Identity:
William Bilsland, a baker, and Chairman of Billsland Bros Ltd, was a Glasgow Councillor in 1891 at the time of the purchase of Arrangement in Grey and Black, No. 2: Portrait of Thomas Carlyle (YMSM 137) by the City of Glasgow.
Life:
He was Lord Provost of Glasgow from 1905-1908.
Bibliography:
Who's Who in Glasgow, Glasgow, 1909; Times, London, 29 August 1921, p. 11; Bell, Peter, Who was Who in Edwardian Scotland, Edinburgh, 1986.