Archibald Paterson, Misc Notes

Petition against Polloc and Govan Railway Bill.

A Petition of Archibald Paterson, in Tradeston, of Glasgow, was presented, and read; taking notice of the Bill for making and maintaining a Railway from the Lands of Polloc and Govan to the River Clyde, at the Harbour of Broomielaw, in the County of Lanark, with a Branch to communicate therefrom; and praying, That the same may not pass into a law as it now stands.

Ordered, That the said Petition be referred to the Committee on the Bill.

 

 

CHARLOTTE STREET, called after the queen of George III., was opened by Mr. Archibald Paterson, partner with David Dale. He built the first Independent Church in Glasgow. Paterson Street, on the south side, is called after him. Charlotte Street, especially its southern part where it had gates, was long the residence of the rich. The philanthropic David Dale, one of the foremost of Glasgow citizens, had his town residence here. He was always ready to forward every scheme calculated to benefit his fellow-men, to ameliorate the condition of the outcast or orphan, or to reclaim the vicious and the criminal. Dale Street, Bridgeton, and Dale Street, Tradeston, are called after him. His name is still fragrant in Glasgow.

 

[http://gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/airgli/airgli0104.htm]

 

Preserving the Bishop’s Castle, Glasgow, 1688-1741

Athol L Murray*

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the accepted view that the Bishop’s Castle (the palace of the Archbishop of

Glasgow) fell into ruin after 1688,and draws on unpublished documents to add to the existing

knowledge of the building and to trace the efforts to save it between 1688 and 1741.

As existing authority in both Church and State disintegrated during the winter of 1688-9, John

Paterson, Archbishop of Glasgow, retired behind the high walls of his palace. Stones lay piled on

the gatehouse roof, in readiness ‘for throwing down in case the rabble should have made any

attempt upon him.’

1

He had good cause to be afraid. Rebels who had seized the building less than

ten years earlier had destroyed Archbishop Burnet’s possessions, ‘And it may reasonably be

presumed this Reverend Prelate had fell a sacrifice to their Devilish fury, had he been in their

way.’

2

Within a few months, Paterson, translated from the bishopric of Edinburgh as recently as

March 1687,was deposed along with his fellow prelates. In 1697 he was allowed to return from

exile to Scotland, where he died in December 1708.

3

His palace, the Bishop’s Castle,

4

one of the

most prominent buildings in Glasgow, had fallen into the hands of the Crown along with other

property of the archbishopric.

If we are to believe one contemporary description the building was ‘formerly without doubt a

very magnificent structure, but now in ruins, and has no more in repair than what was the ancient

prison, and is at this time a mean dwelling.’

5

Hitherto unpublished documents throw doubt on the

accuracy of this statement and reflect intermittent efforts over the next 50 years to preserve the

building. These are the survivors of a much larger body of documentation destroyed or lost by a

fire at the Scottish Court of Exchequer in 1811. The most important are printed as Appendix 2. The

earliest, an estimate for repairs submitted in 1693,shows that the Castle was then far from ruinous,

its dilapidated state being largely attributable to neglect in the four years since Paterson’s

deposition. Extensive, though undocumented, repairs had been carried out as recently as 1674-5,

at a cost of £651 Scots

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[http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&CMD=lccn+27000259&CNT=25+records+per+screen]

The Creation of Kilmory Village

Perhaps influenced by the rising importance of the nearby villages of Ardrishaig and Lochgilphead, both of which had been planned and created in the first decade of the nineteenth century by an adjoining proprietor, John McNeil of Gigha, Sir John, too, planned his own village.

 

 

It was, admittedly, a very diminutive one known as the village of Kilmory, built close to Lochgilphead from which it was separated by a tiny burn. The tenements of the village lined the streets leading up to the White Gates beyond which were the grouunds of the Kilmory estate. Paterson’s Lands or Paterson Street commemorates the name of the builder, Archibald Paterson, who obtained a feu of the site in 1829. A quay was constructed for the use of the fishermen in the 1830’s at Sir John’s expense, whilst Lady Orde provided a girls charity school. The village maintained its fragile identity until the 1840’s but was increasingly considerred to be part of Lochgilphead until 1858 when it was formally incorporated within the boundaries of the Police Burgh of Lochgilphead.

