Fowler's Commercial Directory of the Lower Ward of Renfrewshire
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^'Ml.jdM. l^^ ^- y / / 3 u A ^x IN STYLE, .IBINING EXCBLLBNOE ECONOMY IN PKICE. o I ^M i^rH .V. \j\j.n I w SET, GLASGOW w fro ^^OUTWO WEEKS ONLY- Glasgow 7 Argyle St., Cenirai S(«(«o).;. .( Entrances to imperfeo^ t an .oiled or f T^r prfe 12 ^^torto «) u , reviously sold at from j^^^,, to G"««»= ! we hold y 30 ""-SiA'rI &o of which "^^^^IhStoHIdIoOM SUITES will he sw -n is e.™stiy Ejf, wKf: reurssr.: tU UniMi Kingdom. fiJBB to all parte of CENTURY. 5 OF THE "iTH THBIK PUEOHASBS. SOLD. » tH-CLASS GOOBS ^ S OF FURNITURE ' PRICES. SUITES,crrTTWd SLOUK, AND BED-ROOM CATALOGUED PKIOES. ^HE EBGULAE MES SMITH, y UPHOLSTERERS, STREET, , 124 UNION i^^^ --— ^ \ C two excejji,n.-j,j y&r Xtxif.m are still detiizens o? Greenock. Mr Galbraith and Mr Macara have long retired from business, and are enjoying in the evening of their days the repose which a well-spent life ensures. Mr M'Clure still follows his profes- sional avocations, although he has in a large measure left them to younger hands. Mr Robert- son, who was a banker in Greenock in 1836, and resided at Bagatelle, which he built, ultimately took a medical degree, and practised first in Canada and afterwards in Cheshire, where, in the enjoyment of a green old age, he still resides. Mr M'llwraith, whose eye is undimmed and whose natural force is unabated, appears to wear a charmed life and to defy the darts of Time. Mr Lusk iu 1836 had probably not heard the Bells of Bow, as his prede- cessor Whittington did centuries before, and pro- bably had not contemplated migration to the mighty wen on the Thames, but he is now Sir Andrew, a Baronetof the UnitedKingdom, has passed the Lord Mayor's chair, and still discharges eflficiently his manifold duties, public and private, in the great city of London, where, in a striking measure, he illustrates in his own person the reality of Scotch perseverance and grit. These six names form a link, a living link, and long may it endure, be- tween the present generation and the generation whose names appear in the Directory of 1836. Their recollections, if they could but be recorded and preserved, would form delightful "abstracts and chronicles of the times " through which they have passed, and it is to be hoped that some, if not all of them, have taken means to preserve a record of events which their younger contemporaries and those who come after them would read with pleasure and profit. Mr M'llwraith writes currente calamo, and has, it is whispered, contri- buted to the local press sketches of some of the men in his own profession sixty years since. But we believe he has a great reserve of reminiscences, local and personal, which would be invaluable to lovers of domestic and local history, and they should not be lost. The citizens we have named and many other? whose names do not appear in the Directory, who can recall the Greenock of 1836, must be able to. note many changes which have taken place in the condition of the town since then. Between 1826 and 1841 the population of Green- ock had increased from 27,000 to 36,000, an increase in fifteen years of 9000, or thirty-three per ceot. Assuming that the increase was on an average about 600 a year, the population in 1836 must have been about 33,000—more than half, what it is at present—aud the ratio of increase,^ between^ 1^26^ and 1836,tjeei3:;S to-bav&been as great^' * itirCna.' .uoi- • as at apv eith'Pr f^Mr-'t^ "ts* . |<., — GREENOCK IN 1836. In these columns a few weeks ago we noticed a copy of the ^reenock Directory for 1826-27, which, through the kindness of a townsman, we had an opportunity of examining. Another townsman, whose courtesy we desireto^acknowledge has per- mitted us to examine a Directory for Greenock for the year 1836-37, and the two publicatione, which are a decade apart, afford material for a comparison and a contrast. The Directory for 1826 was compiled when- George the Fourth was King, by Mr W. Hutchison,; of Greenock, the grandfather, we believe, of the present respected Chairman of the School Board. The Directory for 1836 was the work not of a Greenock citizen, but of Mr George Fowler, a bookseller in Paisley, and it appeared during " the hindmost year but aue"of the reign of William the Fourth, and immediately before her present Graci- ous Majesty, then agirlin-her seventeenth year, had assumed the sceptre which she has wielded with unequalled benignity for five-and-fifty years. To those who have lived under that rule no better guage could be applied to measure the progress, moral and material, which has been made during the Victorian era than a-iCoraparison between 1836 and 1891. The