A native of Stirling, and the fourth son of a cloth merchant, Connal moved to Glasgow in 1806 and worked at the counting-house of Findlay, Duff & Co, with interests in trade and shipping.
At the age of 22 he was made a partner in the firm, and was in the habit of walking the six hours back to the parental home of a Saturday afternoon. The business was dissolved in 1822, and Connal went on to manage Findlay, Connal & Co. From 1828 he established himself as a commission merchant and produce broker, and in 1839 became a partner in the Cunard Line of steamers.
Connal served as Dean of Guild, 1851-52, and was a founder of the Glasgow Stirlingshire Charitable Society. He was twice married: to Frances Wright and to Margaret Turner; there were no children. He died suddenly on 25 August 1856.
MR. WILLIAM CONNAL was born in Stirling in 1790. He was the fourth son of Michael Connal, cloth merchant, and who, inheriting a fifth or sixth share, through his relative William Christie, of the Stirling Banking Coy., became in 1795 a partner of that firm, which had been started in 1779 and continued to be prosperous till the commercial crisis of 1826.
Michael Connal took an interest in the affairs of the burgh for fully twenty-seven years. He was Dean of Guild in 1785, and during the period from 1803 to 1812 he was three times elected to the Provostship. His death occurred during his tenure of office.
William Connal came to Glasgow in 1806, and entered the counting-house of Findlay, Duff, & Co.; then one of the most extensive colonial and general mercantile establishments in the city. The firm at that time comprised in its membership Mr. Robert Findlay of Easterhill, Mr. Buchanan of Ardenconnel, Mr. Dennistoun of Kelvingrove, Mr. Colin McNaughton, Ardmore, and Mr. Duff, who subsequently established himself in Liverpool.
The premises of the firm were in Virginia Buildings, which it is understood were built by them, and included a large range of cotton warehouses. Mr. Robert Findlay was born in 1784, in the house which became his father's property in 1780, and which is in close proximity to Virginia Buildings, on the east side of Miller Street. It is interesting, as being the only remaining mansion in Miller Street, of the period 1775. Mr. Connal occupied the house as a residence for about ten years, when he flitted in 1827, to No. 2 Milton Place, St. Vincent Street. Blythswood Square was then in course of formation.
Mr. Connal proved himself to be a laborious and attentive man of business, and was admitted to a partnership in the firm at the age of twenty-two. When he first came to Glasgow, the centre of business was at the Cross. The old Tontine Coffee-room was the Exchange. The Sugar Market was field in an upper floor at the back of the building, entering from the piazza. As an illustration of the expansion of the city since that time, the mansion-house known as St. Enoch Bank, the site of which is now occupied by the shop of Messrs. John Smith & Son, booksellers in Renfield Street, was let as country quarters. The facilities of travelling also in those days were far short of the present, and while no doubt it suited his purse, it was quite usual for him, when visiting the paternal roof, to leave Glasgow on a Saturday afternoon at four o'clock, and walk to Stirling, which he reached when the ten o'clock bells were ringing.
Amongst the variety of colonial and tropical produce which at that time passed through the hands of the firm, he devoted his attention as a member of the firm especially to sugar. The minutes of the West India Association of Glasgow supply a record of the sugar trade at that period which is very interesting. The Association was formed by merchants and planters to protect the general interests of the trade. The first meeting was held in the Tontine Tavern on 22nd October, 1807. A number of names, well known to a generation that is passing away, appear on the minutes, such as Douglas, Hamilton, Smith, Crooks, Laird, Connell, Playfair, Eccles, Blackburn, McCaul, Wardrop, Hagart, Alston, Hopkirk, Cross, McGrigor, McBean, Cheviz.
At that meeting Mr. Robert Dennistoun presided, and five Directors were chosen - namely, Mr. Robert Dennistoun, of G. & R. Dennistoun; Francis Garden, of Francis Garden & Co.; Alex. Campbell, of John Campbell, senior, & Co.; Robert Bogle, of Robert Bogle, junior, & Co.; and Mr. John Gordon, of Stirling, Gordon, & Co.; the last being made Chairman. John Gordon was regarded by the community as a prince among British merchants. Mr. James Ewing, who, after an interval of twenty-six years, became Member for the city, and whose services to the Association during a long period, frequently evoked the thanks of the Association, was the Secretary.
