Report on research trip to East and North-East of Scotland (7-16 September 2012)
By Meike Fellinger
The aim for the visit was:
1. To establish contacts and a scholarly exchange with leading historians of Scotland whose work is directly relevant to my own research.
2. To identify further archival sources, family portraits, and secondary literature about Scottish merchant seamen who were engaged in the import of Chinese produce to Gothenburg, London and the Netherlands on private account; and on those who were engaged in the re-export, contraband trade and retailing of
Chinese manufactures (including tea, silk textiles, porcelain) in Britain.
3. The visit was also aimed at identifying actual Chinese export wares
(commissioned items in particular) that are still held in private collections and public museums, at best those with a definite connection to the families investigated in my thesis.
4. To get in touch with local historians and curators of the different castles and mansions that still hold substantial amounts of Chinese export wares that are not even catalogued or identified (!) and to assist them in reconstructing the history and context of these objects.
5. My trip was, lastly, intended to yield information about the nature of the towns that appear to have been the centres of smuggling for Gothenburg-based merchants and their relatives and business partners in East and North-East of
Scotland. Thus, I drove along the Eastern and Northern coastline and visited the tiny harbours/and bays from where much of the goods were landed. At
Eyemouth, one of these smuggling centres, I visited a local museum (managed by
Derek James, who is writing a PhD on the local history of Eyemouth at the moment) that was opened to show the many hiding places and secret tunnels that were constructed in the private mansion of one the largest tea smugglers in
Scotland, John Nisbet.
Details on the itinerary
Day 1: Durham: On my way up north I stayed overnight at Durham where I visited the historic centre, university and cathedral. The next morning I got to the borderlands of
Scotland where I had the first meeting relevant to my research. Day 2 Eyemouth: The
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harbour of Eyemouth (which has been considerably altered and modernised since its growth to importance in the first half of the eighteenth century) is still overlooked by a fortified mansion, built by John Adam in the 1750’s to the special requirements of John and David Nisbet – both notorious smugglers and, at least John, a life-long bachelor.
Gungreen House was opened to the public as a museum after initial research on the house and Nisbets’ activities led to the finding and excavation of a range of secret storage spaces (chutes and tunnels) behind walls and in the cellar that ran through all storeys of the house. One large chute is still lined with the material within which tea was transported in the first place. The wooden tea chests were used to line the stonewalls of the chute, and wax paper was added to protect the tea from humidity. On top of the chute (in the servants’ quarters), one can still see the bottom flat through which tea would have been poured in. The whole chute was built like a funnel with a small opening at the bottom of the construction, well hidden, through which tea could be decanted in smaller containers. One can only speculate if individual buyers actually came to the house to buy their supplies; or if this was only used as a warehouse from where smaller quantities could be brought in wholesale and retail circuits. My discussion with Derek
James, the managing director of the house proved particularly fruitful, since we exchanged a great deal of information about individual merchants that we came across in our research. He kindly provided me with hardcopies of announcements made in local newspapers in the early 1780s concerning public auctions of tea and porcelain and the stock and prices of goods for a range of wholesalers and retailers of Chinese tea and porcelain in Edinburgh. Interestingly, ‘Gottenburgh teas’ was the term they used to market their goods. Following up on our discussion, I will try to trace the suppliers of
John Nisbet in Gothenburg and find out whether these were the same people that provided also for James Rose and James Moir/Moore in Banff and along the
Aberdeenshire coast and if not, whether there existed a rival network of smugglers.
Day 3+4: Edinburgh was my next destination. First, I went to the Scottish National
Portrait Gallery and the National Galleries of Scotland to gather information and photographic evidence about the ‘more eminent’ clan members of the families I am dealing with. Here, I noted down all portraits in which conspicuous display of (possibly)
Chinese silks is made (including portraits of ‘The Honourable Mrs Graham’ and ‘Mrs
Campbell of Ballimore’). Since most individuals that pop up in the East Indies trade as merchants or mariners are of a lesser branch of a famous clan, or simply the younger brothers of known politicians, aristocrats and writers (who had to seek reputation and a
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fortune elsewhere), it is not easy to find any evidence on them in genealogical works or other secondary literature.
Family portraits sometimes include these merchants. However, the curators in catalogue descriptions rarely point them out. This might come as a surprise when we consider the fact that the gradual influx of wealth to Scotland came largely from the extension of commerce in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (to the Baltic, West & East
Indies). But those men and women who carried on that trade have rarely left traces in the visual recollection of ‘famous Scots’ that forms the core of portrait displays in
Scottish museums. However, for my particular research, it is important to seek visual evidence of the consumption of Chinese goods in paintings, especially in those that depict close friends and family members of the merchants I am studying. Often, highranking members of a clan commissioned wares or were given gifts from China by their lesser-known brothers, cousins and nephews. Much of this material evidence of the commission trade is still held in private collections across Scotland.
