Cambuslang - famous connections
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Cambuslang - famous connections include the interesing people who have either been attracted to Cambuslang, (or passed through it, or at least who are said with some reason to have passed through it), or who have gone out from there to make a mark on the world are a saint, a king, a queen, a cardinal, a bishop, a lord, a famous manufacturer, a garden designer, at least three significant clergyman, a famous retailer, a miners' leader, a leader of the RAF, a physicist, several poets, at least one writer and two historians, a pop singer and a boxer
St Cadoc (or "Cadow" or "Cattwg") reputedly founded a monastery on the site of the present Old Parish Church in the later sixth century. He is the patron saint of Cambuslang, where there is a modern Primary School named after him. His feast day is the 25th of September. In medieval times, Cadoc was called on for help by (among others) deaf people and those suffering from cramp.
He was a British saint - previously, a Prince of Glamorgan - who brought succour to the native Christians against the invading Saxons. Cambuslang is at the northernmost reach of the Welsh speaking Britons, so he may well have visited here in his wanderings, or in an effort to secure help against the Saxons. He had travelled to Ireland,to Brittany (to visit the Welsh speaking monks there), Rome (the centre of Western Christianity) and Jerusalem (from where he brought back two alter stones that had touched the Holy Sepulchre. The Europe he walked through was being battered by the barbarian invasions, so it is not improbable that he managed to reach Cambuslang. However, as no mention is made in the legends of an expedition this far north, it might have been a disciple, or a pilgrim returning from Glamorgan, with a relic, who established the church at Cambuslang.
Cadoc was cut down while serving Mass by a Saxon raiding party at "Benevenna", most probably near Weedon in Northamptonshire.
St Cadoc was prestigious enough in his lifetime for local chiefs in to have recourse to him to settle disputes. This reputation lasted well into the Middle Ages, where solemn bonds and oaths were sworn over his (or his followers') remains. Just before the Reformation, a wealthy Cambuslang notable expressed in his will a desire to be interred "with the ashes of St Cadoc", in the Parish Kirk.
There is some evidence from Welsh Chroniclers - using place name analysis - that the British King Arthur was a prince of the northern Welsh-speakers of Strathclyde and that he fought his last battle against the invading Saxons at Cambuslang.
Mary is reputed to have crossed the Clyde at the "fliers ford" as she fled to England from the Battle of Langside , (1567). The ford is situated where the Kirkburn enters the river, below the bridge near the supermarket.
- David Beaton (1494 - 1546)
Cardinal David Beaton was Rector of Cambuslang from 1520. (see above). He was appointed to this post by his Uncle, James Beaton, the Archbishop of Glasgow, and was a prebendary , which means he lived off the tithes and never lived there, leaving the work of a parish priest to a Vicar.
- William Hamilton (1665 to 1751)
Lt William Hamilton wrote a metrical abridgement, in 18th century Scots, of Blind Harry 's life of Sir William Wallace, lived in Westburn and Gilbertfield – whose 17th century castle remains, though in ruins. He corresponded with Alan Ramsay and his poetry was praised in an epistle by Robert Burns - where he referred to him as "Gilbertfield".
Claudius Buchanan was born in Cambuslang to the schoolmaster. His maternal grandfather had been converted at the Cambuslang Wark. He died in Hertfordshire in 1815. His studies at Cambridge were supported by John Newton , the anti-slavery campaigner. His books and publications seeking to strengthen the Christian presence in India resulted in the setting up of an educational and ecclessiastical structure. Jane Austen , in one of her letters, professed to have loved these books. He was honoured for his missionary work by Glasgow and Oxford Universities and he seems to have made enough money in India to fund several prizes to promote missionary activity back home.
