IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Stoneyflatt Road, DUMBARTON, G82 3HJ

This is a general view of the newer northern half of the cemetery. For another such view, and for further comments, see Image This northern half of the cemetery contains a Image

The fountain stands in the northern half of Image The inscription on the near side is extremely worn in places, but the sense of the text makes it possible to fill in the gaps (compare the inscription at Image). "Erected by the London-Dumbartonshire Association President – Sir Iain Colquhoun, Bart, KT, DSO, LLD, Lord Lieutenant of Dumbartonshire to the honoured memory of those of the county who lost their lives by enemy action 1939-1945" The far side of the fountain (shown in Image) bears the very worn remnants of a crest and a Latin motto: Image [Although it is not recorded on the inscription, the memorial was unveiled in September of 1949. Sir Iain Colquhoun had been Lord-Lieutenant of the county from 1919 until his death in November 1948, but was succeeded in that role by Major General Alexander Telfer-Smollett, who performed the unveiling of the memorial.]

This is the same fountain as shown in Image, but viewed from the other side; see that item for further details. For a closer look at the detail on this side, see Image

This photograph is a close-up view of the fountain that is shown in Image; these details are indistinct unless, as in this case, the angle of the sun's illumination is favourable. The motto appears to read "Fide Fortuna Fortes". The elephant with the "castle" (or tower) on its back features in the Dumbarton arms, which "were registered in the Lyon Office in or about AD 1672. This was the year in which was passed the important Act which confers on the Lyon King of Arms the right to grant arms to 'virtuous and well-deserving persons'"; specifically, the Dumbarton arms are described as follows: "Azure, an elephant passant argent, tusked or, bearing on his back a tower proper". (See Image for another representation.) Their origin is obscure. They are said to "appear upon the burgh seal appended to the document relating to the ransom of David II, son of Robert the Bruce, at the end of his eleven years of captivity dating from the battle of Neville's Cross", that document being dated 1357. [The above details about the Dumbarton arms are from "The Dumbarton coat-of-arms" (1909), by Archibald Macdonald.]

This is a general view of the northern half of the cemetery; for another such view, see Image This area was not part of the cemetery as it was originally laid out; it was a later extension. This newer northern section has a very different feel about it; the large and varied monuments that are so prevalent in the older part of the cemetery are fascinating and often attractive, but they were of their time. Style and taste have changed, and such structures would be very much out of place here.

Before the adjacent Aitkenbar Primary School (to the photographer's left) was demolished, this crossing had a dancing lollipop man: Image Most people found that entertaining, but a few complained.

The view is from Whiteford Crescent. The school buildings stood where rubble is now visible at the top of the grassy slope in the left background. For more information, see Image, which has links to related pictures.

The view is from the junction of Whiteford Avenue (foreground) and Whiteford Crescent (receding on the right). Compare Image (with the same zebra crossing visible), and Image (from just beyond that crossing), which were taken, respectively, a year earlier and eight months earlier.

The two large memorials shown here commemorate the brothers Thomas and Samuel Bennett (on the left and the right, respectively). The first part of the inscription on the front of Samuel Bennett's memorial reads: "In memory of Samuel Bennett, newspaper proprietor and editor, Provost of Dumbarton, 1871-1876, born at Saltcoats 12th August 1815, died at Dumbarton 30th October 1876." The text to either side commemorates his wife Matilda, who died on the 17th of May, 1895, aged 74, their son William Henry, and their second daughter Mary Maria, who died at Coleraine, aged 75. (Also mentioned are a certain Oswald Lawson and his wife Sophia Bennett; the monument does not spell out the family relationships, but Sophia was another daughter of Samuel and Matilda.) Further information on Samuel Bennett can be found on pages 1 and 3 of "Lennox Herald – 150 Years" (2001; by Mike Taylor, edited by Grace Walker). It may be noted here that in 1851 he founded a newspaper, the Dumbarton Herald (which ceased publication in 1933), and, in 1861, another, the Saturday Dumbarton Herald, which was soon retitled the Lennox Herald, and which is published to this day. Projects he was involved in included Image scheme, and the creation of a pier at the foot of Dumbarton Castle (that pier, which opened in May 1875 – its construction began on the 2nd of May 1874 – was seriously damaged by a storm in 1900). When he was elected Provost, Samuel passed editorial control of his newspapers to his brother Thomas. As recorded on his memorial, Thomas was born at Saltcoats on the 12th of January, 1828, and died at Dumbarton on the 28th of May, 1880. The monument also commemorates his wife Mary Langlands, who was born in Dundee on the 12th of May, 1849, and died at Dumbarton on the 24th of January, 1921(?). Like his brother, Thomas actively promoted social improvement.

The memorial commemorates Alexander Allan, Town Clerk of Dumbarton, and it was erected by his widow, Margaret Denny (d. 1929). The memorial is near the centre of the cemetery, but it stands alongside what would originally have been the northern carriageway of the cemetery, before the latter was extended. Alexander Allan, a native of Glasgow, was born in 1835. When the previous Town Clerk, John Denny (Image), died in 1877, Alexander Allan and John's eldest son Alexander were jointly appointed Town Clerks (they were also brothers-in-law). Alexander Denny died in 1879; from then until his own death in 1890, Alexander Allan alone was Town Clerk. Just to the left of this memorial, but out of shot in this image, is that of his brother-in-law: Image