[http://www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/content/leisure/heritage/kilmory]

 

Colhoun (Colquhoun) of Glasgow family papers Ref: TD 301 The Colhoun (also Colquhoun) family of Trongate in Glasgow were involved in the tobacco trade and slave trading throughout the 17th century.
This collection comprises 9 files of business and family papers for the Colhoun family of Glasgow. During the 18th century the family were involved in the slave trade and the letters found in file TD301/6 document the experiences of William Colhoun, who worked as chief mate on a number of slave ships travelling between West Africa, North America and Britain between 1768-1776.
In file TD301/6 there are nine letters to Miss Betty Colhoun of Trongate Glasgow, from her brother William, 1768-1771. In 1769 William sends letters from his voyages on the “Trent” man-o-war, and ships called the “Bellsavage” [sic] and the “Industry.” One of his letters, dated June 1770, is written from Senegal in West Africa, telling his sister about his first experiences aboard a slave trader. He states “We shall sail tomorrow with a hundred and 50 slaves for Potouchan River in Virginia in a very fine vessel which I am chief mate of…it is a very precarious cargo as for me it is the first time…we have always plenty of noise and stink in proportion.”
His next letter, dated October 1770, was written in Oxford, Maryland, and tells Betty that the slaves were sold there and the ship is returning to Glasgow loaded with tobacco. Later his sister marries a Glasgow merchant, Archibald Patterson, and William continues to write to Patterson about his dealings in slaves.
In one letter, written from Sierra Leone in April 1775, he promises to send “three prime slaves which will amount to 120 pounds sterling” to be sold, whenever he can finds the means to remit the proceeds to Archibald, and “…a very fine girl about twelve years of age” which he will send home to Glasgow if one of his sisters would like her. In a later letter from Yongia, Dimba River, dated May 1776 he writes, “I have sent likewise by Captain Richard Wilding of Liverpool two fine slaves to be sold at the West Indies and the money or bills to be remitted to you…The slaves will come to about 80 pounds sterling.” 
The remainder of the collection contains miscellaneous 18th and 19th century family letters and accounts, primarily concerning the management of cotton spinners in Scottish-based cottage industries.

 

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PA

Paterfon’s Mrs. feed fhop, Trongate, No. 78
Paterfon Archibald, tallow-chandler, fhop fouth fide Gallowgate, No. 130
Paterfon Thomas, brewer and maltman, St. Enoch’s wynd
Paterfon John, fpirit-dealer, Argyle-ftreet
Paterfon James, hair-dreffer, fouth fide Argyle-ftreet

[http://www.glasgowhistory.co.uk/Books/1787Directory/DirectoryFrame.htm]

 

Up till 1760, the severity of the ancient manners prevailed in full vigour: no lamps were lighted on the Sunday evenings, innocent amusements were denounced, and people were actually prevented from walking on the day of rest.  In order to enforce this regulation, the magistrates employed certain persons named “compurgators,” whose duty was to perambulate the streets and public walks during divine service every Sunday, and to take offenders into custody if they refused to go home when ordered.  A party of these men, on duty at the Green, thought proper to apprehend Mr Peter Blackburn – a prominent citizen, and ancestor of Mr. Blackburn of Killearn; and the result was that Mr. Blackburn prosecuted the magistrates before the Court of Session, and put an end to the “compurgatory” system of Sabbath-keeping.  This Mr. Blackburn was a member of the famous “Hodge-Podge” Club, along with the father of Sir John Moore, and other celebrities, and figured in the rhyme-register of the club (written by Dr. Moore) in the following fashion:-

[http://www.glasgowhistory.co.uk/Books/1787Directory/DirectoryFrame.htm]

 

PATRICK COLQUHOUN

An eminent merchant, and one of the most popular Lord Provosts that Glasgow ever had. At this time he resided in the second floor of an old tenement in Argyle Street; and yet he was rather proud of himself as a provost. On one occasion, while apologizing for some mistake on the part of an official, his lordship said, “even I myself have made a mistake!” a saying that was not soon forgotten. Mr Colquhoun was the originator of the Chamber of Commerce, in 1783; and in 1789 he settled in London, where he became Chief Police Magistrate of the metropolis.

