Archibald McLellan’s gift to Glasgow was an unusual, if somewhat inadvertent, one. It was an idea, not necessarily his, which led to the creation of a municipally owned art collection and the building of Kelvingrove Art Galleries.
He was the son of Archibald McLellan, a coach builder and his wife Christian Shillinglaw who married in 1794.[1] No record of his birth has been discovered however he died in 1854, his death registration document recording his age as 59 years.[2] There appears to have been a brother, James, and a sister, Christian, born in 1796 [3] and 1799 [4] respectively, both seem never to have married nor have any death records for either been identified.
Archibald senior was born in Luss in 1749.[5] On the 14th of March 1782 he became a Burgess and Guild Brother of Glasgow, being described as a hammerman and having served an apprenticeship with coach and harness makers Archibald Bogle and John Edmiston.[6] In the 1799 Glasgow directory he is listed as a partner in the coachbuilding company of McLelland and Dunbar, his name being spelt incorrectly with the addition of a ‘d’.[7] It wasn’t until 1812 that the entry was corrected to McLellan and Dunbar.[8] The business was located at various addresses in Miller Street, mostly at number 21.
In 1814 Archibald junior joined with his father, the business now being known as Archibald McLellan and Son at number 24 Miller Street, [9] eventually moving to 81 Miller Street.[10] Archibald senior died in 1831 in Glasgow. His Trust and Deed Settlement written in the same year mentions only his wife Christian and son Archibald.[11]
Archibald junior matriculated at Glasgow University in 1808, his date of birth being given as 1797.[12] His education seems to have been extensive, and might be described as a classical one, which was probably the basis for his interest in art and literature which became evident in later life.[13] He also had acquired the necessary skills to join with his father in coachbuilding, particularly as a heraldic draughtsman.[14] On the 26th of August 1813 he became a Burgess and Guild Brother of Glasgow. [15] The following day he became hammerman number 822, being described as a coachmaker. His ‘essay’ ( the manufacture of a piece of equipment to demonstrate the required skills) was a screw, bolt and nut.[16] At best he would be 18 years old, if the university birth date applies then he would 16 years old. Normally a member of the trade would be 21 years old at the time of their membership.[17] In 1819 he became Collector of the Incorporation of Hammerman probably in recognition of his varied practical and intellectual skills. In 1821 he became Deacon of the Hammermen.[18]
Prior to the Burgh Reform Act (Scotland) of 1833 members of the Trades and Merchants Houses could be nominated by these organisations to become Glasgow councillors. McLellan was nominated in 1822 and on the 8th March gave his oath of allegiance and abjuration. He was described in the minutes of the council as a councillor of the Crafts rank. He was to remain a councillor in various roles for several years thereafter.[19]
He subsequently became a magistrate (bailie) of Glasgow being elected on the 2nd October 1827. There were eleven crafts candidates for the position of youngest or second trades bailie. They were split into two groups of six and five, McLellan and Walter Ferguson coming top of their respective groups to run off against each other. In the event McLellan was elected unanimously. He served as bailie until October 1829. He also served as deacon convener on the council for various periods in 1831, 1832, 1833, 1834 and 1835 and was elected city treasurer on the 11th October 1831.[20]
Most sources say he became a bailie before he reached the age of twenty five years. Clearly that is not true. If he was born in 1795 he would have been thirty two. The latest birthday I have come across for him is 1798, which means he would have been twenty nine on becoming a bailie.
McLellan was a multifaceted individual. In addition to running the coach business, initially with his father then on his own, and advancing the interests of the city through the council and the Trades House he also had a passionate interest in art, literature and music. He was friends with a number of artists of the day including Sir Daniel Macnee and Sir David Wilkie.[21]
In 1825 he became a member of the Glasgow Dilettanti Society which had been formed around February of that year. Its stated aim was ‘ to improve the taste for, and advance the knowledge of the fine arts,’ its membership being restricted to painters, sculptors, etchers and engravers but also included those individuals possessing artistic taste and knowledge. It’s first president was Andrew Henderson, a portrait painter, McLellan and David Hamilton the architect joining later that year. The society met monthly with essay readings and exhibitions of work by the members or owned by them. In 1826 McLellan exhibited a number of prints from his own collection.[22],[23] In 1834 he was the society’s president.[24] He was also the first president of the Glasgow Fine Arts Association in its foundation year of 1853 and on the Glasgow Art Unions management committee.
