by Florence Boyle

A well-known Duntocher native, no longer with us, often joked that the reason the Romans left Duntocher was that no one would talk to them.

One person’s tight knit community can seem like something else to the stranger. Duntocher is a predominantly Irish Catholic enclave, just north of Clydebank, at the foot of the Kilpatrick Hills  Generations of the same families have been neighbours. There’s much to admire in a community that’s very much a tribe and where living close to your extended family commands a premium on the price of a house. Their history, well known and handed down within the community, is largely unrecorded elsewhere.

In the 1841 census, just under 50% of the population of the Old Kilpatrick district (including Duntocher) was born outside Scotland. A reasonable assumption is that they were Irish and Catholic. They worked in William Dunn’s cotton mills, as miners in the nearby Broadfield Colliery and as agricultural labourers in an area which was still a predominantly farming community.

The Catholic Church stepped in quickly to serve the community. Officially the mission was established in 1844; however there is evidence that the Church presence started in the 1830s when Father Gifford, parish priest at the newly opened St Patrick’s in Dumbarton began a Sunday School at Glenhead in Duntocher.

The parish boundaries stretched from Old Kilpatrick in the west out to what is now Bearsden and Milngavie, and included the mining communities of Blairdardie and Garscadden. The baptismal records, now available online, reveal that between 1840 and 1860, nearly 1,400 baptisms took place. When matched to the census records, they provide valuable information about where the faithful came from, if you can make sense of the sometimes eccentric spelling of names and places – the product of Scots enumerators and an Irish population who could not read or write.

Immigration patterns

Where their origins are documented, they mirror immigration pattern in places like Lanarkshire and Glasgow. Initially the newcomers came from the north of Ireland, predominantly Antrim, Tyrone and Donegal; and as the Famine took hold, from further afield in Sligo, Wicklow and Mayo.

Father Moloney, Duntocher’s parish priest for three years, made financial appeals ‘back home’ to build a church. A native of Limerick, he travelled to Cork in 1842 looking for funds to build a chapel for the 3,000 ‘poor Irish (who)…now stand in need of the consolation of religion’.

Two more Irish priests served in quick succession until, in 1849, Alexander Munro, described as ‘one of the most outstanding priests in the modern history of the Church in the west of Scotland’ arrived. Lauded as a theologian, Munro, a Scots born convert to Catholicism, studied in Valladolid, Spain. He served in Duntocher until 1853.

In July 1846 Milton Mill burned to the ground and dealt an almost fatal economic blow. There were no casualties, but an estimated seven hundred workers lost their jobs. Fr Munro estimated that four hundred of his congregation had been made destitute and left the area.

In August 1850, Munro, supported by Bishop Murdoch, issued a public appeal for funds. The property that had been purchased in 1841 was no longer fit for purpose. Nearly derelict and stretched beyond capacity, it was used as a chapel, a dwelling house, and a school room. The congregation numbered over 1,400 but the chapel could only accommodate 240. The priest estimated that for £600 (around £25K in today’s terms) he could build a church and a house. Explaining the need for financial support, he described something of the parlous position of the Catholic population.

‘So great is the poverty of that people, that when the clergyman visited every individual among them, calling up on all to contribute to the fund for raising a chapel, he found only 268 individuals able to contribute. Of these, a considerable number could not give more than a halfpenny weekly’.

In 1851 another of Dunn’s mills burned down but this time it was immediately rebuilt. Fr Munro steadied the ship, but in 1853 he left, bound for a teaching role in Valladolid and it fell to another charismatic figure, Francis Danaher, to take up the reins.

Inspirational

At a time when inspirational leadership was needed, Francis Danaher answered the call. Born in 1827 in Croom, Co Limerick and trained at All Hallows, Dublin, Danaher was one of four brothers who were priests. In 1850, following his ordination, he initially joined his older brother James as his assistant at St Mary’s Greenock. Still in his twenties, and after a short spell in another parish, he became parish priest at St Mary’s Duntocher. He remained there for the next 21 years until his death. He was charismatic, tenacious and a passionate advocate for his community. He deployed his skills as a preacher to raise funds for his parish and charities that needed support.

The American Civil War heralded the collapse of the cotton trade. In a succession of public appeals for financial support, Danaher brought to public notice the distress in his community and made special pleading for a village where two thirds of the population were directly employed in cotton factories.

Legislation enacted in 1872 mandated education for all children between the ages of five and thirteen. In the same year Danaher opened a new two hundred pupil school. Two thirds of the funding was raised locally through his ‘indefatigable exertions’. He was elected to the Old Kilpatrick School Board, third in the poll behind the local laird Andrew Buchanan and famous industrialist James White (Lord Overtoun).

Danaher died suddenly in 1874 on a visit to his brother, James, in Hamilton. The next School Board meeting, following his death paid tribute to the ‘value of his services’ and the ‘pleasant nature of their relations with him’.

Irish nationalism

His legacy rests not only in the physical infrastructure he built, but on the political legacy he left. Not only were the Danaher brothers passionate educationalists, they were also vocal and active Irish nationalists. From that legacy emerged John Torley, one of the leading Scottish campaigners for Irish nationalism. Torley, whose parents came from Tyrone, was born around the time Danaher arrived in Duntocher. His talents as an orator and his lifelong connections with Limerick Irish republicans are testament to Danaher’s influence.

Like his mentor, Torley, the first Catholic County Councillor to be elected in the west of Scotland in 1890, died in his forties after years of service representing his community. The political legacy continued. Close to Torley’s grave in Old Kilpatrick, a small granite gravestone marks the burial spot where Patrick Cassidy (1861-1903) is remembered as the Duntocher President of the UIL (United Irish League).

There were other leaders in the community who deserve mention: John George Barry, Philip Shiels, Patrick Bannon and John Connelly. When the history of the parish was written in 1954, and included in the brochure for the opening of the new church, the only names that appeared were those of the clergy.

As for the women who played a vital role in educating the new immigrants, the search is still on

Florence Boyle is treasurer of Open House.