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An Eighteenth Century Library
Clay Pipes and a Campbeltown Merchant
AN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY LIBRARY.
On May 20th, 1796, the effects of the deceased Colonel
Charles Campbell of Barbeck, who had been the owner of the Glenbarr Estate,
were sold by Public Roup, after due advertisement. The Roup Roll survives
and gives a fascinating insight into the household furnishings of a Kintyre
laird's house at the end of the Eighteenth Century. In all the books realised
£14 8s. 1d.
The writer hopes that a list of the books disposed of with their purchasers may be of interest. It would be noteworthy if any of these volumes survive in the district 180 years later. While most of the books realised only some pence, two made over a pound each.
Captain Porter who secured the greatest number of
books, was evidently a voracious reader of catholic tastes. His family name
is remembered by "Porter's Glen." At the sale he took care that his reading
should not be too dry as among the other items he bought were 18 bottles
of beer for 6 shillings. He was Provost of Campbeltown in 1794, and, as Colonel
Porter, commanded the Argyllshire Militia. Despite his prominence the Kirk
Session of the Highland Church did not hesitate to charge him with fornication.
He bought the following:
Gaelic Songs, Political History of England & Ireland, 1 vol. Defender's
Proof, 1 vol. Commentaries, Military Instruction, 2 vols. Johnson's Dictionary,
Roderick Random & Pamphlet, Plutarch's Lives, 3 vols. Spectator, 5 vols.
Sully's Memoirs, 7 vols. Rollins Ancient History, Universal Dictionary and
2 vols. Chesterfield's Letters. In all he paid £3 12s. 3d.
Dr. Charles Rouatt or Rowatt was a distinguished member of the medical profession and a founder member of the Longrow Congregation. He seems to have formed the town's first lending library. This was probably the library run by the Relief Church according to Smith's Views of Campbeltown (1835). His forebears came here as Chamberlains of Kintyre. He was baptised on 30th July, 1732. He died on 20th October, 1826. It was in his honour that Mr. Daniel Mactaggart, then Procurator Fiscal named his son Charles, the first of that name in that family. For the sum of £2 5s. 2d. he bought the following for the Library: History of Norman Revolt, Revolutions of ... .A Parcel of Pamphlets, 2 vols. of Scot Warriors, 2 vols. of Shaws Gaelic Dictionary, 2 vols. Annals of Scotland and the Political History of Britain.
Daniel Clark was well on the way to establishing himself as one of the town's prominent merchants. For 7s. 3d. he bought Boswell's Journal, Remarks on Johnson's Tour, 2 vols. of Hasting's Trial, North Britain with lessons for a young...and 1 vol. of the Tatler.
Nathaniel Harvey was Town Clerk of Campbeltown,
and became the possessor for 6s. 9d. of Present State of British Empire,
Forms of Style and 2 vols. Voltaire.
James Andrew was a coppersmith and the proprietor of
Andrewstown, now Anderston. His purchase of Excise Laws would be for business
rather than recreational uses.
Duncan McCallum was no doubt a member of the same family
as William McCallum, who was a Writer (or Solicitor) in Campbeltown in 1794.
His purchases had to do with law, and were rather more expensive than most.
He acquired Statute Laws of Scotland, Gaelic Laws, Criminal Trials, Erskine's
Institutes, and 4 vols. of Burns Justice of the Peace, for which he had to
pay in all £1 8s. 6d.
Sergeant Stewart, who bought a book of Gaelic Songs,
may have been a member of a family which farmed in High Park. He moved to
Garvalt where eight children were born between 1784 and 1801, or of a related
family - the Stewarts of Park - which had army connections. Stewart Field
in New York State at which the American Hostages landed on their release
from Iran, was named after a later member of this family. Sergeant Stewart
also bought Robinson History of .... and 5 vols. of Gordons Tacitus.
Presumably the tastes of father and son differed
considerably, for while John Campbell bought 4 vols of Tillotsons Sermons,
John Campbell, Jnr., acquired the Gentleman Farmer.
John McPhail became the owner of a Spelling Dictionary
for 1s. 7d., while the local patriotism of Peter Brolochan Jnr., was more
easily satisfied by the Life of John, Duke of Argyll, for three pence! Mr.
Alex. Laird's Gardening cost him 3s. 1d., but an unknown number of volumes
of Cunningham on Cars Sermons went for 2s.
