Geograph - photograph every grid square

The stone is near NS4076 : The John Proudfoot Memorial.

"Sacred to the memory of John Ure, eldest and beloved son of James Ure, Dalreoch, who fell asleep in Jesus, December 2nd 1875, in the 30th year of his age."

"Barbara Simpson, beloved wife of James Ure, died in the Lord, May 17th 1891, aged 73 years."

"The above James Ure died in Oakland, California, 12th May 1897, in his 83rd year: 'I wish that after my death, what remains of this mortal clay be placed in whatever part of God's earth is most convenient, for I esteem not one part more sacred than another, for I look for a city which hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God' – quotation from his will, written in 1892."

The expression in James Ure's will, "a city which hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God", is a Biblical quotation; it is from Hebrews 11:10.

The local historian Donald MacLeod gives a brief biography of James Ure on pages 165-166 of his book "Dumbarton: Its Recent Men and Events" (1898): as a young man, James Ure began business as an iron-founder in Dumbarton in 1835, as a partner in the firm John Ure & Co (he had originally intended to become a clergyman, but found the studies too great a strain on his health). He would later become a Councillor and a Bailie in the Burgh (of Dumbarton). He emigrated to America with some of his family in 1892, and, as noted in the inscription, he died there in 1897.

MacLeod's earlier work "The God's Acres of Dumbarton" (c.1888) likewise gives a brief biography of his son, John Ure, mentioned first in the inscription. He is discussed on page 158 of that book, in a section that is headed (for reasons that will be explained below) "John Ure of the Shanghai Arsenal".

The monument shown in my photograph is there described as "a finely proportioned freestone monument of twelve feet in height, having one base, a die, an enriched cornice and pediment, surmounted by an urn", and the inscription "is flanked on each side by an inverted torch".

John Ure was born and educated in Dumbarton, and was brought up in his father's works as an iron-founder. MacLeod notes that "he had not been long a journeyman when he applied for the vacant post of foreman of the foundry department in the Imperial Arsenal of Shanghai". He managed to secure this position, and he would make a success of it, so much so that he was given complete oversight of the iron and brass casting departments.

However, his health suddenly deteriorated, and he had to return to Dumbarton. The Chinese Government sent after him a document that conferred upon him the honorary title of Mandarin of the Chinese Empire, but, sadly, John Ure had died by the time the letter arrived.

The poem inscribed on the base of the memorial is a quotation from Longfellow, and it was inscribed on the stone in memory of John Ure (rather than his father James, who was then still living):

"He, the young and strong, who cherished
Noble longings for the strife,
By the wayside fell and perished,
weary with the march of life."