John Galt in quarantine

In August 1811 John Galt was returning from his travels in the Mediterranean.  He writes of his return journey in his Autobiography (Vol I) – 

“From Gibraltar I went to Cork, where we were again 
put under quarantine at Cove.”

Quarantine procedures were put into place at many ports to stop the spread of plague.  Cove (Cobh) was the stopping off point for ships going to Cork in Ireland. 

Galt managed to make the best use of his time in quarantine – “During the quarantine nothing particular occurred; but I got the newspapers regularly, and was naturally led to think of the condition of Ireland.” 

The newspaper he was particularly interested in was The CorkMorning Intelligencer.  It was published by John O’Rorke of Castle Street in Cork from May 1811 until 1823.  Crime stories seem to have particularly interested John Galt at this time.  And was even able to read about Thomas Murphy indicted at Carrickfergus for uttering forged notes of the Greenock Bank!  Galt was not particularly impressed by Ireland's legal process!

After the ship was cleared from quarantine, Galt continued his journey, taking time to do a bit of sightseeing at Dublin –

“When relieved from that captivity, I went to the city of Cork, where letters from home were awaiting me.  After dinner, I set off in the mail for Dublin; next day stopped in that city, to which I had letters, and hired a coach and man to go about with me, to shew me all the objects of curiosity.”

 After a day of sightseeing, Galt continued his journey -

“In the evening, I set out in the mail for Belfast, embarked at Donoghadee, and in due season, as fast as the post, was taken to  Greenock; there I remained a few days with my friends, and then proceeded to London.”

Quite a journey from Gibraltar to Greenock!

John Galt - a lucky find!

A great edition of John Galt’s best-known works – Annals of the Parish and the Ayrshire Legatees in one volume, published by Mercat Classics (TheMercat Press) in 1994.  According to the information on the inside page this is “a facsimile of the edition published by Macmillan & Co in 1895”.  In the modern edition, there is a new introduction by Ian Campbell.  This was a fortunate find in a charity shop recently at a cost of £3.49.  

This edition, like that of 1895 contains wonderful illustrations by Charles E Brock.  Both the Annals of the Parish and The Ayrshire Legatees were originally published separately in book form in 1821 after having been serialised in Blackwoods Edinburgh Magazine.

Illustration by C E Brock

A very lucky find!

Rachel Pringle's view of Greenock's Cathcart Street

In the Ayrshire Legatees, published monthly originally in Blackwoods Magazine between June 1820 and February 1821and in book form in June 1821, John Galt describes the Pringle family’s journey from Irvine to London to receive a legacy left by a relative.  In Chapter 1, Letter II - Miss Rachel Pringle writes to her friend Miss Isabella Tod describing Greenock. 

“The chambermaid of the inn where we lodge pointed out to me, on the opposite side of the street, a magnificent edifice erected for balls; but the subscribers have resolved not to allow any dancing till it is determined by the Court of Session to whom the seats and chairs belong, as they were brought from another house where the assemblies were formerly held.” 

Tontine Hotel, Cathcart Street, Greenock

The “inn where we lodge” was likely to have been Greenock’s Tontine Hotel on Cathcart Street.  Coaches to Ayr and Glasgow arrived and departed daily from the Tontine or the White Hart Inn in Cathcart Square, as this extract from Hutchison's Greenock Directory of 1820 shows. 

Built in 1801, the Tontine Hotel contained a large hall, twelve sitting rooms and thirty bedrooms.  It was a popular stopping place for visitors to the town, and many local clubs and organisations held their meetings there.  It was ideally situated in Cathcart Street, which was then the commercial centre of Greenock.

The "magnificent edifice erected for balls" probably refers to the Exchange Buildings (opened 1814) also the home of the Coffee Room. In 1821 a new Coffee Room was opened in Cathcart Square.  There was a disagreement between some of the subscribers about the cost etc, and a court case followed - thus Rachel Pringle's reference to the Court of Session.  

Thereafter there were two Coffee Rooms in Greenock!

Tontine Hotel, Cathcart Street.  Photo - Greenock Burns Club

The original Tontine Hotel was demolished and replaced by a new Post Office in 1899.  That Post Office  building still stands and is now the James Watt Pub (Wetherspoons).  A new Tontine Hotel was opened in 1892 in Union Street, Greenock.  Read more about the history of the Tontine Hotel here.

Pawkie's Close, Irvine

Pawkie's Close can be found in Irvine, directly across the street from the Bank of Scotland building on the High Street. A plaque commemorating John Galt can be found on the wall of the Bank building.

Pawkie Close is a narrow path between buildings leading east from the High Street and is typical of the many closes which would have led from the houses and businesses here.  Pawkie's Close is paved, and some of the slabs have words and phrases etched into them.  There is no information about where these quotes originated.

The Close was named after Provost Pawkie in one of John Galt's best loved books - The Provost which was published in 1822.  Pawkie in Scots means sly or cunning and Galt describes his character as:

 “exhibiting a tolerably correct picture of a Scottish borough, I had in view, while writing it, a gentleman, who, when I was a boy at school, had the chief management of the borough council in my native town.  I believed he was dead, and had no scruple about choosing him for my model.”

The man being described was Robert Fullarton (1740-1835) who was a councillor in Irvine for 42 years.  Read more about Galt and Irvine on a previous post - Galt and the Freedom of Irvine.

Yesterday on the anniversary of the birth of John Galt, a short ceremony took place at the Bank of Scotland building which replaced the house in which he lived as a child.  A floral tribute was placed on the wall beside the plaque.

John Galt's birthday!

Today marks the 247^th birthday of John Galt. 

Born in Irvine in 1779, he was the eldest of four children of Captain John Galt and his wife Jean Thomson.  Galt seems to have happy memories of his early childhood in Irvine and not being particularly robust as a child, was for a while educated at home by his mother.  He enjoyed the company of his mother and his friends, storing up memories of the tales they told each other.

Memories of Irvine re-emerge in the poem To the River Peneus which is printed in his Autobiography (Vol 1) published in 1833 he writes of his travels in the Mediterranean during the years 1809 -1811;

"From Phersela we proceeded to Larissa, a considerable town with a number of spires or minarets.  The city stands on the banks of the river Peneus, and in one particular place, where calicoes on bleach fields were spread around, the scene moved me with a strange sadness, in which, if I did not weep, I shed the following verses;

 Methought that youth was still my own
As when I strayed by Irvine’s stream,
And all the cares I since have known
The phantoms of a troubled dream.
Ah! never shall I know again
Those simple hopes of blithesome hue,
The playmates gay of fancy’s train,
Such as by Irvine’s stream I knew."

Rather sad lines written abroad with memories of times by the River Irvine in his native Ayrshire.  Many of the place names of the places he travelled to abroad are written slightly differently now.  Find out more about these places visited by Galt all those years ago by clicking on the highlighted links.

Phersela - possibly Farsala in Thessaly, Greece. 
Larissa is in the Thessaly region of Greece.  
River Peneus – River Peneios.