Other purchases were Wm. Forbes: Regulations for Prussian
Infantry; Capt. Buchan: Gaming; Alex Anderson: Anderson on Husbandry, and
4 vols. of a Tour Through England, Cooks Roman History; Capt. Buchanan: 2
vols History of America; Capt. Scipio Campbell: 2 vols. Cooks Voyages, and
5 vols. Burnett's History. Capt. Scipio Campbell was an impressive figure
in Campbeltown, and his purchases cost the large sum of one
guinea!
No. 14 Autumn 1983
CLAY PIPES AND A CAMPBELTOWN MERCHANT
Angus Martin
I wrote in an earlier issue about a CLAY PIPE found
at Craigaig, and here's another pipe story. Ten-year-old Heather Ruesgen
found, in May 1993. the bowl of a Cork clay-pipe in the front garden of her
house on Albyn Avenue, Campbeltown. Such pipes are common in the soil of
old agricultural land - ploughmen and other farmworkers smoked them and discarded
them. A few smokers, indeed, preferred to use a new clay pipe with every
fill of tobacco, and simply scutched one after another; most, however, smoked
them until they got broken, which wasn't a difficult end to accomplish.
Clay pipes in the 19th and early 20th centuries were dirt-cheap or free. In some public houses, I remember being told. there would be a boxful on the counter, for the taking. What made Heather's find more interesting than most was that the bowl bore the legend: "R Hogarth, Grocer, Campbeltown", by which it can be very roughly dated.
Robert Hogarth was a native of Campbeltown and became a tanner with his uncle, James Harvey. He first appears in Valuation Rolls in 1868 as tenant of the tanworks in Lady Mary Row (which he bought, with the adjoining houses, in 1871). In 1874 he ceases to be described as a "tanner", and becomes a "grocer", with premises - occupied for nearly half-a-century - at 42 Saddell Street (at the head of Broombrae, and since demolished). He died in 1921, aged 88, at Craigowan House - his residence - leaving an estate valued at £1186 11/4d. According to his obituary, he served on the town council and was "one of the original members of the old Volunteer Force ... attending the first Royal Review and the first manoeuvres at Paisley". Such strange echoes of forgotten militarism!
What the records cannot tell us is who - man or woman - had been smoking the pipe on the day the bits of it were thrown down, perhaps in disgust; for most smokers get attached to a well- seasoned pipe, and regret its loss. Was the field being turned by the plough, or harvested, or was some old fellow out for a stroll one evening, when the breakage happened? It'll never be possible to put a name or a face to that pipe, but, then, that's what makes history more stimulating at times than fiction. In fiction, the writer can supply as much detail as he cares to. In history, much of the detail must remain beyond certainty, in the half- light where imagination sleeps.
When a clay pipe broke - usually, and irritatingly, Just short of the bowl itself - and there was no replacement to hand, the shortened form was known as a ja-warmer owing to the proximity of the hot bowl to the smoker's jaw.
I hadn't heard the expression for many years, until 15 May 1993, when I was one of a bunch of Campbeltown Former Pupils supporters spectating the final match of the season, against Rolls Royce of East Kilbride. It was an absolutely wicked afternoon, with driving wind and cold rain, and the entire support, with the exception of Andy Miller and golf umbrella, had taken refuge in the pavilion.
I had decided not to bother having a smoke, but Peter Morrison beside me lit up a cigar, and my resolve was broken. When I had my pipe filled and smoking, Neil McKay at my back remarked to me jokingly: "Hae ye the ja-wearmer gan?"
So, there was another word for the Scottish National Dictionary project. Pupils lost 1-3, but none the less moved up into the Scottish Amateur Football League Division 1A, the first ever Argyll side to play there.
No 35 Spring 1994
Page 2: The Campbeltown Canal // Kintyre's Age of the Train
Page 4: Trout Introductions into Kintyre in the Late Nineteenth Century
Page 5: John Smith D.D. // Dr. Norman Macleod
Page 6: C.B.A. Scotland Summer School 1985
Page 7: The Rev. B.B. Blackwood // Some Former Campbeltown Industries // Nostalgia // Contra Account
Page 8: By Hill and Shore - from Mr. Angus Martin
Page 9: Campbeltown
Nicknames // From a Wee Toonsman Down Under // A Recent Find //
Emigrants to America
on the Diana // Coincidences // One Hundred and Eleven Years Ago
Page 10: The Gigha Fishery in the Early Eighteenth Century