The Grants of Kilgraston

The Scottish links with slavery and the Caribbean were powerful and plentiful. As a result, the National Archives and the National Library of Scotland, as well as many Scottish university and local collections, contain much invaluable material on Caribbean history. Of course, it was collected by Scottish families relating to their land and property held in the Caribbean. Specialist scholars have always been aware of this. The papers of the Keir family held by the Mitchell Library in Glasgow, for example, are well known. These archives are fascinating for historians, helping understand Scottish and Caribbean history, producing important scholarly books, such as Karras’s Sojourner’s in the Sun, about Scottish migrants in the Caribbean and the Chesapeake or, more recently, Douglas Hamilton’s Scotland, the Caribbean and the Atlantic World, 1750-1820 (2010) (1992). More recently one can note the superb book by Stephen Mullen, based on his Glasgow Ph.D. thesis, The Glasgow Sugar Aristocracy: Scotland and Caribbean Slavery 1775-1838 (2022). At core an economic history, Mullen’s book also explores the repatriation of the fortunes through a series of case studies, a neglected topic.

The bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade in the British Empire in 1807 provoked further reflection, while important research that resulted in the Legacies of the British Slave trade database or the Runaway Slaves in Britain database has made information about Britain’s and Scotland’s connection with enslavement in the world much more obvious and accessible. New types of literature have responded to and helped develop new debates.

There are, of course, plentiful Caribbean archives still in private hands. The success of the fascinating and powerful book by Alex Renton, Blood Legacy: Reckoning with a Family’s Story of Slavery (2021) is due to his use of the Kilkerran archives, as well as his skills as a professional writer. The book is not exactly a family memoir, however. It is also a personal memoir that presents a strong argument in favour of reparations for slavery. It sees the past as strongly found in the present.

This blog has already mentioned John Grant, the Scot who became Chief Justice of Jamaica, and who produced the first set of Jamaican court reports. Grant was one of two brothers, the other being Francis, who left Cromdale in what is now Moray to seek their fortunes in the colonies. After some time in Nova Scotia, they moved to Jamaica, where they prospered, in a group of Scots in the Island, many with links to the legal profession in Scotland. The aim was always to make money, repatriate it, acquire an estate in Scotland, preferably in the agriculturally rich eastern Lowlands, and live as gentlemen. John practised law, and acted as an attorney and agent for absentee landowners, rising, as we have noted, to head the Jamaican judiciary. He married well, to Margaret MacLeod, the Scottish widow of a substantial plantation owner. Francis also acted as an agent and attorney for absentee plantation owners, gaining significant wealth and acquiring the estate of Blackness in Jamaica.

In the 1780s, John Grant arranged purchase of the Kilgraston estate in Strathearn, close to Bridge of Earn. Early in the 1790s, John, whose health was poor, and his wife returned to Britain. John died in Edinburgh in 1793. As his heir, his brother Francis returned to Scotland. It was he who built Kilgraston House. He also married into the local family of Oliphant, marrying Ann Oliphant of the Rossie family.

The family was now established among the Perthshire gentry. This is not the place to track the fascinating story of the family through the Victorian British Empire. It produced the famous painter, Sir Francis Grant, son of the second laird, and assorted military and navy men. Mary Grant, granddaughter of Francis became a notable sculptor. Another daughter of the family married the famous Rajah of Sarawak, Sir James Brooke. 

Richard Blake, a descendant of the second brother, Frances, in his excellent study, Sugar, Slaves, and High Society: The Grants of Kilgraston, 1750-1860 (Buskin Books, 2023) explores not just the colonial origins of the wealth in Jamaica, but also the end of the way of life it had funded. In some ways it can be seen as a melancholy story: a century of luxury and a place in high society, and then loss. Indeed, a disastrous fire in 1872 had required the rebuild of the house. But by 1860, as Blake explains, there was already insufficient income to sustain the way of life. It had come with the wealth generated in Jamaica through the work of slaves, another tragic story, meeting the European demand for sugar, while in due course, when slavery was abolished, compensation was duly received. 

The book is rich in content. It is a fascinating social exploration of upper-class Scottish life in the nineteenth century: fox hunting (the Perth Hunt was based at Kilgraston for a while), art collecting, golf and Germanophilia. The Grants were easily adopted into the landed classes of Scotland on their return from Jamaica, like many other Scots families. An interesting point to ponder. The book raises may other issues beyond that of the Scottish link with Jamaica.

The last Grant of Kilgraston was John Patrick Nisbet Hamilton Grant, who gifted the house to the nation in 1916, sold the estate, and moved to East Lothian where he had inherited estates under an entail (which explains his adoption of Nisbet Hamilton in his surname). He died in 1950. The family’s link with Kilgraston had been just over a hundred years. In the later nineteenth century, the house had been generally let out (including briefly to Andrew Carnegie) and the family lived in more modest properties. The mansion now houses a well known Catholic boarding school for girls.

