasgow, you can still catch a passing glimpse of these defiant retorts to inevitable mortality.  Look for a moment over to your left near junction 15 and of 50,000 souls laid there between 1832 and 1960. Only around 3,500 of the occupants, mostly the rich and famous, have individual memorials to commemorate their passing, whereas the poor and less deserving are all buried in unmarked graves.

At the top of the hill stands a statue of Protestant firebrand John Knox, erected by public subscription in 1825; and owning a burial plot close to his stern monument was confirmation that the deceased were among the elite of local society. A few metres away from this statue stands a tall, sandstone obelisk on whose south-facing base is a carving of four little children, gazing at an oval memorial inscribed simply with the two telling words ëBeloved Mother’.  One of them, older than the rest, has her arm around a child in petticoats and has a baby on her knee.  The fourth child leans on this older girl’s shoulder.  The name of the grave’s occupant is unrecorded on the stone and the only other carving is the name of the sculptor, one G. Mossman.

This turned out to be George Mossman, who lived from 1823 to 1863 and belonged to a family business of monumental sculptors, many of whose works appear in burial grounds.  This particular obelisk is actually listed in his collected works as ëDearest Mother’; and I first saw it on a guided tour and became intrigued as to the identity of the unknown mother who had died.

Her memorial stands in a prestigious position where the families of prosperous merchants, ship owners and shipbuilders all lie buried which suggested that the mother in question, whether dearest or beloved, must have been a woman of some substance. The monument has been dated to around 1851 and, since headstones were not normally erected until at least a year after the interment, I searched through burial records for the period in question and a dozen likely candidates soon emerged. These records in the Mitchell Library made interesting reading, reflecting a more uncertain world than ours where death could visit at any time in often bizarre circumstances which included falling chimneys, collapsing walls, exploding boilers and even a kick from a horse.  One eleven-year-boy was apparently choked by a mouthful of butcher’s meat, though most of the causes of death entered in the registers are terse and commonplace – smallpox, whooping cough, debility, pneumonia and so on.

Sadly, during my research, I uncovered one case where three brief, cold entries recorded the poignant tragedy of Peter Dunn who, over the space of just one week, lost his wife and both newly born twin daughters.  I returned to the Necropolis where a stroll round the head-stones left only five women unaccounted for; and finally, with the invaluable help of someone who, with her husband, has taken on the daunting chore of recording all the epitaphs, I was able to find with almost total certainty the identity I sought.

Agnes Strang, the wife of Allan Gilmour, died in childbirth during the winter of 1849 and was interred in December, aged 33, leaving behind three young children, plus the new baby.  On closer inspection, two of the children depicted on the stone did indeed turn out to be small boys dressed in petticoats after the fashion of the time and only really distinguishable from their older sister by their slightly shorter, bobbed hair. Their father was a wealthy ship owner and merchant, born in the Renfrewshire Mearns.  He was eleven years older than his wife and descended from the Polloks, wealthy landowners on the south side of the city. One branch of the family had established a thriving business at New Brunswick in Canada, going on to acquire extensive stretches of forest upcountry where timber must have seemed limitless.

This company also opened up a chain of sawmills which processed the trees knocked down by lumberjacks for use in ship-building. At the age of 16, Allan was sent across the North Atlantic on one of his family’s ships to join this rapidly expanding business and was soon promoted through the ranks, eventually becoming a partner.  After his wife’s untimely death, he and his offspring continued to live in the comfortable family home in St Vincent Street, together  with the childrens’ grandmother, a cook, a housemaid and two nurses.  Allan eventually retired to the plusher Park Gardens overlooking the West End where he died in November, 1884, being buried alongside Agnes.  He never remarried and left a huge estate, valued in today’s terms at £24 million.

I am glad I was able to put a name to “Dearest Mother”: but there are so many people lying up there on the hill whose identities are being slowly but inexorably lost to the ivy, erosion and the windswept scars of neglect.  An organisation called, suitably enough, “The Friends of the Necropolis” has now belatedly been set up to champion its cause; and to restore a sense of pride in this historic asset. Their website can be found at www.glasgownecropolis.org.

Richard Michael Scott of Western Australia sent this information about his great great great grandfather, Michael Scott and Michael Scott’s brother in law Robert Bogle of Gilmorehill

Michael Scott, Merchant of Glasgow and author of Tom Cringle’s Log and The Cruise of the Midge, was born to Allan Scott and Margaret Buchanan on 30th October, 1789 at his father’s house ‘Cowlairs’ which was situated in its own park in the countryside, just outside Glasgow.(1)

His father, Allan Scott was of an old family and a Merchant of Glasgow, in the well-known firm Bogle & Scott, in partnership with Allan Dreghorn and Michael Bogle.(2) Allan Dreghorn was the Architect for St. Andrews Church in St. Andrews Square, Glasgow. He was also Allan Scott’s uncle, because his sister Margaret Dreghorn was Allan Scott’s mother. Michael Bogle, married Janet Scott, Allan’s sister, and was namesake for his nephew and a witness at the registration of his birth.(3)

The site of the Bogle & Scott office and warehouse is now occupied by another St. Andrews, the Catholic Cathedral in Clyde Street on the banks of the Clyde River, between Jamaica Bridge and Victoria Bridge. Michael Scott attended the old Glasgow Grammar School until 1801 and then Glasgow University in High Street, between 1802 and 1805, where he read Latin, Greek and Logic. He matriculated in 1805.(4) While at University, he studied with John Wilson (aka Christopher North) and particularly Thomas Hamilton (later author of Cyril Thornton) with whom he was an ‘inseparable companion’ (5) and maintained a life long friendship. John Gibson Lockhart also attended Glasgow University at this time and later went on to edit the Blackwood’s Magazine and the Quarterly Review.

