Series Information: DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY
The 13 books currently in this series are based on information from both public and private archives. They range from smuggling and the slave trade to the Jacobites and a garden. The titles include two regional smuggling guides: Dumfries & Galloway's Smuggling Story (out of print) and A Nest of Smugglers; two local smuggling stories: Annandale's Smuggling Story and The Bay of Luce Smugglers; the first three parts of A History of Dumfries and Galloway in 100 Documents; one description of the local slave trade: Dumfries & Galloway and the Transatlantic Slave Trade and Links between Galloway and Virginia; a records guide: Family Histories in Scottish Customs Records and three books based on the Kirkconnell archive: James Maxwell and Prince Charles' Expedition, 1745-46, 200 Years of Kirkconnell Garden and Lock, Stock & Barrel: Robert Burns, Dr William Maxwell & a pair of Pistols. Two more volumes are planned in the A History of Dumfries and Galloway in 100 Documents series.
The Bay of Luce Smugglers
This book tells the story of the smugglers who were based round the shores of Luce Bay. The Mull Smuggling Company was formed by three men from Peel on the Isle of Man: Thomas Clark, Hugh Craine and Mathew Quirk and Richard Barton from England. These men leased the Mull of Galloway, Clanyard and Low Curghie farms from John McDowall of Logan. They were interested in agriculture but their main income came from the smuggling trade - leading inevitably to their bankruptcies. Local Galloway men ran their own smuggling ventures from other farms along the west side of the bay. There is a brief look at the Stranraer smuggling merchants before continuing along the east coast to look at the Murchies of Sinniness, David Andrew of Auchenmalg and the Clone Smuggling Company formed by Thomas Allason and Thomas Galt from Ayrshire, Robert Murray, a merchant in Wigtown and William Morrison of Drumskeoch. Their stories include information about the revenue cruiser based at Whithorn and the barracks at Port William and clashes with John Clugston, the collector of customs at Stranraer. There is new material from the correspondence between the smugglers and the Edinburgh attorney David Taylor, who presented their defences to the Court of Exchequer. The smugglers' actual signatures are reproduced where possible so adding a special feature to this book.
The events planned to celebrate the launch of this booklet have been postponed. It will be pulished in June 2020.
2020
ISBN 978-1-897725-21-4
A4 126pp paperback
£15.00
Annandale's Smuggling Story
The obvious locations for good smuggling stories should be where there are steep cliffs and hidden coves. These are absent along the Annandale shore. Yet the smuggling history of this area is full of rich detail and dramatic events: a story well-worth telling. Originally intended as a gazetteer of all the smuggling locations between Bankend and Sarkfoot, the book has expanded to include a section on Setting the Scene: background information about Annandale's smuggling history, the contraband cargoes, the smuggling run, the smuggling partnerships and the revenue. Eight appendices provide additional details, including a list of more than one hundred smugglers, who have been identified because they were caught smuggling or fell out with their partners so that a court case ensued. It is impossible to guess how many other people in the area were smugglers! The information about the smuggling story comes from a wide range of sources in Scotland, England and on the Isle of Man.
The exhibition Whisky, Wine & Wherry Boats - Smuggling along the Annandale Shore at Annan Museum from 1 April to 2 May 2020 was cancelled. The future of the associated talk and road tour, originally scheduled for October 2020, is uncertain.
2015
ISBN 978-1-897725-33-7
A4 136pp ringbound
£15.00
Links between Galloway and Virginia
This story links families living in Galloway and Virginia. It is written from the Scottish perspective, using information available at the National Library and the National Records of Scotland in Edinburgh and held by a private archive in Galloway. George McMurdo is the central character, because his papers have survived at all these locations, making it possible to reconstruct the lives of the people with whom he was connected, on both sides of the Atlantic. An attempt is made to discover if George McMurdo was a rogue, as several members of his family and his business and other contacts, including James Murray of Broughton, believed or merely a man of his times.