The war between this country and France had broken out in 1803. Vessels bound for America and the West Indies had to assemble at the Cove of Cork, where war-ships were timed to meet them, and those bound for the north of Europe assembled in Leith Roads. While these convoys were a great protection against capture, they were a source of considerable inconvenience, delay, and expense. Napoleon I. issued his memorable Berlin and Milan decrees; the latter on 17th December, 1807, with a view to enforce the Berlin decree more rigorously against continental intercourse with Great Britain. The French ports were then declared in a state of blockade, and this country therefore became a depot for produce, more especially sugar and coffee, which could only find a market on the Continent of Europe. The distress of the West India Colonies was the first subject to which the West India Association directed its attention - a distress aggravated by the importations from the French islands which had been captured, and the supply being so unexpectedly increased, reduced the value of British Colonial produce. From the excess of importation, by 1809 the article had fallen 20s. per cwt., the average price gazetted towards the close of that year being 46s. 4½d., exclusive of duty. The quantity of sugar imported into Great Britain was far in excess of the consumption. In 1807 it amounted to 182,584 tons, and of that quantity only 56,526 tons had been exported. These figures show a striking contrast to those of the present day, when the consumption of this country is more than 1,000,000 tons. The duty then was 27s. per cwt., which was eventually raised to 30s., while on foreign sugar, exclusive of that of captured islands, there was a prohibitive duty of 63s. per cwt. Of the 30s. duty, 9s. 6d. was at that time considered the war tax. The import into the Clyde at that time was about 33,000 tons per annum, while the domestic consumption, so far as the Clyde had relations to other parts of the country, was about 17,000 to 18,000 tons. To-day the quantity of sugar passing through the Clyde refineries amounts to 240,000 to 245,000 tons. The qualities known as good brown sugar were then worth 70s. to 80s., duty paid. To-day the article, free of duty, is worth 11s. per cwt. At the time of Mr. Connal's death, in 1856, the consumption in the Clyde had risen to about 32,000 tons. The price in 1856 was 45s. per cwt., subject to a duty of 13s. 9d. and 15s. according to quality - the duty on British plantation and foreign having been equalized.
It is difficult to realize to-day the vexatious restrictions under which the commerce of the country was then conducted. Almost every article imported and exported was liable to duty, many of which were at various specified rates of percentage on value. A variety of articles were prohibited to be imported, while others were in like manner prohibited to be exported; other articles again were entitled to drawback or bounty on exportation.
Goods were shipped in Glasgow in fighters, performing at that time a difficult navigation in a narrow river, subject to all the vicissitudes of winds and tides, and were often detained for many days and sometimes for weeks in the river. These local difficulties - all the more harassing when the convoy at Cork was missed by the detention of the vessels at Greenock and Port-Glasgow - suggested to a Mr. Cochran the employment of luggage steamers about the year 1814. After carrying on the enterprise for five years, the luggage steamers employed by him - the "Industry," the "Trusty," the "Active," and the "Dispatch" - were taken over in January, 1819, by a joint stock company, long known as the Clyde Shipping Co. The "Industry" was the fifth or sixth steam vessel built in this country. She continued to ply on the river till 1861, when her hull and engines were presented by her owners to the Clyde Trustees, who have allowed her to lie uncared for in the harbour of Bowling. The first manager of the Clyde Shipping Co. was Mr. James Miller, who, as a West India merchant, had been unfortunate. He was in all probability one of the firm of Ure & Miller, and he was a grandson of James Watt. Mr. James Steel succeeded Mr. Miller, and served the Company for thirty-one years, first as agent at Greenock and subsequently as manager at Glasgow, until the goodwill of the Company and the vessels passed by purchase into the hands of other proprietors - the old name of the Company being retained - and which to-day is represented by Mr. George Jardine Kidston. Another firm, under the style of the Glasgow and Greenock Shipping Co., has carried on the same kind of business under Mr. John Steel and his brother - the sons of the former manager. The original capital stock of the Company was £15,000, and the Trustees, in whom was vested the property, were Mr. James Buchanan of Dowanhill; Mr. Robert Findlay, merchant; and Mr. James Dennistoun, banker. In this Company from an early period Mr. Connal took an active interest, along with other fellow-citizens, especially Mr. Dugald McFie, of Gairhallow, Dunoon.
