Description |
These items have been classified by the depositor historically into the following groups:
1-14. Letters and family papers relating principally to the Quaker farming community to the south of Kirkintilloch. Includes fragmentary details of farm accounts and informative details of a family dispute which may have gone to judgement, they could help those researching Quaker farming
15-61. Letters and family papers relating to the Gray and Cruickshanks families (also other Quaker families) in the Kinmuck and Aberdeen area. These illustrate the farming and domestic life of a close knit Quaker community centered in Kinmuck and especially of a close knit Quaker family, spread between parents and siblings in Kinmuck and siblings in newly commercialised Glasgow.
62-72. Correspondence mainly from William Gray, later chairman of Gray Dunn and Co. Ltd. biscuit manufacturers of Glasgow, also includes a letter from William Smeal about the early death of John Gray, co-founder of Gray Dunn and Co (72) and also about the early death of William Gray's first wife in Cumbria (64). Highlights one of the first Quaker commercial ventures in Scotland.
73-74. other including a family tree of the Brockbank family, Quakers of Cumbria who married into Scottish Quaker families.
75. Personal letter from Mary Smeal to her parents.
76-87. Miscellaneous letters and documents written by the Gray family. |
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history |
James Gray (1780-1855) was born into the Quaker community near Kirkintilloch. He was the son of Robert Gray (1727-1807) of Bedcow who seems to have played a notable part in the business of the dying Quaker meetings in the Glasgow area and in the work of the Edinburgh meetings which represented Quakers in all Scotland.
Two of James' sons, Robert (1808-1903) and James (1816-1902), were Quaker farmers in the Kinmuck area. They were amongst the last of the Kinmuck Quakers. However two other sons, John (1811-1845) and William (1812-1880) moved eventually to Glasgow. John died early, having co-founded Gray Dunn and Co. biscuit manufactureres of Glasgow. William tried to find a new life in America and also in London but eventually returned and took over Gray Dunn and Co. in 1854 and became a key member of the Glasgow Quaker community alongside his sister, Mary Smeal (nee Gray) (1814-1901). |
Archival history |
The records were found in the attic of Elmbank in Strone, Argyll, the country home of William Gray of Gray Dunn & Co., biscuit manufacturers of Glasgow. William Gray's widow retired to Elmbank when her husband died. The house later became the home of his unmarried daughters, the last of whom died in 1955. These items were recovered, along with many others, by a nephew, Charles Gray.
Charles Gray studied and wrote an unpublished account of the life of William Gray based on the collection, but after his death, Charles's widow, Ruby dispersed the collection amongst various family members. Many items were lost in this process but John Gray (the depositor) tried to locate and/or recover as many as possible for photocopying and indexing. The remaining parts of the original collection was passed on from Ruby Gray to her daughter in law, Ilene Gray, who asked John Gray to find a suitable repository.
Acting on behalf of Ilene Gray and Morag Morris, John Gray, Somerset gifted the collection to the Naitonal Archives of Scotland in 2005. He also deposited item 75 as a gift from himself.
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