The Dumbuck House Hotel

Image: © Lairich Rig Taken: 9 Mar 2018

Earlier pictures: Image / Image / Image / Image The building was originally known as Dumbuck House. It was occupied by Colonel Andrew Geils (d.1843) of Dumbuck, from whom it would pass to his son, Captain John Edward Geils (d.1894). I think it is fair comment to add that neither man displayed much evidence of moral virtue(*). The building later passed to the daughter of John Edward Geils; she was by then, after a sojourn in Italy, styled the Marchesa Chigi. [(*) See the cuttings referred to at the end of the present item; on Andrew Geils, see, for example, "Historical Records of Australia", Series III, Volume II (1921): specifically, the first two pages of the Introduction, and other pages referred to from there.] This branch of the Geils family had lands at Dumbuck (see Image and Image), while another branch had lands at Cardross (see Image and Image). At the time of writing, a website for the hotel states that it was built in 1798, but I do not know upon what authority that assertion is founded. In evidence given in a nineteenth-century right-of-way dispute about access to the foreshore (compare the different case mentioned at Image), J E Geils testified that he believed the house to have been built c.1824. In the same case, a certain John McGee stated that his father had drawn up the plans for the house, and was joiner for it; he (the son) stated that he also believed the house to date from c.1824. Although their statements agree, it is now difficult to assess whether McGee, in his evidence, was genuinely uninfluenced by Geils; with that point in mind, I don't consider their statements conclusive evidence. After the house had ceased to be used as a family dwelling, it was acquired by the firm Babcock & Wilcox, who remodelled the building (1923) and cleared the grounds, which had until then included a large orchard. During the time when the firm owned it, Dumbuck House was employed partly for staff functions, and partly as a hotel. Babcock & Wilcox gave up the building in 1936. (The above description is drawn, in large part, from information in the compilations of cuttings held in Dumbarton Library.)

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