William Fairlie, 1817 engraving

William Fairlie (1754–1825) was a Scottish merchant in Bengal.

Life

He was the third son of John Fairlie and his wife Agnes Mure or Muir.[1] He came to India in the early 1780s, remaining there until 1812, and was associated with the "Fairlie House" in Calcutta, an agency that traded under a succession of names.[2] He initially went into partnership with John Fergusson in 1782.[3] They operated as free merchants, not beholden to the British East India Company.[4]

The house was also on good terms with David Scott & Co. of London, run by David Scott, and Fairlie became a partner in it.[5]

Enterprises

In a legal case of the 1840s, it was argued that Fairlie had participated in four successive firms based in Calcutta:[6]

  • Fergusson & Fairlie. Fergusson returned to Great Britain in 1789, took over David Scott's business in London, and died in 1793.[7]
  • Fairlie, Reid & Co.
  • Fairlie, Gilmore & Co.
  • Fairlie, Fergusson & Co.

The last of these was succeeded in 1818 by Fergusson, Clark & Co.[6]

From 1793 Fairlie, with Scott and his son, ran for about 20 years a business empire operating in London, New York, India, China and South-East Asia.[7] Fairlie, Bonham & Co., involving Fairlie, H. Bonham and John Innes, was a London house, a successor to Scott, Bonham, Hartwell, Innes & Co.[8][9]

Family

Fairlie married Margaret Ogilvy, daughter of John Ogilvy of Murtle. Their children included:[1]

William Fairlie and young family, group portrait c.1801
  • William Fairlie (1798–1822)
  • John Fairlie (born 1799)
  • James Ogilvie Fairlie
  • Agnes Maria, eldest daughter, married James Fairlie of Holms, her cousin.[10]
  • Margaret Eliza, married John Stuart Hay.

Coodham House

Coodham House, Ayrshire, 2012 photograph

After Fairlie's death, his widow Margaret began construction on Coodham House, near Symington, South Ayrshire, which she named "Williamfield". It became the family seat.[1][11] It later belonged to William Houldsworth.[12]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Burke, Bernard (1871). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland. Vol. I. Harrison. p. 416.
  2. ↑ Greenberg, Michael (1969). British Trade and the Opening of China 1800-1842. CUP Archive. pp. 35–36.
  3. ↑ Powell, Avril Ann (2010). Scottish Orientalists and India: The Muir Brothers, Religion, Education and Empire. Boydell & Brewer. p. 23. ISBN 978-1-84383-579-0.
  4. ↑ Cage, R. A. (12 October 2021). The Scots Abroad: Labour, Capital, Enterprise, 1750-1914. Routledge. p. 160. ISBN 978-1-000-44159-8.
  5. ↑ Singh, S. B. (1966). European Agency Houses In Bengal 1783-1833. p. 11.
  6. 1 2 House of Lords (1843). Reports of Cases Heard and Decided in the House of Lords on Appeals and Writs of Error: During the Sessions 1831[-1846]. Vol. VIII. J. & W. T. Clarke. p. 123.
  7. 1 2 Tomlinson, B. R. (2002). "From Campsie to Kedgeree: Scottish Enterprise, Asian Trade and the Company Raj". Modern Asian Studies. 36 (4): 786. ISSN 0026-749X. JSTOR 3876474.
  8. ↑ Lords, Great Britain Parliament House of (1841). Reports of Cases Heard and Decided in the House of Lords on Appeals and Writs of Error: During the Sessions 1831[-1846]. Vol. V. J. & W. T. Clarke. p. 499.
  9. ↑ "Innes, John (1767-1838), of 9 Broad Street Buildings, London, History of Parliament Online". www.historyofparliamentonline.org.
  10. ↑ Burke, Bernard (1894). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland. Harrison. p. 616. ISBN 978-0-394-48726-7.
  11. ↑ Barczewski, Stephanie (1 February 2017). Country Houses and the British Empire, 1700–1930. Manchester University Press. p. 103. ISBN 978-1-5261-1753-3.
  12. ↑ Adamson, Archibald R. (1879). Rambles Through the Land of Burns. Dunlop & Drennan. p. 4.
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