His growing influence in the Trades House resulted in him becoming it’s deacon convener in 1831 and again in 1832. The following year saw the introduction of the Reform Act which initially prohibited the Trades and Merchant Houses from nominating councillors. McLellan was instrumental in maintaining the right of the Deacon Convener of the Trades House and the Dean of Guild of the Merchants House, to become councillors ex officio.[25] He was again elected deacon convener of the Trades House in 1834, probably for his success in having the Act revised.[26] They also had his portrait painted by his friend Sir John Graham Gilbert which hangs in the Trades House today.[27]
It’s not clear when he started to collect works of art but it was an eclectic collection which included paintings, sculptures, and books. How it was housed is also not clear as initially he probably lived with his parents. However by 1828 he was living at 78 Miller Street,[28] nearby the coachworks. He remained at that address until 1838 [29] at which time he moved to 3 Dalhousie Street in the Barony parish. This last address according to Dr. Wangen, director of the Royal Gallery of Pictures in Berlin who visited Glasgow around 1852/53, housed a significant collection of paintings from the 17th century Dutch and Flemish schools. It also contained a number of Italian, English, Spanish and French works. Dr. Wangen was pretty scathing about other Glasgow collectors, or the lack of them, describing McLellan as an honourable exception. He described the house as being overfilled with paintings and listed and commented on over sixty of them in three of the rooms there which include works by Van Dyk, Sir David Wilkie and Brueghel. [30] McLellan also had a country domicile at Mugdock Castle, leasing the castle from around 1836 from the Marquis of Montrose family, the Grahams.[31]
He had a great interest in the architecture of Glasgow undertaking new buildings on his own account culminating in the galleries building in Sauchiehall Street named after him. He wrote ‘Essay on the Cathedral Church of Glasgow‘ which was published in 1833 which lamented the state of the cathedral since reformation times and suggested action to improve. Not all of his suggested changes were made however it was ‘renovated and became the pride and ornament of the land.’ [32] He also proposed a new western approach to the cathedral and purchased land between Weaver Street and Stirling’s Road to achieve this. The land was subsequently given to the city council and the Merchant’s House who carried out the required improvements.[33]
He never married however in a talk given to the Old Glasgow Club in 2010 by Mrs Jane Anderson, a guide at Kelvingrove Art Galleries, she describes him as having two mistresses, one, Isabella Hutcheson at Dalhousie Street who had been his servant/housekeeper there at least since 1841, the other at Mugdock, Elizabeth Park. She described them as his town and country common law wives. One other comment she made was that he was expelled from the university for vandalising the tomb of Bishop Wishart at the cathedral.[34]
He died at Mugdock Castle on the 22nd October 1854. His obituary in the Glasgow Herald, including an extract from that of the Courier, described him as an orator and debater who was unrivalled, but also as someone who could be over emphatic. He was also described as kind-hearted. The Courier described his character as not being flat or neutral. He was warm, impetuous, irascible and also generous, open hearted, kind and hospitable.[35]
However one capability escaped him, namely that of keeping control of his finances. He was indebted to several banks, to such an extent that his intention to leave his art works and other property to Glasgow could not be complied with. In the event the city purchased those works and the Sauchiehall Street galleries for £44,500,[36] (today worth £4.4m re RPI changes or £143m re project cost changes[37]) from his trustees which in due course was the genesis of the city’s art collection. He may not have seen his collection as the basis of a municipal one, whether gifted or otherwise but the idea of such occurred to those who promoted the purchase however inadvertently it was arrived at.
He was buried in the Glasgow Necropolis.[38]
[1] Marriages (OPR) Scotland. Glasgow. 4 August 1794. MCLELLAN, Archibald and SHILLINGLAW, Christian. 644/1 270/173. www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk
[2] Deaths (OPR) Scotland. Glasgow. 22 October 1854. MCLELLAN, Archibald. 644/1 580/127. www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk
[3] Births (OPR) Scotland. Glasgow. 13 May 1796. MCLELLAN, James. 644/1 190/279. www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk
[4] Births (OPR) Scotland. Glasgow. 10 May 1799. MCLELLAN, Christian. 644/1 190/431. www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk
[5] Births (OPR) Scotland. Luss. 9 June 1749. MCLELLAN, Archibald. 499 10/165. www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk
[6] Anderson, James (ed) (1935)The Burgesses & Guild Brethren of Glasgow 1751-1848. Edinburgh: Scottish Record Society. p. 127 https://archive.org/details/scottishrecord51scotuoft/page/n5/mode/2up
[7] Directories. Scotland. (1799) Glasgow Directory. Glasgow: W. McFeat and Co. p. 65.
