Vol 17 - Dumfriesshire & Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian ...

Srn Ronrnr HBnntrs, 1\{.P. ron DunarnrBs BuRcHs.
2l
especially the I ondon one, which u'as to bear their names,
and engage in general mercantile business. The Edinburgh
house was to do banking business only and to retain the
Coutts' name, and to be under the management of Forbes,
Hunter, and Stephen. Herries retained his Barcelona
business, but withdrerv from another concern at Nfontpellier,
:rnd from the house of Honorius Dallio, at Valencia, in Spain,
in rvhich he had a share. The Sir William Forbes so often
menti,oned was a baronet of ancient descent but small
possessions, who, in the hope of repairing the family
fortunes, had been apprenticed when a boy in the Coutts'
house at Edinburgh, and had risen to be a partner with a
small share in the business. At this time he was a young'
man of about trventy-tu'o. It is to his interesting and,
I believe, , scarce book,
" Memoirs of a Banking House,
"
that I owe my knorvledge of the business career of Sir
Robert Herries.s
Llnder the guidance of Herries the old Coutts concerns
flourished, but he soon quarrelled with the Coutts brothers
over Cochrane and Stephen, whom he insisted on pensioning
off, one after the other, as incompetent. Hunter supported
hinr in this matter : Forbes, in a half-hearted way, went
u'ith his stronger minded partners, his business instincts
being on their side, rvhile gratitude to the Couttses made
him reluctant to optlose them. After the disappearance of
Cochrane and Stephen, a new contract was drawn up by
n'hich each partner had a third in the Edinburgh house, but
in the London one a fourth share was conceded to Herries's
brothers, Charles and William,4 and to his brother-in'2aw,
George Henderson.
In 1768 Herries was busy devising a system o,f circular
3 Forbes makes some mistakes in the Christian names of
the Herries family, calling, for instance, Sir Robert's father
John instead of William. Forbes was author of a life of
Beattie, the poet, and was a friend of Dr Johnson. He died a
wealthy man in 1806.
a These brothers had been brought out to Spain by Sir
Robert, and taken into his business there.