John Galt leaflet - what's in a name?

This picture of John Galt is taken from a leaflet about him published by Inverclyde Council.  It can be downloaded from the Inverclyde Council website (click on link to see).

Title page of leaflet issued by Inverclyde Council

It is available along with leaflets on other "Famous People Inverclyde".  Be aware that the actual file for the downloadable leaflet is named "James Galt"!  Fortunately the downloadable leaflet on that other well known Greenockian, James Watt is labelled correctly and he is not named "John Watt"!

The actual text of the leaflet comes from BBC2 Writing Scotland (click on link to see) section on John Galt which is well worth reading.

John Galt - "always ready"

The picture of the Galt family armorial bearings is taken from Ontarian Families by Edward Marion Chadwick, published in 1898.  The moto semper paratus means “always ready”.

Galt Family Crest

The arms could be seen as a visual description of Galt’s life.  The sailing ship could represent Captain Galt (John Galt’s father) a shipmaster who undertook many voyages to the West Indies.  It could also refer to Galt’s own travels, both to the Mediterranean and across the Atlantic to NorthAmerica.  The book between two thistles obviously represents Galt’s writing career and his pride in the land of his birth.  The archer could represent Galt’s chosen motto “ettle” to which he gives the meaning – aim. 

In John Galt’s time, having a personal seal was considered very important, especially for those who corresponded frequently – the seal would be pressed into hot wax which sealed the package of correspondence.  The seal was often in the form of a finger ring.

Galt writes about his seal in Literary Life (Vol I) – 

“I was then getting a new seal with armorial bearings, and I wrote to one of my companions that I had an intention of taking for my motto, “I will myself” or “Hope and Try”.  The former I thought rather arrogant, and took the latter.”  

In a letter to his cousin in Ayrshire, Galt’s brother Thomas writes - 

“I look for something better where I am going – it is not improbable however that I may be disappointed, but you know our Motto – “Hope and Try”. 

(This can be found in a letter in John Galt and the Lizars Collection, University of Guelph Library, on the website Electric Canadian.)

John Galt explains that he needed such a device for the side of his small carriage or cariole – 

“But on the panel of a cariole, which I bought at Quebec, 

conceiving I had attained something, 

I changed it then to “ettle” (aim)."

Ettle is a Scottish word which suits Galt admirable.  As well as aim, it can also mean – intend, plan, design, attempt or venture.  This describes especially the plans and ideas Galt had for a variety of business ventures.  He was originally going to give the hero of his novel Eben Erskine the surname Ettle as he explains in Literary Life (Vol I) – 

“My original intention was to call the book Eben Ettle, and the early sheets were so printed; but at the request of the published, I changed the name.  I thought this was something out of his line to meddle with, especially as Ettle was as good as any other name.”  

Galt uses the word frequently in his work as this example from The Provost shows.  Provost Pawkie describes a friend and neighbour – 

“Mr Kilsyth, an ettling man, who had been wonderful prosperous in the spirit line …”.

Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt, John Galt's youngest son, was knighted in 1869 and his middle son, Sir Thomas Galt was knighted in 1888.  Read more about Sir Thomas Galt here.

Galt and the Granny Kempock Stone

Gourock’s Kempock Stone gets a mention in John Galt’s novel Southennan the story of a young man’s journey from Ayrshire to Edinburgh to witness the arrival of Mary Queen of Scots from France.

Kempoch Stone, Gourock

In the first chapter, Galt writes about the young laird of Southennan’s parents –

“For his mother was an English lady of high rank, the daughter of the Lord Derwent, to whom his father surrendered himself a prisoner in the mutinous field of the Solway moss, and by whom he was entertained more as a guest than a prisoner.  During the period of that captivity the fair Isabel was wooed and won.”

The Battle of Solway Moss took place in 1542 between the Scots and the English.  The Scottish forces were defeated.  Many Scottish “noblemen and gentlemen” were taken prisoner and given into the custody of English gentry and landowners with pledges that they would support the English cause.  This explains Galt’s description of Southennan being “entertained more as a guest than a prisoner”.

However, the young couple returned to Scotland after Southennan’s release, but the bride – 

“before she was yet a mother, her husband was killed while hunting among the moors of Renfrewshire.  His horse bounded in the chase, close to the edge of the precipice of Kempoch, and, startled by the danger, suddenly recoiled, and threw him over the rock.  A large stone still marks the spot where the accident happened.”

Kempock Stone, Gourock

The Kempock Stone in Gourock is now surrounded by housing but did indeed once stand on the edge of a cliff facing the River Clyde.  The Rev David Macrae in Notes About Gourock, Chiefly Historical published in 1880 describes the stone - 

“It stands about six feet high, with a diameter of two, and has a faint resemblance to a mantled figure, with a shrouded head.”

