[7904] Glasgow Necropolis : Hilltop Memorials

Glasgow Necropolis.

William Rae Wilson Mausoleum, 1849.

By Jonathan Anderson Bell (c1808-1865).

 

Dr William Rae Wilson was born in Paisley on the 7th June 1772. He practised as a solicitor. Unfortunately his first wife died 18 months after they were married and he went travelling in the Middle East, subsequently writing ‘Travels in the Holy Land’ and other books. Eventually he married ‘An English lady of good family’ from London. When Wilson died she had this domed octagonal Moorish kiosk built, in the style of Sepulchre monuments from his beloved Palestine. No wood, iron or lead has been used in its construction, all joints are concealed. The family arms of Rae and Wilson are depicted in white marble inside. Wilson adopted the middle name of Rae when he inherited money from an uncle of the same name.

 

To its left....John Houldsworth of Cranston Hill Mausoleum, 1845.

By John Thomas.

 

This Graeco-Egyptian style monument is in marble with two statues at the entrance. On the left stands Hope with an anchor, on the right stands Charity carrying a child and inside Faith clasping a bible with an angel on either side.

 

The sculptor John Thomas later went on to work on the Houses of Parliament. John Houldsworth (1807-1859) was the last Lord Provost of Anderston before it was incorporated into Glasgow, a Senior Baillie of Glasgow and founder of the Anderston Foundry and Machine Works. The son of a Nottingham cotton-spinner who moved to Cranston Hill and worked in Kelvinbridge, Houldsworth was educated in Glasgow, Geneva and Heidelberg.

 

The 58 ft doric pillar topped with a 13 ft statue is the memorial to John Knox (1505-1572), prominent Scottish clergyman and leader of the Protestant Reformation. The sandstone Doric column and base were designed by the Edinburgh architect Thomas Hamilton. The self taught sculptor Robert Forrest carved the statue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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