1. Dr.Nathaniel Paterson D.D.
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The eldest son of Walter Paterson, stone engraver of Balmaclellan and Mary Locke, Nathaniel Paterson was born on 3rd July 1787 at Kells in Kirkcudbright. He was born the grandson of Robert Paterson, a staunch supporter of the Covenanters who had made it his mission in life to travel the countryside setting up and repairing memorials to Covenanters who had lost their lives for the cause. Sir Walter Scott has immortalised Robert Paterson as ‘Old Mortality’.
After completing his education at Balmaclellan School, Nathaniel studied divinity at Edinburgh University. On leaving university he was given license by the Presbytery of Linlithgow on 24th April 1816 and tutored at Lilburn Tower in Northumberland until he was ordained at Galashiels on 30th August 1821 where he was appointed minister against the wishes of the congregation by the local land-owners. |
Nathaniel married Margaret Laidlaw (1800-1864) on 8th February 1825 and after encountering early problems he happily remained in Galashiels until, on the 23rd October 1833 the Magistrates and Town Council of Glasgow offered him the position of minister at St Andrews Church on Greendyke Street, immediately adjacent to the Glasgow Green. He took up his position of minister on 20th February 1834 in the face of stiff opposition and resentment from his congregation who were angered by his appointment. This time too it seemed Nathaniel could please no one, with his quaint country accent and uncontrollable gestures during preaching. Doctor Paterson was constantly patronised by the more philosophical members of the Whistling Kirk’s congregation who wanted him removed.
Once again he managed win over the congregation but by 1843 things came to a head and those who could no longer accept the control lay patrons imposed on church appointments, swept out of the General Assembly and declared themselves the Free Church of Scotland. A famous painting by David Octavius Hill exists representing those ministers who signed the Act of Separation and the Deed of Demission at Tanfield Hall - the good Reverend Nathaniel Paterson D.D. can be recognised sitting in front of the pillar.
On his return to Glasgow almost his entire congregation came out in support and together they joined the Free Church of Scotland. They worshipped in the hall of the Black Bull Inn on Trongate until 1844 when a new Church was opened in Hanover Square. He was appointed Moderator of the General Assembly of the Free Church in 1850. Nathaniel Paterson had many interests outside his ministry and is said to have been the inventor of the Riddle Lifeboat. He published many works such as ‘The Manse Garden’ (Glasgow 1836) and ‘The Cry of the Perishing’ (Edinburgh, 1842). Dr. Nathaniel Paterson died at Helensburgh on 25th April 1871.
2. Peter Ferguson
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Peter Ferguson (1801-1885) was one of the leaders of the Temperance Movement. He was ‘missionary’ to the Gorbals Total Abstinence Society but is remembered mainly as the founder of the Band of Hope Union in Glasgow which was formed in November, 1870. The Band of Hope specialised in presenting the message of Temperance as emotionally as possible in the hope of swaying the young towards total abstinence.
The message of Temperance was broadcast through the use of song, stories and illustrations which were full of images of starving families and weeping women and repentant deathbed scenes. At many of their concerts and soirees, their songs and lantern lectures were accompanied by cakes and soft drinks which proved particularly attractive to their young target audience. |
They provided Christmas treats and Sunday picnics, often held in halls and cold dark streets where cakes and treats were rare.
The objective of the Temperance Movement was the ‘absolute prohibition of the manufacture, importation and sale of all intoxicating liquors to be used as a beverage’. ‘Signing the Pledge’ may have helped to save many an individual and family from a lot of unhappiness.
Peter was an elder at Renfield Street Free Church (now British Homes Stores) and in later life became known as Father Ferguson. He died by result of an accident and was called to the heavenly host at the ripe old age of 84.
3. Thomas Bollen Seath
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Thomas Bollen Seath (1820-1903) was a boat builder who became one of Rutherglen’s leading industrialists. ‘Tammsy’ Seath was born on the 20th September 1820 in Prestonpans, East Lothian. His father was an employee of a coastal shipping company.
At the age of five Tammsy permanently injured his spine in an accident while playing with a childhood friend. At the age of eight Seath moved with his parents to Glasgow where he attended school until the age of fourteen when he gained employment as a cabin boy on one of the old, red-funnelled steamers that sailed between Glasgow and Liverpool. The young Seath served nearly five years at Thomson and McConnels Steamers in Liverpool, Belfast and the North Highlands. Later he became clerk of the Largs Steamboat Company and despite continual health problems worked and studied to gain qualifications in ship management and operation. |
Thomas started his own shipbuilding yard at Meadowside, Partick at the mouth of the river Kelvin in 1853 and in 1856 moved to Rutherglen. Seath built, owned and even operated the small steamer ‘Artizan’, which had pioneering engine controls on the bridge, between Rutherglen and Glasgow.
The increasing business at his yard meant he had to abandon his successful transport business and concentrate on building boats. He designed and built the first of six of what were to become known as ‘Cluthas’, small steamships of shallow draft marine omnibuses that ferried workmen up and down river. Many of them were used as pleasure boats and Glaswegians regularly ventured ‘doon the water’ for a trip out of the city, but for most it was their regular mode of transport. The age of the ‘Clutha’ came to an end at the turn of the century with Glasgow’s construction of the world’s largest tramway network.
Seath built steamships for Loch Lomond and Loch Maree, Windermere and Ullswater. He also provided luxurious steam yachts, most notably ‘The Fairy’ for the King of Burma and the ‘Little Eastern’ for the King of Siam, both commissioned in 1872. Almost all of the ships he produced were iron-hulled and this proved to be a factor in their longevity.
Good examples of their durability are the ‘Esperance’ built in 1869 and the ‘Raven’ built in 1871, both of which are in the Windermere Steamboat Collection and still sail regularly after 130 years. Thomas Bollen Seath was a major influence in the design and production of high quality small ships which were renowned world wide. Unfortunately the shipyard that he leased for 47 years from Rutherglen Corporation finally closed when access to the sea was closed off by a weir at Glasgow Green. By then Seath had built over 300 ships, an average of one every eight weeks. This output included the paddle steamer ‘Isle of Arran’.
In 1864, Thomas Seath bought ‘The Oaks’ cottage at Langbank which he renamed ‘Sunny Oaks’ and in that year he hired the services of Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson to design a new art gallery, cum music room, and a new lodge at the property. Thomas Bollen Seath passed away at his ‘Sunny Oaks’ home on the 3rd February 1903. Sadly the cottage itself was demolished in 1974
4. William S Williams
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William S Williams (1790-1842) was born in Glasgow and went by the stage name ‘Scotch Williams’. His origins are obscure but he may well have been a relative of the ‘Williams’ who ran Glasgow's Alston Street Theatre from 1768-1771 and managed travelling stock companies.
In his early years he was a favourite actor at the Theatres Royal in Dublin, Bath, Bristol, Liverpool and Birmingham and was widely known and much respected in the provinces. For a number of years he performed at the Haymarket in London. Latterly he trod the boards at smaller venues on account of his declining health. His final performance was at Sadler's Wells in June 1842. |
He returned to his cottage on Kilmarnock Road on the outskirts of Glasgow where he died prematurely on the 2nd August 1842.
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