Leonard Gow (1859–1936) was a Scottish shipowner, philanthropist and art collector.

Life

He was born in Glasgow the son of Jessie Mcleod and her husband Leonard Gow (1824-1910), a Glasgow shipping magnate in the firm Allan C. Gow & Co and founder of the

Glen Line Glen Line was a UK shipping line that was founded in Glasgow in 1867. Its head office was later moved first to London and then to Liverpool. History The firm had its roots in the co-operation between the Gow and McGregor families in Glasgow ...

. Leonard studied Moral Philosophy at

Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

in 1884 but did not graduate. He entered his father's shipping business and was also a Director of

Burmah Oil The Burmah Oil Company was a leading British oil company which was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. In 1966, Castrol was acquired by Burmah, which was renamed "Burmah-Castrol". BP Amoco (now BP) purchased the company in 2000. Histor ...

. Gow became director of Allan C. Gow when his father retired and went into a partnership creating Gow, Harrison & Co. He began collecting Impressionist art and Chinese and Japanese porcelain around 1880, using the art dealer Alexander Reid. His father died on 25 November 1910. Also described as a "philanthropist" Some time between 1910 and 1915 he purchased "Camis Eskan" a huge mansionhouse near

Helensburgh Helensburgh (; gd, Baile Eilidh) is an affluent coastal town on the north side of the Firth of Clyde in Scotland, situated at the mouth of the Gareloch. Historically in Dunbartonshire, it became part of Argyll and Bute following local governm ...

with enough wall space to display his growing art collection. In 1915 Gow employed the architect

A. N. Paterson Alexander Nisbet Paterson ARIBA PRIAS (1862–1947) was a Scottish architect, mainly working in the Arts and Crafts style. He was president of the Royal Institute of Architects in Scotland (RIAS). Life He was born on 3 May 1862 at 7 Ber ...

(1862-1947) to extend and modernise the mansion. Glasgow University gave him an honorary doctorate in 1934. He died on 11 March 1936. He is buried in the

Glasgow Necropolis The Glasgow Necropolis is a Victorian cemetery in Glasgow, Scotland. It is on a low but very prominent hill to the east of Glasgow Cathedral (St. Mungo's Cathedral). Fifty thousand individuals have been buried here. Typical for the period, only ...

. After his death a large exhibition of his collection was held at the

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum is a museum and art gallery in Glasgow, Scotland. It reopened in 2006 after a three-year refurbishment and since then has been one of Scotland's most popular visitor attractions. The museum has 22 galleries, h ...

Artistic recognition

Gow was portrayed by

John Lavery Sir John Lavery (20 March 1856 – 10 January 1941) was a Northern Irish painter best known for his portraits and wartime depictions. Life and career John Lavery was born in inner North Belfast, baptised at St Patrick's Church, Belfast a ...

Endowments by Gow

*Leonard Gow Lectureship on Medical Diseases of Infancy and Childhood (founded 1919) *300 prints by

Muirhead Bone Sir Muirhead Bone (23 March 1876 – 21 October 1953) was a Scottish etcher and watercolourist who became known for his depiction of industrial and architectural subjects and his work as a war artist in both the First and Second World Wars. A fi ...

donated to the

Hunterian Art Gallery The Hunterian is a complex of museums located in and operated by the University of Glasgow in Glasgow, Scotland. It is the oldest museum in Scotland. It covers the Hunterian Museum, the Hunterian Art Gallery, the Mackintosh House, the Zoology M ...

(1965 by his trustees) *A huge section of his Chinese porcelain is now held as the Leonard Gow Collection in the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

*The remainder of his porcelain collection was purchased by Alfred Caspary in 1938 who passed 400 items to the

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...

as the "Margaret and Alfred Caspary Memorial Gift" in 1955.https://asia.si.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Gow-Leonard.pdf

Family

He had two sons: Leonard Harper Gow (1891-1965) and John Wesley Harper Gow (1898-1986).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gow, Leonard 1859 births 1936 deaths Businesspeople from Glasgow Scottish philanthropists Scottish art collectors Scottish shipbuilders Ship owners Burials at the Glasgow Necropolis 19th-century Scottish businesspeople 20th-century Scottish businesspeople