THE present laird of Strathleven and head of the firm of James Ewing & Co. is the grand nephew of that James Ewing, who, after the Napoleonic wars, was one of the founders of Glasgow's new West Indian trade, and whose town mansion stood amid a rookery at the head of Queen Street, on the site of the present Queen Street Railway Station. James Ewing was not only the owner of great estates in Jamaica, but an LL.D. of Glasgow University, Lord Provost in 1831, and elected M.P. for the city in the first parliament after the passing of the Reform Bill in 1832. He was the author of a "History of the Merchants' House," and the Ewing silver medal for Greek which he endowed is still among the most coveted prizes in Glasgow High School. He purchased Strathleven estate, then known as Levenside, in 1836, and in the same year married a young and beautiful woman. Miss Crawford of Port-Glasgow. After his death in 1853 this lady remained, as a life-renter, in possession of the estate for nearly half a century.
    During most of that time the heir in fee, James Ewing's nephew, the late Mr. Humphrey Ewing Crum Ewing, resided at Ardencaple Castle, Helensburgh. He was M.P for Paisley for seventeen years, and Lord-Lieutenant of Dunbartonshire from 1874 till his death at the age of 85, in 1887. His son, Mr. Alexander Crum Ewing, only succeeded to the actual possession of Strathleven estate some eight or ten years ago, on the death of his grand-uncle's widow. Educated in England and at Glasgow University, he has from the first taken an active interest in the West Indian business and estates. As a result of the iniquitous continental bounty system which prevailed till recently, the sugar cane has gone largely out of cultivation on the Crum Ewing properties in Jamaica, and is being replaced by the cultivation of the banana, of which there are now from six to seven hundred acres in bearing.
    At Polmont Park, where he first resided, Mr. Crum Ewing was frequently to be seen in the hunting field. Afterwards, for a couple of years, he lived in Edinburgh, but, moved by an enthusiasm for country pursuits, he purchased the estate of Keppoch, between Cardross and Helensburgh, where he found enjoyment for six or seven years in farming his own lands. Since coming into possession of Strathleven he has disposed of Keppoch, but he still does some farming, retaining the home farm and most of the grass lands in his own hands. He also takes an active interest in county affairs; he is Chairman of the County Licensing Court and Vice-Lieutenant of the County, besides being Vice-Convener of the County Council. He was also honorary Colonel of the 3rd Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers.
    Abroad, he has travelled through the Holy Land, and he saw the first troops setting out for the war in the Crimea from the Turkish port of St. Ferapol. He has also many stirring memories of America in slavery times. But his latest and most thrilling experience occurred during the earthquake in Jamaica in 1907. He was interested in the party, which, under the leading of Sir Alfred Jones, went out to study the possibilities of cotton-growing in the West Indies, and in company with Mr. Jesse Collings, Mr. Henniker Heaton, and the Governor of the Island, he had just left a hall in Kingston where a meeting had been held, when the first shock took place and the building collapsed.
    Mrs. Crum Ewing, who died a few years ago, was the only daughter of Admiral Hayes O'Grady of Erinagh House, County Clare, and the family consists of two daughters and a son, Mr. Humphrey Crum Ewing, who is associated with his father in the management of the West Indian properties.

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