Sir Gabriel Wood’s Mariners’ Asylum (Wikipedia Citation)
Historical Account of Sir Gabriel Wood’s Mariners’ Asylum, Greenock (Black, D.C. 1850) (James McKelvie & Sons Ltd, 1930). Available @ The Watt Institution, Greenock.
Volunteer: Brian
Notes of historical interest for creation of a new Wikipedia article/section on Sir Gabriel Wood’s Mariner’s Asylum in Greenock. The building and its gate are category A listed. Check back for a fully digitized PDF of the book and a link to the Wikipedia article.
The institution was founded in 1850.
The founder of the institution was Commissary General Sir Gabriel Wood
Sir Gabriel was born on 18th May 1767 in Burnside House, Gourock
Sir Gabriel died at Bath on 29th October, 1845 aged 78.
“The remains of Mr. Wood, his wife, and three of their children are interred in the old cemetery in Inverkip Street, Greenock. The tombstone is still to be seen in the cemetery immediately to the right of the entrance gate.” (Black, 1850, p6)
Sir Gabriel Wood left a will settling his worldy possessions executed by him on 17th June 1845
Ladywood and Miss Frances A Wood signed a declaration of Trust agreeing to hand over £38,000 to named trustees for the purpose of erecting the institution (p9)
When the site was selected the view from it was one of the great beauty one could see as far up the river Clyde as far as Dumbarton and as far as Dunoon
Sir Michael Robert Shaw Stewart (landowner) “the then Superior, who owned the ground upon which the Asylum was to be built, gave the ground on most liberal terms. At the present time the ground extends to almost seven acres” (p11)
The foundation stone was to be layd with full masonic honours on the same day as the copestone of the Victoria Harbour.
The structure was finished in 1854
The opening of the Asylum was performed on 17th October 1854
Sir Gabriel Wood's Mariners' Home, Wikimedia Commons (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0)
Other notes of interest:
“There is a provision in the feu contract that no buildings are to be erected on the ground opposite the Asylum unless below a certain height and a certain distance apart from each other. This was with the intention of preserving the view of the Firth” (p11)
References
Black, D.C, Historical Account of Sir Gabriel Wood’s Mariner’s Asylum, James McKelvie & Sons, Ltd. 1930