JAMES NICOL FLEMING OF KEIL
A. Logan Mitchell

     James Nicol Fleming was born, the youngest of ten children, into a prosperous Glasgow mercantile family in 1832 and died in Edinburgh in 1904. In the early part of his life he enjoyed a reputation for high living, and came to national notoriety because of his involvement with the City of Glasgow Bank, which failed on 2nd October 1878. Both before and after this pivotal event in his life, Kintyre played host to him.

     Much of his life was spent in India, initially respresenting his family's business interests and it was there that he made his fortune. With the threat of a Civil War developing in the United States, he was instructed to purchase moderately in the Indian Cotton Market in the expectation of a blockade of the Southern States. This he did to such excess that he controlled its supply and distribution. According to some reports, the home firms, taking fright at the large payments to which he committed them, dismissed him so that he was able to pocket an estimated profit of £350,000 for himself. (For a time the price of cotton, which had sold in Britain at 6d. per lb. climbed to 2/6d. because of his intervantion,

     With his roots in Biggar it is probable that his friendship with (Sir) William Mackinnon introduced him to Kintyre. They had been associated in business in India and Glasgow. On Thursday. 27th October 1859 he married Elizabeth Gaibraith, then aged about 17 and "a young lady fresh from boarding school". (She was the only daughter and elder child of John Galbraith (1809-1881) of North Park, who had shipping, distilling and farming interests in Campbeltown and was its Provost from 1850 until 1866.)

     The Argyllshire Herald recorded that "the vessels in the harbour and several public works were decorated with flags (as) the happy couple sailed at 4 pm for Ardrossan, per the Druid steamer, (specially chartered for the occasion) amidst the firing of cannon and a large assemblage of people." (sic)  Fleming donated £10 - then a considerable sum - to the needy of the town, to be disbursed by the Rev. Dr. Boyd, the officiating minister. It is likely that he was "commuting" between Britain and India at this time.

     After the outbreak of the Civil War (1861 to 1865) he returned to Britain in February 1863, setting up as a merchant in Glasgow, speculating in "ships, telegraphs, cotton, iron, anything and everything", opened an account with, and in July 1663, becoming a director of, the ill-fated City of Glasgow Bank, a position he retained until July 1875 when he was forced into resignation. (William Mackinnon had himself been a director from 1859 until 1871.) He also purchased and leased property, initially in Ayrshire. He became well known as a breeder of Ayrshire cattle and horses, eventually being a Life-Governor of the Clydesdale Horse Society of Great Britain and Ireland, His greatest achievement was the breeding of the renowned Clydesdale stallion "Prince of Wales". This horse, which more than any other established the supremacy of the breed as a draught horse, was foaled In 1866 and sold In 1866/69, So great was his pride in the horse that he commissioned a painting of it by Charles Lutyens, R.A. The painting is still in private ownership in Southend.

     It was in 1865 that he came to prominence in Kintyre. Having rented Killellan House from 1863 he purchased the Mansion-House and Estate of Keil, near Southend, transferring ownership to his Marriage Contract Trustees. A history of Keil by James Barbour BSc,  ( in hard copy Issue No. 23 of this magazine ), suggested that the McLarty family, the previous owners, had impoverished themselves by putting their substance into the land to try to improve it, and it soon became apparent that the new proprietor was from a different mould!

     About 1868, a gate lodge was built (still standing) and in 1872, amtd the construction of new roads in and about the estate, the erection of a new mansion was started, on a site in front of and to the west of the older building. The process took about three years, the old house being demolished thereafter. All that was allowed to remain was the main entrance door with its lion "couchant" statue which was utilised as a garden entry and which can still be seen.

