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.

John Galt's home in Irvine

This is the house in Irvine where John Galt was born on 2 May 1779.  The house was situated on the High Street near the Seagate.  Galt's father, also John, was the captain of a ship trading with the West Indies.  His mother was Jean Thomson.  The couple married in Ayrshire in 1776.  

The site of the building is now home to a branch of the Bank of Scotland.  There is a plaque on the outside wall showing its connection to John Galt.

The plaque was made by Robert Bryden and is dated 1903.

Robert Bryden (1865-1939) was an artist and sculptor who was born in Coylton in Ayrshire.  Many of his works showed scenes of places in Ayrshire.  See more of his work here.

John Galt - Social Historian?

For many years the Greenock Philosophical Society held an annual John Galt Lecture.  This little book, John Galt, Social Historian was presented to William M Brownlie, Rector of Greenock High School, who delivered the lecture in March 1951.

The bookplate states - "Presented to William M Brownlie PhD by the members of the Greenock Philosophical Society as a memento of a very interesting occasion".  It was published by the Telegraph Printing Works in Greenock.

It is a very interesting account of Brownlie's lecture in which he looks at Annals of the Parish by John Galt and compares the accounts of the Parish of Dalmailing (the setting of the novel) with changes to the social and industrial lives of the people of Greenock and Irvine.  Changes in farming methods and introduction of large scale industry are particularly noted.

Greenock Philosophical Society (link leads to present Facebook page) was instituted in 1861 and still continues to this day.  Many interesting and learned speakers over the years.  The annual John Galt Lecture ran for a number of years along with an annual James Watt Lecture.

Galt and the Freedom of Irvine

Two hundred years ago, in September 1825, John Galt was awarded the Freedom of the Burgh of Irvine, the town of his birth.

Galt visited Irvine with his mother and sister to receive the honour.  He had just returned to Britain from his first visit to Canada on behalf of the Canada Company and was visiting his family.

In his Autobiography he writes –

“We had a long journey to perform in the course of that day, I stepped out of the post-chaise, at the door of the tollbooth, to wait on the magistrates, when, to my astonishment, I beheld my old friend alive, then a very venerable man, sitting in the chair.  The sight upon me for a moment was as an apparition, but I was recalled to myself by the manner in which he delivered the diploma, with an address; Provost Pawkie himself could never have said anything half so good.”

Provost Pawkie is Galt’s main character in his work The Provost.  “Pawkie” in Scots means sly or cunning and Galt describes his book 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.”  Galt continues -“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.  Irvine Burns Club have a portrait of Fullarton which you can view here (you will need to scroll down to view it).

Aside from Galt’s surprise that the Baillie was still alive, he also had this to say about the man he met on that important September day in 1825 –

“His speech partook of his character, and evinced a degree of good sense, of tact, and taste, though delivered in the Scottish dialect, quite extraordinary.  Instead of speaking the sort of balderdash, common on such occasions, he passed over everything which related to myself, conceiving, as I suppose, that the honour of bestowing on me a burgess ticket, was a sufficient recognition of my supposed deservings; but he paid a well expressed compliment to the character of my father and mother, telling how much they were held in esteem by their townsfolk, and concluded with saying, that not the least proof of their merits was in bringing up their children to be worthy of a public testimony of respect.”

Perhaps not quite the testimonial John Galt was expecting, but presumably his mother would have been pleased to have been recognised!

Bryce Gilliland RN - how Galt used his story

John Galt writes fondly of his early years in Irvine before moving to Greenock in 1789 when he was 10 years old.  A sickly child, he was often at home with his mother and heard stories told by the women she met with around Irvine.  One particular person he remembered hearing about was Bryce Gilliland (1769-1805).  Galt writes in his autobiography: -

"This infirm state led me not only to avoid the hearty exercises of other boys, but to seek indoor amusement that was, had it been observed, remarkable in one so young.  I remember that there were a number of old women who lived in the close behind my grandmother's house, and in their society to hear their tales and legends I was a frequent visitor.  One of them was the mother of Lieutenant Gueliland, who was flag-officer to Lord Nelson, and killed at the battle of Trafalgar.  He was older than me, and I do not recollect him very well, but he was a brave and intelligent officer; his townsmen have erected a monument to his memory in the church, and I have the gratification to record that I obtained for his only sister a munificent donation from the Patriotic Fund formed during the war at Lloyd's."

There is a monument to Lieutenant Gilliland in Irvine Old Parish Church which reads: -

“To the memory of Bryce Gulliland.  Late first Lieutenant of His Majesty’s Ship Royal Sovereign.  A native of Irvine, who after receiving his education there as a seaman, was impressed and from his own merit, advanced to that distinguished station, and in the 36^th year of his age, was killed in the memorable Battle of Trafalgar upon the 21^st day of October 1805.  He fell at his post in his Country’s Cause and with Nelson.  This monument as a Tribute of respect is erected by his Townsmen.” 

It is likely that Bryce Gilliland he went to sea, as many Irvine men did.  It is recorded that he was later press-ganged into service with the Royal Navy.  His naval career seemed to have started as an Able Seaman on HMS Diana in 1794 and proceeded with service on many navy ships such as HMS Standard.  He was Quartermaster on HMS Northumberland and rose to the rank of Midshipman and Master's Mate.  In 1801 he served aboard Nelson's flagship HMS Foudroyant.  He saw service in the Egyptian Campaign becoming a Lieutenant and serving on HMS Druid. (This information was obtained from a fabulous website "TrafalgarAncestors" at the National Archive.) 

Ironically, Between 1801 and 1802 Gilliland was part of the impress service based at the Strong Man pub in Lower East Smithfield, London, recruiting for the Royal Navy ship HMS Determinee.  Thereafter he was transferred to HMS Dreadnaught where he came to the attention of Admiral Collingwood. 

Admiral Collingwood

He must have made a good impression on the Admiral because on 9 October, Collingwood wrote to Lord Nelson that he wished to take his Signal Lieutenant, Bryce Gilliland with him from the Dreadnaught to the Royal Sovereign.

On 21 October 1805 Bryce Gilliland, aged 36 was killed on board the Royal Sovereign during her heroic struggles in the Battle of Trafalgar.

As John Galt points out in his Autobiography (Chapter 10), quoted above, Lloyds did, on 28 July 1803, set up a Patriotic Fund "to assist the many casualties of the Napoleonic Wars".  It is still in existence, working with armed forces charities providing help to those in need.

Perhaps John Galt was remembering the old stories he heard told by Bryce Gilliland's mother when he wrote the following passage in his 1821 novel Annals of the Parish.  The passage refers to a young man from the locality, Charles Malcolm and is told by the narrator of the book, the Rev Micah Balwhidder:-

    “I had, in the meantime, written a letter to the Lord Eaglesham, to get Charles Malcolm out of the clutches of the pressgang in the man-of-war; and about a month after, his lordship sent me an answer, wherein was enclosed a letter from the captain of the ship, saying that Charles Malcolm was so good a man that he was reluctant to part with him, and that Charles himself was well contented to remain aboard.  Anent which, his lordship said to me, that he had written back to the captain to make a midshipman of Charles, and that he would take him under his own protection, which was great joy on two accounts to us all, especially to his mother; first, to hear that Charles was a good man, although in years still but a youth; and, secondly, that my lord had, of his own free will, taken him under the wing of his patronage.”

In the Annals of the Parish, Charles Malcolm rises through the ranks becoming Captain of his own ship but dies in action against the French.

John Galt was a master at weaving real life events into his work.