For that reason, the stone is known locally as the Granny Kempock Stone.  Macrae goes on to state –

"It was chiefly in connection with the winds and the sea that the Kempoch Stane was regarded with superstitious dread.  Standing forth on the top of the rock, where there were no trees or houses or Castle walls to intercept the view, Granny Kempoch must have been a marked object to ships sailing up or passing down the Firth; and would look like someone placed there to rule the winds and the waves, and watch the ships as they came and went.”

The stone had many old tales and superstitions connected with it.  It was said that mariners would walk around the stone seven times to assure a safe voyage.  The Kempoch Stone was also associated with the storiy of Marie Lamont who was accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake in 1662.

John Galt's edition of Graydon's Memoirs 1822

John Galt edited Alexander Graydon’s Memoirs of a Life Chiefly Passed in Pennsylvania Within the Last Sixty Years.  which was published in January 1822 in Edinburgh by William Blackwood.  It had first been published in America and was a memoir by Alexander Graydon (1752-1818), an American writer who had fought against Britain during the American Revolution.  Graydon wrote mostly about his life and experiences, and his work was published in many journals of the time.

Galt’s edition received a very unfavourable review by the Quarterly Review (also known as the London Quarterly Review) which had previously given extremely negative comments of John Galt’s own work.  John Wilson Croker (1780-1857), at one time editor of the Quarterly Review was particularly known for slating Galt and his writing.  The review for the Memoirs reads - 

“He [Galt] now appears as the editor and eulogist of these Memoirs, which – not withstanding his high and solemn praise, both of their matter and manner – we venture to pronounce to be in matter almost worthless, and in manner wholly contemptible.  We scarcely remember to have met with an emptier pretender to literature, or a grosser apostate in politics.”

The writer goes on –

“We can honestly assure Mr Galt – without overrating his talents and taste in the least – that he is himself capable of adding a thousand times more lustre to the English language than the author of such an absurd farrago as he has here thought proper to reprint.”

Galt had a keen interest in America.  During the time he worked both in Greenock Custom House and for local firms Miller & Co and Robert Ewing, he would have been aware of how the relationship between the two countries could affect trade.  In 1820 he worked for claimants seeking compensation for losses they had sustained during the British/American War of 1812-1815.  He dedicated his edition of Graydon’s book to Richard Rush (1780-1859) who was the American Ambassador to Britain from 1818 to 1825.

Richard Rush - American Ambassador in Britain

In his dedication, Galt writes – 

“It is remarkable that a production so rich in the various excellencies of style, description, and impartiality, should not have been known to the collectors of American books in this country, especially as it is perhaps the best personal narrative which has yet appeared relative to the history of that great conflict which terminated in establishing the independence of the United States.”

John Galt's home in Greenock

The Galt family home in Greenock was at the corner of West Blackhall Street and Westburn Street.  It was here that John Galt died on this day in 1839.  A plaque on the building which now stands on the site reads –  “Here John Galt dwelt at his death 11 April 1839.”

The Galt family home at the corner of West Blackhall Street and Westburn Street

The original house was built by Galt’s father when he moved his family from Irvine to Greenock in 1789.  Galt’s father was a shipmaster and sailed from Greenock to the West Indies.  Captain Galt and his wife Agnes Thomson had four children – John was the eldest born in 1779, Agnes born in 1781, James born in 1783 and Thomas born in 1785.  The house had a garden which the young John enjoyed –

“Attached was a garden, in the decorations of which my taste for flowers suffered no interruption. For several years it afforded me agreeable employment, and I still recollect with pleasure the aspect of the borders when the sun was shining and the air clear.”

 

In later years, after the death of her parents, the house was occupied by John’s younger sister, Agnes who had married Robert Andrew Macfie. 

Galt and his wife, Elizabeth returned to Greenock in 1834 because they could no longer afford to stay in London and his sister had offered to share her home.  He had suffered from several strokes and was in very bad health.  By this time, the area around the house had become much busier.  Galt, in a letter to William Blackwood’s sons, Alexander and Robert, dated 15 August 1834 writes – 

“I find this house now so surrounded with others that I am going for privacy while the fine weather lasts to Gourock.”  

Gourock was, and still is, a lovely seaside town and many in Galt’s day visited “for their health”.  Unfortunately a short stay there did not improve Galt’s condition and he returned to Greenock. 

Increasingly unwell, Galt continued to produce work for various publications.  When he was unable to hold a pen, he employed someone to write to his dictation.  He also kept up his correspondence with friends and family. 

Plaque at the entrance to Inverkip Street cemetery

John Galt died in his family home in Greenock and was buried in Inverkip Street burying ground beside his parents and other members of his family.