    The new House which on photographic evidence resembled in many aspects Cragside in Northumberland (architect Norman Shaw and built between 1670 and 1866) was designed by the Glasgow architect James Sellars (1643-1888) also responsible for the Western Infirrary, St. Andrew's Halls and the replacement Head Office of the City Bank in Glassford Street - still incomplete at the Bank's failure in 1875 (and demolished in the 1960's). At a time when a Glasgow Police Constable's starting pay was 23/- per week construction was reported to cost £30,000 and the house was very much on the grand scale. It was said variously to have more windows than Buckingham Palace - two later being filled in - and one for every day of the year! The bow-fronted Drawing Room was 60 feet in length, the Dining room 40 feet, and the Hall, two floors in height, was galleried with a glass roof. The "Domestic Offices" in the separate eastern wing contained twelve Servants' Bedrooms, (with sitting room and hall) laundry, kitchen, larders and storerooms. Four wine cellars were contained in the basement (Photographs of the interior are kept by the Archivist, Argyll and Bute District Council, Kilmory, Lochgilphead. )

     Its construction was not achieved without a Masons' strike over trade union rights in August 1873 - its causes, in October 1875, still much in the mind of a speaker at a Dinner provided for the workers by Fleming (in his absence) in the Argyll Arms, Southend

     Fleming, who had at first rented out the old Rouse and then let it lie empty, was by this time involved in business in Manchester and Calcutta and visited the new mansion rather than resided in it.

     It was later discovered that Fleming was technically bankrupt all this time! Notwithstanding, he bought Pennygown House, midway between Southend and Campbeltown, in late 1872, first advertising it "to let" in November 1874 and then putting it on the market in March 1576.

     Also, in December 1373 he had bought the neighbouring farm of Gartvaigh (variously spelled as "Gartveigh" and "Gartvaich" at the time) from the then Duke of Argyll. This was funded by borrowing from the Executors of the late John Smith, LLD, the famous Glasgow bookseller. For a time he also held the tenancy of the sheep farm at South Moil, near the Mull.

     A continuing interest was in farming and stock rearing. At the 1870 Kintyre Agricultural Society Show, as well as winning five prizes for four classes of sheep which he exhibited, he gifted prizes in the Horse Section, one of which "was for the "best mare for breeding purposes to be served the present season by either of W. Fleming's Arab horses". He was Chairnan of the 1877 United Annual Ram Sale for Kintyre.

     A report from 1873 advised that "fine healthy" grouse and blackgame which he had reared for the Acclimatisation Society of New Zealand had arrived at Glasgow, with a few casualties suffered 'en route' and "it is not expected the others will live until they can be shipped for New Zealand" - all this as well as celebrating the 'glorious twelfth'. Also he won a prize for fowls in the "Bramapootra Class" at Ayr in 1877 and was a member of the Grand Poultry Exhibition Committee in Campbeltown in 1878.

     In a more domestic environment, Mrs. Fleming was also playing her part. The couple entertained the Marquis and Marchioness of Lorne (Princess Louise) at Keil in the autumn of 1871. She supported the village school and, besides funding the purchase of prizes. in 1872 donated £3 to the Master of Southend School for books as Christmas gifts for the pupils, with a promise that her support would continue.

     The last record found of Nicol Fleming's life at Keil is not without its own poignancy. It is a report from the Campbeltown Courier of 29/12/1877 and describes Christmas celebrations there:

"Last Tuesday evening a most enjoyable entertainment at Keil House made the Christmas season a particularly happy one to a party of guests and the servants of the estate. At five o'clock the doors of the immense drawing room were thrown open and the hearts of not only the children, but the older ones, were charmed with the sight of the gorgeously lighted and decorated Christmas tree which stood in the centre of the floor. A table was loaded with substantial and valuable presents which were distributed by the host and hostess, and both guests and servants were remembered. The gifts on the tree were numbered, tickets with corresponding numbers being distributed among the company.... At the conclusion there were sumptuous dinners provided alike for guests and servants. How all this was all enjoyed bright eyes and happy faces testified, and not one present but will remember gratefully and joyously last Christmas at Keil."

