John Douglas, cotton manufacturer and banker
John Douglas of Gyrn, (died 21st October 1839), son of
William Douglas, fustian
manufacturer, Manchester, Lancashire, was a partner in Douglas,
Smalley & Co. the Holywell cotton manufacturers. He also established
a bank at Holywell, Messrs. Douglas, Smalley & Co, in which his
father may have had an interest. He was, in 1821, high sheriff of
the county.
Educated at Manchester grammar school, John
Douglas, was one of the "original" members of the Manchester
Assembly rooms, and steward of the school anniversary in 1812 as
colleague to John Williams, Esq. (afterwards one of the justices of
the Queen's bench).
He married on 4th March 1805 Anna, the
eldest daughter of Joseph Tipping, of Ardwick, esq. and resided for
some years at Pendleton old hall, before purchasing a mansion, Gyrn.
Gyrn Castle has had its shares of ups and downs. Once part of
the estates of the Mostyns of Cilcain, Gyrn was purchased in 1817 by
John Douglas, who spent the next seven years building the present
castellated mansion on the site of an earlier house. The Douglas
family later fell on hard times, and, in 1856, Gyrn was bought by
Sir Edward Bates, a Liverpool ship owner and politician, who
accumulated enormous wealth during a career spanning most of Queen
Victoria's reign. The Guide Books of North Wales speak of its
spacious and well-furnished picture gallery as well worthy the
attention of connoisseurs.
Alexander Douglas, 'the ancestor
of the present owner of Gyrn', was a descendant of the house of
Morton, and came to England in the suite of James the first, on his
accession to the English throne. The king granted him possessions
near Reath, in Yorkshire, where his family settled, but by their
adherence to the house of Stuart during the civil wars, having
raised a troop of horsemen, at their own expense, from among their
tenantry, which were made prisoners on their march to join the
king's forces, they were despoiled of their estates, which were
never restored, notwithstanding reiterated applications to Charles
the second ; this being one of the many instances of ingratitude in
that monarch. In the female line the present Mr. Douglas is
descended from the family of Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester
and Lord Chancellor of England, who made a conspicuous figure in the
reigns of Henry the eighth, and Mary.
Mr. Douglas'
grandmother, and her maiden sister Joanna, were the last of the
Bishop's family who bore the name, and were the only children of
William Gardiner, Esquire, of Send Place, near Dorking, and J Haling,
near Croydon, in Surrey, which latter mansion he inherited from the
bishop, who originally built it.
He died on the 21st October
1839, at the age of 69, and was buried in a vault of the parish
church at Llanasa, near Holywell, leaving one son and several
daughters. His son, John Hargreave Douglas (1), died in March 1841, aged
32, and was buried at Cheltenham. One daughter married the late
Colonel Morgan, of Golden Grove, in the parish of Llanasa; and
another the Rev. Robert Trimmer, M.A., rector of Holy Trinity and S.
Mary's, Guildford.
The attached pdf contains additional information about John
Douglas.
The following are listed as apprentices in Chelmsford. Note
the children's ages!
Notes:
1.
John Hargreave Douglas was a Tax Commissioner for the County of
Flint
See also:
• Douglas of
Gyrn
Any contributions will be
gratefully accepted
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