John McNabb

1732 - 1802

Ship-owner and philanthropist. Born in poverty in Dollar, McNabb went to sea rising to become Captain of his own ship. He made his fortune trading from London. On his death he bequeathed a legacy of some £60,000 to the village to build Dollar Academy. Disagreement persisted as to whether the new school should be for poor children or any from the parish. Settled in 1815, the school was built and appropriately endowed, the legacy having grown considerably in the intervening period.

In the early 1930s McNabb's coffin was found in the crypt below a disused Meeting House at Mile End in London. The remains were cremated and his ashes were placed in a niche above the door of the school which his charity founded.

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