https://digital.nls.uk/directories/browse/archive/87870583
[8] Directories. Scotland. (1812) Glasgow Directory. Glasgow: W. McFeat and Co. p. 110. https://digital.nls.uk/directories/browse/archive/90149171
[9] Directories. Scotland. (1814) Glasgow Directory. Glasgow: W. McFeat and Co. p. 112. https://digital.nls.uk/directories/browse/archive/87861325
[10] Directories. Scotland. (1833) Glasgow Directory. Glasgow: Post Office. p. 239. https://digital.nls.uk/directories/browse/archive/87849874
[11] Testamentary Records. Scotland. 1 November 1834. MCLELLAN, Archibald. Trust Disposition and Settlement. Glasgow Sheriff Court. www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk
[12] Addison, W. Innes (1913). The Matriculation Albums of Glasgow University, from 1728 to 1858. Glasgow: James Maclehose and Sons. p. 238. https://archive.org/details/matriculationalb00univuoft/page/238/mode/2up
[13] Maclehose, James (1886) Memoirs and Portraits of 100 Glasgow Men. 60. Archibald McLellan. Glasgow; James Maclehose and Sons. pp. 205,206. http://gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/mlemen/mlemen060.htm
[14] Ibid
[15] Anderson, James (ed) (1935)The Burgesses & Guild Brethren of Glasgow 1751-1848. Edinburgh: Scottish Record Society. p. 281 https://archive.org/details/scottishrecord51scotuoft/page/n5/mode/2up
[16] Lumsden, Harry and Aitken, Rev. P. Henderson. (1912) History of the Hammermen of Glasgow. Paisley: Alexander Gardner. p.305. https://archive.org/details/historyofhammer00lums
[17] Bryce, Craig R. Trades House of Glasgow, Deacon Convener Archibald McLennan. PDF https://www.tradeshouselibrary.org/
[18] Lumsden and Aitken, op.cit. p. 389.
[19] Minutes, Glasgow Council Act Book March 1821 to 1823. Mitchell Library.
[20] Minutes, Glasgow Council Act Books 6 volumes 1819 – 1837. Mitchell Library.
[21] Maclehose, James (1886) Memoirs and Portraits of 100 Glasgow Men. 60. Archibald McLellan. Glasgow; James Maclehose and Sons. pp. 205,206. http://gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/mlemen/mlemen060.htm
[22] University of Strathclyde Archives and Special Collections. The Dilettanti Society https://atom.lib.strath.ac.uk/glasgow-dilettanti-society
[23] Glasgow’s Cultural History. The Dilettanti Society. https://www.glasgowsculturalhistory.com/the-fine-arts/the-glasgow-dilettanti-society/
[24] Bryce, Craig R. Trades House of Glasgow, Deacon Convener Archibald McLennan. PDF https://www.tradeshouselibrary.org/
[25] Maclehose, James (1886) Memoirs and Portraits of 100 Glasgow Men. 60. Archibald McLellan. Glasgow; James Maclehose and Sons. pp. 205,206. http://gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/mlemen/mlemen060.htm
[26] Lumsden and Aitken, op.cit. p. 391.
[27] Ibid.
[28] Directories. Scotland. (1828) Glasgow Directory. Glasgow: John Graham & Co. p. 190. https://digital.nls.uk/directories/browse/archive/83783196
[29] Directories. Scotland. (1838) Glasgow Directory. Glasgow: The Post Office. p. 149. https://digital.nls.uk/directories/browse/archive/90161167
[30] Obituaries. (1854) Glasgow Herald. 27 October. MCLELLAN, Archibald. p. 5a,b,c. https://www.nls.uk/
[31] ScotWars. Mugdock Castle. http://old.scotwars.com/mugdock_castle.htm
[32] Obituaries. (1854) Glasgow Herald. 27 October. MCLELLAN, Archibald. p. 5a,b,c. https://www.nls.uk/
[33] Bryce, Craig R. Trades House of Glasgow, Deacon Convener Archibald McLennan. PDF https://www.tradeshouselibrary.org/
[34] Old Glasgow Club. Minutes of Meeting on 14 October 2010. http://www.oldglasgowclub.org.uk/oldwebsite/minutes_14_10_10.htm
[35] Obit Obituaries. (1854) Glasgow Herald. 27 October. MCLELLAN, Archibald. p. 5a,b,c. https://www.nls.uk/
[36] Maclehose, James (1886) Memoirs and Portraits of 100 Glasgow Men. 60. Archibald McLellan. Glasgow; James Maclehose and Sons. pp. 205,206. http://gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/mlemen/mlemen060.htm
[37] Measuring Worth (2023) https://www.measuringworth.com/calculators/ukcompare/
[38] Glasgow Necropolis. https://www.glasgownecropolis.org/profiles/archibald-mclellan/
Glasgow's Benefactors 