Belmore House, birthplace of Moses McNeil and where his father John lived with his family and worked as a master gardener under the Honeymans and McDonalds. It is now part of the Faslane Naval base.
Honeyman was a corn merchant with a principal residence off Glasgow Green, but had bought Belmore as a weekend and summer retreat. The new steamer routes from Glasgow to the coast and, from 1857, the introduction of the railway to the nearby town of Helensburgh, had made the area more easily accessible for the growing business class. Finance was clearly not an issue for Honeyman, with no expense spared on Belmore. The education of his son, John junior, was also the very best. He boarded at Merchiston Castle in Edinburgh and attended Glasgow University, before setting up an architectural practice in the city in 1854. Honeyman junior joined forces with another designer, John Keppie, in 1888 and within 12 months a young, up-and-coming architect joined the firm’s offices at No. 140 Bath Street in Glasgow city centre – Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
Back at Belmore, the McNeil family continued to expand with the birth of Alexander in 1845, Henry in 1848 and Isabella Honeyman McNeil in 1850 – the latter named in honour of the wife of John’s employer. William McNeil was born in 1852, followed by Peter in 1854 and, finally, in 1855, Moses. Not only was the family of John and Jean growing, so too was the community in which they were living as Glasgow’s new, prosperous, middle classes sought a release from the city and the smog by building second homes on the coast, in towns and villages such as Shandon, Garelochhead, Rhu, Rosneath and Kilcreggan.
In 1856, Belmore House was sold to the McDonalds, that family of impeccable merchant class. By 1871 John, Jean and Moses, then 14, had moved across the Gare Loch to a cottage named Flower Bank, which still stands today above Rosneath. It is possible that John was still in employment at Belmore as it was an easy commute across the loch to the pier at Shandon. The gardens in which John worked no longer stand in their past glory. At their peak, the grounds extended to 33 acres. The house left the McDonald family in 1919 and was sold on again in 1926 to biscuit manufacturer George McFarlane, before eventually passing into government control following his death in 1938. Faslane was developed as a military port from 1942, a role it continues to fill to this day, albeit controversially, as the home of the UK’s Trident nuclear defence programme.
Rhu from the bay at Gare Loch, a village and stretch of water the Gallant Pioneers, William McBeath apart, knew intimately.
Undoubtedly, Moses had access to one of the best backyards in Scotland and he and his brothers clearly took advantage of the leisure spaces the Gareloch and its surrounding countryside had to offer. Shinty was a popular sport – his brother Harry was credited as a player – while Moses also found enjoyment in rowing and athletics. A memento to his prowess as an athlete is to be found in the Ibrox trophy room still, an eight-inch silver goblet he won for finishing first in a half-mile race at the Garelochhead annual sports in 1876. It is the oldest trophy on display, but he had been setting the pace at the village sports meeting, held every New Year’s Day, for several years before. In 1873, for example, the Dumbarton Herald reported on him pipping close friend and fellow Ranger Peter Campbell in a quarter-mile race for the Under-16s. Moses made it a double when he teamed up with Tom Vallance to win the three-legged race, but there was no old pals’ act in the 200 yards when Tom held off the youngest McNeil for first prize. Undeterred, on 1 January 1874 Moses returned home and this time triumphed in the half-mile race for the Under-20s. He then followed it up with success in the hurdles and 200 yards and repeated his three-legged feat from 12 months earlier with Tom. The entrants’ list at the Garelochhead sports read like a who’s who of Rangers in the 1870s, with the Campbell, McNeil and Vallance brothers all to the fore. Despite his escapades on the track that year, Moses still had more to offer 24 hours later on Friday 2 January when he, brother Peter and William McBeath scored the goals for Rangers in a 3–0 challenge match victory against wonderfully named local select side the Garelochhead Dollopers.
