Curiosities of Glasgow citizenship

Short biographical notices of the principal merchants, manufacturers etc of Glasgow in 1783

WILLIAM CUNINGHAME

WILLIAM CUNINGHAME, of Lainshaw, one of the best known and most prosperous of the Virginia merchants. - The firm with which he was connected held a large stock of tobacco at the outbreak of the war with America. During the progress of the war the market gradually rose, till the original price had exactly doubled itself, when a meeting of the partners was called to consider the propriety of disposing of their stock on such favourable terms. It is a curious proof of the confidence which the Virginia merchants entertained in the potency of British valour - a confidence which was largely shared by the community in general - that, at the meeting alluded to, it was agreed to sell the whole stock. Mr. Cuninghame became the purchaser, and as the prospects of a settlement of the contest favourable to the mother country became more gloomy, and the likelihood of a peaceful solution of the quarrel became hopeless, tobacco rose to an extravagant price, and Mr. Cuninghame, by his lucky speculation, made a great fortune. Like his brother merchants in similar circumstances, he too would distinguish himself by building a town mansion. At this time the Cow Lone, now Queen Street, was a narrow and muddy country road, running northward from the Westergate between two ragged hedges, till it communicated with another country road leading to the Cowcaddens, which was then the common meadow where the cows of the town were driven each morning. On the north-west corner of the Cow Lone there stood, about 1778, a lowly-thatched farm steading or cowfeeder's cottage, the site of which was the property of John Neilson, who is described in the titles as "land labourer in Garioch," a little place near Maryhill. The plot upon which this unpretentious establishment stood was purchased by Mr. Cuninghame, and he built thereon one of the finest houses in the west of Scotland, said to have cost £10,000, a very large sum considering the price of labour.

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This house, which still graces the town, has undergone many romantic changes. At Mr. Cuninghame's death it was purchased by the old firm of William Stirling & Sons. One of the wings was used as the office of the firm, and for twenty-eight years the mansion-house was occupied by members of the family. In 1817 the house was purchased by the Royal Bank. A handsome double stair was erected in front of the house, in the then prevailing style, which reached up to the front drawing-room windows. The space in front was covered by shrubbery. The banking business of the firm was conducted in Mr. Cuninghame's mansion for ten years, till, in 1827, an association of merchants was formed - the chairman of which was James Ewing of Strathleven - to provide a new west-end Exchange, the old coffee room at the Cross being found insufficient for the increasing numbers who frequented it, and too far removed from the centre of city traffic. The bank buildings were purchased by the association, and, under the superintendence of Mr. Hamilton, architect, great additions and alterations were made, and the old mansion house was transformed into the present Royal Exchange. The original house forms the front part of the building facing Queen Street. Its curious nests of little apartments, now mostly transformed into shipbroking and insurance offices, yet indicate the extent of the original establishment, and are well worth visiting for the sake of the old associations by which they are surrounded. Mr. Cuninghame died in 1789. His descendents still hold Lainshaw.