TOPIC:

RECIPIENTS OF THE HELENSBURGH CARRIAGE CLOCKS

Volunteer Active Service Company, Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders –
7296 Sergeant Daniel L. PORTER
7299 Private Robert ALEXANDER
8432 Private Alfred GILCHRIST
7309 Private William McKINLAY
8449 Private William STIRLING
7314 Private James SWEENEY

18th (Glasgow) Company, 6th Bn. Imperial Yeomanry –
8721 Sergeant-Farrier William NEILSON
8681 Corporal John Maxwell GILLATT (later Lieutenant, 19th Co., 6th Bn. I.Y.)
8688 Corporal John HAMILTON
8660 Lance-Corporal Archibald Arrol Stuart BLACK
8715 Farrier John McBRIDE
8717 Trooper John Westwood McCULLOCH
8713 Trooper Robert Barclay McGREGOR

67th (Sharpshooters) Company, 18th Bn. Imperial Yeomanry –
12470 Lance-Sergeant John McNICOL
12400 Corporal George Sutherland MAUGHAN

70th (Sharpshooters) Company, 18th Bn. Imperial Yeomanry –
12575 Trooper Alex McMILLAN

75th (Sharpshooters) Company, 18th Bn. Imperial Yeomanry –
15422 Trooper William Young CRUICKSHANK

107th (Lanarkshire) Company, 6th Bn. Imperial Yeomanry –
30000 Trooper [Farrier] Robert MARTIN

2nd Scottish Horse –
29088 Corporal James Forsyth NEILSON [Nelson] (died, Elandsfontein, 01/06/1902)
27623 Trooper James ALEXANDER (probably)
22426 Trooper John BLACKWOOD

Royal Field Artillery (Remount Depot) –
3955 Farrier Peter McDOUGALL


Presentation made by the Provost (Colonel William Anderson) during a ceremony in the Municipal Buildings.
A sample carriage clock was displayed on the platform of the Victoria Hall during the reception given for the Volunteers and Yeomen in June 1901. The actual clocks were presented in November of that year.
Supplied by Messrs Elkington & Co., London.

Robert Martin example in the collection of the Museum Africa (formerly Africana Museum), Johannesburg.
John McCulloch example owned by the family.
William McKinlay example purchased by the Helensburgh Heritage Trust, April 2013, for £5,000.
John McNicol example owned by Bernie Butler, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, Canada (purchased in Arundel, Sussex, c. 2000).
James Neilson example in Ontario, Canada.

The Helensburgh Volunteers also received a "silver watch pendant suitably inscribed" before they left the district.

....On Monday night the local Rifle Volunteers and Yeomanry under orders for the front were entertained by the Helensburgh Town Council in the Council Chamber, which was draped with flags. About 60 gentlemen were present. The young men present were - Sergeant Porter, Privates Sweeney, M'Kinlay, and Alexander, members of A Company, 1st D.R.V., but who are now in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders; Sergeant-Farrier Neilson, Farrier M'Bryde, Troopers Hamilton, M'Culloch, and M'Millan, who have been accepted in the Glasgow Queen's Own Yeomanry. Troopers Gellatt, Black, and M'Gregor, of the same regiment and P. M'Dougall of the Royal Horse Artillery, were unable to be present. Provost Anderson presided. In the course of a few remarks he conveyed to the young men the thanks of the whole community for their noble line of action at the present time. He wished them God-speed and a safe return. Their townsfolk's hearty sympathy and good wishes went with them, and they had no fear but that all would give a good account of themselves. He had pleasure in calling upon Bailie Bryden to present each of the young men with a silver watch pendant suitably inscribed as a small token of appreciation in which they were held by the community. Bailie Bryden, in making the presentation, said they were fighting in the old cause of freedom and for the integrity of the Empire, and he would have them have confidence in their generals in spite of the armchair critics. The community was proud of the young Volunteers; they were glad to have them go, and had every confidence that they would do their duty. Bailie M'Lachlan, Colonel Easton Aitken, the Rev. Mr Leitch, Rev. Mr Christie, Rev. Mr Welsh, Dr Douglas Reid, ex-Provost Stuart, and others took part in the proceedings. Cheers were called for the men under orders, and for their parents. The meeting closed with the company singing "The National Anthem."
The Dumbarton Herald, 31st January 1900

Neilson's given rank of Sergeant-Farrier was presumably his rank in the Volunteers.

Here is McKinlay's clock -
leighextence.co.uk/www.dervalantiques.co...age-clock/98927.html

Thank you for posting the information about the pendant. Weirdly, it was research into that presentation that took me off in the direction of the clocks. The article I had found did not include the names of the recipients of the pendants, so I turned to the clock presentation for guidance.

I'm pretty sure the Sergeant-Farrier Neilson referred to in your report is Sergeant-Farrier William Neilson, 18th Co., I.Y., brother of Corporal James Forsyth Neilson, Scottish Horse (the recipient of the clock discussed above).

Here is an image of the Farrier Robert MARTIN clock, which passed through Sotheby's, Johannesburg back in the 1980s. This is the example now held in the collection of the Museum Africa (formerly Africana Museum), Johannesburg.



Museum Africa, Johannesburg; photograph Sotheby's, Johannesburg; Pieter Oosthuizen