Still, despite the pleasures on offer at home, it came as no surprise when Moses followed the well-worn path of his brothers and sisters to Glasgow, most likely towards the end of 1871. Employment was plentiful and his siblings, under matriarch Elizabeth, had established themselves in the Sandyford district, first at No. 17 Cleveland Street and then around the corner at No. 169 Berkeley Street. Elizabeth, listed in the census as housekeeper, effectively operated a home from home for her younger brothers and their friends from the Gareloch, including John and James Campbell, two great Rangers and brothers of founding father Peter. Indeed, Berkeley Street would remain a base for the McNeils for at least the next two decades under the watchful eye of Elizabeth, who never married and died in 1915 in Rosneath. By 1881 their father and mother were being lured back towards Glasgow and lived at Old Kilpatrick with their other daughter, Isabella. John may have been 71, but even in his eighth decade he was still listed as a master gardener and employed three men. By the end of the decade, John and Jean had moved back into the city, to the family hub at Berkeley Street. Jean died at the house in September 1890 aged 76, just five months after John had passed away in the same place at the age of 82. Fittingly, they were buried together at Craigton Cemetery in a lair that had been purchased 15 years earlier by their son Alex. Unfortunately, as we will discover, their grave lies unmarked and untended today, which is a huge shame considering the pleasure a well-maintained garden gave John McNeil throughout his long working life.
Moses, on the other hand, restricted his design skills to the football field – and what pretty patterns he could weave. However, he was almost lost to the club he helped to form within three years when he was seduced by the covetous glances of Queen’s Park, no doubt prompted by his brother Harry, who was already a Hampden stalwart. Moses joined Queen’s Park on 5 October 1875 and it is surely no coincidence that it was just four days before his new club were due to face Wanderers at Hampden Park. Wanderers were the first great powerhouses of English football; they were winners of the first FA Cup in 1872, once again in 1873 and triumphant in another three straight finals from 1876–78. The Glasgow club had met Wanderers once before – in the semi-final of the English competition that first season – and their willingness to travel to London to face such mighty foes was considered a remarkable show of courage. In actual fact the visitors’ play was a revelation. Not for them a series of aimless dribbles up the park, more in hope than expectation, but an accurate passing game that had rarely before been seen outside of Glasgow. The game finished goalless but Queen’s Park were forced to scratch as they could not afford to stay in London for the replay, especially as their fares to the capital had been paid from a public subscription in the first place.
Moses and Harry played starring roles on 9 October 1875 as Queen’s destroyed Wanderers 5–0 in front of 11,000 at Hampden Park. Opposition players such as C.W. Alcock and Lord Kinnaird, the first president of the FA, a Scotland cap and veteran of nine FA Cup Finals, could not get close to them. One report read: ‘The brothers McNeil – Harry well backed up by Moses – made some beautiful runs, nor were they, in fact, ever away from the ball when it was in their part of the ground. Their English opponents too found it was no use knocking them over as they just rolled on to their feet again.’ 1 Moses returned to the arms of Rangers immediately after the return match in London, which was held on 5 February 1876. Wanderers took their revenge, winning 2–0, to inflict on Queen’s their first defeat since their formation in 1867. Moses was scarcely mentioned in the match reports, although the correspondent of the North British Daily Mail lamented on the poor turnout of spectators: ‘The number, I believe, did not reach any more than 1,000. Londoners will not and do not crowd to see a football match.’ 2 His crystal ball was as defective as the Queen’s Park performance.
Still just 20, Moses came increasingly to the fore in the mid-1870s and he was confirmed as a Rangers player again on 19 February 1876 when Glasgow travelled to Sheffield for their annual inter-city matc
h, almost as important and high profile at the time as the yearly meetings between Scotland and England. Moses and teammate Peter Campbell (the latter a last minute call-up) became the first Light Blues to earn representative honours as they helped their new city to a 2–0 win in front of 7,000 fans at Bramall Lane. Moses also represented Glasgow against Sheffield in 1878 and 1880 and won two full caps for Scotland, the first in a 4–0 win over Wales at Hamilton Crescent in 1876, while the second came during a 5–4 victory over England at the first Hampden Park in 1880. As a left-winger, he played with something of a dash for club and country – the SFA Annual in 1881 considered him: ‘an excellent forward, possessing great determination and pluck…a good dodger and dribbler, his long passing is at times very effective.’
