David Dale: Difference between revisions
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{{short description|Scottish merchant ( |
{{short description|Scottish merchant (1739–1806)}} |
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{{other people}} |
{{other people}} |
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{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}} |
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}} |
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{{Use British English|date=March 2018}} |
{{Use British English|date=March 2018}} |
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[[File:David Dale Williams.jpg|thumb|David Dale|right|244x244px]] |
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⚫ | '''David Dale''' (1739–1806) was a leading Scottish industrialist, merchant and philanthropist during the Scottish Enlightenment period at the end of the 18th century.<ref> |
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{{Infobox person |
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New Lanark attracted visitors from all over the world. Dale’s daughter (Caroline) married [[Robert Owen]] in 1799 and by 1800, Dale had sold the mills to a group of businessmen led by Robert Owen. Owen (often described as Utopian Socialist) saw New Lanark as a testing ground for what he called his New Social System – an experiment in communitarian living, where education was the key to character formation. He managed New Lanark for nearly 25 years, and the community continued to attract visitors from across the globe.<ref>There are many biographies of Owen. See, for example, Donnachie, I. (2015). ''Robert Owen, Social Visionary.'' 2nd edition. Edinburgh University Press; Podmore, F. (1906) ''Robert Owen – A Biography.'' London: Hutchinson & Co. See also Claeys, G. (1993) ''The Selected Works of Robert Owen.'' Pickering and Chatto''.'' Owen’s autobiography (''Life of Robert Owen by Himself''), written in 1857, requires caution as his recollections were not always accurate.</ref> |
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| name = David Dale |
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| image = David Dale Williams.jpg |
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| caption = David Dale {{Circa|1800}} |
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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1739|01|06|df=y}} |
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| birth_place = [[Stewarton]], [[Ayrshire]], Scotland |
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| baptised = 14 January 1739 |
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| death_date = {{Death date and age|1806|03|07|1739-01-14|df=y}} |
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| death_place = Rosebank House, [[Cambuslang]], [[Lanarkshire]], Scotland |
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| burial_place = [[Ramshorn Cemetery]], Glasgow |
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| spouse = {{Marriage|Anne Caroline Campbell|1777|end=d}} |
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| children = 9 |
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| relatives = [[Robert Owen]] (son-in-law) |
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}} |
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⚫ | '''David Dale''' (6 January 1739–7 March 1806) was a leading Scottish industrialist, merchant and philanthropist during the Scottish Enlightenment period at the end of the 18th century.<ref>McLaren, D. J. (2015). ''David Dale: A Life.'' Catrine: Stenlake Publishing Ltd.</ref> He was a successful entrepreneur in a number of areas, most notably in the cotton-spinning industry, and was the founder of the cotton mills in [[New Lanark]], where he provided social and educational conditions far in advance of anything available anywhere else in the UK. New Lanark attracted visitors from all over the world. [[Robert Owen]], who married Dale's daughter, Caroline, in 1799, used New Lanark to develop his theories about communitarian living, education and character formation.<ref>Donnachie, Ian, ''Robert Owen, Social Visionary'' (2nd edition. Edinburgh University Press. 2015) p. x.</ref> Scottish historian, [[Tom Devine]], described Dale as 'the greatest cotton magnate of his time in Scotland'.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Scottish Nation 1700-2000|last=Devine|first=T.M.|publisher=Penguin|year=1999|isbn=|location=|pages=115|quote=|via=}}</ref> |
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==Early career== |
==Early career== |
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Dale was born in [[Stewarton]], [[Ayrshire]] on 6 January 1739, son of William Dale (1708–1796), a general dealer in the village, and Martha Dunlop (1719–1796).<ref name=":0" /> His date of birth is normally given as 6 January but there is no officially recorded date of birth.<ref>National Records of Scotland indicate 1 January but, in the absence of parish documentation, this is simply a computer default date.</ref> However, parish records show that he was baptised on 14 January 1739. As a child, he worked with the cattle as a 'herd laddie' in very basic conditions.<ref name=":0">{{cite ODNB |chapter-url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/7014 |title=[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]] |chapter= Dale, David|author=Butt, John|year=2006 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/7014 }}</ref> This was the period of [[Run rig|runrigs]] and impoverished tenant farmers. Dale's family was not wealthy, but he did not experience the absolute poverty and near starvation of many of those involved in tenant farming.{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}} |
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His father apprenticed him to a handloom weaver in [[Paisley, Renfrewshire|Paisley]] |
