CULTURE
‘For the last eight years of Sir William Burrell’s life they had remained totally estranged’
human kindness. After the war she returned to live with her aged parents once again as she had not the means to do otherwise. Things, however, went from bad to worse.
There were endless staff problems and when their domestic arrangements became diffi cult her parents abandoned her and went off to stay in a hotel, leaving her almost penniless and at the mercy of malicious servants who took pleasure in mistreating their daughter. By this time Marion had reached breaking point and in utter desperation she fi nally fl ed penniless from her family home, never to return. It seems hard to believe that she was aged 47. Kind neighbours were happy to house her
until she was able to support herself for a year as a matron at a boy’s prep school. Her aunt, Mary Mitchell, also welcomed and employed her for a time and then she travelled to South Africa and Australasia, working her way as a nurse, stewardess, governess and lady’s companion. Back in Scotland she was still hard up but
refused any contact with her parents. In 1958 Sir William died aged 96, his wife Constance following three years later. Burrell tried to cut his daughter off without a penny but under Scots law, Marion was able to receive one third of his estate so, at the age of 58, she was free at last to buy a property of her own. The home she chose was a modest fl at at Findhorn Place in Edinburgh. For the last eight years of Sir William Burrell’s
life they had remained totally estranged though father and daughter had much in common and countless interests which they longed to share. In spite of their confl icts Marion never ceased to admire her father and take enormous pride in his collection, for Burrell was at heart a generous man who strove to benefi t mankind by endowing his life’s work to his native city of Glasgow. The Burrell Collection is a unique testament to him, a trove of rare value because it was assembled by one extraordinary man. Though the ghosts of the past continued to
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haunt her, Marion’s intrepid spirit overcame adversity. At the ripe old age of 75, she aston- ished us all by enigmatically changing her name to Silvia. In the end, the indefatigable Miss Burrell ensured that the story of her trou- bled life would have a happy ending. During her declining years at Findhorn Place she had continued to live frugally, so when she died, aged 89 in 1992, it came as a complete surprise to discover that Sir William’s daughter had endowed a new lifeboat. The following year saw a great celebration at
Girvan harbour in Ayrshire when crowds gath- ered to witness the naming of a new Mersey Class lifeboat which would now be known as ‘Silvia Burrell’. As a shipbuilder’s wife I had never launched a ship but that day I was asked to perform the naming ceremony and wore the little turtle brooch which William Burrell had given his seven-year-old daughter after she launched the Strathlorne for Burrell & Son eighty years before. Her father’s fortune had come from the sea and by honouring the RNLI, my godmother paid her fi nal tribute to the gallantry of those heroic men who preserve the lives of those who fall foul of it.
Top left: Marion acts as hostess at the Mayshiel shoot. Above: Meeting the Queen at the opening of the Burrell Collection in 1983.
FACTS Collector’s Daughter, a book by SMO Stephen is out now priced at £9.99.
FIELD
The Burrell Collection, Pollok Country Park, 2060 Pollokshaws Road, Glasgow Tel: 0141 287 2550
www.glasgowlife.
org.uk
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