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"Loyal Dixon Lodge No. 1901, Dumbarton District of the Independent Order of Oddfellows, M.U., and dedicated to the members of the Past Grand Lodge in trust, 15th September 1900. / Erected by Ex-Bailie George Bell, P.P.G.M. Dumbarton District."

[M.U.: Manchester Unity; P.P.G.M.: Past Provincial Grand Master.]

This particular branch of the Oddfellows was the earliest of the so-called Friendly Societies to appear in the Dumbarton area. It was instituted there in 1839. By 1881, it had a local membership of about 357.

Such organisations might acquire a plot in the cemetery, marked by a monument, to ensure that any of their members who died, and who had been needy or who had no surviving relatives to take care of such matters, might be sure of having a burial place. Compare the NS4076 : Ancient Shepherds' Monument, located elsewhere in the same cemetery; the accompanying description names similar organisations that had a presence in the district.

Before this memorial was erected, there was already a more prominent landscape feature associated with the Oddfellows: a flagstaff on the top of Dumbuck Hill (this was before quarrying work began eating away at the hill); see NS4274 : Dumbuck Quarry for more on the flagstaff and the occasion of its presentation.

For more on the George Bell named on this memorial, and for his ancestry, see NS4076 : The Bell Memorials.