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Relatives: Wife of Robert McKelvie. Stone Condition: Sound Material: Granite Height: 1.98 Breadth: 0.99 Depth: 0.39 Inscription Condition: Clear but worn Inscription Technique: Incised Mason: W. Scott, Cathcart Pre 1855 no. N/A ( What's this? )

Monument Inscription

ERECTED by

ROBERT MCKELVIE
IN
MEMORY OF HIS WIFE
ELIZABETH FINLAY
DIED 8TH NOV. 1915,AGED 53 YEARS
ALSO HIS FATHER
DAVID MCKELVIE
DIED 13TH JAN 1908,AGED 74 YEARS
AND HIS MOTHER
ANN RANKIN
DIED 27TH OCT 1873, AGED 38 YEARS
THE ABOVE
ROBERT MCKELVIE
DIED 17TH MAY 1918,AGED 58 YEARS


HE GIVETH HIS BELOVED SLEEP

Family History

No expense was spared on the creation of this elaborate granite stone dedicated to the McKelvie family.

Robert Rankin McKelvie, the person responsible for its erection, was employed as a gas-maker. All gas, later known as town gas, was manufactured by the burning of coal in a local gasworks. In the case of Newton Mearns the gasworks supplying their needs was situated at the north end of Main St at the bottom of what was known as Teawell Brae. Robert would have required a strong constitution to carry out his work tasks, as the shovelling of coal into the furnaces as well as the removal of coke and clinker after the gas had been extracted, required great muscle power.

Robert had been born in the Mearns on 30th October, 1860 to David McKelvie and his wife Ann Rankin, who had married in the village on 10th April 1857. David McKelvie worked as a fireman/stoker at the bleachworks at Netherplace

Ann Rankin was the child of another bleachfield worker named Robert Rankin and his wife Mary Gourlay. Ann did not enjoy a long life succumbing to tuberculosis having tholed its effects for two years prior to her death in 1873.

Robert married a woman called Elizabeth Finlay and the couple found accommodation in the hamlet around the Netherplace Works. As previously described Robert McKelvie worked in the gasworks, and would have been exposed to noxious gases and fumes during his working life. Whether this had any bearing on his cause of death is unknown but he died of stomach cancer aged fifty-eight years in 1918. His death was registered by his son Thomas Rankin McKelvie.