A member of the great landowning family on the south side of Glasgow, Pollok was born at Faside, second of three sons of the laird Thomas Pollok. In 1804, along with his younger brother Arthur and another relative, Allan Gilmour, Pollok began trading in timber in Glasgow, first from Stockwell Street, then from Union Street.
The port of Grangemouth was used to establish trade with Norway and Sweden, until a change of fiscal policy in 1808 saw trade switch to the American colonies, notably Miramichi in New Brunswick, Canada.
The Pollok brothers retired from business in 1853 and spent their final years in quiet country surroundings at their mansion at Broom.
FROM an early period in the history of Scotland a considerable tract of country to the south of Glasgow was held by the family of Pollok or de Polloc as it is sometimes written. In the wars of Bruce and Balliol the head of the house unhappily took the side of Balliol, and in the end was deprived of the better portion of his lands, now Nether Pollok. These were conferred by Bruce on an adherent to his cause, from whom the family of Maxwell, still in possession, is descended. Of the remaining portion, called Upper Pollok, the greater part passed more than a century ago to the Crawfurds of Jordanhill, by the marriage of the heiress of Pollok to Sir Hew Crawfurd. The estate still remains in the Crawfurd-Pollok line, and now belongs to a baronet - notable yet little known, - whose ruined castle, perched on high, forms a striking feature in a landscape remarkable for the richness of its verdure, the beauty of its foliage, its varied surface of hill and dale and loch, and commanding views of the distant mountains of Argyllshire, Dumbartonshire, and Perthshire which can hardly be surpassed in any part of Scotland.
The branch from which John and Arthur Pollok sprang claims to be the eldest male line of the house of Pollok. For several hundred years their father's property of Faside had passed on from generation to generation without the affront of an entail, the eldest son, no doubt, as a rule succeeding, while the younger children hived off to other occupations. The name of Pollok makes but little show in history, and yet enough crops up in times of national commotion to prove the stuff of which they were made. We read that "for conscience sake George Pollok of Falside was fined £480 Scots in 1662," and a few years later, for upholding the cause of civil and religious liberty, John Pollok of Falside was fined in what must to him have been the enormous sum of £3,510 Scots. These were the days of prelatic persecution, when the national character was welded in the white heat of terrible suffering, out of which came a people whose "pith of sense and pride of worth" secured them high rank among the nations.
John Pollok was born at Faside in 1778, and his brother Arthur three years later- they being the youngest of the three sons of Thomas Pollok, the laird of that time. Thomas was a man noted for his high spirit and independence, and for twelve stirring years following on the French Revolution he served his country on active duty with the militia. In the natural course his eldest son Allan was to have the land, so John and Arthur had to push their fortunes elsewhere. This, while still youths, they proceeded to do by moving to the neighbouring city of Glasgow, where they entered a shop in the grocery business, in King Street, kept by one Allan Pollok, ancestor of the present Pollok-Morris of Craig in Ayrshire. After a short experience this business connection was dropped in favour of a new undertaking as wood merchants in conjunction with their relative Allan Gilmour, then trading in Glasgow as a wright and joiner, and, like themselves, a native of the Mearns parish.
The new firm thus constituted began its operations in 1804 under the name, destined to high commercial distinction, of Pollok Gilmour & Co. Their office was at first in Stockwell Street, corner of Jackson Street, until it was removed to 19 Union Street, here it continued to be till its close. At first the trade in timber was chiefly with Norway and Sweden, and it was found convenient, therefore, to open an establishment at Grangemouth under the charge of Arthur Pollok, who made this port his residence for many years. In 1808 an important change of fiscal policy was resolved on by the Government, the object of which was to stimulate the interests of our own colonies by adopting a system of differential duties in their favour. This at once diverted the trade from the Baltic to the American colonies, and to meet the altered conditions Allan Gilmour was despatched to New Brunswick, where he established branch houses at St. John and Miramichi. As the trade developed other establishments followed. One was opened at Bathurst, Chaleur Bay, and an important house and shipbuilding yard were started at Quebec, while, up country, extensive forests were acquired, and saw-mills on a scale hitherto undreamt of were erected. Ship-owning, which had been begun on the Clyde with a fifty ton coaster, soon became an important feature in their business, and attained by degrees to a tonnage greater than that of any contemporary firm in the United Kingdom.
The copartnery, as originally constituted, underwent considerable changes during the seventy years of its existence. In 1812 Allan Gilmour's brother James, father of the present laird of Eaglesham, joined the house as a partner along with Alexander Rankin. They were attached to the young establishment at Miramichi, and proceeded thither on board the "Mary" of 180 tons burthen, landing at the mouth of the river on account of the ice, and walking to Chatham, while the "Mary" wintered at Prince Edward Island. Several nephews of Allan Gilmour were afterwards received into the business, best known of whom in Glasgow was his namesake Allan Gilmour, latterly of Lundin and Montrave, whose active and honourable career was closed by death a few months ago - March, 1885. He had been sent to Miramichi in 1821, at the age of sixteen, and becoming a partner in 1837, soon rose to be the head of the house, and continued so till his retirement in 1870. In December, 1872, the copartnery was finally dissolved. John Pollok died in 1858 and Arthur in 1870. The brothers had retired from business in 1853, and having previously built the comfortable mansion of Broom, in their native parish, spent their declining years in quiet country pursuits.
The period of Pollok Gilmour & Co. was coincident with the rise and early development of the great Canadian lumber trade, and saw the culmination and decline of wooden ships. The original partners devoted themselves persistently and unassumingly to the management of their own concerns, taking no prominent part in public affairs. In their personal and domestic arrangements they exhibited an habitual thriftiness of expenditure - little seen or regarded in the present day, but which was then thought not inconsistent with splendid commercial success. The name of the firm has now passed from amongst us, but there remain to attest the high position it attained under the guidance of two generations of partners, vast estates held by their descendants in the counties of Renfrew, Argyll, and Fife, and in the West of Ireland.
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