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Relatives: Husband of Alison Bryson. Father of John Bowman Jnr. Stone Condition: Sound Material: Marble Height: 1.34 Breadth: 0.76 Depth: 0.25 Inscription Condition: Clear but worn Inscription Technique: Incised Mason: Not known Pre 1855 no. N/A ( What's this? )

Monument Inscription

IN LOVING MEMORY
OF
JOHN BOWMAN
WHO DIED 25TH JAN. 1925
AGED 71 YEARS.
HIS WIFE
ALISON BRYSON
WHO DIED 5TH JUNE 1930
AGED 75 YEARS
THEIR SON JOHN
WHO DIED 17TH DEC 1912
AGED 30 YEARS


“UNTIL THE DAY DAWN”

Family History

This very elaborate and well carved stone memorial gives a lie to the assumption that such memorials were only available to the wealthy. Created for John Bowman, his wife and son, it was probably erected on behalf of their other four children.

John Bowman, born in 1854 to John, a block printer, and his wife Elizabeth Strachan, was a road surfaceman by occupation. Such a job entailed the maintenance of roads and pavements in good order. Originally these men would have been allocated a section of road where they would be responsible for infilling any holes that appeared. In due course of time and with the onset of the steam roller and asphalt, they were formed into gangs carrying out much larger projects. Often these persons would live in the area in which their work took place and often had extra means of income such as smallholdings.

John married Alison Bryson and together they brought up a family of six children. One of their children, John Bryson Bowman, died as an infant and was replaced within a short time by another son given his name. Their children were John (b.1880), Margaret (b.1881), John (b.1882), twins James and Alexander (b.1883), and Joseph (b.1884).

The family lived at 85 Barrhead Road, Newton Mearns, which may have been a two roomed cottage situated at the west end of that street.

John died of colon cancer aged seventy-one years in 1926, and his death was reported by his son James who lived at 5 Ashview Terrace, Newton Mearns. Ashview Terrace was a row of tenement houses situated at the western extremity of Barrhead Rd.

Son John, the replacement for his earlier deceased brother of the same name, was unfortunate to find himself admitted to the Victoria Infirmary, Glasgow suffering from a condition known as cellulitis. This condition being an inflammation of the surface tissues due to infection was given as his cause of death on 17th December, 1912. John, who was unmarried, had worked as a grocer’s salesman and lived with his brother James at Ashview Terrace in the village.