298 JULY 19 - Gryffe Advertizer

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PHOTO: Lilias Day Photography Competition Winner Laurie Holloway
The McDowalls and
Harveys of Castle Semple
Feudal Times In Kilmacolm
Feudalism was the political, military and social system of government
introduced into Britain by William the Conqueror after he defeated the
English at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. When it was introduced, it changed
the life of everyone in the country including Scotland, where King David I
was a great admirer of the Government of the Anglo Norman State.
The feudal system is the name for a power structure where people held their
land in return for promising loyalty, known as ‘doing homage’ and providing
services such as working or fighting for their lord or king.
As the feudal pyramid of power below shows, the basis of the system was
that all land was the King’s property. He in turn granted estates to nobles
who in turn could grant land to knights and they could then grant part of
their fi ef or land ton tenants or peasants in return for their loyalty.
This process of change defi ned the shape of the Parish of Kilmacolm and
brought dramatic change to its people.
Walter Fitzalan Breton had been granted extensive land in the West
of Scotland. He in turn granted pieces of land or fiefs to his favourite
followers. In Kilmacolm Parish, he divided his land into two pieces. One
area was granted to Randulphus de Insula whose fief was known as
Duchal, located on the west side of the Gryffe River, while the adjacent
side of the Gryffe, which included the village
of Kilmacolm, became the fief of Danziel
called Dennistoun.
Overnight Randulphus and Danziel
became the Lairds of Kilmacolm.
In exchange for their gifts of land,
the Baron Randulphus de Insula
and Danziel were obliged to
build castles to help to maintain
peace and order on behalf of
the King. The earliest types of
fortifi cation were mottes and
fortifi ed wooden towers
built on top of earth
mounds. Both mounds
can still be seen at
Milton Bridge and at
Pennytersal Farm.
The McDowalls of Castle Semple started out in the Caribbean in the
1690s. Like their friends, the Millikens, who were partners and relatives by
marriage, their careers were different from what we are told in the history
books. Rather than soldiers, they went out there as slave overseers, and
worked their way up to sugar planters.
At any one time the McDowalls were responsible for the control of at least
1,000 Africans, on their own plantations, and through managing others.
They also dabbled in slave trading. In 1726 their overcrowded slave ship,
named after Milliken’s daughter, overturned, drowning 272 Africans.
At home the McDowalls served in all the leading positions, as patrons of the
parish kirk, Rectors of Glasgow University, and MPs. In the third generation
James McDowall was Provost of Glasgow, and chairman of the society
opposing the abolition of slavery. After 1800 the family fi rm went bankrupt.
However, in 1834 the fourth generation of the McDowalls still held onto
sugar plantations on Grenada and St. Vincent. The Slave Compensation
records show that the family were awarded compensation for the loss of
427 Africans.
For more than a century, the McDowalls used their sugar money to improve
Lochwinnoch Parish. In 1818 they were celebrated for contributing the most
in the county towards building new roads and bridges. The McDowalls
and Millikens were pioneers in showing the potential income from sugar
plantations. The income from a 150 acre sugar plantation in the 1780s
was many times the income from a
similar sized Renfrewshire farm.
After 1810, Castle Semple passed
to the Harveys, another sugar
planting family. The Harveys had
two plantations on Antigua in the
late 1730s and expanded south to
Grenada, with a further five sugar
plantations.
The Harvey name was important
enough to hold onto, even when
their plantations passed to relations.
The family created a succession of
double-barrelled names including
Rae-Harvey and Shand-Harvey.
By the 1830’s, Castle Semple was owned by Major James Lee-Harvey.
In 1834 the family were awarded £26,392 for the loss of their slaves. It is
interesting that the compensation was for the loss of a total of 1,204 African
men, women and children - more than one African for every improved acre
of their Castle Semple estate at the time.
A future article will explain how the McDowalls and Millikens became ‘fi xers’
among Renfrewshire’s landed elite. They showed others the vast income
possible from owning plantations. They also arranged positions for sons as
overseers, and married off daughters to sugar planters.
© 2019 Stuart Nisbet, Renfrewshire Local History Forum
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