     Within a year all was gone, The City Bank had collapsed and, with net indebtedness of £832,000 to it, and £400,000 due to various correspondents in respect of Bills, Fleming had fled, initially to Spain (eventually reaching Chicago) and was in process of sequestration. Before leaving, he transferred Gartvaigh to the City Bank. His Trustee, after appointment, settled outstanding servants' wages and later tried unsuccessfully to sell Keil in an arrangement with the Marriage Contract Trustees. Rumours abounded as to how he had got away and what was his mode of transport. it was said that he had boarded William Mackinnon's yacht from Dunaverty Bay. Others spoke of a newly launched B.T. ship taking him on. Enquiries made by the Glasgow papers led them to believe that the weather had been too stormy for a small boat to live in the seas running off Dunaverty. However, the police soon concluded (and there is evidence to support this view) that he had lived in London for a few weeks before his flight abroad.

     Because of irregularities discovered during his directorial involvment with the Bank in 1674 and 1875 a warrant was issued for his arrest. The change in his status is perhaps best reflected in two items relating to the Kintyre Show, The courier in 1675 announced a prize for "four bushels Long Oats" being won by "J. Nicol Fleming, Esq. of Keil". In October 1873 a prize for "four bushels Short oats" was attributed simply to "J. N. Fleming". Thereafter his doings stopped being reported by both the Courier and the more radical Argyllshire Herald - possibly because of his wife's family's connections with the owners of both, and almost certainly because of the prominence of her family in local affairs

     He returned to the U.K. in late 1881 to petition for his discharge from bankruptcy, when his estate had paid 1/4d. in the £ and before a change in legislation requiring a payment of dividend of at least 5/- as a condition for discharge took effect. He was arrested in January, 1682 and served 8 months' imprisonment (the same sentence given to his erstwhile colleagues in 1679) after pleading guilty to a reduced charge. On his release, William Mackinnon paid for a holiday to the Nile for Fleming, his wife and a daughter.

     In later years he continued his connection with Kintyre; his obituary recorded him spending summers at North Park, from about 1894 until his death. The writer hopes that in his twilight years, with his frenetic energy dissipated by age, he found repose and respect there for, despite the immorality of much of his business dealings, he was undoubtedly a man of great and many talents.

     He was interred in the Dean Cemetery, Edinburgh. His estate was valued at £15:17:6d.

     Mrs Fleming survived until her 91st year, dying in 1931, and lies in Kilkerran Cemetery with her parents and other members or her family. The connection with North Park continued until the death of their youngest daughter, Miss Margaret Isobel Fleming - Daisy - in December 1946. With her passing ended her family's residence in North Park, extending over a century or so.

     After he received his discharge from bankruptcy in April 1883, Keil House was sold by Nicol Fleming, being bought by Ninian Bannatyne Stewart, a son of one of the founders of Stewart and McDonald of Glasgow. At his death in 1912, the house and estate were offered for sale, being purchased in 1915 by the founders of Kintyre Technical School, from a legacy provided by Sir William Mackinnon, the moving spirit in the venture. It burned down in December 1924, even after considerable alteration still being described as irreplaceable because of the lavishness of its construction. The School happily found premises in Dumbarton soon after and its name was changed to Keil School. It flourishes still, linking Fleming and Mackinnon in death as in life and, very much at second hand, gives his monument to James Nicol Fleming.

(Author's Note - In writing this article I am very much indebted for their help to Mr. and Mrs, A. C. Barbour of Keil, Miss Mary A. Taylor and Mrs. S. Kelly, Southend; also to Rev. Mr. Cormack. Mr. Angus Martin and Mrs. E. Wotherspoon, all of Campbeltown, and especially to Mr. Murdo MacDonald, Archivist, District Council, Lochgilphead.

Much remains to be uncovered about Nicol Fleming's life and any information will be welcomed by the author, (by letter please) at 28, Alloa Road, Carron, Falkirk, FK2 8EP.