THE property of Robert Buchanan Dunlop, Esq., of Drumhead and Househill, is pleasantly situated in the parish of Paisley and county of Lanark.
In 1477 Sir Thomas Stewart of Minto, who was Provost of Glasgow in 1472, had a charter from John, Earl of Lennox, of the lands of Househill, confirmed by royal charter in 1489. (1) His descendants held them till 1646. About this time the fortunes of the Stewarts seem to have been on the decline. Sir Ludovick was obliged to sell the Glasgow properties as well as the landward ones, such as Daldowie and Househill, the latter of which was acquired by Thomas Dunlop in the year last mentioned.
Thomas Dunlop was the fifth son of James Dunlop of Dunlop, an ancient family in the neighbouring county of Ayr. He married Grissel, daughter of Alexander Cochrane of that Ilk. He was succeeded by his son James, who in his turn was succeeded by his son, another James. This James Dunlop sold the estate to John Blackburn. (2)
John Blackburn, merchant in Glasgow, was the son of William Blackburn, who married Margaret Murdoch in 1682. (3) William Blackburn was a merchant in Glasgow, and in the list of the "great company" which "arose undertaking to trade to Virginea, Carriby Islands, Barbadoes, New England, St. Christophers, Monserat, and other colonies in America," he and his two sons, John and William, are included. (4)
His eldest son, John Blackburn, who bought Househill, married Marion Cathcart, and had, in 1719, his eldest son Andrew.
Andrew Blackburn was one of the public-spirited and enterprising merchants who in the middle of last century founded the early Glasgow Banks. In 1750 the well-known Glasgow Arms Bank was started, and his name appears among the original partners. He married Margaret, daughter of Andrew Aiton, merchant in Glasgow. In 1750 Andrew Blackburn sold Househill to Robert Dunlop, and he afterwards resided in "Ingram's" Street in Glasgow.
Robert Dunlop of Househill was a merchant in Glasgow, and second surviving son of the second James Dunlop of Garnkirk. He and his brother, Provost Colin Dunlop of Carmyle, were among the founders in 1750 of the Ship Bank. He married, first, Elizabeth, daughter of John Baird, merchant in Glasgow, by whom he had one daughter, Jane, who married Robert Dinwiddie of Germiston. He married, secondly, Janet, second daughter of Archibald Buchanan of Drumhead, Dumbartonshire, and had issue two sons and two daughters, viz.:-
1st, James, who succeeded to Househill in 1762, and had four daughters, co-heiresses. On the failure of the direct line in these, the estate passed to the Drumhead branch in the person of the present proprietor.
2nd, Robert, who succeeded to Drumhead as heir of entail, and whose great-grandson. Robert Buchanan Dunlop, is now proprietor both of Drumhead and Househill. The daughters were - Lilias, married to Robert Muirhead of Croy, merchant in Glasgow, who died without issue, and Dorothy, wife of Robert Findlay, merchant in Glasgow. (5)
The old house of Househill is described by Crawford as "a neat and handsome dwelling," and Hamilton says that "Howsle" is "a pretty dwelling and a reasonable good house." The modern mansion, which was built about the beginning of the century, is a comfortable residence.
(1) Douglas, Vol. II., p. 212.
(2) Crawford.
(3) The Blackburns have been long connected with Glasgow. This William Blackburn, who married Margaret Murdoch in 1682, was the father of two sons as mentioned above, and a daughter, Isabel. Isabel Blackburn was the first wife of Samuel M'Call, merchant in Glasgow, whom she married in 1707: they had three children, only one of whom, Samuel, survived; he went to America and settled there, and his descendants, who retain a warm feeling of affection for the country of their ancestor, are a flourishing race. Samuel M'Call married, secondly, Margaret Adam, who is the ancestor of the M'Calls who are mentioned elsewhere in this book.
John Blackburn of Househill, son of William Blackburn and Margaret Murdoch, married Marion Cathcart, and had three sons, viz.:-
I. Andrew, who married Margaret, daughter of Provost Aiton of Glasgow; their eldest daughter married John Wedderburn, and had four children - 1, Andrew Wedderburn Colvile, father of the present Right Hon. Sir James Colville; 2, Peter Wedderburn Ogilvy of Ruthven; 3, James Wedderburn, Solicitor-General, two of whose daughters, Jean and Jemima, married respectively Peter Blackburn of Killearn, and Professor Hugh Blackburn; 4, Jean, married fifth Earl of Selkirk.
II. Peter, who married Helen Cross, sister of William Cross of Parkhouse, and John Cross, ancestor of Auchintoshan, and had three daughters, Martha, Agnes, and Marion, who all died unmarried, and one son, John, who made a fortune in Jamaica, and purchased the estate of Killearn in Stirlingshire. He married Rebecca Leslie Gillies, daughter of the Rev. Colin Gillies of Paisley. Colin Gillies was the son of the Rev. John Gillies, D.D., of the College Church, by a daughter of the Rev. John Maclaurin, D.D., one of the ministers of Glasgow, author of the well-known sermon "On Glorying in the Cross of Christ,'' and brother of Colin Maclaurin, the celebrated mathematician. John Blackburn of Killearn's family were - 1, Peter, late of Killearn, formerly chairman of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, and late M.P. for Stirlingshire, and a Lord of the Treasury; he married Jean Wedderburn, and had issue; 2, Sir Colin, Justice of the Queen's Bench, created in 1876 Baron Blackburn of Killearn, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, for life, unmarried; 3, John, married Maria Warburton, and has issue; 4, Isabella, unmarried; 5, Andrew, married Mary Buchanan, and has issue; 6, Robert, Sheriff of Stirlingshire, married Georgina Dewing, and had issue; 7, Hugh, Professor of Mathematics, University of Glasgow, married Jemima Wedderburn, and has issue; 8, Helen, married Robert D. Ferguson, and has issue.
III. Hugh had a daughter named Hugh (!), who married Alexander Bruce of Kennet, and is the grandmother of Alexander Hugh Bruce of Kennet, who lately proved his right to the title of Lord Balfour of Burleigh.
(4) M'Ure.
(5) He was the son of the Rev. Dr. Robert Findlay, Professor of Theology in the University of Glasgow, of an Ayrshire family. The grandson of the Rev. Professor was the late Robert Findlay of Easterhill, a well known Glasgow merchant; he married Mary, daughter of John Buchanan of Ardoch, and had five sons - Robert (died unmarried), John of Boturich, James, Charles Bannatyne, Thomas Dunlop - and six daughters.
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