George Oswald

George Oswald of Scotstoun (1735–1819) was a Scottish merchant of Glasgow, in 1797 elected Rector of the University of Glasgow.[1][2]

George Oswald, photograph by Thomas Annan of portrait by Thomas Gainsborough

Life

He was the son of the Rev. James Oswald (1703–1793), and nephew of the merchant Richard Oswald (1705?–1784). Initially he worked in the Glasgow firm run by his father's cousins the brothers Richard Oswald (1687–1763) of Scotstoun and Alexander Oswald (1694–1766). They left him the Scotstoun and Balshagray estates, both having died by 1766.

Oswald became head of the tobacco firm of Oswald, Dennistoun, & Co. of Glasgow, and partner in the Ship Bank there.[1][2] He was left the Auchincruive estate on the 1784 death of Richard Oswald his uncle, coming into possession of it on the death of his aunt in 1788.[2][3]

Oswald died on 6 October 1819, aged 84.[1]

Family
Margaret Oswald, portrait by Thomas Gainsborough

In 1764 Oswald married Margaret Smythe (1747–1791), daughter of David Smythe of Methven. They had four sons and at least five daughters.[2]

The children included:[4]

  • Richard Alexander Oswald
  • David (died 1797 in the West Indies), major of the 38th Regiment
  • James, third son (died 1822), a naval captain[5]
  • Alexander (01 Apr 1777–12 Jul 1821), Advocate, married Miss Anne Dalrymple (who died 22 Jun 1820), youngest daughter of Sir Hew Dalrymple Hamilton of Bargany House[6]
  • Elizabeth
  • Catherine or Katherine Cochrane, second daughter, married Robert Haldane[7]
  • Margaret, married Major General John Wilson
  • Christian, married to the merchant Alexander Anderson
  • Mary Ramsay, married James Dennistoun[8]
  • Camilla, died 1808
  • Isabella.

Notes
  1. Lee, Sidney, ed. (1895). "Oswald, Richard" . Dictionary of National Biography. 42. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  2. Hancock, David. "Oswald, Richard". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/20924. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. "University of Edinburgh Archive and Manuscript Collections, Special Collections, Correspondence of the Oswald family of Auchincruive, including Richard Oswald". Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  4. Crawfurd, George (1818). A General Description of the Shire of Renfrew: Including an Account of the Noble and Ancient Families ... To which is Added, a Genealogical History of the Royal House of Stewart, and of the Several Noble and Illustrious Families of that Name, from the Year 1034 to the Year 1710. J. Neilson, sold by H. Crichton. pp. 347–8.
  5. Nicolas, Sir Nicholas Harris (1845). The Dispatches and Letters of Vice Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson: With Notes. H. Colburn. pp. 426 note. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  6. History of the Speculative Society of Edinburgh. The society. 1845. p. 205.
  7. The Scots Magazine. Sands, Brymer, Murray and Cochran. 1786. p. 206.
  8. Burke, Sir Bernard (1862). A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland. Harrison. p. 362.
Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Lee, Sidney, ed. (1895). "Oswald, Richard". Dictionary of National Biography. 42. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

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