His father apprenticed him to a handloom weaver in [[Paisley, Renfrewshire|Paisley]] & then he became an agent in Hamilton and, later, Cambuslang – putting out yarn to be woven and collecting the finished cloth. He arrived in [[Glasgow]] c1763 as a clerk to a silk merchant and began his own small business in the High Street, importing linen yarns from France and the Netherlands.<ref>{{cite ODNB |chapter-url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/7014 |title=[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]] |chapter= Dale, David|author=Butt, John|year=2006 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/7014 }}</ref> |
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The business grew rapidly and Dale became a wealthy merchant in the city. In 1777, at the age of 38, he married 24 year old Anne Caroline (Carolina) Campbell, whose late father had been the Chief Executive of the [[Royal Bank of Scotland]]. |
The business grew rapidly and Dale became a wealthy merchant in the city. In 1777, at the age of 38, he married 24 year old Anne Caroline (Carolina) Campbell, whose late father had been the Chief Executive of the [[Royal Bank of Scotland]]. In 1783 Dale had his own mansion built in Glasgow's fashionable Charlotte Street.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Transactions of the Regality Club (1889-1912)|last=Black|first=W.G.|publisher=James Maclehose & Sons|year=1912|isbn=|volume=4|location=|pages=93–121|chapter=David Dale's House in Charlotte Street|quote=|via=}}</ref> The couple were together for 14 years until the death of Carolina. During that period, they had nine children, four of whom, including their only son, died in infancy. |
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==Pivotal |
==Pivotal years== |
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[[File:Dale from 'The Morning Walk'.jpg|thumb|David Dale<ref>{{Cite book|title=Views and notices of Glasgow in Former Times|last=Stuart|first=R|publisher=Allan & Ferguson|year=1848|pages=117}}</ref>|409x409px]]The period 1783-1785 saw |
[[File:Dale from 'The Morning Walk'.jpg|thumb|David Dale<ref>{{Cite book|title=Views and notices of Glasgow in Former Times|last=Stuart|first=R|publisher=Allan & Ferguson|year=1848|isbn=|location=|pages=117|quote=|via=}}</ref>|409x409px]]The period 1783-1785 saw Dale's career take off in a number of directions. By 1785 he was no longer a city merchant but a budding entrepreneur, banker and industrialist. |
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In 1783 he joined Edinburgh businessman Robert Scott Moncrieff in setting up the first Glasgow agency of the Royal Bank of Scotland – |
In 1783 he joined Edinburgh businessman [http://heritagearchives.rbs.com/people/list/robert-scott-moncrieff.html Robert Scott Moncrieff] in setting up the first Glasgow agency of the Royal Bank of Scotland – a business arrangement possibly assisted by his wife's family connections. Within a few years, the Glasgow branch was doing business worth one million pounds.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The History of the Royal Bank of Scotland 1727-1927|last=Munro|first=N|publisher=Clark Ltd.|year=1928|isbn=|location=|pages=|quote=|via=}}</ref> America was no longer a British colony and Glasgow merchants no longer depended on tobacco for their fortunes. Textiles, sugar and rum were the new tobacco. In 1783, there was an opportunity for Dale to extend his reputation and influence with the establishment of the [http://www.glasgowchamberofcommerce.com/about-us/chamber-history/ Glasgow Chamber of Commerce] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160524163054/http://www.glasgowchamberofcommerce.com/about-us/chamber-history/ |date=24 May 2016 }}, the first of its type in Britain. Dale became a director, later deputy chairman, and joined forces with the likes of James Oswald, James Dennistoun, [[John Glassford]], Thomas Buchanan and many others – ex [[Tobacco Lords|tobacco lords]], sugar & rum merchants, textile merchants and entrepreneurs from the coal, chemical and brewing industries. Dale became an important figure in the commercial life of Glasgow and remained an influential figure in Chamber until his death.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Glasgow Chamber of Commerce Minutes|last=|first=|publisher=Glasgow City Archives|year=|isbn=|location=|pages=|quote=|via=}}</ref> |
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According to one source, Dale by this time had become:<blockquote>''...the prosperous Glasgow merchant who, by virtue of pure force of character and intelligence, had fairly broken down that wall of distinction which once separated him from the great tobacco and sugar lords and could now wear his cocked hat jauntily, display his silver knee buckles showily and take the place of honour on the crown of the causeway with the proudest of them all.''<ref>{{Cite book|title=Curiosities of Glasgow as Exhibited Chiefly in the Business Career of its Old Commercial Aristocracy|last=Stewart|first=G|publisher=J. Maclehose|year=1881|pages=50}}</ref></blockquote> |
According to one source, Dale by this time had become:<blockquote>''...the prosperous Glasgow merchant who, by virtue of pure force of character and intelligence, had fairly broken down that wall of distinction which once separated him from the great tobacco and sugar lords and could now wear his cocked hat jauntily, display his silver knee buckles showily and take the place of honour on the crown of the causeway with the proudest of them all.''<ref>{{Cite book|title=Curiosities of Glasgow as Exhibited Chiefly in the Business Career of its Old Commercial Aristocracy|last=Stewart|first=G|publisher=J. Maclehose|year=1881|isbn=|location=|pages=50|quote=|via=}}</ref></blockquote> [[File:Portrait of Richard Arkwright.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Richard Arkwright.|left|273x273px]] |
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David Dale and George Dempster accompanied Arkwright as they walked down the hill to where [[New Lanark]] is today. The site was considered to be suitable and a partnership was agreed between the three of them. Work began soon on what was to become arguably the most important cotton-spinning community in Europe. |
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==New Lanark== |
==New Lanark== |