[page 56]

[page 59]

An inveterate prejudice existed at this time against the sad and sorrowful defection of Independency, arising from the belief, not yet wholly extinct, that soundness in the faith was somehow linked with Presbyterianism alone; so the new sect found but little public sympathy. The first teaching elders in the communion, Mr. Dale and Mr. Ferrier – who had been a minister in the old church of Largo – were hustled on the public streets, and found themselves often obliged to take shelter under some friendly roof. Even the modest “Caunnel Kirk” came in for a share of the common rough usage, till the authorities were called upon to interfere. The prevailing dislike then assumed another form. Crowds of mischievous lads filled the little church to turn the service into ridicule. On one occasion, it having been announced that a certain Mr. Smith was to take part in the services, some of these wicked wags got up a signboard in imitation of a country blacksmith’s, which was fixed above the door of the church, with the inscription, – “Preaching done here by David Dale, Smith and Ferrier!” All these annoyances Mr. Dale soon lived down. The little congregation grew in numbers and influence, and some of its old adherents – for the Communion still exists, under the name of the Old Scotch Independents – tell with justifiable pride of the ranks of carriages that stood in the Grammar School Wynd, waiting on the “skailing” of the Candle Kirk.

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Petition against Polloc and Govan Railway Bill.

A Petition of Archibald Paterson, in Tradeston, of Glasgow, was presented, and read; taking notice of the Bill for making and maintaining a Railway from the Lands of Polloc and Govan to the River Clyde, at the Harbour of Broomielaw, in the County of Lanark, with a Branch to communicate therefrom; and praying, That the same may not pass into a law as it now stands.

Ordered, That the said Petition be referred to the Committee on the Bill.

[http://74.125.113.132/search?q=cache:oitJn51ukwMJ:https://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx%3Fcompid%3D16212+Archibald+Patterson+Glasgow&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=14&client=safari%5D

 

The Anecdotage of Glasgow Mr. David Dale’s grand dinner under difficulties

THIS celebrity of old Glasgow, who was yarn merchant, cotton spinner, banker, and pastor to “The Old Independent” congregation, had his city residence in Charlotte Street, and to it he had invited a large party of wealthy guests to dinner on the 18th day of November, 1795. Among those expected were William Simpson, cashier of the Royal Bank; Gilbert Innes of Stowe, the great millionaire; and the whole posse of the Royal Bank Directory from Edinburgh to meet with Scott Moncrieff, George MacIntosh, and other Glasgow magnates. On the morning of that important and memorable day, all was bustle and hurry-burry in preparation for the sumptuous feast. All went on as well as could be wished until near the appointed hour; when lo! the waters of the Clyde began to ooze slowly but surely through the chinks of the kitchen floor, and ere long the servants were wading about with the water above their ankles. At length the Monkland Canal burst its banks, and like a mighty avalanche the waters came thundering down by the Molendinar Burn, carrying all before it, and filling the low-lying districts of the city in Gallowgate, Saltmarket, Bridgegate, and under portions of St. Andrew’s Square with a muddy stream. The Camlachie Burn also, which ran close by Mr. Dale’s house, rose to an unusual height, and burst with a fearful crash into Mr. Dale’s kitchen, putting out all the fires, and forcing the servants to run for their lives. Then came the question—What could or should be done in this unhappy dilemma? The dinner hour was fast approaching, and the invited guests would soon be there! In this distressing predicament, Mr. Dale applied to his opposite neighbour, William Wardlaw, Esq. (father of Rev. Dr. Ralph Wardla*), and to Mr. Archibald Patterson, another neighbour, for the loan of their respective kitchens, both of whom not only granted the use of their kitchens, but also the help of their servants. But here the further question arose—-How were the wines, spirits, and ales to be got from the cellar, which now stood four feet deep in water? After some cogitation, a porter was hired, and, being suitably attired for the occasion, he received instructions to go down into the deep and bring up the drinkables required. Here again another problem had now to be met and solved—How was the porter to distinguish the respective bins of port, sherry, and Madeira from those of the rum, brandy, porter, and ale? This difficulty was got over by Miss Dale then sixteen years of age, perching on the porter’s back and acting as his spiritual guide and director. After he received his instructions, the porter returned with his fair burden to the lobby of the house; and then went back for the various liquors, which he brought up and delivered to Mr. Dale in good order and condition. All things then went on in a satisfactory manner. The dinner was cooked, placed on the table, and served in the best style, to the great gratification of the Edinburgh visitors and Glasgow magnates, who passed the evening with much mirth and hilarity, which received fresh zest from the peculiar and unforeseen circumstances which had arisen.

