Scotch Drapers in Liverpool

By Elaine Corbett

This is a story of a family sticking together and helping out with motherless and orphaned nieces and nephews.

Two Sloans (children of Peter Sloan and Mary Gall of Roughside and Knockterra) married two McMillan siblings (born in Minnigaff). 

First Alexander Sloan married Jeannie McMillan in Liverpool in 1880 and then in 1882  his sister Margaret Sloan married Jeannie’s brother James McMillan at Knockterra. Both men were drapers in Liverpool. Jeannie was already dead by the time of her brother's  wedding in 1882 , leaving a baby Peter Sloan.

Margaret Sloan

Alexander and Jeannie are in the census of 1881 at 9 Brownlow Street, Liverpool. He is a travelling draper age 28. Travelling drapers went from place to place selling items from a pack.

Other household members are baby Peter Sloan, and a three-year-old niece Elizabeth (Lizzie) Susan Clive.       Lizzie was the daughter of Jeannie’s sister Margaret McMillan who had died in January 1878, aged 40, three months after the birth of Lizzie.  Her widowed father a mason in Old Luce was looking after her brothers, while another sister was with their Aunt and Uncle on a farm in Old Luce.    

Ten years on in the 1891 census James McMillan and Margaret (Sloan) are living at 16 Brownlow St. along with Alexander, Lizzie Clive, and Peter Sloan,  as Jeannie had died in November 1881 when her son Peter was only 9 months old.

As well as the McMillan/Sloans, Brownlow St. appears to have several families in the drapery trade in 1891. They are:

Caroline Bentham draper’s Assistant aged 20,

William Alexander draper aged 45 (from Auchinleck) on Cumnock Connections tree

Mary Mitchell Alexander wife aged 43 (from Tarbolton)

Robert Alexander aged 19 assistant draper

Samuel Mitchell aged 29 draper

James Warrener aged 71 draper (from Pudsey)

Thomas Pagan aged 42 (from Scotland)

Jane his wife aged 37 (from Scotland)

William Morgan aged 45 Draper

William Rae aged 45 draper (from Scotland)

 

Two years later Peter’s father died, and Peter, at the tender age of 12, continued to live with his aunt and uncle.

In the 1901 census, the McMillan sons are listed as being school age, but Peter Sloan, aged 20 is a civil engineer. His cousins would later be taken into the family business that seems to have gone from strength to strength. Peter chose a very different path.

By the time of the census in 1911, the only drapers on Brownlow St. are the McMillans.

The 1921 census refers to the McMillans as ‘credit drapers’. This means that they sold goods ‘on tick’, payment in instalments with a premium added. Usually aimed at people in the poorer income bracket, some sales could make 100% profit for the draper. It was an early example of the credit card, and not universally approved of, being seen as temptation to the spendthrifts of the lower classes. The company was referred to as McMillan and Sons. James McMillan died at Wh

The term ‘Scotch Drapers’ refers to the travelling salesmen, who although in the early days had been predominantly Scots, they then evolved into drapery businesses employing travelling salesmen working on their own account, and from more diverse ethnic groups. The salesmen had to pay into the business, and act as tallymen, collecting dues from customers who bought goods ‘on tick’.

Peter Sloan however had received his education at the Liverpool Institute and served his apprenticeship with Messrs C. S. Wilson & Co of Regent Road, Bootle. He joined the White Star Line two weeks after the completion of his apprenticeship and served on various vessels both in the Atlantic and Mediterranean routes. He was shown serving as an electrician aboard the Cretic in October 1905, his ship prior to that being stated as the Celtic; at this time his address was listed as 103 Vine St. Liverpool.

Peter married Annie Blair, a Belfast girl, in August 1908 and they set up home together in 14 Newcastle Rd. Wavertree, Liverpool. Peter was a Marine Electrical Engineer by this time.

A year later Peter had risen to the position of Chief Electrician. It must have been with great enthusiasm that he signed up for his next assignment in Southampton.

Peter Sloan

The ship he signed up to was RMS Titanic. 

In April 1912, Peter set sail from Southampton, leaving Annie in Liverpool. They had no children. He was part of the crew that kept the ship’s lights and systems running.

