Notes |
- John Dunlop of Rosebank, merchant, Glasgow. He was descended from John Dunlop, merchant burgess of Glasgow, third son of James (a peculiarly Dunlop name) Dunlop of that ilk, in the parish of Dunlop and County of Ayr. The first John Dunlop, besides being a merchant, was a banker after the fashion of his time, and made money. In 1634 he acquired the lands of Garnkirk, and died in 1662. He had one son, James, (I) who was a member of the Faculty of Procurators in Glasgow, and married in 1654 Elizabeth, daughter of James Roberton of Bedlay, afterwards Lord Bedlay. Of this marriage there were born James Dunlop (II) and eight other children. James Dunlop (II) was bred to the law and married Lilias, daughter of Robert Campbell of North Woodside. She died in 1709 in childbed at the age of thirty-four, after having had sixteen children in nineteen years; there were giants in those days. Colin Dunlop, afterwards of Carmyle, who doubtless got his name from the Campbells, the thirteenth child of this marriage, was born in 1706. He was a great Glasgow merchant and built the fine old house still standing second east from Dunlop Street, so named after him. He married Martha Bogle, daughter of John Bogle of Hamilton Farm, and had issue - John, the subject of this notice, born 1744, a son, James, and a daughter, Janet, married to Thomas Donald.
Dunlop was a merchant in Glasgow, and in the year 1789 he carried on business under the firm of John Dunlop & Co., in "Leeche's Court", south side of the Trongate. Mr. Dunlop's town house was on the west side of Queen Street. For a country house he had Rosebank, close to Cambuslang, then a beautiful place worthy of its name, and now ! He served the town as a Bailie in 1785-88, as Dean of Guild in 1792-93, and Provost in 1794-95. He was also a wit, a poet, and a convivial soul who sang a good song. If Dr. Moore's Hodge Podge verse is at all fair he must have been unlike most Dunlops, fat.
"A hogshead rolls forward the worthiest among,
What grumbling and growling it makes at the bung;
'Tis as jolly a cask as ere loaded the ground,
'Tis plump John Dunlop with his belly so round."
Mr. Dunlop was unfortunate in business in Glasgow, and became Collector of Customs at Bo'ness. He was afterwards transferred to Port Glasgow, where he died on 4th September, 1820. He married Miss Jessie Miller of Glenlee, sister of Lord Glenlee, and had one child, John Colin Dunlop, Sheriff of Renfrewshire, author of The History of Fiction, who died unmarried 26th January, 1842. John Dunlop is now represented by his grandnephew, James Dunlop of Tolcross. It is a curious illustration of the manners and habits of our ancestors that both John Dunlop and his elder brother, James, who married a Miss Buchanan (grand aunt of Colonel Buchanan of Drumpellier), eloped with their wives..."
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