New biographical entries for:

• James Edward Bain
• James Darrough
• David Yates

John Bain Esq. (1797 - 1869)

John Bain Esq. was born on 16 August 1797 in Glasgow, Lanark. He was the fifth child and third son of Joseph Bain and Margaret Bell. His mother died when he was 8, and he was raised primarily by his step mother Janet Blair Bain whom his father married when he was 9.

John grew up in Glasgow, initially in Westport, most likely at the Sweethope Estate, near Bothwell. Johns father purchased the Estate of Morriston in the early 1820s, and it is likely that when he did so he handed over management of The Coaching Co. of Nelson St, Glasgow to John at that time - John's brother, Joseph Jnr was noted as being an Advocate in Morriston. The Coaching Co. had both a mail contract and general coach service.

On 21 August 1825 banns were read in East Kilbride, Lanark and on 30 August 1825 he married Isobella Todd in Barony, Lanark. Isobella was born in New York around 1800, but her exact date of birth is unclear, but she was one of three known daughters of James Todd and Ann French. (other were Susann and Mary). Isobella can track her heritage back to Kenneth MacAlpin - Kenneth I of Picts and Scots (836 - 843) - through the Witherspoons, John Knox the Reformer, the Stewarts and Robert the Bruce. The Todds family had a close association with the High Church, as did John's second wife Wilhelmina Turnbull.

John and Isobella had 13 children (10 sons and 3 daughters) between 1825 and 1846

In 1832 when his brother Joseph passed away, John was living at Wesport with his first four sons. He was his brothers sole heir, and in September 1832 he inherited Joseph's full 'heritable and moveable' estate worth £1074 8s. 1p.

The family continued to live in Westport thru 1839 until at least 1841, as it is there John is recorded as residing when his father will was written in February 1839 and when Joseph Snrs will went into probate on 27 October 1841.

However at the time of the 1841 census the family was living at Millburne on Great Cambrae in Bute. Millburne is one of the seaside villas and was a popular place to holiday for affluent Glasgow families

With his fathers death he inherited a total estate of £3798 4s. 6p. plus the Coaching Company and the property held by Joseph. The only codicils were to put £500 in trust for his purported nephew Joseph Kelly and to provide an initial investment grant of £500 and an annual income of £250 to his step mother Janet Blair Bain. Janet was also entitled to use of the Morriston property and its furnishings for the term of her life. The £500 was granted on 2nd April 1842.

Up until 1803 the mail was carried in saddle-bags on the back of a horse. In 1803 a new system was introduced, the mail was carried by a coach which also carried passengers. The stagecoaches took around six hours to complete the Edinburgh to Glasgow run, halting every ten or twelve miles to change horses and let the passengers buy food and drink at coaching inns on the way. In 1842 the opening of the Edinburgh to Glasgow railway sounded the death knell for the stagecoaches. Within three weeks of the opening nearly every stage coach on the route was gone. Only the early morning mail service - the 6a.m. coach which carried the early morning mail bags - continued on the Edinburgh-Glasgow run.

John and his family likely moved to the estate shortly after 1841, because in the 1845 Statistical Accounts he is noted as residing there. The estate at the time was 50 acre and was earning approximately £68 pounds stirling or £246 scottish pounds per annum.

In 1844 John and his family were living at Morriston. In this year a fever of some type struck and in a period of one month, the family lost 3 children - William (aged 15) ; Edward (aged 8) and Ann Margaret (aged 6).

In 1845 the first horse drawn buses began running in Glasgow. This change to the popular mode of transport had a significant impact on the coaching business, however by this time, John had moved out of coaches and in to railways. In 1845 John was noted as in The Times as being the Director of the Scottish Western Railway and of the Clydesdale Junction Railway, &c. In late 1945 he was appointed a member of the Provisional Committee for the Isle of Man Railway Company.

Times Notice

In 1845 John purchases the Northwoodside estate located in Glasgow. He conveyed the property to the Bank of Glasgow who laid off the property for the construction of a new suburb accessed from Great Western Road via a bridge over the Kelvin.

In late 1845 John - who was a significant contributor to the Free Church of Scotland - was heavily involved in the building of the Chryston Free Church as noted in the following extract from the "Statement of the circumstances of the erection of the Chryston Free Church" which was found in a timecapsule unearthed in 2002 when the church was demolished .

The Church, which is being erected from plans by Wm. Burns, architect, Glasgow, is expected to be opened by December when the Revd. Wm. Brown of St. John's Glasgow is engaged (D.V.) to officiate. And on 23rd day of September 1845 at 2 o'clock, the foundation stone is to be laid by John Bain Esquire of Morriston a magnificent friend of the Free Church, in presence of the Revd. Wm. Buchanan Willis and other ministers and gentlemen from Glasgow and also congregation and others."

It is uncertain what John's relationship was, but Chryston is half-mile north of Muirhead and equidistant (abt 7 miles ) from Glasgow and Cumbernauld..