Directory for 1836 is described as " Fowler's Commercial Directory of the Lower Ward of Ren- frewshire, containing an alphabetical list of the merchants, traders, and manufacturers, shipmas- ters, pilots, mariners, and principal inhabitants, including the sea-bathing quarters of Fairley, Gare- locb, Gourock, Helensburgh, Inverkip, Largs, and Rothesay." It is dedicated to Sir Michael Shaw Stewart of Greenock and Blackball, Baronet, M.P. j for the County, and Robert Wallace, Esq., M.P. for ' Greenock, and the Magistrates and Town Council of Greenock and Port-Glasgow. Bound along witb it is a Directory of the Upper Ward of Renfre\|i|/^ shire, and it is altogether a considerable volume ] consisting of 252 pages, of which 148 are occupied with the names, numbering about 3371, of the i residenters of Greenock. ] It was melancholy to observe that in the Direc- tory of 1826 the name of a living person could not be found. It is happily different in the Directory of 1836. In the later list a remnant have been left of those who, eleven lustres ago, had already become, or were beginning to be responsible citizens of the capital of the Lower W"ard. Their names and we trust it is no breach of the privileges of private life to mention them—are John Galbraith, Andrew Lusk, Rentoa Macara, William M'Clnre, Hew M'llwraith, and James H. Robertson ^xrjfi. Digitized by tlie Internet Arcliive in 2010 witli funding from National Library of Scotland http://www.archive.org/details/fowlerscommercia183637pai FOWLER'S OF THE L O WE R #:A R D FOR. ? COKTAIKIKG AM AIiI»MABETlC'Aa 1.IST OF TME SHIPMASTERS, PILOTS, MARINERS, AND P}S][i^5©]P'^[L Q[Kl[K]z^[BaTz^Kl^i., Including the following Sea-bathing Quarters, Patrley, CSaralochf^^onrook, Helensburgh, Inaerkip, Largs, and Rothesay. ALSO COPIOUS STREET GUIDES,, WITH AN APPENDIX, FOURTH PUBLICATION. PAISLEY: • PUBLISHED AND SOLD BY G. FOWLER, BOOKSELLER. (See next page.) 2 A 2 ADDRESS. G. FOWLER in presenting to the Public the fourth edition of the Directory, returns his sincere thanks for the prompt and valuable as^ sistance rendered to him hy numerous Gentlemen in the County. Also, to those who have supported the Work since its commencement. ' He now hegs leave to remind the Public, that after his first Edition for the Upper Ward was produced, he was solicited to extend the Work to the Lower Ward, by the Merchants and Traders there. He therefore respectfully announces that the Work will be Published every two years for other six publications, provided a sufficient number of subscribers is obtained, so as to insure him a proper remuneration for his labour. ^m In the accuracy of details, and distinctness of arrangements, he is aware that the chief value of such a Work consists, he has therefore spared neither pains nor expense in securing these. The Lists and Tables inserted in the appendixes are of the most usefid description, and suitable not only to the Merchants and Traders, but to the Ptiblic gene- rally, as a Directory, is the only repository lohereby a commercial people are enabled to become acquainted with each other. As there are but few Copies thrown off, except what are subscribed for, non-subscribers ivill require to make early application ; and, to prevent disappointment, it will be found advantageous for those who wish to secure a copy, to give in their names when the surveys are taken. NOTICES. The public are respectfully requested, when Removals and change of Firms take place, to send early notice to the Publisher, that the Lists may be made up by the ]stof May ; — Such notices require to be accu- rate, as they are inserted verbatim. Attending to these notices, will be found of much public advantage, by securing accuracy in the Lists. All Communications, post-paid, will be duly attended to. Receiving Boxes are left at the Shops of Messrs. C. Crawford, Surgeoji, 1 1 Kempock place, Gourock, John Hislop, Bookseller, 54 Cathcart street, Greenock. James Kerr, jun. Bookseller, 1 Hamilton street, do. .Andrew Laing, Bookseller. 1 Hamilton street, do. James Breingan, Postmaster, Clyde street, Helensburgh. J. Fife, Postmaster, Innerkip. Mattheiv Underwood, Grocer, 74 Main street, Largs, J. Douglas, Bookseller, Fore street, Port Glasgow William Glass, Bookseller, Watergate street, Rothesay. N. B. —Bookbinding — Copperplate Engraving and Printing'-' Letter Press and Lithographic Printing, done in a s-i^m^ov, style. ^^^ Orders Received for evert A^yt^^-feoWq;^.^'-. '."^"^ PuBLICATIGX. 3 1^ ^ ' Renfrewsbire Directory Office, \ ; a vJ ' \ ''' ^ jJ ' Paisley, 1836. j ' ./ / K THE FOURTH EDITION OP RENFREWSHIRE, IS MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED TO SIR MICHAEL S. STEWART, Bart., op GREENOCK AND BLACKBALL, M. P.