|
| |
Breaks in the chain - Castle Douglas, Lochmaben, Worcester and
London
|
|
This article is extracted from our community forum
I was asked recently if I knew anything about the ancestors of Archibald
Douglas (b: 1726 (Or 1786?) in Lochmaben, Dumfriesshire) and his wife
Mary Hake. An initial trawl revealed that I did not.
However, as
I often do, I returned to look again, as I had noticed that their son
and heir, William Archibald Douglas was an interesting character. He was
involved in the slave trade in Africa, but died in mysterious
circumstances off Madeira on his way home. There is a story that he was
bringing gold home, but this disappeared at the time of his death.
His father may have had some involvement in the slave trade too, as
he was reportedly a privateer. In Archibald's will, there is a mention
of William and Samuel Douglas, merchants in London. There was, however,
no mention of a family relationship.
This prompted me to go back
and look at William's and Samuel's business interests, to see if I could
find a link.
Sir William Douglas of Castle Douglas (d1809), as he
was to become, and his brothers made their fortunes in America. He and
Samuel appear to have operated an import export business, where goods
arriving in America were sold almost as soon as they entered the
warehouse.
Douglas & Shaw, Merchants, of America Square, London
are listed in 1794 and 1814. Who was Shaw?
It turns out that
young James Shaw, from Ayrshire, left Scotland to join is elder brother,
David, in America. David found a place for James with William and Samuel
Douglas. He then returned to Britain, and continued with the firm,
becoming a partner, and, in due course, Lord Mayor of London.
In
1809, he was received a baronetcy as Sir James Shaw of London
(1764-1843), and of Kilmarnock, Co. Ayr, North Britain. On 14 Jan. 1813,
he obtained a second patent, with limitation, on failure of issue male
of his body, to his nephew (ex sorore) John Shaw, of Whitehall Place,
esq. He was now Sir James Shaw of Kilmarnock, co. Ayr, and Polmadie, co.
Kirkcudbright. James Shaw had an only sister, Margaret. It was her son,
John MacFie, who was to become the 2nd Bart of Polmadie, changing his
name to Shaw.
The Polmadie burn is well known to this Douglas
family as the place where we enjoy swimming in one of its pools on warm
summer days. It is also close to Dalry.
Dalry, about 15 miles
from Castle Douglas, is the place where Elizabeth Douglas's grandfather
had a farm. Elizabeth, daughter of William Douglas of Worcester, married
James Douglas (d 1821), William and Samuel's brother.
Elizabeth's first husband, Captain William Stevenson, had run the
Douglas brothers' privateering vessels off the coast of America during
the American War of Independence.
A month or so ago, I was
plugging some gaps on Wikipedia, when I came across a William Douglas,
MP for Plymton Erle. After a bit of digging, I found that he was the son
of James and Elizabeth.
William, the MP, tried unsuccessfully to
obtain the right to become the successor to the Castle Douglas baronetcy
that had belonged to his uncle. One of his supporters was Sir James
Shaw, of whom William was described as a nephew.
Can anyone join
the links for me?
|
Any contributions will be
gratefully accepted
|
|
