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GILFILLAN, a surname, composed of two Gaelic words, dignifying
servant of Fillan. Who this Fillan was it is impossible to say.
Ossian makes one Fillan a son of Fingal. Originally the Gilfillans
belonged to the Isle of Mull, and were all cut in pieces by a
hostile tribe, with the exception of two married women, who made
their escape to the mainland, and bore twins each, from which four
sprung all the Gilfillans in Scotland. The tradition of all the
tribe being slain in the clan wars of ancient times, except one or
two married women who were in a condition to perpetuate the race, is
common to more Highland septs than the Gilfillans. Persons of the
name abound in the parish of Buchlyvie, Stirlingshire.
Two of the name, the Rev. George Gilfillan, Dundee, and Robert
Gilfillan, song writer, of whom a memoir follows, have acquired
considerable literary reputation.
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The Rev. George Gilfillan, celebrated as a critic and popular
essayist, was born January 30, 1813, at Comrie, Perthshire, where
his father, the Rev. Samuel Gilfillan, author of a work on the
Sabbath, which went though several editions, and was translated into
the French, Dutch, and Russian languages, was minister of the
Secession Church. He was a native of Bucklyvie, Stirlingshire, and
enjoyed extraordinary popularity as a preacher. His writings, under
the signature of Menmas, were read over all Scotland, and are
mentioned with high praise by Hugh Miller in his ‘Schools and
Schoolmasters.’ He died in 1826, aged 64. George, the youngest child
of his parents, was educated at the parish school of his native
place, and went to Glasgow College in the end of 1825. He took
several prizes, and in 1830 entered the Divinity Hall of the
Secession body, (now the United Presbyterian Synod,) and continued
there five sessions, being employed in the winter teaching in
Edinburgh. In April 1835 he was licensed to preach by the Edinburgh
Secession Presbytery, and received a call from Comrie, and one from
the Schoolwynd church, Dundee. He accepted the latter, and was
ordained there in March 1836. In the end of 1839 he published a
little book, entitled ‘Five Discourses,’ and in 1842, a Discourse,
entitled ‘Hades, or the Unseen,’ which reached a third edition. He
early discovered a taste for literature, and wrote a series of
literary portraits in the ‘Dumfries Herald,’ which he afterwards
collected and enlarged, and published, separately, in 1845, under
the title of ‘A Gallery of Literary Portraits,’ which was very
successful, and in 1860 had reached its 4th edition. In 1849 he
issued a Second ‘Gallery,’ and in 1850 ‘The Bards of the Bible.’ In
1851, amongst many other prefaces, he wrote ‘Preface to Book of
British Poesy.’ In 1852 he published a work, entitled the ‘Martyrs,
Heroes, and Bards of the Scottish Covenant,’ which, like his other
works, sold well, and in 1853 a little religious treatise on the
Fatherhood of God. In 1854 a third ‘Gallery of Literary Portraits’
appeared; in 1856 his ‘History of a Man:’ in 1857 his most elaborate
work ‘Christianity and our Era;’ and in 1860 his ‘Alpha and Omega,’
in 2 vols. His contributions to periodicals, such as the ‘British
Quarterly,’ the ‘Eclectic review,’ ‘Tait’s Magazine,’ ‘Hogg’s
Instructor,’ ‘Titan,’ ‘The Scottish Review,’ &c. Have been numerous.
In 1860 he made a tour in Sweden, and his sketches of that country
inserted in ‘The Scottish Review,’ a Glasgow publication, were full
of interest. As a lecturer he has at various times appeared in most
of the large towns of Scotland and England, and for a long time no
name was more prominent than his in current periodical literature.
In the pulpit he is distinguished as an earnest, impressive, and
fervid preacher. Referring to the connection of the discharge of
clerical duty with attention to literary pursuits, he says in his
‘History of a Man,’ “In my own humble way I have sincerely and
conscientiously sought to unite and harmonize literature and the
duties of a clergyman; and, however imperfectly I may have
succeeded, I do not regret the attempt; since I believe it has, in
some instances, made my voice be heard with greater deference,
first, when I spoke to Christians of the glories of genius and the
charms of literature, and far more when I spoke to young lovers of
literature, of the superior claims and infinitely higher merits of
the Book of God.’
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The minor lyrical poet, Robert Gilfillan, was born in
Dunfermline, on 7th July 1798. His father was a manufacturer in a
small way, having a few weavers working under him. A second cousin
of his is believed to have been the author of the song entitled ‘The
Braes aboon Bonaw,’ who in early life went abroad and died soon
after. Robert’s mother, Marion, was the daughter of Henry Law, also
a small manufacturer in Dunfermline. He was the second of three
sons. There was also one daughter, Margaret. In a letter to Mr.
George Farquhar Graham, editor of ‘Wood’s Songs of Scotland,’ dated
14th March 1848, he gives the following account of his family. “My
great-grandfather,” he says, “rented a small farm in Stirlingshire.
His only son, Robert, my grandfather, chose the sea-life as a
profession, and became captain of a merchant vessel, trading to
foreign parts. In one of his voyages his ship was captured by a
Spanish privateer; but while the Spaniards were below, rummaging his
papers and cargo, he, with great promptitude, ordered the hatches to
be nailed down, and placing himself with loaded pistols on the cabin
stair, declared that the first who made his appearance was a dead
man! At the same time he directed both ships to make sail for
England, standing twenty-four hours as sentry over his double prize,
both of which he carried safely into a British port. For this act of
bravery he was recommended to government; but merit, eighty years
ago, was tardily rewarded. A change of ministers took place, and my
poor grandfather’s claims fell to the grounds. He is buried in
Torryburn churchyard, where a massive stone covers his humble grave.
My father wrote occasional verses on local subjects, al above
mediocrity; but, with less vanity than his son, none of them were
ever published.” He received the rudiments of his education at a
school in his native place, and in 1811, while only 13 years of age,
his pare
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