Born in Stirling, King initially worked in the counting-house at the Hurlet and Campsie Alum Company near Barrhead. In 1825 he became manager at the Cudbear chemical works in Glasgow, and soon became a partner in the dyeing firm. In 1848 both the Cudbear and Hurlet firms passed into King's hands,
King had married Christina Macnie in 1826 and from 1841 they lived at Levernholme, to the south of Glasgow. He was a director of the Merchants' House and of the Chamber of Commerce, as well as of the Clydesdale Bank, the Forth and Clyde Navigation and the Glasgow and South-Western Railway Company.
He died at Levernholme on 31 October 1875.
THIS gentleman, long one of our best known merchants and most highly respected citizens, was a native of Stirling, and was born in 1789. He received his education at the Grammar School of his native town, entering that somewhat celebrated Academy during the rectorship of Dr. Doig, the friend of Lord Kames, and greatly distinguished both as a classical scholar and as a teacher. The head of what we may term the non-classical side of the school was Mr. Peter Macdougall, and under the tuition and guidance of that gentleman, whose name is still kindly remembered in Stirling, and whose favourite pupil he was, he made rapid progress; for besides possessing excellent natural abilities, he was gifted with the power of steady application. Shortly after leaving school, Mr. King had the misfortune to lose his father, not, however, before learning from the lips of one to whom he was affectionately devoted, and whose memory he ever warmly cherished, many very valuable lessons and precepts to which he strictly conformed during his life.
Having a preference for mercantile life, Mr. King's first situation was in the counting-house of the Hurlet and Campsie Alum Company at their Hurlet works, near Barrhead, where Mr. John Wilson of Thornlie, father of the late Mr. George Wilson of Dalmarnock, was managing partner, the other partners being Mr. Charles Macintosh of Dunchattan, a chemist of more than European reputation, and Mr. Charles Stirling of Cadder. After a few years spent at Hurlet, in the course of which he acquired a practical knowledge of the manufacture, besides making himself highly useful in the mercantile department of the business, he was appointed to the management of the Company's establishment at Campsie; and while there he devoted himself with unremitting attention to the task of improving the processes and increasing the various products at the works.
While resident at Campsie much of his leisure was spent in reading, and he thus acquired an extensive and minute acquaintance of his favourite authors, Shakespeare, Scott, and Cowper. Nor did he experience the want of intellectual society, for he was much in the company of the Rev. James Lapslie, the able but eccentric minister of the parish. His special friend, however, was Mr. Dalglish, afterwards Lord Provost of Glasgow, and father of our late Member of Parliament. Mr. Dalglish took a paternal interest in Mr. King, and insisted that, as a general rule, he should spend each Sunday evening in his family circle at Lennoxmill.
In 1825 Mr. King removed to Glasgow, to take the management of the Cudbear Works at Dunchattan, belonging to Messrs. George Macintosh & Co. This firm having been established in 1777, its name appears in the first Glasgow Directory (1783). Their works were the first chemical works erected in Glasgow. The workmen were all Highlanders, most of them ignorant of the English language; and, except those who were married, they all lived in a barrack within the works, and were superintended and watched over with something like military strictness. Various subsidiary manufactures were carried on at different periods, but the staple articles were always "Cudbear" and "Archil." These dyes were extracted from a whitish lichen imported from Sweden, the Cape de Verde Islands, and the coast of Peru; and they were formerly in extensive use for colouring woollen and silk fabrics, in every shade from crimson to purple.
Mr. Charles Macintosh, whose father had died many years before, was at this time (1825) the head of the firm; and having had ample experience of Mr. King's business capacity and reliableness of character, invited him to assist him in the business of the firm, and ere long he assumed him as a partner, assuming also at the same time George, the elder of his own sons.
On 14th February, 1826, Mr. King was married to Miss Christina Macnie, who, like himself, was a native of Stirling. In 1841 he went to reside at Levernholme, in the parish of Eastwood. This he made his chief residence during the remainder of his life.
Mr. Charles Stirling died a few years after Mr. King's admission as a partner to the firm of George Macintosh & Co.; and Mr. Charles Macintosh having died in 1843, and his son George in 1848, the whole of that business, and of the Hurlet and Campsie Alum Co., passed into the hands of Mr. King. Owing, however, to the introduction of new brilliant dyes, the use of cudbear, the chief article of manufacture at Dunchattan, was rapidly going out of use. In consequence, Mr. King closed the business of George Macintosh & Co. in the year 1851, after it had been carried on for upwards of 70 years. Thereafter he continued to devote the whole of his attention to the business of the Hurlet and Campsie Alum Co., remaining a partner thereof down to the date of his decease.
In 1856 Mr. King purchased from General Alexander Fisher Macintosh, son of his former partner, Mr. Charles Macintosh, and a full cousin of our distinguished citizen, Sir John Moore, the estate of Campsie, originally part of the forfeited estates of William Livingstone, Viscount Kilsyth, who was attainted for his participation in the Rebellion of 1715, and latterly belonging first to the York Buildings Company, and subsequently to the Edmonstones of Duntreath. Though this property was greatly more extensive than Levernholme, and situated in his native county, to which he was always fondly attached, still the ties which bound him to Levernholme were too strong to be easily broken.
Mr. King was a strong Conservative and Churchman. He had no taste for public life. He was, however, a Director of the Merchants' House and of the Chamber of Commerce; and also, at different times, a Director of the Clydesdale Bank, of the Forth and Clyde Navigation, and of the Glasgow and South-Western Railway Co.
Hitherto we have spoken of Mr. King principally as regards what we may term the business part of his life, his success in which was, as is well known, great, but not greater than was warranted by his unwearied perseverance, his excellent business habits, his great shrewdness and sagacity, and his high sense of honour.
In private life few men were more beloved, for his disposition and qualities were ever such as to secure esteem and affection. His worldly prosperity never detracted from the inherent simplicity and gentleness of his character. And so charitably did he think of others that an unkind word scarcely ever escaped his lips. Nor should we omit to mention his liberality towards our various charitable and other institutions - liberality which was not the less generous, neither the less effective, because of its frequent bestowal unaccompanied by the name of the kind-hearted donor.
Mr. King died at Levernholme on 31st October, 1875. He was survived by his wife (since deceased), by three sons, all his partners in business, and by two daughters. His eldest son, Mr. James King of Campsie, has filled the office of Lord Dean of Glasgow, and also that of Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, and is a Deputy-Lieutenant of the county of Stirling. The eldest daughter is widow of Robert Stewart, Esq. of Murdostoun, Lord Provost of Glasgow from 1851 to 1854.
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