When the Titanic hit the iceberg, electricians like Peter were among the heroes who stayed at their posts to keep the lights on so passengers could see to escape.

Peter Sloan’s body was never recovered, but his story became part of Titanic history — a reminder that sometimes the greatest legacies aren’t in money or business, but in courage.

 

The Ayr Bank Crash

 by Roberta McGee

Douglas, Heron & Company was a Scottish Bank with its Head Offices in Ayr. Also known as the Ayr Bank it had a small branch in Glaisnock Street, Old Cumnock. The bank opened in 1769 and folded in 1772, reopening briefly between September 1772 and August 1773, but on 12th August 1773 it was dissolved. 

The 1760s in Scotland brought many improvements to agriculture and manufacturing. More investment was required and credit was becoming harder to get. The two main Scottish banks. the Bank of Scotland and the Royal Bank of Scotland, were unwilling to make large advances so Douglas, Heron & Company stepped into the void to increase the supply of credit. 

Many of the 131 original partners were substantial landowners based in the south-west of Scotland. This made the Company seem very secure because the deposits were backed by the partners' lands as collateral. However, there were problems from the start. When the Ayr Bank was formed the nominal capital of the Company was £159,000 of which £96,000 was immediately subscribed. However, no more that 80% of the capital was ever subscribed. In addition, there was a lack of central control with each Branch acting independently of Head Office and having their own Board of Directors. 

None of the partners had much practical banking experience nor were they protected by limited liability. They had a rather cavalier attitude to lending and loans were handed out in abundance. Six months later they discovered that a great deal of money had flowed out and very little had been taken in. The Bank had granted many loans to favoured customers and issued bank notes to cover its position. It became akin to an Old Boys' Club. By June 1772 it had issued £1.2 million through advances and bills of exchange accounting for two thirds of Scotland's currency. The Bank relied on credit from the London bank Neal, James, Fordyce and Down which collapsed during the crisis of 1772. 

Heavily in debt and unable to meet demands for cash on its banknotes, the Ayr Bank closed on 25th June 1772. The Bank briefly reopened for a year but was eventually dissolved permanently. It took at least twenty years to be wound up. The collapse had a significant impact on Scottish landowning families, some of whom were forced to sell their lands to cover their debts. Those who could not cover their debts faced prison.

'The essential errors of the Ayr Bank were trading beyond their means; divided control by permitting branches to act independently; forcing the circulation of their notes; giving credit too easily; ignorance of the principles of business; and carelessness or iniquity of officers.

(Source: History of Banking in Scotland - William Kerr)

After its failure one of the observations during the inquest was that 'much of this credit was diverted into foreign trade, speculation in West Indian land, and expensive houses in Edinburgh rather than being invested in agriculture, manufactures etc.'

(Source: Precipitation and Fall of Messrs. Douglas, Heron & Co. Report, 1778)

Two local men who were forced into bankruptcy because of the failure of the Ayr Bank were John Mitchell of Sunnyside of Wallacetoun, who was sequestrated on 9th March 1774 and Alexander Mitchell of Hallglenmuir, who was named as Factor in John Mitchell's sequestration notice. Whether John Mitchell and Alexander Mitchell were related is uncertain.

The London Gazette 12/3/1774 

A few years later Alexander Mitchell himself suffered bankruptcy. His relative, Robert Boswell, Writer to the Signet, attempted to borrow money to aid Hallglenmuir. 

'Mr Robert Boswell to try if £1000 can be borrowed by me to relieve Hallglenmuir. (Alexander Mitchell of Hallglenmuir, a kinsman, was ruined in the failure of the Douglas, Heron Bank)'

Source: Catalogue of the Papers of James Boswell at Yale University - Vol. 2

'Alexander Mitchell (died between 1780 & 1795) was owner of the Estate of Hallglenmuir in Auchinleck Parish. The lands were sold to Hugh Logan of Logan c1775-1779 and Mitchell went abroad to escape his creditors in 1780. On a letter from Mitchell dated 18/5/1780 and written aboard the ship on which he was fleeing the country James Boswell wrote N.B. - he died abroad"

Source: The General Correspondence of James Boswell 1766-1769

Hugh Logan of Logan was also a victim of the Ayr Bank crash and had to sell off property including Logan House.

