James Gammell
(1735-1825)

James Gammell was the 4th child and 2nd son of William Gammell and his wife Margaret Scott. He was born in Greenock on 12 December 1735, and his baptism as James Gamel is recorded in the Parish Register of Greenock West under date of 15 December of the same year.

With his elder brother William, James attended Greenock Grammar School and among James' contemporaries at school was James Watt, the famous marine engineer, and in fact they were both born in Greenock within two months of one another. There is no evidence, however, that the two worked together in later life, or that James ever invested any money in Watts' enterprises.

In a book on Greenock history published in 1888 appears the following:

“James Gammell, and his elder brother William, were also pupils of the Grammar School, and school-fellows of Watt.  Of James Gammell it is not necessary to say much in the town where he was so long and so well known as the enterprising, successful merchant and banker. Garvel Park formerly bore his name. The father of the Gammells was Captain William Gammell, who had been bred to the sea, and on retiring from it assumed, like many others of the day, the title of Merchant.  We have in our possession the Greek Testament used by both brothers in Arrol’s class, and by ourselves more than eighty years later. The title page is printed in Greek and Latin in alternate black and red letters. A wood-cut represents the flying figure of FAME blowing her trumpet, and at the foot of the page are the words " EDINBURGI, apud THO. and WAL. and THO. RUDDIMANNOS, MDCCXL."  It bears the autographs,  “Wim. Gammell, His Book, Anno Domini, 1745," and "James Gammel, 1745," and below the signature of James he has printed his name, “JAMES GAMMELL, GREENOCK," James Gammell and Watt were about the same age. The former was born at Greenock, 12th December, 1735, the latter 19th January, 1736, Gammell being thus Watt's senior by 38 days. Watt died in his 84th year: Gammell survived him nearly 10 years. The fathers of these remarkable men were intimate friends, near neighbours, and feuars of house property in the vicinity of Longwell Closs. Both had rendered good service to the community as members of Town Council.”

It does not appear that James entered University as his elder brother did but was probably drawn early into commerce. It would be fair to conjecture that he joined his father's merchandising business in Greenock as soon as he left school, and that he got his early training there.

In 1760 or 1761 James married Janet Geils, daughter of Andrew Geils, a shipmaster in Greenock, but no record of the date of this marriage has been found. James and his wife set up house in Greenock and there their three sons were born:

In 1761 the Caledonian Mercury made reference to a Greenock shipping firm, James Gammel and brother, was this James and William?

The next record we have of James is an old letter book found by a member of the Scott (shipbuilding) family in an attic in the 1960s. This letter book of James' covers the years 1767-1769 and brings to light the following:

a) Reference is made to the firm of Gammell Mathie & Co. 'now wound up'. This could have been his father William Gammell's firm, as the latter died in 1765.

b) James was at that time trading under the name of Crawford and Gammell.

c) The following is taken from a letter written by James to Mr. Thomas Campbell in Maryland U.S.A.: 'I must beg the favour of you to use all lawful means of recovering the debt due to me by Carroll and Brent and remitting same expeditiously, as I am in much want of money having lately built a large and expensive house'. This was not Garvel Park House, which was built in the 1770s, but a town house in Greenock which we know James also owned.

d) 5 August 1768. 'Our copartnery (presumably Crawford & Gammell) has expired, and we have renewed it with some alteration, and all our business after this, will be under the firm of James Gammell & Co.'

e) There are many letters to ships captains and contacts in Scandinavia, Jamaica, North and South Carolina, Virginia, Lisbon and Rotterdam, which indicates the size of his ship-managing and trading business, but it has not been possible to identify the owners of these ships.

f) To David Jenifer, Maryland, 3 September 1767. “I am favoured with yours of 18 June advising receipt of mine with power of attorney against Norman Bruce which is not good by the Maryland law without copies of letters of administration by me on my brother’s estate and that to save the trouble of which you intend taking the bond payable to me but hope he will prevent your being at that trouble by making full remittances this summer. If he does not I most certainly conclude in asserting that he has acted ungenerously and unhelpfully for the good nature my brother showed in sending him out those goods from no other motive than ??? of obliging him…” Does the reference in this letter to his brother’s estate indicate that William (his only surviving brother) had died?

