This week we will talk about the remaining children of Frank and Anne (Gholson) Glasgow. Frank was the nephew of Nancy Campbell of Adams County. We will begin with their son, Arthur Graham Glasgow. Arthur was born in May 1865 in Richmond, Virginia. In 1885, he graduated from the Stevens Institute of Technology in Mechanical Engineering in Hoboken, New Jersey. In 1885, he joined the United Gas Improvement Company. In 1886, he served as secretary and manager for the Lewiston (Maine) Gas Light Company. In 1888, he was a General Manager and Chief Engineer for Standard Gas Light Company of New York City.
In 1892, he established the firm of Humphreys & Glasgow, Ltd. which was an engineering and construction firm located in New York and London. The firm specialized in building gas plants. He was Chairman of the Board. In 1900, he was Chairman and President of the Building Supplies Corporation of Norfolk, Virginia, and Chairman of the U.S. Delaware World’s Gas Congress of Paris.
Arthur married in October 1901, in Buchanan, Virginia, to Margaret Elizabeth Branch, daughter of John P. and Mary (Kerr) Branch. Margaret was born in October 1876 in Richmond, Virginia. Margaret’s father, John P. Branch, was a President of the Merchants National Bank and the Thomas Branch and Company, Bankers and Brokers of Richmond, Virginia. Mr. Branch served as a First Lieutenant in the Confederate Army and was present at Appomattox when General Lee surrendered.
Arthur was a well-respected chemical engineer and was awarded the Rhoads Medal. He traveled the world. They lived most of their lives in London and Palm Beach, Florida. They had one child, Margaret Branch Glasgow, who was born in 1902.
Margaret died in August 1952, at the age of 76, at the Neurological Institute of New York after a long illness. Arthur died in October 1955 of a ruptured abdominal Aortic aneurysm. He was 90 and living in Palm Beach, Florida at the time of his death. Arthur and Margaret are buried in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia. They left $70 million to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
Arthur and Margaret’s daughter Margaret married in July 1935 in Westminster, London, England to Ambrose Christian Congreve, son of Major John and Lady Helena (Ponsonby) Congreve. Ambrose was born in April 1907 in Westminster, London, England. Ambrose was educated at Eton College, Windsor, Berkshire, England. He also attended Cambridge University, Cambridge, England. He was with Air Ministry Intelligence and Minister of Supply during the Second World War.
In 1955, Ambrose was made chairman of his father-in-law’s company, Humphrey’s and Glasgow, until 1983 when he sold the company. Ambrose was famous for the extensive formal gardens he built and nurtured at Mount Congreve, his family’s 18th-century estate in County Waterford, Ireland. Margaret and Ambrose spent their time living between their home at Mount Congreve in Ireland and their home in London, England, No children were born to this union. Margaret died on June 24, 1995.
I might mention here that Margaret’s uncle, Blythe Walker Branch, (her mother’s brother), was the founder and President of the Richmond Symphony Orchestra, as well as Founder and President of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. A trust was set in place by Frank and Margaret in the 1950s, with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and Virginia Commonwealth University receiving $115 million and thirteen other charities receiving $10 million each upon the death of their last living heir. This came after the death of their son-in-law, Ambrose Congreve in 2011. He was 104 years old. He died in London.