So where did Alexander Mitchell abscond to?

His parents were John Mitchell and Elizabeth Boswell, sister of John of Knockroon. One of Elizabeth's brothers was Charles Boswell. Charles emigrated to Jamaica about 1745 and was the resident attorney to the very wealthy Dawkins family of sugar planters. He was also attorney for the Worcester and Roundhill Plantations of William Hall from 1775 to 1793.

Perhaps Alexander Mitchell joined his uncle in Jamaica.

Charles, who was married, died in 1796 at St James, Montego Bay, Jamaica. He was 77 years old and had lived in Jamaica for fifty years.

An interesting entry in Cumnock Kirk Sessions

Cumnock History Group

Dr Patrick Douglas of Garrallan was another investor in Douglas, Heron & Co. and he faced potential ruin when it collapsed. He managed to hold on to both his Ayrshire and Jamaican properties through the expertise of the banker John Ballantine who helped him avoid financial ruin.

Patrick had extensive trading links with Virginia and Jamaica. His younger brother William Douglas had emigrated to Virginia about 1750 and owned the plantations of Garrallan, which lay along the Potomac River, and Montressor, both in Loudoun County, Virginia. These were probably tobacco plantations relying heavily on enslaved labour. When the British colonists arrived in Virginia they divided the land into large areas suitable for farming. The land was often taken from the Indians through cancelled treaties or violence. In 1782 William Douglas died a very wealthy man in Virginia. In his Will he left "the Negro wench Molly" her freedom. 

When the American War of Independence (1775-1783) interrupted his business in Virginia Patrick expanded his interests in Jamaica.

Another young brother, Charles Douglas, had left Scotland as a young man to become the resident manager of their Jamaican estates a few miles inland of Port Antonio. Between 1777 and 1799 they had several properties. The main property was Ayr Mount, a sugar plantation, whose mansion house was Springbank, a smaller one for animals called Nightingale Grove and Finches, which was 160 acres. Charles was also attorney to other plantations. 

1786 was Robert Burns's annus horribilis. He was short of money because Mossgiel farm was so unproductive and he and his brother Gilbert were barely scraping a living. His girlfriend Jean Armour was pregnant and her angry father, who was opposed to his daughter marrying a poor farmer, was looking for a financial settlement. So his way of dealing with his troubles was to embark on an affair with Highland Mary Campbell and to make his escape to Jamaica. 

John Ballantine was a patron of Rabbie's and was also a good friend of Patrick Douglas. He asked Patrick if his brother Charles in Jamaica might have a position for Rabbie. He did - as a book-keeper. However, a book-keeper on the plantation did not work with a pen and ink, he worked with a whip and dogs. Rabbie's job would have been to oversee the slaves. Whether he was aware of this or not is uncertain. Three times he was booked to sail to Jamaica but could not raise the nine guineas to pay for the fare so Gavin Hamilton suggested he try and sell his poems to raise the money. Rabbie took his advice and his book "Poems, Briefly in the Scottish Dialect", commonly known as the Kilmarnock Edition, became an overnight success. 

Jean Armour gave birth to their twins in September 1786 and they decided to remain together. Rabbie's plans to go to Jamaica were abandoned and an orphan boy, known to the Douglas family, went in his place.

When Charles Douglas died at Springbank, Ayr Mount, Port Antonio, Jamaica in 1815 he left his Jamaican properties to his brother Patrick's daughter, his niece, Jean Douglas who had married Hamilton Boswell in 1807. Hamilton's father was John Boswell of Knockroon who sold his property to James Boswell of Auchinleck on the failure of Douglas, Heron & Co. When Jean and Hamilton married it was written into their marriage contract that he must take the name 'Douglas' so he became Hamilton Douglas Boswell.

Mitchell, Pioneer Settlers in Ontario, Canada

 by Roberta McGee

    Andrew Mitchell was born in New Cumnock in 1745, the year of the Jacobite Rising. He married a much younger Anne Kennedy in 1796 in Ochiltree and took on the tenancy of Burnockhead farm,

Ochiltree in 1798 where he farmed until 1827, raising a family of eleven children there. 