In 1847, John's stepmother - Janet Blair - died. She was been living at Ballgreen in Hamilton, Lanark. With Janet's death, the £500 sterling investment grant reverted to Joseph as did the furnishings, linens and remaining moveable assets that Janet had right of use of at Joseph's death reverted to John in March 1847 following the execution of her will.

In 1850, John was definately living at Morriston, as it is noted in a document "Rambles Round Glasgow" written by Hugh MacDonald in the 1850s Immediately adjacent to Rosebank are the house and fine grounds of Morriston, the property of John Bain, Esq. The house is a plain quadrangular edifice of considerable extent. It is situated on a gentle eminence, about 300 yards from the river...Everything about the place has an exceedingly tasteful and tidy appearance...Althogether, we should imagine, from appearances around his domicile, that Mr. Bain must have th phrenological bump of "order" pretty largely developed. [Note: Phrenology was a pseudo-science in vogue during the 19c whereby people were analyzed via the bumps on their head.]

Rosebank House

At the eastern extremity of the Morriston estate the Kirk-burn of Cambuslang falls into the Clyde, at a spot called "the Thief's Ford," and at which, according to tradition, Mary Queen of Scots crossed the river in her flight from Langside. this little streamlet has its origin at Easterhill, on the borders of Carmunnock, about 2.5 miles to the south. From its devious tendencies, however, it is indeed the very model of a Scottish burn, and does not seem to know its own mind two consecutive minutes.

Sometime after 1853 John Bain bought part of the Rosebank estates from Colin and James Dunlop of the Clyde Iron Works. In 1845 the estate was an 50 acres and earnt an annual income of £43 sterling or £240 scots in rents.

In 1853, John along with his cousins James Bain Esq - Factor of Dysart and William Bain Esq - Banker of Aberdeen is mentioned in the "Notices from the Local Records of Dysart" Glasgow: Printed by James Hedderwick & Son Printers to the Queen M.DCCC.LIII (1853)

"I at one time purposed publishing these notices in Kirkcaldy; and take this opportunity of returning my grateful thanks to the following gentlemen, connected with the parish of Dysart, who had encourage me to do so viz.: the Earl of Eosslyn; John Fergus, Esq. Skeddoway, M.P.; James Normand, Esq. Provost, Dysart; John Black, Esq. E.N.; John Drysdale, Esq. Kilrie; John Miller, Esq. Master, E.N.; James Bogie, Esq. Sinclairton Bank; James Dalrymple, Esq. Calcutta; Eev. And. Bennet, Closeburn; Henry Beveridge, Esq. Banker, Kirkcaldy; James Bain, Esq. Factor, Dysart; William Bain, Esq. Banker, Aberdeen; John Bain, Esq. of Morriston and John Jameson, Esq. Merchant, Kirkcaldy" www.scotsfind.org/dysart_access/dysart.pdf

On 6 October 1857 John's wife, Isabella, died of general debility occurring as the result of a fever she had been suffering from for over a week, she was 54 at the time. Her death was certified by her son, John Bain Jnr, and she is buried in the churchyard at St David's in Glasgow. She did not have a will, but her total estate of £737 was inherited by her son Joseph in April 1860. It seems unusual that Isabella's husband John did not certify her death, but the reason for this is not known.

John remarried two years after Isabella's death. On 13 December 1859 at Rockferry in Cheshire he married Wilhelmmina Turnbull. Wilhelmmina was the daughter of Sandeman Turnbull (dec). The marriage was announced in the Times

Rosebank House

It appears that none of John's children followed him into his business, so he most likely sold it some time prior to 1868 when he wrote his will, and it is likely with the receipt of these funds that he "provided for" his children as noted in his will - most likely in the form of cash bequests.

Subsequent owners of the Perth & Westport Stage Line include Anthony Hoban who was residing in Wesport in 1894. There is an associated line the Brockville and Westport Stage Line, which in 1874 was owned by a Mr James Allan of Perth.

John was diagnosed with a coronary disorder some time in the 1860s and moved to the a small cottage - Huntington Cottage - in the Bridge of Allan, Logie, Perth. The Bridge of Allan – was a popular spa, beneath wooded hills near the campus of Stirling University. It was here he was residing in 1868 when he wrote his will, and subsequently when he died on 20 December 1869. At the time of his death he was being cared for by a sick nurse - James Morrison - who was present at this death.

Subsequent to his death - and at his request - the properties of Morriston and Rosebank were sold by Wilhelmina. From the sale £10,000 sterling were remitted to his son William Edward Bain, and the balance of his estate - including moveable and heritable assets amounting to £951 16s 8p. and the remaining funds from the sale of the properties - was vested to Wilhelmina.

It is unknown what happened to Wilhelmina after John's death, but it is highly likely she would have been quite a wealthy widow. There is a Williamina BAYNE recorded as living in Middlesex in 1881, she is 60 and is recorded as an Annuitant. This is possibly John's widow.

Associated Documents