In 1806 Michael Scott went out to Jamaica, under the mentorship of George William Hamilton, a nephew of Robert Bogle of Gilmorehill of whom more later. (Gilmorehill is now the site of the Glasgow University. (6)) His affection and regard for George William is evident in the character Aaron Bang, a planter in Jamaica that he created in his first novel Tom Cringle’s Log. (7)

Michael continued under George’s tutelage until 1810, when he entered Robert Bogle’s mercantile house in Kingston. His business, coupled with Hamilton’s friendship, brought him into contact with every level of society in Jamaica and sent him on frequent voyages around the Caribbean. It is these travels and experiences that formed the basis of the events and places he describes so vividly in the ‘Log’ which, in the days before photography and television, found avid readers in both Britain and Europe.

Of the many scenes he describes in Jamaica, one includes a description of giant cotton tree on the road between Kingston and the old capital, Spanish Town.(8) This tree has been commemorated as “Tom Cringle’s Cotton Tree” and also because of its unique size was probably one of the most photographed trees in Jamaica.(9)

In 1817 he married, in Glasgow, Margaret Cathcart Bogle, daughter of the aforementioned Robert Bogle of Gilmorehill, Merchant in Glasgow and Jamaica. Margaret was also his first cousin once removed i.e. granddaughter of Michael Bogle and Janet Scott. Michael and Margaret returned to Jamaica for a short period between 1820 and 1822.

It was around this time he sometime lived at Raymond Hall, the greathouse for the ‘Maryland’ coffee estate situated high up in the Blue Mountains in Jamaica with magnificent views over Kingston and Port Royal. Anthony Trollope who visited Jamaica in 1859 reports that it was here that Michael Scott wrote some of the early sketches, later to be adapted for the Log.(10)

In 1822 Michael Scott returned to Glasgow as a Merchant on his own account with offices in both Glasgow and Maracaybo, Colombia on the Spanish Main (now South America).

He and Margaret established their household at Atholl Place in Bath Street and another in the country at ‘Birselees’ on the banks of the River Ale near St Boswells and Melrose in Roxburghshire. The father of his biographer, Sir George Douglas, who acquired Birselees after Michael Scott’s death attests that parts of the Log were written at Birselees.(11) Thomas Hamilton, his close friend from university days had married in 1820 and lived for some time at ‘Chiefswood’ near Melrose, and was a frequent visitor at Sir Walter Scott’s home ‘Abbotsford’ (12) as was Christopher North and another Glasgow alumni, John Gibson Lockhart, who eventually married Sir Walter Scott’s daughter, Sophia. Incidentally they also lived for a time at Chiefswood. It is not unreasonable to assume that Michael, who shared similar interests and friendships with all, was also included in the group gatherings at Abbotsford.

In 1829 ‘Tom Cringle’s Log’ first appeared as a set of magazine papers and ran without interruption until August 1833 in Blackwood’s Magazine. William Blackwood the publisher, greatly admired the sketches which were quite unique for the times and encouraged Michael Scott to devise a connecting link so that they could be published as a novel. Thus was born the young midshipman Thomas Cringle! His Log was first published in 1834 and in Paris in 1936 and was an immediate success. Both Christopher North and Samuel Taylor Coleridge pronounced the novel as “most excellent”.(13)
John Lockhart of the pontifical ‘Quarterly Review’ hailed it as “the most brilliant series of magazine papers of the time”. (14)

Michael Scott wrote his novels incognito and it was not until just before his death that his publishers Blackwood’s, became aware of the author’s true identity. The public only became aware after his death. Michael Scott derived a huge amount of pleasure from the speculation about the ‘real’ identity of the author, especially amongst his close friends from his University days i.e. John Wilson and Thomas Hamilton. In a letter to William Blackwood (now preserved in the National Library of Scotland) he writes “…I could not have dreamed that (my identity) would have created so much speculation and fun – mind your eye with Master Cyril (Thomas Hamilton) and his highness the Professor…” (John Wilson, Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Edinburgh University in 1831). (15)

Although they never met, Michael Scott and William Blackwood formed a close relationship over the many years they corresponded between Glasgow and Edinburgh. Michael counted William as his literary counsellor and a valued friend.

