Millburn Kirkyard: MacLeod Memorial

Image: © Lairich Rig Taken: 22 Oct 2012

This memorial is located beside the southern half of the western boundary wall of the kirkyard of Image "Erected by John MacLeod in memory of his mother Catherine Douglas who died 25th April 1872 aged 65 years, his father Donald MacLeod died at Bonawe Augt. 1834 aged 42 years." The local historian Donald MacLeod (no relation) gives an account of John's life in his 1891 book "Historic Families ... of the Lennox": The John MacLeod named here was born in Oban (Image) in about 1830; his father, Donald, was pier-master there. The family later moved to Bonawe (Image), where the father died, leaving four young children, of whom John, the second-oldest, was only 5. Their mother, Catherine Douglas, brought the family to Renton. John found employment in the Cordale works (see Image); from a more menial start, he was promoted, to take charge of the block-print house. He was eventually apprenticed as a mill-wright to the owners of the works (William Stirling and Sons). When his apprenticeship was completed, he entered the employment of Tulloch & Denny, Engineers (see Image). He was later appointed engineer and mill architect of Stirlings' works at Cordale and Dalquhurn. According to the work cited above, John MacLeod also designed many of the private buildings, and a few of the public buildings, here in the village of Renton. For example, he had designed the latest addition to Renton's public school (he was also a member of the School Board). John MacLeod had been involved in many of the recent improvements in Renton, and especially in the introduction of gas and water into the village. [John MacLeod, of Renton, is not to be confused with the John McLeod (1838-88) who was Dumbarton's town architect, and whose memorial can be seen in Dumbarton Cemetery: Image; the latter McLeod was Dumbarton-born, the son of a timber merchant in that town.]

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