    The first of Andrew and Anne Mitchell's children to emigrate was Andrew Mitchell who was born in Burnockhead farm. He was 23 years old when he emigrated to Canada in 1833. He was one of the early settlers in Spencerville in the Township of Edwardsburgh, Ontario, along the St. Lawrence River, and married a Scottish girl, Elizabeth Irvine Graham, in 1843. A few years later they moved to Northeast Hope, then to Elma Township and finally to Molesworth which was in Wallace Township in Perth County where they lived across the road from his brother John and his family. Initially they lived in shanties. Andrew, a farmer and a carpenter, and Elizabeth had at least eight children. Andrew died in Wallace Township, Ontario, in 1897.

Andrew & Elizabeth Mitchell and family c 1870- Owen Mitchell

    Andrew and Anne's oldest son John Mitchell was born in Burnockhead Farm, Ochiltree, in 1798. He married Mary Gibson in 1826 in Old Cumnock. She was the daughter of William Gibson, a weaver then snuff box maker, in Cumnock. Snuff box making was a lucrative trade in the area in the first half of the 1800s. The boxes were made of wood, mainly sycamore, with highly decorative lids and fitted with a 'secret hinge' or 'invisible wooden hinge' to prevent evaporation of moisture in the snuff inside. The production of the boxes was at its peak between 1820 and 1830 but, after that period, it gradually died away mainly because the fashion of taking snuff began to decline. William Crawford was the self-acclaimed original maker of the snuff boxes. He was also, by his first marriage, the brother-in-law of William Gibson, Mary's father. In 1811 he introduced William Gibson to the snuff box making trade, who in turn spent five years teaching his son-in-law, John Mitchell, how to make snuff boxes. 

    In 1852 John and Mary Mitchell decided to emigrate to Canada where John founded Molesworth, a small community located in the town of Huron East in Southwestern Ontario. It was on the border of the Township of Grey in Huron County and also on the border of the neighbouring County of Perth, where it was adjacent to Wallace Township. 

    Canada was still a British Colony in 1852. Over the years Treaties had been made by the British Crown with the First Nations to purchase their land. The First Nations were formerly called Indians and were the descendants of the original inhabitants of Canada who had lived there for thousands of years before explorers arrived from Europe. The land, on the shores of Lake Huron, became known as the 

Huron Tract. It was acquired by The Canada Company, a land company formed in the United Kingdom, and sold off in Lots to early settlers. For the settlers the prospect of owning land was an incentive. Acquiring land was made easier in 1842 when The Canada Company began a leasehold system whereby settlers had ten years to pay for the land. The largest group of settlers to Huron County were from Scotland. 

    John immediately spotted an opportunity. He bought Lots 52, 53 and 54 which were situated beside a river. He believed that the intended Highway 86 would come through the river and, on this assumption, he built a store and post office on Lot 52. He sold Lots 53 and 54 to other settlers coming into the area. A dam was built on the river, followed by a sawmill, while also on Lot 52 a school and other houses and businesses sprang up. Pioneer settlers in Canada faced the challenging task of building homes and communities from scratch and initially they had to live in shanties. 

Mail carrier in front and John's daughter-in-law Maria and granddaughter in doorway
Source: Seaforth & Brussels and their Neighbourhood

    Molesworth became a thriving community and John, Mary and their family, and extended family, settled well into their new lives with John becoming a Justice of the Peace there. As well as owning a store and a post office, John was a farmer and a saw miller. Religion played an important part in their lives. Their roots were Free Presbyterian, however, on the 1871 census his religion is recorded as Christadelphian with further censuses recording his religion as Presbyterian again. 

    John died in 1873 but his family carried on in the community he had founded. In 1873 his son Charles built a Bee House on Lot 52 and became known as 'The Bee King', while his other son Robert, grandson Edward and great grandson Allen, carried on the tradition of storekeepers in Molesworth.

The Mitchell House & Apiary
Source: Seaforth & Brussels and their Neighbourhood

    John and Mary were joined in 1853 by sister Margaret Mitchell, her husband John McNeish and their family. They took a farm beside them in Molesworth. Margaret was born in Burnockhead in 1817. She married John McNeish, a blacksmith, in 1841 in Old Cumnock. In 1851 they were living on the north side of Townhead Street in Cumnock and in 1861 they were living in Wallace Township, next door to Margaret's brother. 