His brief hiatus at Hampden apart, Moses played for Rangers for a full decade from the birth of the club, playing somewhere in the region of 135 matches and scoring approximately 40 goals until he bowed out in a goalless draw at home to South Western on 5 April 1882. In contrast to his brother Peter, the politics and internal structures of football seemed to hold little interest for him. Peter undoubtedly compensated for his lack of skill and ability on the park by concentrating on the contribution he could make as an administrator off-field. The opposite applied to Moses, who seemed to find fulfilment enough in playing the game at the very highest level possible. Certainly, the running of the club appeared to hold limited appeal – the most senior position he was awarded in office was the post of honorary treasurer in 1876–77. Moses was a committee member of the club throughout the 1870s, but this appeared to be an honour bestowed on most first-team players, courtesy of the high regard in which they were held for their footballing skills. Membership numbers would rarely climb above 70 in the early years, so founders and stalwarts from the early seasons would have been at an immediate advantage when it came to drawing up the club’s portfolio of office bearers.
That his dynamism was reserved for the football field is also suggested in Moses’ employment record throughout the latter half of the 19th and into the 20th century. Moses, who never married or had children, spent most of his professional career in the employ of Hugh Lang junior, a commission agent who was based at No. 70 Union Street in Glasgow, not far from H. and P. McNeil’s sports outfitters at No. 91. Lang came from a famous family whose name has long been synonymous with Scotch whisky. Hugh Lang senior was a Broomielaw innkeeper in the first half of the 19th century, famed among sailors for the quality of his blends, which were sold in his bar, as well as in five gallon jars around the local area. In 1861 three of his five sons – Gavin, Alexander and William – decided to take their father’s whisky and market it more widely and the Lang Brothers brand proved so successful that by 1876 they bought over the Glengoyne Distillery at Killearn, which remained in the family’s hands for over a century.
Players were seen and not heard in the first decades of the game. Here, Moses McNeil takes a very rare, on the record stroll down memory lane for readers of the Daily Record in 1935. His first-person piece would almost certainly have been ghost-written by the paper’s editor and Rangers historian, John Allan.
Hugh Lang junior was clearly close to his siblings and became a director of Lang Brothers when it was incorporated in 1897. He undoubtedly shared their passion for their popular brand but, in actual fact, census records between 1871 and 1901 clarify that the nature of his business was as a wholesale hosier. Moses started working for him as a clerk and later became a commercial traveller – in effect, a travelling salesman, with a contact book of buyers that most likely included his brothers’ shop along the road. However, some of the Lang Brothers influence must have rubbed off on him, because he and Harry left Scotland for a short spell in 1897 to take over the running of the Royal Hotel in Bangor, in his mother’s home county of Downpatrick. After two decades with Hugh Lang junior, perhaps Moses needed a fresh challenge – certainly, Harry was looking for a new adventure following the closure of H. and P. McNeil’s 12 months earlier.
The brothers returned to Scotland after only a couple of years and by 1901 Moses, a restless spirit who rarely stayed in one place long, was living in a lodging house in Stanley Street (now known as Baliol Street, just off Woodlands Road in the West End) and still working as a commercial traveller, this time as a brush and oils salesman. The specific nature of his employment is not known, but it is possible he had been found his new position by his nephew John McNeil, son of older brother Alex. John started work as a commercial traveller with Craig and Rose, the renowned Edinburgh paint merchant who provided the paint for the Forth Bridge when it was constructed between 1883–1890. John was promoted through the ranks of the company after many years of distinguished service and eventually became managing director.
