John Dunlop of Rosebank (November 1755 – 4 September 1820) was a Scottish songwriter who served as
Lord Provost of Glasgow
The Right Honourable Lord Provost of Glasgow is the convener of the Glasgow City Council. Elected by the city councillors, the Lord Provost serves not only as the chair of that body, but as a figurehead for the entire city. The office is equiv ...
from 1794 to 1796.
Life
Dunlop was the youngest son of provost
Colin Dunlop of Carmyle in the parish of
Old Monkland, Lanarkshire.
He began his career as a merchant, and was then collector of customs in
Bo'ness
Borrowstounness (commonly known as Bo'ness ( )) is a town and former burgh and seaport on the south bank of the Firth of Forth in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. Historically part of the county of West Lothian, it is a place within the Fal ...
and
Greenock and was Bailie in Glasgow 1786 to 1788. He lived at
Rosebank, near Glasgow, a property which he planted and beautified. Early in the eighteenth century it came into the possession of Provost Murdoch, and through his daughter, Margaret, it fell to her son-in-law, John Dunlop. He was appointed collector of customs at
Borrowstounness, whence he was afterwards moved to
Port Glasgow. He served as
Lord Provost of Glasgow
The Right Honourable Lord Provost of Glasgow is the convener of the Glasgow City Council. Elected by the city councillors, the Lord Provost serves not only as the chair of that body, but as a figurehead for the entire city. The office is equiv ...
1794–96.
He was later Collector of Customs at
Port Glasgow and died there on 4 September 1820, aged 65.
Character
An active-minded man, he is described as "a merchant, a sportsman, a mayor, a collector, squire, captain and poet, politician and factor". His humour and social qualities made him sought after. He sang well and wrote songs, some of which show a graceful lyrical faculty and are still popular. ''Oh dinna ask me gin I lo'e ye'' is perhaps the best known, and with ''Here's to the year that's awa'' is often included in collections of Scottish poetry. These and two others by him are in the ''
Modern Scottish Minstrel'' (1857, v. 77–81) of Dr. C. Rogers. Dunlop was also known as a writer of monumental and other inscriptions.
He was a leading member of the convivial
Hodge Podge Club in Glasgow, for which some of his verses were composed. In figure he was a "hogshead", but "as jolly a cask as ere loaded the ground". In 1818, he edited for a son of Sir
James
James is a common English language surname and given name:
*James (name), the typically masculine first name James
* James (surname), various people with the last name James
James or James City may also refer to:
People
* King James (disambiguati ...
and Lady Frances Steuart some letters to them from Lady
Mary W. Montagu, since reprinted by
Lord Wharncliffe. He printed for private circulation a couple of volumes of his occasional pieces, and his son,
John Colin Dunlop
John Colin Dunlop FRSE (1785–1842) was a Scottish advocate and historian.
Life
He was born near Glasgow on 30 December 1785 the son of John Dunlop, of Rosebank, Glasgow, who was Lord Provost of Glasgow, 1794–1796.
John Colin was studious ...
, the author of the ''History of Fiction'', edited a volume of his poems in 1836. According to the statement of the Rev.
Charles Rogers, four volumes of poetry in manuscript are in existence.
Family
He married Jessy Miller of Glenlee, daughter of
Thomas Miller, Lord Glenlee
Sir Thomas Miller, 1st Baronet FRSE (3 November 1717 – 27 September 1789), known as Lord Barskimming (1766–88) and Lord Glenlee (from 1788) during his judicial service, was a Scottish advocate, judge, politician and landowner. He was a foun ...
and granddaughter of
John Murdoch of Rosebank.
Publications
His works are:
# "Poems on several Occasions", Greenock, 1817–19, 2 vols. octavo (only ten copies, privately printed; one is in the
Abbotsford Library).
# ''Original Letters from the Right Hon. Lady Mary W. Montagu to Sir James and Lady Frances Steuart, and Memoirs and Anecdotes of those distinguished Persons'', duodecimo, Greenock, 1818 (privately printed).
# "Poems on several Occasions from 1793 to 1816", octavo, Edinburgh, 1836 (only fifty copies privately printed by
J. Colin Dunlop).
Not one of these three works is in the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
.
He was also a gifted songwriter, his most memorable song being "Here's to the Year That's Awa'".
[Illustrated Catalogue of the Exhibition of Portraits in the New Galleries of Art in Corporation Buildings]
Notes
References
;Attribution
*; Endnotes:
**G. Stewart's Curiosities of Glasgow Citizenship, 1881, pages 201–2
**Martin's Catalogue of Privately Printed Books, 2nd edition, 1854, pages 232, 243, 463
**Coltness Collections (
Maitland Club
The Maitland Club was a Scottish historical and literary club and text publication society, modelled on the Roxburghe Club and the Bannatyne Club. It took its name from Sir Richard Maitland (later Lord Lethington), the Scottish poet. The club was ...
), 1842, pages xxi, 310, 383, 388
**Letters to Lady Steuart and G. Chalmers, November 1804, in British Museum, Addit. manuscript 22901, following 205, 211.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunlop, John
1755 births
1820 deaths
Cambuslang
Scottish songwriters
People from North Lanarkshire
Scottish merchants