Many more similar books are needed so we can properly understand his part of Scottish history. One hopes they will be as good as this.

 

Ancient Law: Outside the Norms–Conference

The conference–Ancient Law: Outside the Norms–explored the broad spectrum of innovative, often interdisciplinary, approaches to the study of ancient law that have emerged in recent years. It brought together scholars working on law and legal thinking throughout the ancient Mediterranean world from a variety of disciplines and perspectives, and was particularly concerned with the way in which ancient law can be studied as a social phenomenon. Topics of discussion included perceptions of the law in various time periods and geographical areas, law and identity, legal pluralism, religion and law, and the legal experiences of marginalised groups. By taking a broad methodological, temporary and geographical approach, the conference contributed to further developing the theoretical framework underpinning the study ancient law and creating new connections between scholars working in the field.

The recording of this conference may be found here.

Fully-Funded Ph.D. Opportunity in Legal History

The Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory in Frankfurt/Main is currently looking to recruit for 1 October 2023, or as soon as possible thereafter, a PhD Student (m/f/div) for the project ‘The History of European Union Employment Law’, dealing with the following topic:

Equal pay in the Benelux countries in light of European law (1952-1973).

 

The position is fully funded.

Applications must be submitted by 15 August 2023.

For further information, see: https://www.lhlt.mpg.de/job-offers

 

Postgraduate Research Conference in Honour of Professor Norma Dawson: 11 July

Norma Dawson CBE is Emeritus Professor of Law at the Queen’s University of Belfast. Since 2018 she has been an honorary Professor in the School of Law, notably engaging with the research students in legal history. She served as Dean of Faculty at Queen’s from 1994-1997, having previously been head of the department of commercial and property law. From 2003-09 she was Vice-President of the Irish Legal History Society and its President from 2009-12. She was awarded the Society’s gold medal in 2022.

Her interests also encompass property law and intellectual property law (especially trade mark law). Indeed, she innovated by introducing Intellectual Property in the curriculum at Queen’s in the early 1980s. She has authored books on trade mark law, business tenancies and the legal history of treasure. She was awarded a British Academy Senior Research Fellowship for 2005-2006 to pursue research on legal history. She advised the Northern Ireland Assembly on charity law reform (1985) and the NI Law Reform Advisory Committee on reform of the law of business tenancies (1994).

In 2017, she was appointed CBE in the Birthday Honours List for services to legal education and the development of the legal profession in Northern Ireland, where she had been appointed an Honorary Bencher of the Inn of Court in 2016.

 

Marking the award to her of the degree of LL.D. honoris causa the Law School of the University of Edinburgh is hosting a conference in her honour, where she will speak as well as a number of research students. The agenda is as follows:

10:00am – 10:15am: Welcome (Tea, coffee, biscuits)

10:15am – 10:45am: Presentation & Questions: Huw Sherrard,

“Revocable & Redeemable Always”: Trade Marks and Scotland’s Law of Arms (1933-1953)

10:45am – 11:15am: Presentation & Questions: Lisa Cowan,

“An Analysis of Judicial Responsibility: From the Brehons to the Auld Lawes”

11:15am – 11:30am: Break

11:30am – 12:00pm: Presentation & Questions: León Carmona Fontaine,

“The Doctrine of Simulation in Scotland: Historical and Comparative Notes”

12:00pm – 1:00pm:   Lunch (Cold Buffet, Soft Drinks)

1:00pm – 1:30pm:     Presentation by Professor Norma Dawson,

“Legal Perspectives on the Corbridge Lanx in the Georgian and Edwardian eras – https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_1993-0401-1

1:30pm – 2:00pm: Discussion and Conclusion

Further details may be found here 

Ancient Law: Outside the Norms

University of Edinburgh, Centre for Legal History

Organisers: Prof Dr Paul J. du Plessis, Dr Renske Janssen

The conference Ancient Law: Outside the Norms will explore the broad spectrum of innovative, often interdisciplinary, approaches to the study of ancient law that have emerged in recent years. It aims to bring together scholars working on law and legal thinking throughout the ancient Mediterranean world from a variety of disciplines and perspectives, and is particularly concerned with the way in which ancient law can be studied as a social phenomenon. Topics of discussion will include perceptions of the law in various time periods and geographical areas, law and identity, legal pluralism, religion and law, and the legal experiences of marginalised groups. By taking a broad methodological, temporary and geographical approach, the conference hopes to contribute to further developing the theoretical framework underpinning the study ancient law and create new connections between scholars working in the field.

This event is hybrid and it is open to all but registration is required. See https://www.law.ed.ac.uk/news-events/events/ancient-law-outside-norms

Stephen Bogle, Contract before the Enlightenment: The Ideas of James Dalrymple, Viscount Stair, 1619-1695

On 20 April 2023, the University of Glasgow hosted a splendid event to mark the publication by Oxford University Press of Stephen Bogle’s new book, Contract before the Enlightenment: The Ideas of James Dalrymple, Viscount Stair, 1619-1695, in the Oxford Legal History Series, coedited by Joshua Getzler. The book is excellent, clearly written and very stimulating, although for the sake of transparency I should add that I was one of the supervisors of the thesis on which it is based. The book, however, is far developed beyond the doctoral dissertation. Purchase details can be found here. It is one of the most important books t eb published recently on the history of Scots law as well as of the law of contract.

