Master Gunner Romeo Drysdale - a 40 year 'cushy number' in Dumbarton Castle?

[Ronald Drysdale]

The Drysdale Memorial - near Dumbarton

The memorial inscription adjacent to this heavily weathered gravestone gives some brief details of the life of Master Gunner Romeo Drysdale at Dumbarton Castle, it seems that he had a very pleasant job.

Image - Copyright Lairich Rig

https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3290612

This stone is one of the small number that survive in the old parish kirkyard of Dumbarton Riverside Parish Church. On account of its situation, the stone is some times overgrown; on the occasion of the present photograph, it had recently been exposed to view, and was sunlit. The stone is now rather worn, but the adjacent plaque supplies the missing details.

The stone was erected by William Drysdale, plumber, who died 26th March 1856, aged 48, and it commemorates Romeo Drysdale, his father, who died 23rd of ... aged 84; Margaret Haggard, his mother, who died 30th April 1848, aged 73; Margaret, his sister, who died 16th June 1848, aged 29; Ilay, his brother, died 14th July 1851, aged 35.

The father, Romeo Drysdale, is of interest: .in 1810, he was appointed master gunner at Dumbarton Castle. He still held that post in 1849, when he died at the age of 84. This may seem unusual, but he was not engaged in active military duties: the infantry soldiers in the barracks at Dumbarton Castle at that time did not perform duties connected with the Castle, "nor were the veteran artillerymen actively engaged either but instead conducted visitors round the castle, expecting a gratuity in return".

His role may not have been an active military one, but it was not an insignificant one either: there was no lieutenant-governor at the Castle after 1836, and no governor after 1843, so that Romeo Drysdale and his successors as master gunner were "nominally in charge for the rest of the century".

The Castle

Dumbarton-castle Daily Record image

In the 1841 Scottish census, Romeo and his family are noted as living in the castle and his age is recorded as 70 years but in reality he was nearer 76!

Best regards