Papers of the Speirs family of Elderslie, Renfrewshire.

IDENTITY STATEMENT AREA

Reference code(s): TD 1318

Title: Papers of the Speirs family of Elderslie, Renfrewshire.

Date(s): 1587 - 1946

Level of description: Fond

Extent and medium of the unit of description: 85 boxes of letters; 22 volumes of account books.

CONTEXT AREA

Name of creator(s):

Administrative/Biographical history: Alexander Speirs (1714-1782) was a Glasgow tobacco and sugar merchant who owned plantations in the USA and the Caribbean region. Originally descended from an Edinburgh-based mercantile family, Speirs married into the wealthy Buchanan family and became one of the richest Glasgow-based merchants during the last quarter of the 18th century. The main company through which Speirs conducted his trading activities was called 'Archibald Buchanan and Co.', later changing to 'Speirs Bowman and Co.' in the 1770s

Archival history: Records of the Speirs family of Elderslie were purchased by the Glasgow City Archive in August 1994.The list for this collection was compiled by the NRA (Scotland) after their survey of Houston House, the Speirs family estate. Only a portion of the family and estate papers were offered for sale. Other items were retained by the family and are marked with an asterisk in the catalogue. Enquiries about these items should be referred to the Secretary, National Register of Archives, (Scotland), General Register House, Princes Street, Edinburgh, EH1 3YT.

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer:

CONTENT AND STRUCTURE AREA

Scope and content: The entire collection comprises 85 boxes of letters and 22 volumes of factory account books, estate ledgers, rental books and newspaper cutting books for the Speirs family of Elderslie in Renfrewshire. The documents date from c.1587 to 1946.

Most of the papers provide details about the business and estate accounts of Alexander Speirs (1714-1782), merchant in Glasgow, mostly in the tobacco and sugar trade, with details of his business activities between the years 1770-1782. Speirs was one of the most influential tobacco merchants in Glasgow and, together with merchants William Cunningham and John Glassford, headed a syndicate which controlled over half the Clyde tobacco trade during the 1770s and a large proportion of the sugar processing industry that developed in Glasgow and Greenock.

Of the items housed at the Glasgow City Archives, boxes 25 and 51 are most pertinent to Caribbean studies.

Box 25 contains papers about estates in Virginia and the West Indies, owned by different generations of the Speirs family between 1673 and 1865.

Box 51 contains correspondence about business and financial matters, dated 1788-1830. The most important item is a letter from James Murdoch Jnr. at Finlaystone, to Archibald Speirs (son of Alexander Speirs) describing the crash of the House of MacNeil, Stewart and Co., Glasgow West India Merchants, with liabilities of £150,000, dated 2nd August 1803. (Box 51, Bundle 41).

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

System of arrangement:

CONDITIONS OF ACCESS AND USE AREA

Conditions governing access: Members of the public have full access to the collection on completion of a requisition form.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Language/scripts of material: English

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids: Printed catalogue

ALLIED MATERIALS AREA

Existence and location of originals: Glasgow City Archives, The Mitchell Library, 210 North Street, Glasgow G3 7DN

Existence and location of copies:

Related units of description:

Publication note: Further information about Alexander Speirs and his business activities are detailed in the following publication: T.M Devine (1975) The Tobacco Lords: a study of the tobacco merchants of Glasgow and their trading activities, c.1740-90. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

DESCRIPTION CONTROL AREA

Recorder's note:

Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: 19th September 2001

Interest: Caribbean

Specific group:

Subjects

Tobacco plantations

Sugar plantations

Trade

Slavery

Personal/Corporate names

Speirs, Alexander, 1714-1782

Places

Virginia, United States of America

Glasgow, United Kingdom

Caribbean