The Oddfellows' Monument

Image: © Lairich Rig Taken: 24 Jun 2011

"Loyal Dixon Lodge No. 1901, Dumbarton District of the Independent Order of Oddfellows, M.U., and dedicated to the members of the Past Grand Lodge in trust, 15th September 1900. / Erected by Ex-Bailie George Bell, P.P.G.M. Dumbarton District." [M.U.: Manchester Unity; P.P.G.M.: Past Provincial Grand Master.] This particular branch of the Oddfellows was the earliest of the so-called Friendly Societies to appear in the Dumbarton area. It was instituted there in 1839. By 1881, it had a local membership of about 357. Such organisations might acquire a plot in the cemetery, marked by a monument, to ensure that any of their members who died, and who had been needy or who had no surviving relatives to take care of such matters, might be sure of having a burial place. Compare the Image, located elsewhere in the same cemetery; the accompanying description names similar organisations that had a presence in the district. Before this memorial was erected, there was already a more prominent landscape feature associated with the Oddfellows: a flagstaff on the top of Dumbuck Hill (this was before quarrying work began eating away at the hill); see Image for more on the flagstaff and the occasion of its presentation. For more on the George Bell named on this memorial, and for his ancestry, see Image

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