- David Dale (1739 - 1806)
David Dale was a Scottish industrialist and philanthropist. His efforts to establish a cotton-spinning factory at Flemington failed but was very successful as co-founder of the New Lanark Mills in 1786. Dale owned the estate of Rosebank in Cambuslang, which he used as a summer retreat from his townhouse (reputedly still standing) in Charlotte Street Glasgow and to where he retired and lived until his death. The estate was sold after his death to the Caledonian Railway Company, which divided it in two (to accommodate the new railway). The half to the north of the railway line (which included Rosebank House) eventually became Rosebank Industrial Estate (including the Rosebank Dyeworks. The southern half was sold to Thomas Gray Buchanan, a Glasgow merchant, related to the Buchanan who established Buchanan Street in Glasgow, who established a country retreat at Wellshott House (still standing) but his son Michael sold off the lands to build suburban villas in the 1860s'.
Loudon was a famous gardener (or rather "horticultural writer, dendrologist and designer") was born in Cambuslang to a respectable farming family. He wrote the Encyclopaedia of Gardening 1822 , invented a flexibible iron-bar sash which made possible such monumental greenhouses as the Palm House at Kew Gardens and the Crystal Palace. He also laid down the prototypical semi-detached house (in Porchester Terrace, London), to satisfy the needs of the emergent (and aspirant) middle classes.
- Thomas Lipton (1850 - 1931)
Sir Thomas Lipton was of tea fame and lived in the Johnstone Villa (named after his mother's family) in Cambuslang and one of the (detached) villas in Wellshot – now the North Street Health Centre – was occupied by an aunt. He often drove in style in a carriage-and-four to Glasgow.
Dr David Forbes Martyn was born in Cambuslang on 22 June 1906, the son of a local doctor. He was educated at Alan Glen's School then the Royal College of Science, London. (Bsc in 1926; PhD in 1929; and DSc in 19360.He was a physicist and radiographer who moved to Australia in 1927 to take up one of the first posts in radio research there. He contributed to the development of coastal and air defence RADAR for Australia during World War II. He was elected FRS of London in 1950.
- John B Wallace (1907 - )
Air Vice-Marshal John B Wallace came from Cambuslang. He was Deputy Director-General of Medical Services, Royal Air Force from 1961 to 1966.
Robin Jenkins most famous novel is the Cone Gatherers, much studied in Scottish schools.
- Mick McGahey, (1925 - 1999)
Mick McGahey was a Scottish Miners leader who had worked in the mines of Cambuslang. There is a significant memorial (in the form of mine workings) to him at the east end of Main Street.
- Duncan Glen, (1933 - )
Duncan Munro Glen, as well as being a prolific poet and historian, is Emeritus Professor of Visual Communication at Nottingham Trent University. Through his editorship of the magazine Arkos, he has been a vigorous promoter of Scots literature, becoming a friend and early champion of, among others, Hugh MacDiarmid and Ian Hamilton Finlay. He was born and brought up in Westburn, Cambuslang. Among his 150-odd publications he has produced the definitive modern history of Cambuslang, along with a collection of Cambuslang poets. His own poetry deals with friends and fellow poets, relatives, Scots history and the history and landscape of Cambuslang. His poetry has been translated into Italian. He was recently awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws by the University of Paisley.
- John Fallon (1940 - )
John Fallon was goalkeeper for Glasgow Celtic and one of the Lisbon Lions .
- Mike Watson (1949 - )
Lord Watson was a Labour life peer, Lord Watson of Invergowrie – who was given a 16 month prison sentence in 2005 for wilful fire-raising. Though born in Cambuslang in 1949, Watson moved early to Invergowrie near Dundee.
James "Midge" Ure is a pop-singer, formerly performing with Slik and Ultravox and a leading campaigner against world hunger - including Band Aid and Live 8. He was born James Ure in Cambuslang on 10 October 1953 and was awarded the Honorary degree of Doctor of Letters at Dundee Abertay University in October 2005.
- Scott Harrison (1977 - )
Scott Harrison is the World Boxing Organisation, (WBO), featherweight champion for 2002 was born in Bellshill on the 19th of August 1977 and brought up in Cambuslang.