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David Dale was one of the most respected citizens of Glasgow at the end of last and beginning of this century. He was born at Stewarton in 1739, where his father was a small shopkeeper. He began life as a weaver, first at Paisley, and then at Hamilton, and came to Glasgow when in his twenty-fourth year. There, in Hopkirk’s Land, in a small shop in the High Street, (1) five doors above the Cross, he began business as a dealer in French yarns. He was very successful in this trade. In 1783, when the Royal Bank first established an agent in Glasgow, he received the agency. He founded, and along with his son-in-law Robert Owen, he long carried on the large cotton mills at New Lanark. And he was engaged in several other manufacturing concerns. But by method and industry he was able to undertake much besides his own multifarious business. He was a magistrate in 1791 and 1794, and gave much time and money to the various charitable and religious institutions of the city. Originally a Churchman, he latterly became a Dissenter, and along with several other friends formed a Congregational Church in Greyfriars’ Wynd. (2) “Though a decided sectarian, he was altogether destitute of that bigotry which too often belongs to such bodies, offering at all times his purse and his support to every Christian scheme, by whatsoever clerical party it might have originated.” So writes Dr. Strang in his “Clubs of Glasgow.”

(2) This was generally known as the “Candle Kirk,” from having been erected at the expense of Archibald Paterson, a candle-maker. Here Mr. Dale was very many years an active member, and himself constantly conducted the services. For this he suffered much ridicule and insult, but he lived these down; and, when he died, the magistrates, and town’s officers with their halberts, and a great crowd of citizens, followed the good man’s remains to the Ramshorn Kirk-yard.

[http://gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/smihou/smihou085.htm#note2]

 

Glasgow grew from a small town to a city of commerce through its dominance of the tobacco trade from the American colonies to Europe in the 18th century. Glasgow merchants had financed trading missions to the Chesapeake since 1707 and they began to dominate the tobacco trade after 1740. Surprisingly, only a small proportion of Glasgow’s merchants were regularly involved in the tobacco trade with the big three syndicates headed by William Cuninghame, Alexander Speirs and John Glassford.

The Glasgow merchants used a store system along the shores of the Chesapeake – Maryland and Virginia. The stores were looked after by Scottish factors who stockpiled hogsheads of tobacco in anticipation of the arrival of a company vessel, which ensured a rapid turnaround. The factors offered credit as well as consumer goods, plantation equipment and money in exchange for tobacco. Many of the bigger stores used slave labour to work on company farms which provided food for the storekeeper and his assistants and also to carry out general labouring tasks.

The Glasgow tobacco lords made their money from re-exporting tobacco through Scottish ports as well as by handling the domestic demand for tobacco. They invested their money in industry and land and many built townhouses in the centre of Glasgow, spreading westwards from Trongate.

The outbreak of the American War of Independence in 1775 sparked the beginning of the end of the tobacco age. The American planters were heavily in debt to the Glasgow merchants and collection of these debts was impossible during hostilities. Glasgow tobacco fleets were also seriously threatened by hostile action. In 1783 when peace came, the now independent United States could send tobacco direct to Europe, cutting out the need for the Glasgow merchants.

[http://www.scan.org.uk/exhibitions/blackhistory/blackhistory_3.htm]

 

Now, two of the subdivisions composing the original Kelvingrove lay in the southwest portion of Nether Newton, alongside each other. The Kelvin swept past the westmost, which was named “Woodcraft,” indicating that it had been reclaimed from wood, and was then under cultivation. The other subdivision was called “Berrie-dyke,” probably from having been in old times remarkable for certain wild fruits. Be that as it may, these two subdivisions of Nether Newton, consisting of about 12 acres, (3) were conveyed, in 1754, by James Campbell (4) of Blythswood, to Alexander Wotherspoon, writer in Glasgow, whose only son, a merchant in Liverpool, sold them, in 1782, to Patrick Colquhoun, an eminent Glasgow merchant.

This gentleman enclosed the lands thus acquired by him, and laid them out in pleasure grounds, with extensive gardens, and other accessories to a country retreat. He also built the mansion now photographed, and a range of offices, naming the whole “Kelvingrove.” This new appellation was appropriate, the house having been placed among fine old timber, part of which may yet be seen near the edifice, while the Kelvin flowed, in a graceful curve, close behind. This was about 1783. Kelvingrove was long one of the most beautiful country seats around Glasgow, and as such has been commemorated in well known poetry.

