Person:Robert Dreghorn (2)

Robert “Bob Dragon” DREGHORN d. 1804 at Glasgow ("Minute book of the Board of Green Cloth" (1891) by Colin Dumlop Donald, b. 1848). A Robert Dreghorn was b/chr 29nov1748 (mother Agnes Bryson) at Glasgow (scotlandspeople). Robert d. 19nov1804; Robert Dreghorn of Rough Hill lived at Clyde St. (Old Glasgow essays, 1905, by John Oswald Mitchell, b. 1826). Robert came into possession of Blochairn and Ruchill; some sources claim he was the son of Allan Dreghorn. See “Anecdotage of Glasgow”.

From Jones’ Directory, 1787: ROBERT DREGHORN OF RUCHILL(Or "Bob Dreghorn," as he was called all over the city) occupied a large house fronting West Clyde Street, and was in the daily practice of walking up Stockwell Street to the Cross. He was a tall, gaunt figure, dreadfully marked by small-pox; with a large crooked nose, and a pair of eyes that looked in opposite directions. He had a great antipathy to mischievous boys whom he belaboured with his walking-stick whenever any of them came within reach of the "Dragon's" arm; and had as great a partiality for servant girls with bare feet! He was, in short, the embodied ideal of ill-nature and ugliness: mothers used to frighten their children by the mention of his name; and yet he was known to be a kindly-disposed man. One morning in 1806, he was missed from his usual walking-ground; and on inquiries being made, it was discovered that poor Bob had died by his own hand. The story ran that his house was haunted; and so strongly did this feeling prevail, that it remained empty and forsaken for many years afterwards.

A caricature of Robert appears in “Views and notices of Glasgow in former times” (1848), see p. 114 at <http://www.archive.org/stream/viewsnoticesofgl00stuauoft#page/n7/mode/2up>