THE earliest notice of a public kind concerning Helens-burgh appears in an extinct newspaper, called the Glasgow Journal, under date 11th January 1776, in the form of an advertisement, and runs thus:—“Notice—To be feued immediately, for burding upon, at a very reasonable rate, a considerable piece of ground upon the shore of Malig, opposite Greenock. The land lies on both sides of the road leading from Dumbarton to the Kirk of Row. The ground will be regularly laid out for houses and gardens, to be built according to a plan, &c. There is a freestone quarry on the ground.

“For the accommodation of the feuars, the proprietor is to enclose a large field for grazing their milk cows, &c. N.B.—Bonnet-makers, stocking, linen, and woollen weavers, will meet with proper encouragement. There is a large boat building at the place for ferrying men and horses with chaises.”

The idea of founding a town on these shores suggested itself to the great-grandfather of the present Sir James Colquhoun of Luss, who purchased the land of Malig or Millrigs from Sir John Shaw of Greenock, and in furtherance of this design, laid it out in prospective streets, and advertised it to the public. The town itself, as appears from the advertisement, was nameless for some years. Probably its name was a matter of considerable family discussion, till at last some ingenious friend solved the difficulty by happily suggesting it should be called after the lady of its new owner, as “Helensburgh.” A more noble and permanent memorial of that distinguished lady could hardly have been devised than this happy suggestion gave birth to.
Notwithstanding the tempting advertisement above quoted, it seems to have made slow progress for many a year. In 1794, we find from an old rental-book, that there were only about seventeen houses built on the lands, and the gross feu-duty paid to the superior amounted to only £8, 16s. 8d. Of the few houses then built, only one or two now stand.

Helensburgh was created a free burgh of barony by royal charter, dated 25th July 1802. Under this charter, the government of the burgh is committed to a provost, two bailies, and four councillors, and weekly markets and four annual fairs are appointed. In a community of seventeen householders, one naturally thinks that considerableingenuity must have been exercised at times to find a staff of seven such officials to govern the other ten, and we consequently find among the old records repeated instances of householders fined for failure to accept the honour conferred on them by their townsmen. As in some degree throwing a measure of light on the past history of this burgh, we give a few extracts from the older official records. There is not much amusement to be gleaned from them, but they may afford insight into the inner life of an infant town, and thus prove of some interest to the curious in such matters:—

^1.   The following seem to have been the first adventurous feuars, and the rates of feu-duty paid by them. What a contrast it affords betwixt, the value of land half a century since and its price now! We have heard it said, that the whole shore ground from the pier to the east boundary of the town was offered at a perpetual rent of £1 to the ancestor of one of the Malig feuars, and refused as too serious a speculation. William Stewart,£0 6 8 John M‘Aulay,£0 13 4 Donald M’Kinlay, 0 13 4 Malcolm Taylor,1 0 0 Andrew M‘Lachlan, 0 6 8 David Reoch,0 6 8 Robert Watson,0 6 8 Robert Colquhoun, 1 0 0 James Walker,0 13 4 Agnes Ferguson,0 13 4 Donald Smith,0 6 8 Archd. M‘Auslan,0 14 0 John M‘Naughten,0 8 0 John Govan,0 6 8 William Bruce,0 6 8 Patrick Gray,0 8 0 John M‘Auslan. 6s. 8d.