It is tempting to suggest that Moses distanced himself from the club he helped to create as his life progressed, but the evidence is too flimsy, its weight not heavy enough to sustain an argument for any length of time. However, it is surprising, for example, that Moses, so recognised as an influential figure in the early years of the game, did not participate in the trailblazer reunions for up to 80 ex-players organised by former foe John Ferguson of Vale of Leven at Loch Lomond throughout the 1920s. More intriguing was the decision by Moses to send an apology to excuse his presence from the gala dinner at Ferguson and Forrester’s in April 1923 to mark the 50th anniversary of the club he helped create. The Evening Times reported: ‘Tom Vallance, one of the two sole survivors of the original team, was present. The other, Moses McNeil, wrote regretting that he was unable to participate in the reunion.’ 3 Teammate James ‘Tuck’ McIntyre, by then approaching his 80th birthday, was there to help lower Tom Vallance into his grave following the death of the club’s first great captain in 1935, but Moses was not present at the funeral of one of his oldest friends, although, to be fair, it would not have been easy for a 79-year-old to make a round trip to Glasgow from the Gareloch at that time, especially at short notice.
Homeward bound: the village of Rosneath, where Moses returned to live out his final years with sister, Isabella.
The other side of the argument is that Moses still played an active role in and around the club in the years immediately following his departure from first-team football, even if he chose not to participate politically behind the scenes. He was regular enough for the Rangers ancients and was listed in a team of Kinning Park old boys that took on the Cameronians at Maryhill Barracks in November 1885. He did not play in the ancients against modern game in February 1887 that marked the closure of the old Kinning Park ground, but was pictured in the souvenir photograph taken on the day in a position of prominence in the second row, his trusty cane at hand and that dapper bowler on his head. Brother Harry bowed out of football in September 1888 when a team of Queen’s Park old boys took on a side of Rangers veterans at the exhibition showgrounds at Kelvingrove Park and beat them 2–1. ‘Mosie’ had been tipped to play by the Scottish Umpire but prematurely, although he was not alone in the no-shows. Another McNeil brother, Willie, also failed to trap but the likes of Harry, William ‘Daddy’ Dunlop, George Gillespie, the Vallance brothers and ‘Tuck’ McIntyre kept the sizeable crowd entertained.
Of course, Moses was the source of much of John Allan’s material in his 1923 jubilee history of Rangers and was also quoted at length in the Daily Record of 1935, talking about how he had helped form the club so many years before. He was arguably still in contact with Rangers (if, as his neighbour suspected, he was drawing a pension) or at the very least with people such as Allan, who were close to the Ibrox powerbrokers at the time. However, as life moved on he possibly preferred the pace of a quieter existence, especially after moving to Rosneath around 1930. Few people in the community knew of his connection with Rangers and he was able to live quietly with his sister Isabella at Craig Cottage (before then he had been living in a flat at West Graham Street in the Garnethill district of Glasgow).
Rosneath old cemetery, burial place of Moses McNeil, who rests with sister
s Isabella and Elizabeth and his brother-in-law, Captain Duncan Gray.
Moses was certainly company for his sister Isabella, who died in 1935 and whose own life had been touched with terrible sadness. She married master mariner Duncan Gray in 1884, but his life ended at Rosneath in 1907, with his death certificate ominously recording his passing as a result of a gunshot injury to the head. Those still around today with an intimate knowledge of the Grays’ former marital home confirm his suicide.
Moses, the youngest McNeil child and the longest surviving, eventually succumbed to cardiac disease on 9 April 1938 and while someone loved him enough to send a short notice recording his death to the Glasgow Herald and the Evening Times, his name was never added to the gravestone in Rosneath graveyard that includes the inscriptions, faint now after so many decades, in memory of his sisters and brother-in-law. At the time of his death, the sports pages were dominated by the forthcoming Scotland versus England clash at Wembley. Scotland won the match 1–0, courtesy of a goal from Hearts ace Tommy Walker. Rangers also played that afternoon, with a solitary strike from Bob McPhail securing a slender win over Clyde in the League at Ibrox.
The passing of Moses did not merit a mention in the press that week. He was buried on Tuesday 12 April but it was not until six days later that ‘Waverley’ penned an obituary of sorts in the Record. He wrote: ‘A famous player of a long past era in Moses McNeil has also departed. Moses was one of several brothers who helped to form the Rangers clubs [sic] in 1873 and he was the last of the old originals. He played against England in 1880. It is wonderful to think that one who was at the start of the Rangers 65 years ago should have been with us until a few days ago.’4
The Gallant Pioneers: Rangers 1872 Page 5
