Andrew Bryan
Slater and plasterer
Andrew Bryan (c. 1848–1906) was a slater and plasterer, with premises at 4, and later 14 and 16, Hospital Street, Tradeston, Glasgow. Like his parents, he was born in Ayrshire, where his father James (c. 1825–1876) worked as a master slater and plumber in Wallacetown, adjoining Ayr. James relocated to Glasgow in the 1850s, and began his own slater's firm there around 1859. 1 By 1871, he had remarried and his older sons were also following his trade. Andrew inherited his father's firm in 1876 and by 1881 had eight employees. In the late 1880s, he successfully opened a second branch of the firm. 2 Following a fire in 1891, Bryan transferred his premises to 14 and 16 Hospital Street. 3
Bryan married Mary Ann O'Brien in Ayr in 1880. Their son, Andrew Paton Bryan (born c. 1883), purchased the business from his late father's trustees in 1913, and ran it until sequestration in 1945. 4
Andrew Bryan may have been involved in the beginnings of Celtic Football Club in 1887–8: an 'A. Bryan' appears on the 1888 list of subscribers, donating £1. 5
Notes:
1: Glasgow Post Office Directory, 1859–60, p. 65.
2: Census and death information, www.ancestry.co.uk and www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk [accessed 18 October 2012]; Glasgow Post Office Directories, 1850–1912.
3: Glasgow Herald, February 28, 1891, p. 6; Glasgow Post Office Directories, 1850–1912.
4: Edinburgh Gazette, 29 April 1913, p. 471; Edinburgh Gazette, 27 November 1945, p. 417.
5: Andrew Bryan is the only man of his name in Glasgow to appear the 1891 census, suggesting he probably was the subscriber. 'Andrew Bryan, Founding Fathers' Discussion Thread, topic started 27 May 2011, at 'Celtic Graves Society', Forum for Celtic F. C. Historical Personalities and Memorials, http://celticgraves.com/index [accessed 18 October 2012].
