Read Online The Gallant Pioneers: Rangers 1872 by Gary Ralston - Free Book Online
Authors: Gary Ralston
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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.
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.
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