It is only when he became aware of Williams declining health and eventual death that “…had I known the melancholy circumstance of his disease sooner, nothing should have prevented me visiting him….”  During the summer of 1835, Michael Scott stayed at Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, seeking a cure for his own illness. In September he returned to Glasgow but died on 7th November, 1835 at his town house, Number 198 Atholl Place in Bath Street.  The house is still standing today. He is buried at the Necropolis (16) in Glasgow near St Mungo’s Cathedral in which he was christened.  His unpretentious monument simply read,

In Sacred Memory
Michael Scott
Merchant of Glasgow
Died 1835 aged 46

The inscription is now all but lost.

Buried next to him is his brother-in-law and close friend James Bogle, son of Robert Bogle of Gilmorehill. James actually lived at Atholl Place with his sister, Margaret Cathcart Bogle until he died on 3rd May, 1855. James Bogle occupied at intervals, high public office as City Councilor and Magistrate and was Lord Dean of Guild between 1846 and 1848. (16) Michael Scott is also commemorated in the “Poets Corner” at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Hope in Kingston, Jamaica.

Admiration for Scott’s two novels was best stated by David Macbeth Moir ‘Delta’, who said “We love Marryat, and admire Cooper; but Michael is the master spirit of the sea” (17)

Michael Scott and Margaret Cathcart Bogle had nine children.
Margaret Bogle Scott b. 2 March 1819
Alan Buchanan Scott b. 25 March 1820 (born in Jamaica)
Jessica Robina Scott b. 10 February 1822
Robert Bogle Scott b. 27 April 1824
Agnes Cathcart Scott b. 26 January 1827
Jane Kennedy Scott b. 29 May 1829
Michael Hugh Scott b. 20 October 1831
James George Thomas Scott b. 7 September 1833
Archibald Campbell Scott b. 11 August 1835

REFERENCES
1. MORRIS Mowbray- 1895- Tom Cringle’s Log, Introduction- MacMillan & Co-
London, page viii
2. BUCHANAN John- 1878- The Old Country Houses of the Old Glasgow Gentry-
James MacLehose & Sons- Glasgow, chapter xxv, paragraph 4
3. Old Parish Records, Glasgow, Births 644/0010180
4. Roll of Matriculated Students- Glasgow University Archive
5. DOUGLAS Sir George- 1897- The Blackwood Group- Oliphant Anderson & Ferrier-
Edinburgh, page 137
6. BUCHANAN John- 1878- The Old Country Houses of the Old Glasgow Gentry-
James Mac Lehose & Sons- Glasgow, Chapter L, paragraph 9
7. MORRIS Mowbray- 1895- Tom Cringle’s Log, Introduction-MacMillan & Co-
London, Page x – xi
8. SCOTT michael- 1895- Tom Cringle’s Log- MacMillan & Co- London, chapter xi,
page 237
9. Newspaper Article- 8 Oct 1962- Tom Cringle’s Cotton Tree-The Gleaner Newspaper-
Kingston
10. duQUESNAY F.J.- Michael Scott And Raymond Hall- The Gleaner Newspaper-
Kingston
11. DOUGLAS Sir George- 1897- The Blackwood Group- Oliphant Anderson & Ferrier-
Edinburgh, pages 135 and 140
12. DOUGLAS Sir George- 1897- The Blackwood Group- Oliphant Anderson & Ferrier-
Edinburgh, page 155
13. NOLTE E.A.- Michael Scott and Blackwood’s Magazine: Some Unpublished Letters,
Page 188, 1st paragraph
14. LOCKHART John Gibson- Quarterly Review Jan.1834, review of M. G. Lewis’s
West India Journals
15. NOLTE E.A.- Michael Scott and Blackwood’s Magazine: Some Unpublished Letters,
page 190
16. BLAIR George- Biographic & Descriptive Sketches of Glasgow Necropolis- Maurice
Ogle & Son- Glasgow, pages 55-57
17. THOMAS Aird- 1852- A Memoir prefixed to ‘The Poetical Works of David Macbeth
Moir- Edinburgh

BIBLIOGRAPHY
NOLTE Eugene A. – Michael Scott and Blackwood’s Magazine, Some Unpublished
Letters
BUCHANAN John- 1878- The Old Country Houses of the Old Glasgow Gentry- James
MacLehose & Sons- Glasgow
MORRIS Mowbray- 1895-Tom Cringle’s Log, Introduction – MacMillan and Co.-
London
DOUGLAS Sir George- 1897- The Blackwood Group- Oliphant Anderson & Ferrier-
Edinburgh
McFEE William- 1927- Tom Cringle’s Log, Introduction- Grosset & Dunlop- New York
E. R.- 1928- Tom Cringle’s Log, Introduction- J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd- London
BLAIR George- 1857 – Biographic & Descriptive Sketches of Glasgow Necropolis-
Maurice Ogle & Son- Glasgow
duQUESNAY F. J.- 19.. – Michael Scott & Raymond Hall- The Gleaner Newspaper-
Kingston
Newspaper Article- 8 Oct 1962- Tom Cringle’s Cotton Tree- The Gleaner Newspaper-
Kingston