The event started with lunch, before there were a series of papers devoted to aspects of the  new book, the speakers were Professors Adelyn Wilson, John Ford, Hector Macqueen, and Catharine MacMillan. It was a quite extraordinarily beautiful Spring day in the dramatic settings of the University of Glasgow. The event finished with a reception and a dinner.

Dr Bogle can describe his book better than I, and there is a clear account of his aims in a Linked-In entry here. There is a discount code for purchasers. 

Finally, the book has a most handsome dust-jacket.

London Legal History Society: Wilfred Prest, ‘The Great Litigation Slump”

A reminder that the next LLHS will be given by Professor Wilfrid Prest (University of Adelaide) on 17 May 2023 at 6PM at the Institute for Advanced Legal Studies. Professor Prest will speak on ‘The Great Litigation Slump, 1689-1760: Character, Causes, Consequences’. His talk will be followed by a drinks reception at IALS. Further information, and the (free) registration for the event can be found here 

SIHDA 2023 Registration Open

SIHDA2023 Conference – Registration is open  

 

The 76th session of the Société internationale Fernand De Visscher pour l’Histoire des Droits de l’Antiquité takes place at the University of Helsinki on August 22-26, 2023 with the theme: 

 

Materiality and immateriality of ancient law 

22nd-26th, August, 2023  

Porthania, University of Helsinki, Finland  


The conference is on site and a reasonable conference fee will cover the scientific programme, the receptions and concert, and the lunches and coffees at the conference venue. The provisional programme can be found here Provisional Programme | SIHDA 2023 | University of Helsinki and the link to the registration is available at the conference website Registration | SIHDA 2023 | University of Helsinki

 

For more information: SIHDA 2023 | University of Helsinki 

 

Scots Judges in the British Empire

Last year your blogger published a short study of the appointment of judges to “civil-law” jurisdictions in the British Empire, raising the question of whether there was ever a practice of selecting for these judicial posts individuals trained in Scotland or the Channel Islands. It is a topic that could bear much further research, with proper archival work. It was not your blogger’s intention to try to list such judges, but another rather obvious one has just come to his attention because of some current work on A. V. Dicey.

Dicey had a number of close Scottish friends, and, according to R. S. Rait in the years leading up to the First World War, liked to pass part of the autumn in Scotland visiting them. Thus, in August 1908, Dicey was a guest of his friend Donald Crawford, an advocate, Sheriff, and former Liberal M.P. Crawford had studied at Glasgow and Heidelberg, but most significantly for the connection with Dicey at Balliol College, Oxford.  He had also been a Fellow of Lincoln College from 1862 to 1882. He served as a member of the Scottish University Commission between 1889 and 1897. One can see the links and interest shared with Dicey. Also part of the party was his close friend James Bryce, politician, historian, lawyer, and then Ambassador to the U.S.A.

But I want here to focus on another member of the party, less well known than Bryce. This was Sir Archibald Lawrie. Lawrie has been known to generations of Scots historians because of his volume of 1905, Early Scottish Charters (before 1153). Your blogger had not before realised that Lawrie, who was a member of the Scots bar, had had a distinguished career as a colonial judge in Sri Lanka, then Ceylon. In 1872, he was appointed as a judge in Kandy, before in 1892 he was appointed as senior puisne judge of the Supreme Court in Colombo. He was knighted by Edward VII on his return to Britain.

On retirement, Lawrie lived at the Moss by Dumgoyne, in Stirlingshire, an area well known to your blogger. George Buchanan had been born there, and Lawrie was apparently a remote descendant of Buchanan’s brother. The Moss was a fairly typical, rather boxy, but attractive, Scottish Georgian house with a hipped roof. Lawrie extended it, the architect employed being Charles Rennie Mackintosh. The extension has been demolished, but it is possible to trace photographs on the internet. It was not obviously a success either aesthetically or structurally, but anything by the much-hyped Mackintosh is obviously of interest.

 

Scottish Roman Law Moot

 

The Scottish Universities held their Roman Law Moot on Saturday. The problem involved issues of fixing a price in a contract of sale in an actio venditi by reference to the ‘market price’ and a third party advisor, and specificatio in a rei vindicatio in relation to glass which had been used to make a stained glass panel. Edinburgh made it to the final (Beatrice Bru and Young Yang) after winning 1 and losing 1 in the round robin, and whilst Glasgow ultimately won the trophy, our Senior, Beatrice Bru, took home the prize for best orator having significantly improved throughout the day. The teams were all very enthusiastic and had a fun day. David Johnston KC seemed to have a nice time, too.

 

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