Sacred to the memory of Bailie JOHN CHRISTALL
(Stone is too badly damaged to make out the inscription)
Here the weary are at rest.
Sacred to the memory of Baillie John Christall, many years one
of the Magistrates of Dundee, who died 20th August 1816 aged 87 years. An honest
man, rendered vulnerable by his advanced age, but still more so by his virtues
and whose last moments spoke the best memorial of a well spent life.
Also are entombed here the remains of Robert Cristall, son of
the above, who departed this life on the 11th April 1817 aged 54 years.
The man who has raised a column to his memory in the hearts of
his friends by the goodness of his own, can receive little perpetuity from this
small tribute of esteem, erected by an affectionate wife, who survives to
deplore the de??ivation.
Source: The Book of the Howff,©Libraries, Leisure and Culture
Dundee, Local History Centre & is
reproduced with kind permission.
Claimant: Claimed by James Scott, ?? packer.
There were two brothers William, Thomas Miller. Miss Farquahson
or Scott wife of James Scott Packer in Dundee their brother and the only
descendants of Thomas Miller. William has left no descendants, the last of them
was Mr Robert Cristall who left no spouse. Mrs Hill was only his widow. (Note
glued to page)
Source:RT
JOHN CRISTALL, who for many years held the office of Postmaster
in Dundee, died on Friday, Aug. 2, 1816. He had been well educated ; and, to a
strong understanding, he added high independence of mind, and a strict
impartiality in the discharge of his official duties. Accordingly, in the
delivery of letters, those who called first were first served, without regard to
rank, wealth, or assumed consequence ; and as an instance of how he carried out
this rule, it is recorded that, one evening, when the Post Office was unusually
thronged, ' Fletcher Reid, Esq./ of Logie, called out from the furthest circle
of the crowd : ' Fletcher Reid of Logie's letters ! ' Receiving no answer, he
repeated the order, and in a more peremptory tone ; to which the Postmaster
replied, with chilling indifference : ' Francis Reid must wait his turn ! Mr
Cristall was for a number of years a member of the Town Council ; but he retired
from it a considerable time before his death, because he did not think it proper
that he a collector of public revenue, should hold a seat in that body, seeing
that all persons employed in collecting the revenue were disqualified, by
express statute, from any sort of interference in the election of Members of
Parliament, and that Members of Parliament for the Scottish burghs were at that
period elected by delegates nominated from each burgh by the respective Town
Councils. A
characteristic and highly honourable anecdote is
told of Mr Cristall. The Magistrates of those days were the patrons of a
bursary, consisting of the sum of .£149 8s. mortified by a Mr Bruce, the
interest of which was to be always applied in educating one pupil of the name of
Bruce. In 1773, this bursary was vacant, and no one qualified applying for it,
Mr Cristall was advised to take it for his son ; and he accordingly received the
proceeds for the two years 1773 and 1774, being £17 10s. Mr Cristall, however,
afterwards regretted having received this money, and in Dec. 1815 he ordered the
amount to be repaid to the patrons, with forty-one years' interest, amounting to
<£35 17s. 6d.in all, £53 7s. 6d. Although the salary of Mr Cristall, as
Postmaster, was very small, he contrived, by strict economy, not only to support
his family, chiefly from that source, but to save a competency for his old age,
and to leave a considerable sum behind him, a portion of which he bequeathed to
the charities of the town. Mr Cristall was in his 87th year when he died.
Source 4
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