GEORGE DUNLOP (b.1818) (Position 12 on the Genealogy Report)

George, who appears to have been a joiner to trade, married his cousin Agnes Arthur in what is reputed to have been a runaway ceremony in Manchester, England, on 11 May 1841.  He was then twenty-three years of age, and Agnes was twenty-four.  Their first child, Robert, was born in Manchester on 3 March 1841, beating the marriage of his parents by some two months.  The couple had returned to Glasgow by June of the same year where, sadly, Robert was soon to die. Back in Glasgow George set up in business at 33 College Street, initially as a packing box maker, but very soon as a wine and spirit merchant.  One might suppose that the site was carefully chosen, for it was only a few feet from High Street, and perhaps less than one hundred feet from the main entrance to Glasgow University, then known as Glasgow College.  No doubt George relied heavily upon the college's lecturers and students for his trade.

Glasgow College, which was founded by Papal bull in 1451, eventually outgrew its High Street home.  Work on the site of the present University at Gilmorhill was begun in June 1866, and the Prince and Princess of Wales laid the foundation stone on 8 October 1868.  Clearly, George's business would have suffered badly from the closure of the College, but, in fact, he was much ahead of the game.  As far back as 1847 he had been investing in land along the shores of the Holy Loch, Cowal, only a few hours by water from Glasgow, and building upon it.  The area was to become a principal watering hole for the prosperous residents of Glasgow, who rented the cottages and villas built by energetic entrepreneurs like George for the summer season.

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George built several houses, and one small hotel--the Argyll Hotel, Strone.  In 1858 his last child, Lauchlan Mitchell, was born at the Argyll Hotel, and it is evident that by then George was carrying on business both in Cowal and at College Street.  It seems likely that the family removed from College Street to the Argyll Hotel in 1858, but George's name remains on the Glasgow trade directories at College Street until 1863, and his home address was not given in the Glasgow directories as the Argyll Hotel until 1861.

George and Agnes had, in all, nine children, but only six of them survived infancy.  Except for Lauchlan Mitchell, those surviving were all born in Glasgow, the Glasgow births were: Mary Hay (b. 1844), George (b. 1848), Margaret (b. 1849), Agnes (b. 1851) and Robert (b. 1854).

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