120th Anniversary
Brothers who left their mark on Kirkintilloch
TWO Kirkintilloch brothers were mentioned on many occasions in the columns of the Kirkintilloch Herald over the years.
William and David Patrick , who were totally different personalities, were devoted to each other.
The Reverend Dr. William Patrick was born in Glasgow in 1852 and educated at Glasgow University and Glasgow Free Church College.
He gained distinctions and scholarships from both establishments. In 1878 he was appointed as Minister of St. David's Free Church in Alexandra Street, an office which he held until his departure for St. Paul's Free Church in Dundee in 1892.
His ministry was not without controversy. He appears to have been an able man of strong personality and charisma, who pushed forward a number of progressive ideas, which met with opposition from the more conservative members of the congregation.
On the other hand, he steadily increased the number of regular church attenders during his office.
He also became involved in local politics, which many thought inappropriate for their minister. Indeed, the strength of some
popular opinion may be gauged by the cartoon lampooning of his activities.
TEMPERANCE
In 1882 he became a member of the Burgh School Board - the first minister to do so - and became involved in an enquiry regarding parish bequests and endowments.
This led, in turn, to his election as Chairman of the Kirkintilloch Educational Trust.
In 1880 he founded the Kirkintilloch Temperance Movement and laid the foundations for the strength of local public opinion against alcohol that resulted in Kirkintilloch becoming a dry town from 1921 until 1968.
After a ministry of 13-and-a-half years in Free St. David’s, Mr Patrick accepted a call to St. Paul’s Church, Dundee where he remained for eight years.
On leaving Kirkintilloch he was accorded the unusual honour of a Public Farewell Meeting as well as the usual congregational one, and at these meetings his outstanding services to church and town were suitably recognised by all sections of the community.
He later became Principal of the Presbyterian College at Winnipeg, Manitoba. When he became ill in July 1911 his brother went to Canada and returned with him to Kirkintilloch, where he died the following September.
He was buried in the Old Aisle Cemetery beside his parents.
William's brother, David Patrick, moved to Kirkintilloch to live with him in St. David's Manse.
David Patrick was a solicitor by profession, with business interests in Glasgow and Kirkintilloch.
He was appointed Town Clerk to
Kirkintilloch in 1887 and was much respected in Burgh circles, both locally and nationally, being appointed President, of the Association of Burgh Officials.
He proved a generous benefactor to the town, gifting recreation grounds at Eastside, Hillhead and Back o'Loch.
His generosity culminated in the gift to the town of Camphill House in 1929.
This he purchased from James Slimon, the cloth manufacturer, and handed over to the Town Council for the purpose of creating a library to be named after his brother, William.
The library later moved to a new building at the head of Kirkintilloch’s Cowgate, but it remains named as the William Patrick Library.
David Patrick died in 1941.
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