James was elected to Greenock Town Council in September 1769 and at that time was described as 'a merchant and feuar'. In 1773 he was sent to London as representative of the Council to press the Bill in Parliament for improving Greenock Harbour, in which task he was successful, and later in the same year he was elected Baillie. He resigned from the post of Baillie in 1778 and resigned from the Town Council in 1784 but evidently continued for the rest of his life to be known as 'Baillie Gammell'.

During this time, he was trading with several locations in north America and the Caribbean.  His main trans-Atlantic trading business seems to have been with North Carolina using the ports of Brunswick and Wilmington.  We know that he established trading premises at Wilmington and Cross Creek (now called Fayetteville) and also appears to have had an estate at Cross Creek.

He also had a thriving business re-exporting goods from Greenock to ports in northern Europe. He certainly owned several ships, though it is not clear whether he owned all of the considerable number of ships that were involved in his trading business. The ships he used in his trans-Atlantic trade were typically called after gods and Goddesses: The Ajax, Jupiter, Aurora, Juno, Minerva, and Ulysses or girls names.

Cargo imported from north America typically comprised tobacco, but also tar, turpentine, indigo, pitch, barrel staves, deer skins, pine planks, mahogany, wheat flour, rice and linseed. Voyages to America carried a huge range of products, in fact everything that might be needed by people in the rapidly growing new colonies. These included kettles, pans, leather, linen and silk goods, stationery, glass, lead, bricks, coal, steel, gunpowder, beer, rum, and salted beef.

Like many merchants he got caught up in the American War of Independence (1775-83). He lost at least one ship, the America and after the war’s conclusion, his properties in Wilmington and Cross Creek were confiscated by the Patriot North Carolinian government.

Although presumably James' merchandising business suffered as a result of the American War of Independence, it is clear that his business flourished, as by the early 1780s he had acquired a considerable number of properties in Greenock, as well as having built himself a country mansion at Garvel Park on the outskirts of the town. By that time, he had also become a partner in James Hunter & Co. one of the first firms in Greenock to open up trade with Newfoundland.

James' resignation from the Town Council coincided with the establishment of local banking, and as a prime mover in this project, he may well have thought that as a banker, hoping to have the Town Council as a major customer, it might be unwise to continue to serve as a counsellor. This however is conjecture.

It was in 1785, that James became a founder director of what was to become The Greenock Bank.  Dunlop, Houston, Gammell & Co was the first banking concern to be established in Greenock, finance previously having been transacted in Glasgow. The original partners were James Dunlop of Garnkirk, Andrew Houston of Jordanhill, James Gammell of Greenock and James McDowell, merchant of Glasgow. The title of 'The Greenock Bank' was assumed in 1793, and James as well as being a large shareholder, was appointed the first manager. The Greenock Bank occupied various premises in Greenock, including Hamilton St., The West Breast next the Customs House, and finally 57 Cathcart St. at the corner of Watt Place. The centre of Greenock has, since the Second World War, been completely redeveloped, and Cathcart St. is mostly laid out as gardens, and no trace of the old Greenock Bank premises remains.

What part James' sons played in the family business is unclear, but at some point his son Andrew was evidently made a Director of the Greenock Bank, since he resigned on 7 July 1813, at the same time as his father. Both sons were reputed 'tear-a-ways' and family tradition is that they were both a constant worry to their father, and a considerable drain on his pocket. Suffice it to say here that in the early 1790s they both joined the Army, and thus forsook any interest they may previously have had in their father's business from then on. Both sons were painted by Opie in military uniform in the 1790s, and these were no doubt paid for by their father, and there is evidence in the late 1790s and again in 1806, from letters written to James by his son Andrew, that he was financing both him and his brother William. This evidence seems to scotch the family story that James disinherited both sons, although no doubt on occasion he must have been tempted to do so!

