The Geils Memorial

Image: © Lairich Rig Taken: 16 Oct 2015

Ordinarily, I show a memorial from the front, but, on account of their overgrown enclosure, only the tops of these stones are visible from that side, as shown at Image [Note: By mid-2016, some time after I wrote the present description, the enclosure was cleared, and the stones could be seen: Image] The stones commemorates the Geils sept that was associated with Dumbuck. The Geils family were associated with the Cardross area, including Ardmore and Geilston; see, for example, Image at the rear of Image (the Geilston area was not named after the Geils family, although their arrival there may have influenced the spelling of the place-name; see the final paragraph at Image). One branch of the family, though, came to be associated with the land of Dumbuck, near Old Kilpatrick, which is why its members are commemorated here in the kirkyard of Image Specifically, those commemorated on these stones are Colonel [Andrew] Geils of Dumbuck, eldest son of General [Thomas] Geils of Ardmore; his wife Mary Noble, eldest daughter of Captain Noble of Ardmore; Colonel John Edward Geils of Dumbuck, son of the above Colonel Geils. For more on this part of the family, and the ownership of the land of Dumbuck, see Image For what was once their family home (Dumbuck House), see Image It should be pointed out that the published volume of monumental inscriptions (pre-1855) for Dunbartonshire contains an error with regard to the dates for John Edward Geils: they give his date of birth as 6.4.1817. In fact, his date of birth was the 6th of April 1813. The inscription for J E Geils is on the taller stone, and the digit 3 in his year of birth, "1813", has worn into something that looks very like a 7, although the slope of its stem is quite different from that of the genuine 7s found elsewhere in the same inscription. Close inspection shows the digit to be a 3, and his year of birth to be 1813; the mistake had not been detected earlier, partly because the overgrown enclosure makes it almost impossible to get a close look at the inscription, and, I suppose, partly because most people are inclined to take published records at face value. [An email correspondent in Australia was able to provide independent confirmation: having located the relevant records, he told me that J E Geils, born 6th April 1813, was baptised on the 13th June 1813 at Hobart Town (Tasmania).] John Edward Geils died on the 22nd of February, 1894, at the age of eighty. His obituary, which appeared in the Lennox Herald edition of 3rd March 1894 confirms his age (and hence the year of his birth). Below, I give the text of the obituary in full (the one unfamiliar term in it is "electro", which refers to electroplated silver; also, Image, mentioned in the first sentence, is at Image): - - • - - "The Late Captain John Edward Geils Our obituary to-day contains the name of John Edward Geils of Dumbuck, who died at Waye House, Ashburton, Devonshire, England, on the 22nd inst. The deceased gentleman was a son of the late Colonel Geils, from whom he inherited the estate of Dumbuck. For many years he lived at Dumbuck House, but from his retiring habits he took no great interest in burgh or county affairs. Having had a military training he was, however, possessed of a fine soldierly bearing and good old-fashioned courtly habits. He was, of course, a Conservative in politics, and a Churchman. He was a keen Oddfellow, and took a warm interest in the Loyal Dixon Lodge, Dumbarton. To this lodge he presented a beautiful set of electro regalia, of which the members are justly proud. The lodge, on the other hand, to mark its appreciation of his kindness, erected a handsome flag staff on the summit of Dumbuck Hill, from which on high days the British ensign flutters in the breeze. About twenty years ago the Captain incurred some little public disfavour by attempting to close Strowan's Well, and which ultimately ended in the Court of Session where the battle was somewhat drawn - the public, however, retaining the use of the Well. For many years the Captain's health has been feeble, and he has been compelled to live in England. He always, however, cherished a warm regard for Dumbarton. He has passed away at the good old age of fully four score." - - • - - The newspaper does not name the author of this obituary, but, on stylistic grounds, I consider it almost certain that it was written by the local historian Donald MacLeod (for whom, see Image). On the basis of writing style, it seems to me that MacLeod was the author of most of the obituaries that appeared in the Lennox Herald (and its sister newspaper the Dumbarton Herald) at that time. Collections of obituaries written by him appear in his book "The God's Acres of Dumbarton" (1888) and in "Dumbarton: Its Recent Men and Events" (1898). MacLeod was well qualified to write J E Geils' obituary on other grounds: both men were members of the Oddfellows (see Image), one of the Friendly Societies that had been established in Dumbarton in the nineteenth century. MacLeod was a pastmaster of that organisation, and, in 1857, on the presentation of a new flagstaff on Dumbuck Hill, it was MacLeod who had delivered the address to the Laird of Dumbuck, J E Geils. In return, the Laird had granted MacLeod the freedom of Dumbuck Hill. For more details of the presentation, see Image What struck me about the obituary, which was quoted in full above, is that it is, by Macleod's usual standards of the time, surprisingly brief; it contains very little in the way of biographical information, and, short as it is, it seems padded out with inconsequential details. MacLeod does refer, probably with great reluctance, to the controversy over Strowan's Well (see Image for more details); he might have preferred to pass over the subject in silence, but to have said nothing negative at all about the Laird of Dumbuck would have made the obituary seem like a whitewash. The dispute over the well was a fairly safe topic for MacLeod to settle on, in that (1) it was already publicly well-known, and (2) it was by then very old news, unlike to generate much controversy. Nevertheless, my impression of the obituary written by MacLeod is that he seems to have wished to draw a veil over most of the details of Geils' life. As for the background details in the present picture: part of Image itself is on the left. Just to the right of the Geils Memorial, behind the wall, is the top of the Image Further to the right, with a metal shutter door, is a similar structure, which is also mentioned at the link just given.

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