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Captain Andrew Douglas of Mains (lineage uncertain) was involved in the
slave trade of the late 17th and early 18th centuries.
A well-known former slave was Scipio Kennedy. He had been brought to
Scotland by Captain Andrew Douglas of Mains
in 1702
from the West Indies, where he had been transported as a young boy from
the African west coast.
In 1705, Scipio joined the family of the
Captain's daughter, Jean, who married Sir John Kennedy, 2nd Bt Of Culzean, and it was in Culzean that Scipio got his surname. He stayed in this
family for an initial 20 years, during which time he was baptised and
probably also received some education. Through his baptism, Scipio was
free according to Scots law, so that when he decided after 20 years to
continue service with his former owner for another 19 years, this was
formalised by an indenture, which is held in the NAS (NAS ref.
GD25/9/Box 72/9). Little is known about his later life, though he
appears once in the kirk session minutes of Kirkoswald on 27 May 1728
(NAS ref. CH2/562/1), accused of fornication with Margaret Gray, whom he
later married. We know from references in the old parish registers that
they had at least eight children and continued to live in Ayrshire until
Scipio's death in 1774.
The BBC reports that Scipio had been taken from his home in
Guinea at the age of six and was granted his freedom at Culzean in 1725.
The work to trace his history was carried out as part of
The National Trust for Scotland's Heritage Lottery
Fund project This is Our Story, which commemorates the bicentenary of
the abolition of the slave trade.
Scipio was bound for the West Indian plantations when he was bought
by Captain Andrew Douglas of Mains in Dunbartonshire.
In 1705, Captain Douglas' daughter, Jean, married John Kennedy and
Scipio went with her, eventually moving to Culzean, in Ayrshire.
He took the family surname of Kennedy, learned to read and write and
was instructed in textile manufacture.
In 1725, Scipio was given his freedom and a home in the grounds of
Culzean Castle. He married local woman Margaret Gray three years later,
with whom he had eight children.
Notes:
1. Papers on the 'The case of
Captain Andrew Douglas, late commander of her Majesties ship the
Norwich' are at Kress Library of Business and Economics, Harvard
University. This may, or may not, be the same officer.
See also:
• The story of Scipio Africanus
• Douglases and the slave
trade
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