The next day was dedicated to research in the National Archives of Scotland, a repository with substantial holdings relevant to my study. In preparation of the trip, I have identified a number of sources I wanted to see there. I mainly went through the extensive papers of the Gordon family (GD44/43 and GD44/51/466), which includes personal correspondence between Alexander, Duke of Gordon, and a number of members of the Irvine clan. I have also identified a great deal of receipts and household/personal accounts that reflect the acquisition of Chinese silk clothing and lacquerware on account of Jane, duchess of Gordon and her husband whilst residing in
London in the 1760s. I have made a list of items I would like to order copies from if I won’t get the chance to come to Edinburgh once more in Spring 2013 due to writing restrictions.
Day 5 Montrose and Aberdeen: After working a bit longer in the archive in Edinburgh,
I set off towards Aberdeen and made a stopover in Montrose (situated on the East coast, south of Stonehaven), home of numerous merchants with whom the Irvines and
Campbells dealt with, and a smuggling haven for tea and brandy in much of the eighteenth century. Unfortunaely, there is not much left from the old structure of the town today. There is a local record office, which seems to have some material relevant for the period of my study, but its short opening times prevented me from doing any research on the spot. I will get in touch with the staff there via email and see if there is anything of relevance I could order copies from.
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At the University of Aberdeen I met Dr Andrew MacKillop who researches the involvement of Scots in the English East India Company, both merchants and military men. We planned to have a quick lunch together but our conversation proved so fruitful that we met twice that day and discussed my thesis and related themes for about 4 hours. Dr MacKillop provided me with an extensive list of additional readings (both primary and secondary sources) on Scottish history and put me into contact with various colleagues of his in the UK and the US, whose work and advice would be enriching to follow (including Douglas Catterall, Katrin Zickermann and Steve Murdoch).
We discussed in great detail the arguments and potential directions that my project could take in the future and I am very grateful for the intellectual exchange that I had this day. Certainly, it reassured me of the originality of my project and helped me to think more clearly about the ways in which I could frame my broader arguments.
Day 6: Banff and surrounding area
The next two days were spent on the Northern coast. The twin-ports/towns of Banff &
Macduff proved a convenient place from where I was to discover the area. Both towns existed and flourished in the eighteenth century and the many beaches and bays surrounding the area (The Moray Firth) were notorious smuggling places for
Mediterranean produce and goods from the East. Judging by the evidence from the
Irvine correspondence, Banff and the surrounding area including the port of Portsoy were used to land the contraband of leading merchants with whom Irvine co-operated.
Many of his close friends and partners in crime originated from this corner of Scotland, including Arthur Abercrombie, Adam Duff, George Ouchterlony, James Rose and James
Moir. The old town of Banff still features the merchant house of the Duff family, which was built in the late seventeenth century. Just outside the historic town of Banff I visited
Duff House – an impressive mansion built by William Adam, for William Duff, Lord
Braco, 1st Earl of Fife. His son James 2nd Earl of Fife (1729-1809) added much of the portrait collection and original furnishings and gave the house its distinctive rococo charme. Unfortunately, most of the interior was sold off at private auction in 1906 when the owners of the house faced financial difficulties. Since then the trustees of the house
(which is managed by The National Galleries of Scotland, Historic Scotland, and the Banff
& Buchan District Council) seek to acquire furniture and furnishings that are similar to what was originally in the house. A few original pieces, however, were gifted by descendents, including an incomplete dinner armorial service from the mid-eighteenth century that must have been commissioned by Lord Braco, 1 st Earl of Fife. The survival
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of the inventory of the house from 1761 (which was kindly shown to me by the administrative staff of Duff House), gives an actual glimpse of the original rococo splendour of the house. The dining room featured papier-mâché ceilings in chinoiserie style, depicting pagodas and chinamen. There were gilt chinoiserie tables and ‘Two
Large Looking Glasses in fine Carved Gilt Frames, with figures of three birds on top of each glass’ (more details are given in the inventory). The latter probably referred to
Chinese reverse mirror paintings, one of the decorative items that were imported as gifts and memorabilia by many China traders from the late 1730s onwards. The Private
Drawing Room had yellow damask curtains, and a collection of fine chinaware was scattered over many rooms.
After a tour of the house, which nowadays functions as an ‘Northern outlet’ of the
National Galleries of Scotland, I met with Dr Tico Seifert, a curator at the National
Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh who is also responsible for the display and research at Duff House. After a good discussion with him, in which I told him a bit more about the
‘Europe’s Asian Centuries’ project at Warwick and my own research on private trade, he invited me to write an article about the China connection of the Duff family and the armorial ware and original furnishings in particular for the journal ‘Historic Scotland’ which reaches a much broader readership than other academic journals. The National
Galleries have a special interest in supporting new research on Duff House. For now, there is only one strictly historical article published which looks at the Duff family’s connection to slavery.
My next destination was Elgin in search of architectural remains and textual evidence about the Abercrombies, Ross’ and Campbells. I visited the Elgin Local Heritage Centre
(with its exquisite library concerned with Scottish peerage, local history and genealogy).
Here, I was able to read up on different families with connections to the Swedish and
Ostend Companies.