2015
ISBN 978-1-897725-10-8
A4 150pp ringbound
£15.00
A History of Dumfries and Galloway in 100 Documents Part 3
Physical Receipts Two 17th century Herbals
Kirkcudbright Trade The Basil Warehouse, 1736 and John Freeland's Store Yard
Smuggling & Smugglers John Irving of Seafield, 1762
Banks and Bankers James Ewart, accountant, Royal Bank, 1764
Mills & Millers Gordon, Grayson & Co., 1768
Lifestyles The Divorce between Houston Stewart Nicolson & Margaret Porterfield, 1769, John Alexander, Huntsman to the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, 1807, A Milliner & Dressmaker's Account, 1822 and Danevale Park, a House & its Garden, 1833
Slaving & Slavery John Park & Co., 1774 and George Macewan and Grenada, 1834
The Fencibles The Holywood Club, 1799
Links with India & Ceylon The Trials & Tribulations of John Vans Agnew, 1801, David Alexander Maitland of Barcaple & Ceylon, 1846
Newspapers The Dumfries Courier & John Syme's Obituary, 1831
Nurserymen James Credie's Customer Book, 1847
A Library & a Book The Cally Sale Catalogue, 1846 and Memorabilia Curliana Mabenensia, 1830
2013
ISBN 978-1-897725-92-4
A4 146pp ringbound
£15.00
A History of Dumfries and Galloway in 100 Documents Part 2
The Salt Pans of Annandale Description by Custom House, Dumfries, 1714 and Problems at Ruthwell, 1801
Customs & Excise Records The Dumfries Custom House, 1720 to 1820 and Superannuation of Customs Officers, 1760 to 1860
Banks & Bankers Richard Lowthian of Staffold & John Graham, Robert Ferguson, James Ewart and Robert Cutler of Dumfries, 1762 and Richard Lowthian & George McKenzie and Netherwood and Castledykes, 1780
The Slave Trade The Savannah, Georgia Account Book, 1766, Anthony McCulloch, Maryland & the Old Concern, 1769 and Plantation Account Book, Tobago, 1771 to 1776
Three Tongland Mills The Paper Mill, 1766, The Corn and Wheat Mills, 1788 and The Farina Mill
Smugglers & their Landlords John Rome and William Graham, 1776, John Rome and the Viscount of Stormont, 1779 and Richard Hetherton and the Earl of Mansfield, 1816 & 1822
Books & Libraries Robert Stewart's Narrative of a Transaction, 1787 and Library of Robert Burns at his death, 1794
Pills, Potions & Poisons John Threshie, Dumfries, surgeon and apothecary, 1816
Newspapers The Dumfries & Galloway Courier, Mr Green, the celebrated AEronaut, 1832 and Cholera in Dumfries, 1832
2013
ISBN 978-1-897725-91-7
A4 146pp ringbound
£15.00
A History of Dumfries and Galloway in 100 Documents Part 1
Smugglers & Smuggling Considerations Concerning His Majesty@s Customs, 1688, Matthew Quirk and John Buchanan & Company, 1786, Thomas Allason, 1799 and End of a Myth: The Mull of Galloway Smuggling Company and Balcary Bay,1782
Mills A Threat to Terregles Mill in 1763
Banks and Bankers Alexander Johnston, Hugh Lawson and Company Bankers in Dumfries, 1766-1771, Forgery and Reward, 1784 and Galloway Banking Company, Castle Douglas, 1806-1821
The Slave Trade Three Years on the Dundee Estate, Jamaica, 1775-1778
Dr William Maxwell & the French Revolution, 1792, & Dr Edward Jenner of Berkeley, England, 1821 and A Book Dedication and the Book Itself, 1827
Craftsmen John Gibson, Cabinet Maker in Dumfries, His Notebook, 1800-1820
Drovers & Droving The Brothers William, Robert & Samuel Herries, Cattle Drovers and Dealers, 1800
Libraries Admiral Keith Stewart of Glasserton's Library, 1801
Trade Two Linen Drapers in Annan, 1816
Folklore The Mermaid of Galloway, 1818
Newspapers The Dumfries Times, 1833 to 1842
Crime Henry Dobson & Five Women, 1849
2012
ISBN 978-1-897725-90-0
A4 166pp ringbound
£15.00
A Nest of Smugglers Dumfries and Galloway 1688 to 1850
Dumfries & Galloway’s Smuggling Story was published nearly 20 years ago. The subsequent technological revolution has meant there is now far more information available from online national archive and library catalogues to contact with descendants of the smugglers, their ship captains and the revenue officers, and other researchers. This has made it possible to understand the complexity of the smuggling story of this area in greater detail. In fact, there is so much material available that several of the examples in this book have not ‘seen the light of day’ before – even in the lectures to the local history class at Castle Douglas. It would be dangerous to claim that this is the definitive story: that could not be produced in a lifetime. The story is compelling, however, and in several instances far better than fiction. The Smuggling Trade Revisited (2004) updated the Manx smuggling story. This book completes the task for Dumfries and Galloway.
There are four further smuggling books set in Dumfries & Galloway: Annandale's Smuggling Story in 2015 and The Bay of Luce Smugglers, Mathew Quirk and Mary Maxwell, an 18th century Romance and Robert Murray, Smuggling Merchant of Wigtown all in 2020.
