`Martyr`s Monument`

Sighthill Cemetery
‘Martyr’s Monument’
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Erected by Public Subscription July 1847 to the memory of
JOHN BAIRD aged 32 and ANDREW HARDIE aged 28
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Who for the cause of freedom suffered death at Stirling 8th September 1820
On September 5th 1920, 100 years after the execution of John Baird and Andrew Hardie
A great assemblance of the common people met here at the call of the Glasgow Independent Labour Party
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To honour the memory of those two working class martyrs in the cause of liberty.
JAMES WILSON executed in Glasgow on 30th August 1820, is buried in Strathaven
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Here lie the slain and mutilated forms of those who fell, and fell like Martyrs true
Faithful to freedom through a time of storms, they met their fate as patriots always do
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Despising death which ne’er can noble souls subdue.
Calmly they view’s deaths dread and dark array, then heaven directed, turn’d their prayerful eyes
Serene in the hope they triumphed o’er dismay their country’s wrongs alone drew forth their sighs
And those to them endeard’s by nature’s holiest ties.
But truth and right have better times brought round, now no more “traitors”scorn’d by passing breath
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For weeping Scotland hails this spot of ground, and shrines with all who fell for freedom’s faith
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Whose sons of her’s now fam’d, made glorious by their death.
For their part in the 1820 Rising the following, originally sentenced to death
were transported to New South Wales, Australia and in 1835 were given a Royal Pardon
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JOHN ANDERSON, JOHN BARR, WILLIAM CLACKSON or CLARKSON, JAMES CLELLAND
ANDREW DAWSON, ROBERT GRAY, ALEXANDER HART, ALEXANDER JOHNSON,
ALEXANDER LATIMER, THOMAS McCULLOCH, *THOMAS McFARLANE, JOHN McMILLAN,
*BENJAMIN MOIR, ALLAN MURCHIE, THOMAS PIKE or PINK, WILLIAM SMITH,
DAVID THOMPSON, ANDREW WHITE, JAMES WRIGHT.
* For additional info on Thomas McFarlane and Benjamin Moir, see later pages.
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The "Radical's" were rounded up by government troops after the skirmish on Bonny Muir. The ring leaders,
Andrew Hardie of Glasgow and John Baird of Condorrat were hanged and beheaded on the 08.09.1820 after
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their trial at Stirling. The other 18 men were ordered to be "transported" to Australia.
(*THOMAS MACFARLANE being the oldest in the group.)
During the Erection of this Momument, the Committee applied to Her Majesty’s Government, for permission to
remove the Mortal remains of the two Martyrs from Stirling, to this spot, and after a lengthened
correspondence, the following letter was received from the Lord Advocate.
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Guidyer House, Whitehall, London. 5th May 1847
Sir, I have laid the memorial, for the relatives of Andrew Hardie and John Baird, before Secretary Sir George
Gray, and I have the satisfaction of informing you that if the Kirk Session of Stirling, see no objections upon
other grounds, opposition will not be made on the part of Government, to the removal of the remains of those
unfortunate men from their present place of interment.
But the permission is given under the express condition, that the removal shall take place without any public
notice, or intimation, and without any procession, or concourse, or attendance of people,
but in the presence of a few friends only
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Andrew Rutherford
In accordance with these instructions, the exhumation, took place at an early hour in the morning of the 20th
July 1947, and the remains reinterred in front of this Monument on the same day in the presence of a
considerable assembly of friends.
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Here then they rest! And far in future years shall Freedom dew this spot with memory’s tears.
*See pages 5 - 7 for further information on Thomas MacFarlane and the Battle of Bonnymuir
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This Monument was repaired at considerable expense in 1865 by a few friends under the superintendence of
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the original Hardie and Baird and Martyrs’ Stone Committees and again in 1885 by subscription.
It was again renovated and re-dedicated at a Ceremony in1986 when Glasgow City Council matched the sum
of £5000 which had been raised by the 1820 Society.
Thomas MacFarlane
Thomas MacFarlane was born 15.04.1770 (he was 50 at the time of the uprising) and returned to Condorrat in
November 1839 after having received a Royal Pardon . His Certificate of Freedom, dated 18th December 1827
describes him as being 5 feet 4¾ ins tall with a sallow complexion, brown to grey hair and grey eyes.
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He died on 18th February 1849 and was buried in Cumbernauld Village Church Yard on 20th February 1849.
His wife Elizabeth Macfarlane (nee Baird) died 5th May 1831 and is also buried in the Church Yard,
although the on the entry in the Burial Register she appears listed as Agnes.
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During the 1950's, the then minister Rev. James Clark decided to have the old burial ground around the
church “tidied up” and many broken stones were removed and others arranged in rows.
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Cumbernauld Village Cemetery which adjoins the Churchyard, opened in 1879 but families continued to use
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Lairs in the old Burial Ground up until the 1890's.
There is no existing stone in the Churchyard.
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Benjamin Moir
Benjamin Moir was the brother of James Moir, Tea Merchant in the Gallowgate, Glasgow & Town Councillor.
No records appear to have survived of Benjamin’s birth or baptism perhaps his birth was never registered.
His siblings (found in Larbert OPR’s): James born 12th May 1806, Ann born 14th June 1808,
Livingston, Christened 1st July 1813 and Janet, Christened 29th October 1815
(No dates of birth listed for either Livingston or Janet)
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Sister Janet is buried in the Moir Lair in Sighthill Cemetery,
her date of birth on the inscription is listed as 29th September 1815
Father Benjamin died 30th March 1834, brother Livingston(e) died 16th December 1825 aged 12 years and
sister Jean died 3rd May 1820 aged 19 years. All 3 are buried in Larbert Old Parish Churchyard.
His brother James Moir was born in Stenhousemuir, Stirlingshire on 12th May 1806 to Benjamin(e) and Janet
Moir (nee Burgess), laterally becoming well known for championing radical causes, campaigning for universal
suffrage and political reform and in 1866 became President of the Scottish National Reform League.
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The ‘Moir Collection’ and the ‘Moir Room’ in Glasgow’s Mitchell Library are named after James Moir who
bequested his collection of 3,000 volumes and 1,000 pamphlets to the aforementioned establishment together
with £11,500 for the purchase of additional books.
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James Moir & Family’s Obelisk in Sighthill Cemetery, Glasgow.
Extract from Larbert Old Parish Registers, 1806
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In recent years, the 1820 Society erected a Memorial to the Battle of Bonnymuir.
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The Monument is located on the B816 Bonnyhill Road, High Bonnybridge.
© Memento-Mori 2009
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