Gaelic Church, Duke St., Glasgow

David Douglas · Post by **David Douglas** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 8:12 pm

Is anyone familiar with the Gaelic Church in Duke Street, Glasgow, in the first half of the 19th century?

I have a Glasgow parish OPR from 31-12-1838 "Donald Ross Soap Boiler in Glasgow and Ann Naismith residing there married 31 December by Mr Lewis Rose Gaelic Minister in Glasgow"

At http://www.fearnpeninsulagraveyards.com I found the following:
"Mr Lewis Rose, M. A., Minister of the Gospel, on the Heights of Kincardine and Creich, who was admitted Minister of Nigg on the 24th September, 1818. Mr. Rose was translated to the Gaelic Church, Duke Street, Glasgow, on the 21st January, 1836"
I havedn't found anything else.

Although Donald was born in Lanarkshire around 1820, I'm guessing he's related to another Ross in my family who probably came from Banffshire or thereabouts. I'm guessing he's the one who chose the Gaelic church (Ann's parents were both born in Glasgow).

Were there many Gaelic churches in Glasgow? Did congregations twend to be based on where families originally came from? What kind of records have survived? I suppose they'd be in Gaelic?

Russell · Post by **Russell** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 12:48 am

Hi David

Your questions on Gaelic churches caught my eye. I can't give you anything on the Gaelic church in Duke Street but can say that most of the records would be in English if there are any surviving.
Gaelic speaking ministers, doctors and teachers would all be bi-lingual since their education would be in English. Gaelic was a purely oral language for many years/centuries and it was only when the church wanted to spread the word amongst the Gaels that a written form was developed. If the spelling appears a little odd to us folk with only one language (namely English) this is to take account of the various ways in which Gaelic is pronounced.
There were several Gaelic churches dotted throughout Glasgow but I don't know if there were effectively 'ghettos' of Islanders/ Highlanders from the same part of the country in the areas around each church.
Most of the more densely populated parts of Glasgow had several differing branches of the Church sometimes only yards from one another.
By the beginning of the 20th century many of Glasgow's policemen and nurses were from highland stock and the new recruits brought the mother tongue with them so nurses would switch from one language to the other with fluency. Very useful if you wanted to be rude about someone without them knowing.

Russell

Currie · Post by **Currie** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 5:28 am

Hello David,

You’ll find many references to the Gaelic Church, including Duke Street and Lewis Rose, in a Google Book search. Select Full View for complete books. http://www.google.com.au/books?hl=en

Hope this helps,
Alan

David Douglas · Post by **David Douglas** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 6:07 pm

Thanks. I'm relieved I won't have to learn Gaelic if I come across any surviving records!

I'd never tried Google books before, and I'm astonished at all these books, some of them recently published, being available for free. There are, as you say, a number of references to the Duke St. church and Lewis Rose. Also the quality of the scanning is impressive.