    The last child of Andrew Mitchell and Anne Kennedy to have links with Canada was Helen Mitchell who was born in 1803 in Burnockhead. Helen married Cumnock born Andrew Thomson in 1825 in Old Cumnock. Their first three children were born in Cumnock before they moved to Mauchline in 1832 where they went on to have another five children. In 1841 Andrew, Helen and their family were living in Cowgate, Mauchline. On the 1851 census the family was living in Cowgate Lane, Mauchline. Andrew was a shoemaker and sheriff officer. Helen appears to be deceased but I have been unable to track down her death. 

    Andrew and his children moved to Canada after Helen's death. The 1861 Canada census shows Andrew living alone in Hawick, Huron County, Canada West. His children had married and settled down around the area. 

His oldest son Alexander Thomson married Canadian born Belinda Meredith in 1854 in Gore County, Ontario and they lived next door to his Uncle Andrew Mitchell, his mother's brother, in the Township of Turnberry, Huron County.

Son Andrew Thomson married Ann Eliza Fergusson about 1854 in Ontario. He was a cooper and died in 1899 in Chatham, Kent, Ontario. 

Son Hugh Thomson, a blacksmith, married Margaret Mair in 1853 at Riccarton, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire. They settled in Waterloo, Canada West, where Hugh died in 1898. 

Daughter Jean Helen Thomson married John Adams in 1858 at Waterloo, Ontario and after his death married William Scott in 1876 at Wellington, Ontario. Her father Andrew was living with them in 1871 at Proton, Grey South, Ontario.

Daughter Agnes Thomson, like her brothers, married soon after she arrived in Ontario. Her husband, James Angus Cooper, was born in Monkton, Ayrshire and they married in 1856 at Galt, Ontario.

An interesting account of James & Agnes Cooper's life in Proton

Source: 'The Township of Proton, 1982'

James emigrated from Scotland to Canada in 1853 settling for a time in Georgetown where he worked on the construction of the Grand Trunk Railway. In 1856 he married Agnes at Galt, Ontario. In 1859 they settled on Lot 7, Con. 14 of West Luther Township. The settlers who arrived before them helped them build a shanty and log stable on their property, which they called "Stoney Hill Farm". James operated a lime kiln on the hills of his farm. Their house was replaced by a store with living quarters, built by James on top of the hill. It was a typical general store of the time selling groceries, yarn, hardware etc. Mrs Cooper was much valued for her role as a midwife and nurse for the early settlement. To assist with her nursing she grew herbs in her garden'.

The indigenous people must have roamed freely amongst them. One day a First Nations man walked into their house while they were having dinner, gestured James to stand up, then he sat down in James's chair and ate the rest of James's dinner! 

Middle Row left to right James Cooper, Andrew Thomson Snr., Agnes Thomson Cooper
Cooper Family - Ancestry - various

In 1881 Agnes's father Andrew Thomson was living with the Coopers. He died on 5th October 1887 at Luther West, Ontario. Agnes died on 29th July 1923 at Mount Forest, Wellington, West Luther having fractured her skull when she fell down some stairs at her home.

Youngest daughter Grace Thomson was born in 1845 in Mauchline and died on 21st June 1923 at Mount Forest, Wellington County, Ontario, one month before her older sister Agnes Thomson Cooper. She married her first husband James Hunter, a farmer, in 1865 at Grey, Ontario. James, who was born in 1828 in Berwickshire, Scotland and died in 1889 in Mount Forest, was a pioneer settler, having arrived in Canada with his three brothers in 1857 when they purchased a homestead of 100 acres. At that time the land was all bush and there were no roads. He paid $1.50 per acre for his land. In the early days he was appointed Justice of the Peace, holding the position until his death and established the Post Office at Egerton, Ontario, where he was Postmaster.

Grace Thomson Hunter - Ancestry shared originally by Brian Maier

Grace married a second time to John Moore in 1903 in Wellington County. She died on 21st June 1923 at Mount Forest, Washington County, Ontario.

The Canadian County Atlas Digital Project