In 1808, for some reason or other James decided to invest in property in North East Scotland, and his first venture was to acquire from the Burnett family the estate of Countesswells, some 5 miles to the west of Aberdeen. A few years later he bought the estate of Ardiffery for his grandson James, Portlethen for his grandson Ernest, and finally Drumtochty and Lethendy with Whitewell for himself. These purchases were all made between 1816 and 1822, and in aggregate must have cost him well over £100,000.

In spite of advancing years, James remained an active partner in the Greenock Bank until he resigned on 7 July 1813. A large silver soup tureen which was presented to him in 1808, perhaps on his retirement from active management. The wording of the inscription is as follows:-

'To James Gammell of Countesswells, the founder and senior partner of The Greenock Bank, for his very great and disinterested services rendered to his other partners, this small, but very unequal testimony of their gratitude is given by George Robertson, James Dennistown, William Forsyth and James Hunter'.

James continued to live at Garvel Park House until after the death of his wife on 28 April 1818, by which time he was well over 80, and with both his sons dead, he must have been rather a lonely old man. Whether it was this loneliness or for other reasons, we will never know, but in 1822, he left Greenock, and went to live in Drumtochty Castle - he never resided at Countesswells. Garvel Park remained in his ownership and was not finally sold until after James' death.

In spite of his age, James remained mentally active when he reached Drumtochty. He had already bought properties for two of his grand-children, and it appears he now set in train a plan for the advantageous marriage for James, his second grandchild - the eldest already being betrothed. He befriended Lord Forbes of Castle Forbes in Aberdeenshire, and with him prepared a plan to bring together the said James, and Lord Forbes' daughter Charlotte, in the hope that they would become attracted to one another. There is a letter from Lord Forbes to James dated 31 August 1823, outlining these arrangements. But the marriage never materialised because, so family tradition runs, James thought Charlotte 'ill-favoured', and preferred, the daughter of an Irish merchant, whom he had met when serving with the Army in Ireland and whom he eventually married, shortly after his grandfather's death. This rejection of his friend's daughter, obviously displeased the elder James, and presumably as a result, he left his uncommitted properties, namely Countesswells, Drumtochty and Lethendy to his next grandson Andrew, who was still unmarried. He left the properties to Andrew, however, only for life, and then to his children, but in the event of his remaining unmarried, on his death the properties of Drumtochty and Countesswells were to revert to the descendants of Lord Forbes. Whether this was to encourage Andrew to marry the said Charlotte, or only to compensate his friend Lord Forbes for the insult of his grandson refusing the hand of his daughter, we shall never know: what we do know, is that James' wishes did not come to fruition, as although Andrew remained unmarried, owing to a slip in James' will, Andrew was able to prove that he was in fact the owner of his grandfather's estates in fee simple.

James eventually died at Drumtochty on 15 September 1825, at the ripe old age of 89. He is buried in the Fordoun Parish Church in the village of Auchinblae, close to Drumtochty. His tomb is near the entrance gate to the church, on the left-hand side, and bears the following inscription:

'In memory of JAMES GAMMELL Esq. of Drumtochty who died at Drumtochty the 15th September 1825 aged 89, and is interred here. Also in memory of JANET GEILS, wife of the said James Gammell who died 28th April 1818 aged 79, and is buried at Greenock, and their sons, WILLIAM GAMMELL, who died in infancy, Lieutenant General ANDREW GAMMELL interred in Westminster Abbey, and Lieutenant Colonel WILLIAM GAMMELL interred in Martinique.'

In his will James left a great many monetary bequests which amounted to nearly £50,000, and much property in Greenock. After his death, his trustees sold off all his property in Greenock, and after the sale of Garvel Park to John Scott of Hawkshill in 1832, the Gammell family finally severed their connections with the Clyde in favour of the North East. After payment of legacies etc., the residue of James' estate went to his grandson Andrew, who thus became a very wealthy young man, with a rent roll from property of about £8,000 a year, plus a fairly large sum in cash.