ROBERT DICK, NATURALIST and GEOLOGIST

Robert Dick was a native of Tullibody. His father was an exciseman at nearby Cambus and later Dall's distillery, Glenochil. All his adult life, Robert worked in poverty as a baker in Thurso to support his studies into the natural sciences of the Caithness district. He became a World authority on botany and geology, and today, his botanical collection is divided between Caithness Museum and the Royal Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. Hugh Miller, who received many geological and botanical specimens from Robert, wrote that 'he has robbed himself to do me service'. A house with a plaque on it about Robert Dick used to stand in the main street of Tullibody but the house was demolished in the 1950s.

The above pictured stone was erected in May 2013, next to the main street in Tullibody on the approximate site of the house where Robert Dick was born. Click on the small picture to view the larger version.

Robert, who was born in Tullibody in 1811, in a cottage in Main Street, was one of four children. His mother was Margaret Gilchrist, but she died when Robert was only ten years old. His father was Thomas, an excise officer, who remarried soon after the death of Robert's mother. Robert's stepmother was the daughter of Robert Knox, who owned the brewery in nearby Cambus. Thomas and his new wife soon had children of their own. There would appear to have been some difficulties between the new Mrs Dick and Thomas's children by his first marriage. To avoid the difficulties at home, the young Robert would wander among the nearby Ochil hills and by the banks of the river Devon. His stepmother often thrashed him with a stick when he came home from his wanderings. Robert attended the Barony School in Tullibody. His first teacher was the able and enthusiastic Mr. McIntyre, who only beat his students as a last resort. Mr. McIntyre found Robert to be a quick learner. Robert read everything he could find and he had a talent for languages, including Latin. Robert's family moved to nearby Menstrie when his father got a new job as exciseman at Dall's distillery there. He had to leave his old job at Cambus because he was not allowed to be the exciseman at his wife's father's brewery. Robert then went to the Parish school at Menstrie. He made little progress under the schoolmaster there. The Dick family lived at Damsburn cottage. The cottage lay at the foot of the Ochils. Robert would often wander the hills to find the many different plants that grew there. He collected flowers and studied natural history from an early age. When Robert was thirteen, the first family of Thomas Dick was made to leave the family home. Robert was apprenticed to a baker. His younger brother was sent to sea. His older sister, Agnes, was sent to be a servant in Edinburgh.The bakery where Robert lived and worked is now the Post Office at Tullibody Cross. What remained of the old ovens was used as bottoming for a modern house built behind the present day post office.

Robert was apprenticed to Mr. Alkman, who had a large bakery business in Tullibody and supplied bread to neighbouring villages as far afield as Bridge of Allan. Robert's day would begin at 3 a.m. when he lit the bakery fires and he often worked till seven or eight o'clock at night. He would be sent out in the afternoons to deliver bread. This gave him the opportunity to study natural history. He watched the plants grow. He would often return through Menstrie Glen, where he would gather hazelnuts in season and bring them home for his masters children. Robert knew where all the different plants and flowers were to be found. His apprenticeship lasted for three years. During that time he was paid no wages but was fed and lodged by his master. He kept up his collection of plant specimens and read old volumes of the Edinburgh Encyclopaedia from which he found out the names of many of plants he saw.

Robert's father left Menstrie in 1826 to work in Thurso. Robert went to live with him there when he had finished his apprenticeship. He opened a baker's shop in Thurso in Wilson's Lane, almost opposite his father's house. He baked a little each day and sold it over the counter. He collected plants in the countryside around Thurso and also developed an interest in geology. He became an authority on these subjects. Sir Roderick Murchison, while speaking to the British Association of Scientists at Leeds, said, "I am proud to call Robert Dick my distinguished friend. Here is a man who is earning his daily bread by his hard work, who is obliged to read and study at night, and yet who is able to instruct the Director General of the Geographical Society. I found to my humiliation that this baker knew more of botanical science -aye - ten times more than I did. " People in Thurso must have thought Robert was a bit strange. He walked about the countryside looking for plants and sometimes spent the nights out of doors in his quest.

In August 1866 Robert Dick collapsed while gathering specimens in a quarry. He died four months later.

Samuel Smiles, an eminent Victorian Philosopher wrote a biography of Robert Dick.