1860-1916
Woollen mill manufacturer
David ran the Eskdale mill, constructed by his father Thomas (1819-1896) in 1866.
He was captain of Langholm Golf Club in 1900-1902.
His sons Thomas (1892-1972) and Arthur (1898-1962) joined him in the business.
In 1913, Thomas was the first person to reach the monument to Sir John Malcolm (a large obelisk) on the steep Whita Hill on a motorbike, a 3½ horsepower Rover.
Thomas was a vice-president of the golf club and during the war was a 2nd Lieutenant with the Edinburgh Fortress Light Company, Royal Engineers. He married Eileen Dinwiddie, a Dumfries Red Cross hospital nurse, in 1916. He left the woollen mill business to become a farmer in 1920.
His brother Arthur was left in sole charge of the Eskdale Mill and was Common Riding cornet in the same year, aged 22.
Arthur married Helene Pullinger from France in Dumfries in 1922. Three years later, Helene’s sister May married Willie Bell, son of Major Edward Bell, owner of the Buccleuch mill.
Eskdale Mill failed in 1927 and Arthur and Helene moved to Southampton where they ran a hotel called The Langholm.
Major Bell’s daughter Eleanor disappeared from Langholm in 1934 and went to stay at the hotel for five weeks. She sent the bill to her father, who refused to pay it.
| Born | Langholm, 1860 |
| Parents | Thomas Lightbody (1819-1896), Helen Reid (1819-1884) |
| Siblings | Youngest of 3 brothers and 2 sisters |
| Marriage | Mary Kerr |
| Children | Two sons |
| Died | Torphichen Street, Edinburgh, 1916, aged 55 |