9. Sir Thomas Lipton
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Sir Thomas Lipton (1850-1931) Born in Gorbals, Lipton became a multi- millionaire and is remembered as an iconic and much loved figure of the late Victorian era. Sir Thomas was a tall dapper figure, instantly recognisable to the public thanks to his signature polka-dot bow-tie and sailing cap.
He was a teetotal, non-smoking confirmed bachelor. Throughout his life Lipton remained a humble man, an extremely generous benefactor to the poor who never forgot his working class origins. Most of his donations were carried out anonymously and the sheer scale of his benevolence only became apparent after his death. |
He was born of Irish parentage, from County Monaghan, at Crown Street Gorbals in 1850. At the age of 10 years Thomas was employed as a message boy at stationers A & W Kennedy and later with Tillie & Henderson, shirt manufacturers. He became a cabin boy and at the age of 15 he crossed the Atlantic to the United States, but it wasn't long before he grew homesick and returned to Glasgow with £100 ($500) in his pocket and began to work in his parent’s small shop in Crown Street.
Using the money he had made in the States and the drive and ingenuity picked up along the way he opened his first Lipton’s Market on 10th May 1871 (his 21st birthday) at Stobcross Street, Anderston. Two more branches were to follow before he opened a Lipton’s Market on the corner of Howard Street and Jamaica Street.
In the 1880’s he set his sights on conquering the vast United States market, a daring venture which indirectly involved him in the tea business. Again, Lipton cut out the middle man and began buying tea plantations in Ceylon. Lipton’s tea came to rival coffee as the United States favourite beverage. His product is still the best selling brand in America today, where some ten million cups of Lipton’s tea are drunk every day.
At age eleven Thomas Lipton sailed model boats on the River Clyde near Glasgow Green. Ironically, his life long passion for sailing would lead him to becoming more widely known for his four unsuccessful attempts at regaining the Americas Cup for Britain, than for his genius in business affairs. In 1898 he was awarded a knighthood and responded to public pressure to allow his business empire become a limited company. There was such a huge interest in shares that the venture was over subscribed and many were refused.
Sir Thomas made his first million by the age of thirty, after less than ten year’s trading. As indicated he went on to become an internationally famous multi-millionaire, an incredible achievement for a Glaswegian who had hardly completed his primary school education. Lipton was created a baronet in 1902 and died aged 81 on 2nd October 1931. It has been claimed that this fine man left as much as a million pounds in his will to various charities. The funeral cortege passed along Crown Street, where he was born, and thousands of mourners crowded the street to say farewell. True to his roots, Sir Thomas was buried beside his beloved parents in the Southern Necropolis. Many of his yachting trophies are on view at the People’s Palace and at Kelvingrove Art Galleries.
10. Archibald Sinclair
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Archibald Sinclair (1850-1899) as well as being a ‘Gaelic’ Printer (founder of the Celtic Press in Glasgow) with his business at Waterloo Street, Glasgow, he was also the President of the Glasgow Islay Association which was founded in the year 1862 for the purposes of gathering and preserving the traditions, folk tales and poetry of Islay. The first meeting being held in the Garrick`s Hotel, Stockwell Street and presided by Archibald Sinclair with further meetings to help bring together natives of the island who were then resident in Glasgow and to also provide relief and assistance to the less fortunate.
In later years the Sinclair Memorial Fund was set up with the aim of purchasing Gaelic literature to encourage the studying of Gaelic in Islay schools. The Directors offered to refund the fees of students of Islay descent who did well with their Gaelic studies at Glasgow High School Continuation Classes. |
11. James Napier Cousland
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James Cousland, Architect (1832-1866) was born the son of Alexander Cousland and Elizabeth Stark. His family were prosperous wire manufacturers with a business in Mitchell Street, Glasgow.
While articled to Charles Wilson (refer to the Southern Necropolis gatehouse 1848 and also item 14 of this heritage trail), Cousland met up with James Boucher, who was seven years his senior, and together they formed a partnership in 1853. In 1857, they built for themselves a pair of semi-detached houses, Swiss Cottage at 35-37 St Andrews Drive, Pollokshields. James Boucher then built a similar Swiss Cottage for a holiday home at Coulport, Loch Long. Their business was quick to take off and together they worked on many designs which included the Gothic Renfield Free Church on Bath Street, a large block of warehouses and shops at the corner of Gordon Street and Renfield Street (1857-58), the Romanesque Free Church at Kinning Park (1862-64) and a considerable number of ambitious villas which were exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1860 and the Glasgow Institute in 1861.
Soon Walter MacFarlane of the Saracen Iron Works became a client and in addition to his warehouse in Washington Street (1862) and the Saracen Iron Works at Possilpark (begun 1869) they made many designs for architectural castings. |
The Cousland family had business connections with John Kibble whose father owned a wire and metal warehouse at Turner’s Court on Argyle Street. In the early 1860’s Kibble built a large Italian Romanesque villa called Coulport House opposite James Boucher’s Swiss Villa at Loch Long. Kibble engaged the partners to design his conservatory which in enlarged form became the Kibble Palace in the Botanic Gardens in Kelvinside. James Cousland is said to have made a model of the Kibble Palace in wire to show John Kibble what it would look like. The ironwork for the Kibble Palace was undertaken by John Boyd of Paisley. Sadly though, James Cousland`s career was to be short-lived. It was thought that a fatal on-site accident during the building of the Renaissance Free St. George’s Church greatly affected his health and contributed to his early decline. He died at his home, the aforementioned Swiss Cottage, after several months of paralysis on 12th June 1866. James Boucher carried on the work of the company, and in 1875 went into partnership with one of his own students Henry Higgins (also his assistant for two years). The firm then became known as Boucher & Higgins
12. James Banks McNeil
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James Banks McNeil (1831-1878) was connected with boating and swimming in Glasgow during the late 1800’s. He built boats, hired them out and was the originator and first secretary of the City of Glasgow Regatta Club. At one time he was the contender for the post of officer at the Humane Society House, a position presently held by George Parsonage.
An able and powerful swimmer McNeil saved over 70 people from drowning. This resulted in his recognition by the London Humane Society, who awarded him their silver medal at the Tontine Hotel, (one of the more splendid buildings in Trongate during that era and a favourite haunt of the Tobacco Lords). James Banks McNeil was also a swimming instructor in both Glasgow and Paisley and was responsible for the building of Saint Andrew's Baths in Greendyke Street. This was later converted into a used clothes market and later demolished. |
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