Day 7: Nairn and Brodie Castle:
The coastal area from Banff to Inverness features another important eighteenth-century smuggling port: Nairn. In this particular region I was especially interested in seeing two houses that are now run by the National Trust of Scotland, Cawdor and Brodie Castle.
Brodie Castle was built by the Brodies of Brodie in the early sixteenth century. The fortune of the family was spent for the lavish decoration and through ‘mismanagement’ over the course of the eighteenth century by Alexander, 19 th Brodie of Brodie (1697-
1754) and his heir and kinsmen James Brodie (1744-1824), who married Lady Margaret
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Duff. The Brodie clan tried to recoup its fortunes by sending several younger brothers of
James to India in the service of the East India Company. Thomas Brodie was part of
Charles Irvine’s correspondence network.
I took a guided tour of the house in order to see all rooms currently accessible. There are a number of notable Chinese export wares on display including a Chinese hardwood chest with gold ornaments, a large Chinese armorial dinner service in the Fitzhugh pattern featuring the family motto ‘Unite’ and the family coat-of-arms and several enamelled vases and teapots. Margaret Duff’s bedchamber features an exquisite early eighteenth-century lacquered sécretaire and a pair of coromandel lacquer cupboards.
However, the most unusual objects in the house are an eighteenth-century round peacock table (the marquetry on the table top consists of over twenty different exotic woods of which many are extinct today) and an Indian spice cabinet from an island off
Goa.
If possible, I will find out more about the way in which the above-mentioned goods were ordered. In any case, the direct connection of family members to the East Indies trade was central to the acquisition of customized goods.
Day 8 Inverness & Cawdor Castle: Since c.1400 the present imposing structure was the home of the Campbells of Cawdor (one of the most influential Scottish clans). In my study, I am especially interested in Colin, Archibald, Dugal and Hugh Campbell who claimed kin relations to the Campbells of Cawdor, but were part of a less eminent branch of the family. As Steven Murdoch has pointed out in his study of Scottish networks overseas, the blood relation was one important binding element between Scottish expatriates. An imagined kin relationship (to foster children and their families), however, could also be powerful with regard to the building of trust relationships. Since so many of the Campbells were involved in the East India trade I was curious if this past connection was somehow reflected in the interior decoration of the house. Indeed, the interior of the castle is packed with Chinese export ware. It is astonishing that very few of the many Chinese commissioned wares are actually mentioned in the catalogue, room descriptions or booklets that are provided for visitors. Therefore, I will give a rough list of the objects currently on display that date from the eighteenth century and are undoubtably private trade goods.
1. Porcelain: On display are at least 25 different designs of fine enamelled ware
(mostly famille-rose armorial ware, and a number of curious pieces or pairs with customized features, lots of vases and punchbowls in unusual design) and blue&white
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porcelain (including one large Kraakware serving dish). There are a few Japanese and some Japanese-style jars as well (most likely Chinese imitations). The remainder of the armorial porcelain which is on display points to the multitude of commissions of dinner services in the period between 1700-1770 (some plates might also be 18 th -century replacements to complete an earlier set). The Dining Room contains 9 small plates with family arms, bearing the motto (‘be ever mindful’) and a duck places on the rim of each plate. However, only two plates have actually the same design. The rest of the plates have similar features (in terms of palette, coat-of-arms and duck) but the allocation and rim decoration of each plate differs greatly.
2. Reverse mirror painting: The Pink Bedroom features a magnificent large mirror in a European frame. The upper part (which was probably a separate piece) reveals a fine reverse mirror painting depicting an engagement at sea with a French sailing ship. The execution is superb and although there is no textual information on this, it looks very much like other Chinese mirror paintings I have seen from the mideighteenth century. I got in touch with Lady Cawdor who will try to find out more about this particular piece.
3. Lacquerware: There are two large lacquer cabinets on display each of which is positioned on a European japanned wooden stand. The first cabinet is Japanese, in black and gold design of a very high quality and features handles on the side. Inside there are a numerous compartments for storing items of value, small things, documents et cetera.
The second cabinet is described as being a Coromandel lacquer. It is of Chinese produce with a matt varnish in black and red lacquer. The ornaments are unusual and depict ferns and other leaves, flowers, fruits, clouds & the moon. For me it is difficult to date them, but I will check and compare with curatorial works on lacquer for clarification. The latter cabinet could, of course, be a later acquisition of the 19th century.
4. Textiles: The Pink Dressing-Room displays the careful reproductions from original designs of the chintz bedspread, bed hangings and curtains that were originally brought in from the Coromandel Coast in 1725.
This house really is a treasure trove regarding its collection of Chinese and South Asian export wares and I will try to match what I have seen here with my private trade database and private correspondence in order to find out how these objects were acquired in the first place.
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Before returning to England I have visited Inverness and its Highland Archive Centre.
Since I was running out of time I got printed material concerning their collection of private papers from the counties of Inverness, Nairn, Ross and Cromarthy, which I still have to get through and enquire again via email.
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