Dr RC Reid

Robert Corsane Reid (1882 - 1963) was educated at Cheltenham and Trinity College, Cambridge, and then joined the legal profession.  A promising career was cut short because of a youthful injury to one leg and the onset of eyesight problems.   In 1920 he inherited the family estate at Mouswald Place, including the farms of Mouswald Banks and Cleughbrae, and he and his wife returned to live at Cleughbrae.  He became  county councillor for Mouswald and Torthorwald in 1929, a role he played until 1958.   He had a passion for archaeology, archival research, history and genealogy.  He  recommended the young Alfred Truckell as curator for Dumfries Museum, was one of the founders of Gracefield Arts Centre in Dumfries.  He set up the Mouswald Trust which continues to give grants for archaeological work today.   His personal interests lay in the preservation and publication of charters and local records, including genealogical studies.  His contribution to Dumfries and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society was also invaluable, and he served as Secretary and Editor of the Transactions, to which he contributed 140 papers in all.  He was President between 1933 and 1944.   Perhaps his greatest legacy is the body of research that came as a result of the encouragement he gave to experts to study St. Ninian and Whithorn.  He also brought Scottish universities together to sponsor a scheme to enable students to gain experience in excavation at John Clark's excavation at Milton Roman fort, and later at Birrens, ensuring that many skilled students received a good grounding in the field. Wigtownshire.