R G S Anderson
RGS Anderson was born at Ceres, Fifeshire in 1867. After
training as a minister he worked in Canada, the Isle of Man and
Glasgow. He moved to Wigtownshire in 1919 and was minister to the
United Free Churches at the Isle of Whithorn and Castle Kennedy.
Anderson, like many ministers of his generation, had a keen
interest in archaeology and built up a large collection of
antiquities. Some items were donated to the National Museusm of
Antiquities in Edinburgh but the majority were kept at Anderson's
home. On his death in 1939 the collection was bequeathed to
Wigtownshire County Council where it formed the nucleus of the
County - now Stranraer - Museum.
The bulk of the Anderson collection comprises Wigtownshire archaeology. The stone axes, lithics and Bronze Age metalwork are particularly significant. There is also some non-local archaeology including flints from the Isle of Man, Roman material from Silchester, an inscribed clay brick from Babylon and, bizarrely, fragments of stone from both the Sphinx and the Great Pyramid.
Anderson also acquired items of local folk life. Objects of this type in the collection include witch and charm stones, stone butter weights and a drover's staff.