In these old times, Kelvingrove was more than two miles from the then westmost part of the city at Jamaica Street, which was only partially built. What is now Sauchiehall Street was a narrow, unpaved, country road, full of sloughs and deep ruts. It was in fact, an old “lone,” between hedges, leading from “Swan’s yett” (or gate), near the modern “Cleland Testimonial,” westward to Clayslap near Partick, joining the Partick road at the south end of what is now Kelvingrove Street, Sandyford. So bad was this old “Clayslap road,” as it was popularly called, that it could not be used for carriages, so that the route from the city to Kelvingrove was through the then incipient village of Anderston, and along the Dumbarton Road as far as Sandyford, whence a turn northwards, along a small bit of the end of Clayslap Lone, led to a handsome gate and lodge at Kelvingrove. This gateway was close to the west angle of the modern Royal Crescent, the ornamental iron posts of the adjoining Park gate formed part of it, (5) and some of the old trees which skirted the avenue long lingered on the west side of “Kelvingrove Street,” which is a mere amplification of the old approach to the house.

Mr. Colquhoun, who thus originated Kelvingrove, was a native of Dumbarton, and related to the Luss family. He became one of the leading merchants in Glasgow, and was characterized by great enterprise and intelligence. He instituted the Chamber of Commerce, and the Royal Exchange at the Cross, was sometime Chairman of the Committee of Management of the Forth and Clyde Canal, and was Lord Provost in 1782, the same year in which he became proprietor of Kelvingrove. His numerous excellent publications, and his active exertions in promoting commerce and manufactures, are well known, and need not be enlarged upon.

Sometime after his permanent removal to London, he sold Kelvingrove, in 1792, to Mr. John Pattison, manufacturer in Glasgow, and died in 1820, at the age of seventy-six.

Mr. Pattison enlarged Kelvingrove by acquiring, from the trustees of Blythswood, rather more than 12 additional acres immediately to the north of what had been Mr. Colquhoun’s property. This was in 1803, and the addition formed that section of Kelvingrove alluded to in the outset as part of Woodsidehill. It had been separated from Mr. Colquhoun’s lots of Woodcroft and Berrie-dyke, by the old drystone dyke already mentioned running east and west, north of which was a wood, giving name to the general range of the high grounds, of “Woodside hill.” It was the westmost section of this hill, which Mr. Pattison acquired, stretching north as far as Park Terrace, and sloping westward down to, and bounded by, the Kelvin. Thus Kelvingrove grounds came to consist in whole, latterly, of about twenty-four acres. Mr. Pattison thinned his part of the wood, and otherwise improved his new property. Some of the old natural wood still exists on the slopes below the Russian cannons, and a few wild hyacinths still, after endless digging and delving, put in a feeble appearance every spring.

Mr. Pattison resided at Kelvingrove a number of years, and both he and his sons were well known and enterprising citizens.

In 1806, Mr. Pattison sold the whole property to Mr. Richard Dennistoun, merchant, one of the Dennistouns of Colgrain, a family long connected with Glasgow. Kelvingrove remained in Mr. Dennistoun’s family till 1841, in which year it was conveyed by his sons to the late Mr. Colin M’Naughtan, merchant in this city. (6) Since his death this fine old place has been acquired by the Corporation, and now forms a large portion of the eastmost section of the beautiful West End Park.

 

[http://gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/smihou/smihou061.htm]

 

An engraving derived from a drawing by Robert Paul, a member of the Foulis Academy, and completed in the year of of his death, 1770. The engraving was cut by William Buchanan in the same year.

The view is from Glasgow Cross looking west along Trongate. The Tolbooth is on the right with a sentry box at the door. The equestrian statue of King William III stands outside the adjacent town hall with its arcaded frontage, and the bollards behind the statue mark off a paved area – the “plainstanes” were laid in 1744 – that was reserved for the use of prominent merchants, including the famous “Tobacco Lords.”

The Tron Church and its distinctive steeple are the most prominent landmarks on the south side of the street, but the building on the left was popular with those who wished to get a good view of public lashings and hangings from its bay windows. The well on the left is probably the West Port Well, so called because it was located near the site of the old city “port”, or gate.

Reference: Mitchell Library, FA 4/2

Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Libraries Information and Learning

 

[http://www.theglasgowstory.com/image.php?inum=TGSA01062]