DEAN, Alexander Davidson (1814-1910) — Glasgow
Lithographer, engraver & printer. For work in partnership as ‘Gilmour & Dean’, see John Bowie Gilmour.
An account of a dinner to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the ‘Gilmour & Dean’ firm, gives the following biographical sketch: Alexander Davidson Dean, “A typical specimen of the natives of the Granite City, was born in 1814 at Burnside, Low Stocket Road, near Aberdeen. Showing a strong tendency to the artistic profession, was apprenticed in I831 as engraver to Mr John Kiloh, 107 Union Street; leaving there in 1838, he came to Glasgow under engagement to Mr Thomas Atkinson, with whom and his successors he remained eight years. ln 1846, he, in conjunction with the late Mr J. B. Gilmour, founded the firm of Gilmour & Dean, lithographers and engravers. That the partnership was a success was shewn by the rapidity with which they came to the forefront in the lithographic trade in Glasgow. Notwithstanding his close attention to business, Mr Dean found time to cultivate some of the muses, being both an artist and a musician of no mean ability. Mr Dean takes a warm interest in matters connected with his native city, and is one of the pillars of the Glasgow Aberdeenshire Society” (Aberdeen Press and Journal, 7 May 1896). The son of John and Helen Dean, he was born 11 Jul 1814 and apprenticed to John Kiloh in Aberdeen 10 May 1831. He joined the staff of Thomas Atkinson as chief engraver in 1838. Recorded as an engraver in Gorbals in 1841. On 1 May 1846 he joined John Bowie Gilmour to establish the firm of Gilmour & Dean — with Gilmour the businessman and Dean very much the artist and engraver, known especially for his work on banknotes. He married Jane Leslie (1825?-1893), youngest daughter of the late John Leslie, builder, of Newbyth, Aberdeenshire, with whom he had several children, at Meadowbank Place, Partick, 20 Jun 1850. By 1861, he was employing twenty-one men, thirty boys, and twenty girls — a number increased to 180 hands by 1871. His son William Leslie Dean (1852-1894) was employed in the business from at least that time. After Gilmour’s death in 1891, Dean acquired the assets and continued to run the business under its original name, continuing as chairman of the company until his retirement in 1909 at the age of 95. His descendants remained as shareholders until 1987. He died at 30 Ancaster Drive, Glasgow, 17 Aug 1910, at the age of ninety-six, leaving an estate valued at £7,945.11s.8d. He was buried at Sighthill Cemetery, Glasgow. His daughter Stansmore Richmond Leslie Dean (1866-1944) became a well-known artist in the group known as the “Glasgow Girls”.
Cook Street, Gorbals — 1841
86 Buchanan Street, Glasgow — 1846-1853
— and 13 & 15 Exchange Place, Glasgow — 1853
15 Exchange Place, Glasgow — 1854-1857
3 Exchange Place, Glasgow —1858-1873
105 Hill Street, Glasgow (home) — 1861-1871
50 North Hanover Street, Glasgow — 1874-1905
31 Montgomerie Drive, Partick (home) — 1881-1891
30 Ancaster Drive, Glasgow (home) — 1891-1910
BNA. Census 1841, 1861-1901. SBTI. Tooley.