2012
ISBN 978-1-897725-18-4
A4 130pp ringbound
£20.00
Lock, Stock & Barrel: Robert Burns, William Maxwell and a Pair of Pistols
On his deathbed, Robert Burns gave his doctor, William Maxwell a pair of pistols. These pistols had been given to Burns by their mutual acquaintance the gunsmith, David Blair of Birmingham. Maxwell outlived Burns by nearly 40 years, dying in the arms of Bishop Gillis at his house in Edinburgh. In 1859, the 100th anniversary of the birth of Burns, the Bishop presented a pair of pistols to the Society of Antiquaries for Scotland, believing these to be the pair given to Maxwell by Burns. He was mistaken. Where are the Blair pistols now?
2008
ISBN 978-1-897725-31-3
A5 32pp
£3.00
200 Years of Kirkconnell Garden
Inspired by the Kirkcudbright Festival of Gardening and Country Life in July 2008, this booklet describes the plants grown in Kirkconnell garden between 1699 and 1900, which marked the death of John Harper, head gardener.
2008
ISBN 978-1-897725-29-0
A5 32pp
£3.00
James Maxwell and Prince Charles' Expedition 1745-46
James Maxwell of Kirkconnell with his servant William Carruthers joined Prince Charles Edward Stuart at Edinburgh in 1745. Maxwell served in the Prince's army as one of the captains in Lord Elcho's Troop of Lifeguards. This meant that he accompanied the Prince on his expedition into England, the retreat to Scotland, at the battle of Falkirk and finally on Culloden Moor. Carruthers returned to Kirkconnell instead of going to England but Maxwell had to escape from the vengeance of the Duke of Cumberland's troops. He went to France, where he wrote a Narrative of the Prince's Expedition. Although there are innumerable accounts of the 'Forty-Five', the one written by James Maxwell stands out. Described as 'rather to appear the production of a practised literateur than the work of a private gentleman, who merely aimed at giving memoranda of a series of remarkable events which he had chanced to witness'. Maxwell's Narrative is based on his own experiences together with intimate details of the meetings of the Prince's Council of War. It is Maxwell's personal commentary on events which makes this story of so great interest, particulalry as it reflects the views of a 'local man' from near New Abbey in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright. Although the Narrative was not published until 1841, it had been quoted by Walter Scott in The Tales of a Grandfather and used in works of both fiction and fact before that date. This book reproduces the Narrative in shortened form, without omitting any of James Maxwell's personal coments. It provides details of Maxwell's life in France and Holland, before his return to Kirkconnell in 1749. His ambitious building of a new section to the House, his marriage and final illness are also included.
This book is used in the annual talk about James Maxwell's visit to Ashbourne, Derbyshire.
2008
ISBN 978-1-897725-26-9
A5 144pp
£10.00
Dumfries and Galloway and the Transatlantic Slave Trade
Such is supposed to be the beginning of the Town of Dumfries, named after its namesake on the Clyde not far from Glasgow. Glasgow was probably more closely interested in the venture than the smaller place. The comment that Dumfries in Virginia was settled by people from Glasgow suggested an urgent need for a book to correct any misunderstandings about the true role of people from Dumfries and Galloway in the transatlantic slave trade of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. As a result, this book sets out to prove that the area had an independnet history in terms of the slave trade and was not overshadowed by Glasgow, or anywhere else.
Of late we've had politicians and church-leaders practically queing up to apologise for the slave trade. Even so, it's something of a surprise to frind Frances Wilkins exercised by the thought of Dumfries & Galloway's contribution to the traffic having been passed over. This book 'sets out to prove that the region had an independent history in terms of the slave trade and was not overshadowed by Glasgow, or anywhere else'. If her motivation seems eccentric, Wilkins cartainly makes her case in a meticulously reserached little study. Not only does she show how local entrepreneurs set up shop in Liverpool but finds fascinating evidence of slave ships trading directly from Dumfries and Kirkcudbright. The Scotsman
2007
ISBN 978-1-897725-09-2
A5 144pp
£10.00
Family Histories in Scottish Customs Records
This is not another guide to genealogical sources. Instead it concentrates on one particular type of record - the Scottish Custom House Letter-books - showing the wealth of family history information that can be obtained from this source. The information provides details of the lifestyles not only of the revenue men and smugglers but also of the local community - the merchants, farmers, fishermen, mariners, constables, widows and children of officers and seamen - in fact anyone who for one reason or another came into contact with the customs officers. All the examples are from the Dumfries & Galloway records. This is a sequel to Scottish Customs & Excise Records and additional information is available in Dumfries & Galloway's Smuggling Story.
Here is one for all those people who bemoan the lack of Scottish information. Family Tree Magazine
This book can be strongly recommended both as a source book for customs and smugglers ... and as a most entertaining book to read. The Scottish Genealogist
1993
ISBN 978 1 897725 04 7
A4 92pp paperback
£10.00
Dumfries & Galloway's Smuggling Story
This is another of Frances Wilkins's well researched and well referenced books. The Manchester Geneaologist
ISBN 978 1 897725 03 0
A5 144pp paperback
Out of Print