The Sugar Campbells They enjoyed the first condition of an aristocracy - an unquestioned social supremacy… they had their faults, no doubt they were exclusive and intolerant, they carried things with a high hand, and altogether thought more of themselves than there was any need for. But their recognised position at least freed them from the temptation to a vulgar display of wealth and, if they had strong prejudices, and were as slow to take in new ideas as to admit outsiders to their circle, at least they had the courage of their opinions, and were outspoken, sometimes too outspoken, in expressing them1. 1 (Guthrie-Smith, J. and Mitchell, J.O., 1878) `1 The Sugar Campbells `2 The Sugar Campbells The Sugar Campbells FIGURE 1 - SUGAR BOILING WORKS IN TRINIDAD C 18302 2nd Edition Collated and Edited by Geoff Daniel (Bridgen, 1836) 2 The juice is conveyed in pipes from the mill to the boiling house . Here it is converted through a succession of coppers. At each copper a Negro is placed to take off the scum as it rises, and when the temperature of that vessel has had its full effect, to remove it with a ladle into the next. `3 The Sugar Campbells Privately Published 2016 Number of 35. For Private Distribution Only. 2016. Camoo, Tumbarumba. Australia. Telephone; 0269483115 [email protected] 2nd edition. ISBN: 978-0-9943829-1-7 Printed by Active Print, Wagga Wagga, 2653, New South Wales, Australia. Front cover design by Mr Ben Stratton. `4 The Sugar Campbells 3 FIGURE 2 - A WEST INDIA MERCHANT 3 There was a well-marked social hierarchy amongst the Glasgow merchant and manufacturing classes in the early nineteenth century. When Archibald Alison moved from Edinburgh to become Sheriff of Lanarkshire in 1835 he found that middleclass society in the west of Scotland was made up of distinct ‘coteries’. Top of the hierarchy was the ‘Sugar Aristocracy’ of West India merchants, consisting of five or six families, who kept to themselves socially. Next came the cotton magnates, of whom Kirkman Finlay was the undisputed leader, and after them a small group of calico printers. Last of all came the iron and coal masters, often wealthier than the others but regarded as socially inferior. In this context social status was determined by the length of time that wealth had been held. Like antique furniture, wealth acquired a desirable patina with age. Alison believed that ‘it takes three generations to make a gentleman’ and that ‘it is because so few of them remain in trade to the third generation that good society is so limited and access is guarded with so much jealousy.’ Landownership was one way of addressing these status concerns. Property in the form of buildings and land was an important indicator of the growing wealth, confidence and aspirations of the west of Scotland’s middle classes in this period. Land ownership was inextricably linked to social status and often provided the entry ticket to political office. (Cooke, 2012) Cover; Buangor Station, near Beaufort Victoria, Australia c1845. By Duncan Elphinstone Cooper. `5 The Sugar Campbells ……. there is a kind of greed of country that comes over the pioneer, which spurs him on…..4 4 Quoted from Viscount Oscar de Satge, describing his time surveying the massive Peak Downs Station in Queensland during 1861 - 1862. (de Satge, 1901). `6 The Sugar Campbells Acknowledgments This work is a compilation and extension of information gathered over half a lifetime from a wide range of sources. Whilst a wide range of references is provided in the bibliography and footnotes there are inevitably gaps in these acknowledgments. Most of the information relating to the Australian side of the family has come from the family archive at Camoo, originally the home of my great grandfather, Mr Francis Elliot MacWhirter Campbell, and from the archive collected by his granddaughter, Mrs Joan Campbell Svensen (nee Daniel). Gaps have been filled and knowledge expanded due to the work of Mr John Campbell, Mr Norman and Mrs Flo Campbell, Mrs Frances Campbell Walker, Miss Theadora Campbell Walker and Mr Clive Nankivell Campbell. The work of more distant family members, including Mr Stig Kempe, The Very Reverend Alan Campbell Don, Mr Phillip MacWhirter, Mrs Carole Hamburger, Mr David Cotton and Mr Mark Campbell is very gratefully acknowledged. Work of a scholarly nature on Colin Campbell of Buangor, some published and some not, by Mr JT Synott and Miss Lorna Banfield has been particularly useful and is gratefully acknowledged. The very useful Clan Macfarlane website5, whilst not 100% reliable, has been invaluable and throughout this work has not been acknowledged in proportion to its utility. The research of Sir Tom Devine and his team, particularly Dr Steven Mullen, of the University of Edinburgh, has added greatly to our knowledge of the firm of John Campbell Senior and Company, and has been ground breaking in clarifying the the role of the Scottish mercantile class in the Empire. Their work may not provide much comfort, but from a family perspective has helped to tidy up many loose ends. There will inevitably be errors in a work such as this – certainly of omission, perhaps of commission and certainly born of shortage of time. However it is a start and hopefully will be added to by future generations. All corrections are welcome6. And of course, thank-you to our forebears – with all of their faults – for leading interesting lives, which in the easy light of hindsight we can enjoy as a refuge from our own pressing engagements and ambitions. 