From the variety and extent of the business of Findlay, Duff, & Co., it was considered a good school for young men. The late Mr. Charles Tennant, of St. Rollox, placed his son, the late Mr. John Tennant, the father of the present member for Peeblesshire, in their office, to acquire his mercantile education as a junior clerk. On the dissolution of the firm in 1822, Mr. Connal became the manager and active partner of the house of Findlay, Connal, & Co., the members of which embraced some of the old firm, with an infusion of new blood. Amongst these was Mr. James Wright, who managed the cotton department, and Mr. William Angus, who disposed of the yarns and calico manufactured at their cotton mill at Mile-End. The union of several branches under one firm was characteristic of the period, and of a period long anterior to it, when business was less systematized than it now is. This firm was carried on from 1826 to 1828 as Smith & Wright, when Mr. William Connal started on his own account as a commission merchant and produce broker. In 1845 he assumed as partners his two nephews, Michael and William Connal, and Mr. Robert Cochran, who had been his assistants for many years.
In 1834, on the opening of the China trade, the East India Company's charter having expired, the first direct importation of an entire cargo of tea was consigned to his management, and which was followed in after years by further consignments. The late Mr. W. J. Thompson, sen., and his son, the present well-known tea broker in London, came to Scotland in the November of that year, to prepare the cargo for public sale. This led Mr. Connal to erect large and commodious bonding warehouses in York Street, in the neighbourhood of the harbour.
The incommodious premises on the west side of St. Enoch Square, where the Custom House conducted the business of the port, were a disgrace to the city, and Mr. Connal did not relax his efforts during a long period of years to induce the Government to provide more suitable accommodation; and, associated with his friends Mr. John Fleming of Claremont, Mr. John Leadbetter, Mr. John Henderson of Park, and Mr. Lumsden, father of the late Sir James Lumsden, the object was at last accomplished in the erection of the present building in Great Clyde Street. It occupies the site of the old bottle work, and it was opened for business in 1840. The late venerable Andrew Scott, who retired in 1858 from the office of Chief Clerk of the Customs, after having been fifty-six years in the civil service, will long be remembered for his ability and invariable courtesy, and who, while faithful to the Crown, was at all times anxious to facilitate the interests of the merchant, when vexatious regulations interposed, in connection with the revenue.
Mr. Connal originated, with his friends Messrs. Ross, Corbett, & Co., of Greenock, a direct shipping trade with Calcutta, in the fine vessels "Bucephalus," "Argaum," and "Deogaum." The enterprise was not so fortunate as it might have been, had the vessels been built more with a view to carrying capacity than to making rapid passages. Messrs. George Smith & Sons eventually took up the same line of business, and prosecuted it with well-known success.
He was one of about fifteen Glasgow merchants who in 1839 became partners in the Cunard Line of steamers, and was one of the five trustees who held the property for the Company on its formation. His judgment and integrity in business matters exercised an important influence in commercial circles, and he was frequently requested to act as an arbiter in cases of dispute - many of them involving the tedious examination of numerous documents and points of law, and in which he availed himself of the assistance as clerk of some professional man of high legal standing. Very often the late Dr. Adam Paterson acted as clerk to the referee.
Mr. Connal did not take a prominent part in public matters, but the benevolent objects which engaged his sympathies found in him a fast friend. He was one of the founders of the Glasgow Stirlingshire Charitable Society. The example set by the Ayrshire Society and others induced seven young men, natives of Stirling and the neighbourhood, to set about its formation. The idea was first broached in Mr. Connal's lodgings in Glassford Street, and so successful were they in interesting their friends, and the more prominent citizens connected with Stirlingshire, that, at the first meeting of the Society - held in the hall of the Black Bull Hotel on "Auld Hansel Monday," January 16th, 1809 - a party of seventy sat down to dinner. The Society's capital now amounts to £8,800.
Mr. Connal was twice married - first to Miss Frances Wright, daughter of the late William Wright, Esq. of Broom, and second to Miss Margaret Turner, sister of the late Angus Turner, Esq., one of the Town Clerks of the city. He died suddenly on the 25th August, 1856, in his sixty-seventh year, while on a visit to his friend Mr. Peter Buchanan, at his shooting lodge, Glenmurchie, Forfarshire. He left no family. He had been elected Dean of Guild ad interim, on the death of Mr. Robert Baird, which event took place on 7th August; and on the 9th September the Merchants' House again met to nominate a successor to Mr. Connal in the office and in the River Trust. Bailie Hannan, who presided, gave expression to the feeling of the community, under circumstances so solemn and impressive, in regard to the death, within the short period of three weeks, not only of two Deans of Guild, but of a Director, Mr. William Morgan, long known as actively and unostentatiously employed in works of Christian charity. Mr. Hannan said that for a long period Mr. Connal had filled a prominent position in the city. As a merchant he was intelligent, upright, and energetic; as Dean of Guild in 1851-52 he anxiously and ably fulfilled the duties of the office; and as a citizen and private friend no man stood higher.
Back to Contents