Eldest surviving son of Allan Gilkerson/Gilchrist and Agnes Boyd; stonemason and monumental sculptor. He married twice:
1. Margaret Young (1825-73), in Portland, Victoria, Australia, in 1856 – where he had gone in the Gold Rush;
2. Ann Lamont (1852-1932), in Rothesay.
He left issue by both marriages. He returned to Scotland to take over the family business when his father died, and became a noted figure in the community, active in local government, masonic and friendly societies. He died of heart disease following a chest infection. His youngest daughter was only 5 at the time.

His obituary in 'The Buteman' (Saturday 16th December 1893) runs as follows:

"ALLAN GILCHRIST.
IN MEMORIAM.
An esteemed correspondent writes:

Allan Gilchrist is dead! To many these words brought sadness and sorrow as they passed from one to another. it was not his lot to mingle with the rich or the great, he went out in amongst earth’s lowly ones, and by them he was trusted and respected as a friend - true as steel, good as gold. Notwithstanding a seeming gruffness and abruptness of manner, he had a warm loving heart that strove to realise the golden rule in his dealings with his fellows. In the presence of adverse circumstances he was undaunted, and often have we heard his “pals” speak of his cheerfulness when, after weeks and months of fruitless toil on the gold-fields of Australia or New Zealand, they would at nights in their canvas tents, or roughly-built log huts, or when camping out with the blue vault of heaven for a canopy, give vent to their disappointment, their misgiving, or their desire to remove to other “claims” - at those times our deceased friend would, with that hearty characteristic laugh, exclaim “What boys! do you forget the old song - ‘If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again.’” Then to encourage them he would break forth into snatches of song, recalling the old country they all loved so well, when they would go to rest contented and happy. But for the sake of the “Auld wife ayont the fire” Allan would never have returned from “wandering in a foreign land,” as he loved the free unrestrained life of the Colonies as much as he disliked and despised the conventionalities and caste so prevalent at home. At heart he was a thorough Democrat, and ever looked on “rank” as “but the guinea stamp.”
After settling down at home for good he identified himself with the Rothesay Working Men’s Club, and became one of the most active members of its committee. It was owing to the sagacious management of a body of men like-minded with himself that the institution became more than self-supporting, and such a means for good amongst the working men in this town. He was one of a representative deputation from the committee of the club asked by the late Mr John Wilson, town clerk, to wait upon him, as he hoped to provide them with a suitable house on moderate terms. It was then they entered on the premises where the club had such unqualified success. Some few years afterwards, and when the committee had expended over £300 in adapting the rooms to their wants and furnishing them, a rumour got abroad that negotiations were going on for the purpose of purchasing the building for private purposes. Mr Gilchrist was one of three who were deputed to wait upon Mr Wilson with instructions to arrange a purchase or a long lease, when the then Town Clerk set their fears at rest by saying “If the committee of the club do not know when they have got a good landlady, the landlady knows when she has a good tenant,” referring to the unsatisfactory tenancy of many previous years. The name of the late John Wilson is still green in the memory of the remanent members of the Rothesay Working Men’s Club and Institute, as not only in this but in numerous other respects he was the best friend the club ever had.
Allan Gilchrist was a warm advocate of friendly benefit societies, and early in 1871 we heard him express wonder that there was not a branch of the Ancient Order of Foresters in Rothesay. He explained the nature of its working and its benefits so forcibly that several informal meetings were held to consider the question, when he always presided. At length in the autumn of 1871 a meeting was held in the old Masonic Hall to meet a deputation from the Greenock District Court for the purpose of applying for a charter, when Mr Gilchrist presided and was one of a few who agreed to become responsible for the money which had to be paid before the charter could be obtained. Unfortunately he was beyond the age (40 years) prescribed by the rules, and so not eligible to become a financial member. Others have reaped the fruit of his labours, and Forestry has now and deservedly become the most flourishing institution in Rothesay. It is right, however, to place on record that Allan Gilchrist was the originator if not the founder of “Court Bute,” A.O.F., in this town and neighbourhood; and it is the noblest monument he ever sculptured, as many members with their wives and families and many a widow and numerous fatherless bairns will testify.
Allan Gilchrist was appointed a working man member of the Town Council, and eventually became Dean of Guild. Public feeling ran high then on what was known as the “Building Yard” question, and the deceased, loving not strife and hating all shams and impostures, retired from public life. To him it seemed like a war betwixt Tweedledum and Tweedledee, and as he was too straightforward for party managers, declining to have his convictions overruled by others, he resolved to mingle no more in the inglorious conflict. Whenever he was subjected to sophistical reasoning he called a spade a spade, sometimes in language more forcible than polite. Every form of hypocrisy he spurned with manly indignation, indeed the leading characteristics of Allan Gilchrist were straightforwardness, honesty, and manliness."