5 http://www.clanmacfarlanegenealogy.info/genealogy/TNGWebsite/ 6 Contact [email protected] or address to; Camoo, Tumbarumba, New South Wales, 2653, Australia. Telephone; 0269483115. `7 The Sugar Campbells FIGURE 3 - CAMPBELL OF BARBRECK TARTAN `8 The Sugar Campbells Preface to 1st Edition I have clear recollection of great uncle Colin7 lecturing me, as a boy in the 1960s, about the great Campbell family from which we had sprung. He provided no detail or justification to back up his claim – it was a statement of fact and a basis for existence - to be unquestionably accepted and moved on from. I was sceptical. Never the less, an interest was ignited. Over the years I have collected information about the family – ranging from trivial gossip to substantial academic work. What has emerged is a story of at least some interest. This document is an attempt to bring this information together and present it as a coherent whole. Fortunately many family members have kept photographs, or were the subject of portraits, or had paintings of their homes or near environments as subjects for artists, or have been the subject of some historical study. This volume brings at least some of this material together. Emerging from all of this is partly family history and partly the story of what was almost a clan within a clan, and an example of the complex forces and family relationships sitting behind the creation and distribution of Scottish capital in the wake of the breakdown of the old Clan System, the rise of Empire in the East and West Indies, the Industrial Revolution and through to the colonisation of Australia. It has developed into something of a leviathan8 – a sprawling combination of family photo album, history, legend, rumour and gossip, hopefully of interest to and to be enjoyed, corrected and added to by current and future generations. Geoff Daniel. Camoo, Tumbarumba, Australia. September 2016. 7 Colin Rae Campbell of Camoo, brother of Geoff Daniels’ grandmother, Jean Rae Daniel (nee Campbell) and great grandson of Alexander Campbell of Hallyards. 8 Leviathan: A monster – sprawling and uncontrollable. In literature (e.g., Herman Melville's Moby-Dick) it refers to great whales, and in Modern Hebrew, it simply means whale. The enormous size of the Leviathan is described by Johanan bar Nappaha, from whom proceeded nearly all the aggadot (texts in the classical rabbinic literature of Judaism, particularly as recorded in the Talmud and Midrash) concerning this monster: Once we went in a ship and saw a fish which put his head out of the water. He had horns upon which was written: 'I am one of the meanest creatures that inhabit the sea. I am three hundred miles in length, and enter this day into the jaws of the Leviathan. In The Satanic Bible, Leviathan is listed as one of the Four Crown Princes of Hell. From a note to Geoff Daniel from John Campbell, September 2016; …My father (Jock Campbell, Lord Eskan) was a great story teller (few true and few original!). One that he used to tell us as children repeatedly was that the French language Bible translates 'Behold, Leviathan' as 'Voici l'hippopotame'. I have never looked it up to see if it is true, however. `9 The Sugar Campbells FIGURE 4 - ALEXANDER CAMPBELL OF HALLYARDS9 9 Aberdeen Art Gallery. Sir Henry Raeburn (1756 - 1823). Raeburn gained numerous commissions from the Campbell family – see later for many examples (Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, 1894) (Stevenson, 1946). Portraits of Alexander Campbell by Raeburn are held by the art galleries of Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Manchester. For a full catalogue of Raeburns works see (Caw, 1909). `10 The Sugar Campbells Preface to 2nd Edition The distant past can be a very comfortable place – we know the outcomes, and hopefully we have rationalised and come to terms with those that affect us. Even so, over the course of researching this work, the past has become a little less comfortable refuge. It is also a vast place - reference to this thing as a leviathan in the 1st edition preface was not in jest.