Thank you, Ed, for your insight re the inscription by R. Little, C.B., at the foot of the headstone fro Agnes McLean and James Clint in Auchencairn Cemetery. This begs the question, however: I wonder how my antecedents could have afforded to pay such an auspicious gentleman, shall we say, to put his imprimatur at the bottom of the headstone. From what I can understand "my ain folk were puir and plain folk," to paraphrase the song, most earning their living as agricultural workers. John Clint, who, to my untrained eye, was a talented artist, may have been the exception and could very well have been acquainted with R. Little, CB. There is the possibility that Robert Little, therefore, either offered his services gratis to design the headstone, or was commissioned by someone in the family who had a wee bitty extra siller to throw around. Another divergent road to explore! It has been suggested that headstones would have been comparatively cheap in the 19th century as the Dalbeattie granite works are fairly close by. Still, somebody HAD to be paid to "dress" the stones and make the inscriptions, and as it is a skill in itself, must not have come "cheap" even :"back then". I wonder if any memorial stone companies kept records from the 1700s on about the charges for the various-sized headstones, numbers of letters inscribed, etc., and best of all, who ordered and paid for the stones. Nowadays it is not an inexpensive undertaking to provide for modest gravestones, never mind larger headstones. Thank you again for your contribution to this Scarlet Pimpernel mystery! Maisie Egger (formerly from Glasgow, Scotland) Paso Robles, California ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ed Thompson" <ehthomps@hotmail.com> To: <DUMFRIES-GALLOWAY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, April 14, 2003 9:48 AM Subject: [D-G LIST] Re: Auchencairn Cemetery Headstone > I've been away for a bit and may have misssed a reply, but if not may I > suggest Robert Little as a possible candidate for the "R.Little, C.B." on > the base of the headstone. The Robert Little I have in mind was a well-known > artist from Greenock (I think) who was active from the late 19th century > until well into the 20th century. He was a fellow of the RSA, RGI, RSW and > the Royal Society of Edinburgh, so could very well have picked up a CB as > well on the way. If so, he could have designed the headstone or perhaps have > been involved in some way with the erection of a memorial to a fellow > artist. > > Ed Thompson > Dundee, Scotland > > _________________________________________________________________ > Hotmail messages direct to your mobile phone http://www.msn.co.uk/mobile > > > ==== DUMFRIES-GALLOWAY Mailing List ==== > FIND YOUR ANCESTORS > http://www.directcon.net/tomas/Ancestry/index.html/ > >