82 Years Ago Today.Founder Moses McNeil.

[The Moonlighter 387]

On the 9^th April 1938 our Founder Moses McNeil passed at Townend Hospital Dumbarton. Moses had been visiting a friend in Dumbarton and became unwell. He was the grand age of 82.

 

Moses was born on the 29^th October 1855 at Belmore House which today is part of the Faslane Naval Base. His father John was from Comrie in Perthshire and mother Jane Bain from Downpatrick in Ulster.

 

He was a natural athlete  Powerful and of stocky build, it was said that was also known for his pace. 

 

In the Ibrox trophy room is a cup won by Moses for a half-mile race at the Garelochead Athletic Sports on 1 January, 1876 and it’s the oldest Trophy that the Club has.  

 

Moses played for the club he helped form for ten years, playing in the 1877 and 1879 Scottish Cup Finals.He was also a member of the first Rangers side to lift a trophy, the Glasgow Merchants Charity Cup in 1879.

 

He was the first Ranger to play for his country when Scotland defeated Wales 4-0 at Hamilton Crescent in Partick in 1876.

 

Moses led a nomadic lifestyle mainly due to his 20 year employment with the company Langs whose name was synonymous with the famous brand of whisky.Their premises,which Moses worked from,was at 70 Union Street in Glasgow.

 

During his time in Glasgow Moses lived at 169 Berkeley Street and 333 Dumbarton Road.
 

These locations are among many others that we cover during the Founders Trail.  

 

We have a wonderful newspaper report which details Moses and his friend, team-mate and fellow Founder Tom Vallance attending the 1905 Scotish Cup Final as supporters.

 

Only 9 months after Moses passed Rangers would set their record attendance at Ibrox Park of 118,000  .

 

It’s a comforting thought that our Founder was sitting in his cottage while the Club that he’d help form and nurture were now one of the biggest in the World.

 

Moses spent the last few years of his life  living with his sister Isabella in Clynder at Craig Cottage.She died in 1935, to be followed by her brother, the last of the siblings, in 1938. They lie together with their sister Elizabeth and Isabella’s husband, Duncan Gray, in the lovely churchyard at Rosneath.But sadly for the man who gave Rangers their name his own isn’t inscribed on the family headstone.

 

The late great Sandy Jardine was a supporter of the Founders project and had expressed a wish to have  a plaque with Moses name on it placed at the churchyard at Rosneath, this is a project that we completed on Sandy’s behalf on Sunday 28^th June 2015.

 

 Our Restoration team cleaned Moses stone and placed an engraved plaque which was purchased after funds were raised via the Rangers support.

 

Today we remember Moses McNeil.

 

 

 

 

[26th of foot 6,084]

Moses past 66 years after the club's founding.

 

The club had become an institution in the aftermath of World War 1, the lost opportunity was NOT recording Moses voicing the founding and relating tales of the hopes and determinations of teenage lads. It would be a treasure to hear that voice, the first to say, 'Rangers'.

 

Keep up the good works.

[Bill 13,717]

Would it be possible to post some photographs of the grave and the plaque you mention please?

Edited April 9, 2020 by Bill

[The Moonlighter 387]

2 hours ago, Bill said:

Would it be possible to post some photographs of the grave and the plaque you mention please?

I did try to but it said i wasn't permitted to post for some reason,i'll try again.

 

[The Moonlighter 387]