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In 1784 [[Richard Arkwright]] visited Scotland in 1784 at the request of [[George Dempster of Dunnichen|George Dempster]], landowner and Perthshire M.P. Arkwright, owner of the several successful cotton mills in England, acknowledged as the father of the cotton industry and one of the richest men in Britain, was persuaded to visit Lanark, with a view to establishing a cotton mill in the area.<ref>{{Cite book|title=History of the Cotton Manufacture in Great Britain|last=Baines|first=E|publisher=Fisher|year=1835|isbn=|location=|pages=|quote=|via=}}</ref> |
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⚫ | Construction work began immediately and the mill buildings were based on |
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⚫ | Dale and Dempster accompanied Arkwright to where [[New Lanark]] is today. The site was considered to be suitable and a partnership was agreed between the three of them. Construction work began immediately and the mill buildings were based on Arkwright's own mills in [[Cromford Mill|Cromford]]. Men and boys were sent from New Lanark to Cromford for initial training and the mills began spinning in early 1786, at which point both Dempster and Arkwright left the partnership, leaving Dale as the sole owner. By the 1790s there were nearly 1,400 people living and working in the community.{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}} |
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Business boomed and the village attracted thousands of visitors. Between 1795-1799, for example, over 3,000 visitors came to see what was happening in New Lanark. Many visitors were themselves businessmen & manufacturers (including one [[Robert Owen]]). Some were landed gentry and members of the aristocracy; some were politicians, lawyers, bankers, teachers, medics, academics, scientists and a few ([[William Wordsworth|William]] and [[Dorothy Wordsworth]] and [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge|Samuel Coleridge]]) were to become famous ‘Romantics’. A surprising number came from abroad – not just from European countries such as Spain, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Norway, but also from several U.S. states (New York, Kentucky, Virginia, Boston, Georgia, North Carolina). From further afield, some came from Barbados, Jamaica, Antigua, Grenada and Dominica and there were even a few from Africa and India (Sierra Leone, Bengal, Calcutta).<ref>{{Cite book|title=New Lanark Visitors Book 1795-99|publisher=University of Glasgow Archives}}</ref> |
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Business boomed and the village attracted thousands of visitors from all over the world. These included [[William Wordsworth|William]] and [[Dorothy Wordsworth]], [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge|Samuel Coleridge]] and Robert Owen.<ref>{{Cite book|title=New Lanark Visitors Book 1795-99|last=|first=|publisher=University of Glasgow Archives|year=|isbn=|location=|pages=|quote=|via=}}</ref> They were attracted by a very successful spinning business, but New Lanark also became known as a model factory community where business, philanthropy and education all came together for the first time anywhere in Britain. The community became as famous for its social & educational provision as it did for anything else – something which Owen was later to capitalise upon.<ref>{{cite ODNB |chapter-url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/7014 |title=[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]] |chapter= Dale, David|author=Butt, John|year=2006 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/7014 }}</ref> |
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==The apprentice children== |
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What were they coming to see? They were attracted by a very successful spinning business but New Lanark was more famous as a model factory community where business, philanthropy and education all came together for the first time anywhere in Britain. The community became as famous for its social & educational provision as it did for anything else – something which Robert Owen was later to capitalise upon. |
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⚫ | Much of the focus was on Dale's treatment of his child employees – the so-called apprentice or pauper children. It was common practice for large numbers of children to be employed in mills and elsewhere from the age of 6 or 7 to age 15 or thereabouts. In New Lanark, village children worked alongside some 300 apprentice or pauper children from the charity [[Scottish poorhouse|workhouses]] in Glasgow and Edinburgh. They were often orphans, looked after by the parish, which was very keen to reduce costs by sending them out to work. The children were not paid but were given board & lodging in No.4 Mill. To begin with, they worked as reelers and pickers but later they worked at a range of jobs where they could learn skills which they could use when they left the mills. Some joined the army and navy; some became joiners or smiths and some were kept on in New Lanark. Employers like Dale were seen as charitable and benevolent because they offered the chance of employment, board and lodging and the acquisition of transferable skills.{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}} |
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==The Apprentice Children== |
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⚫ | Much of the focus was on |
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The children worked from 6am until 7pm, with breaks for breakfast and dinner. They were given two sets of work clothes which were laundered regularly and a blue dress uniform for Sundays. Sleeping quarters were regularly cleaned and there is evidence to show that many of the pauper children enjoyed better conditions than some of the local children. Public Health campaigner, Dr James Currie was one of the many visitors. He noted that:<blockquote>''The utmost cleanliness, health and order pervaded the whole manufactory. The children looked cheerful and happy with rosy cheeks and chubby countenances, and I found a variety of excellent regulations established for health, morals and knowledge.''<ref>{{Cite book|title=Memoir of the Life, Writings and Correspondence of James Currie|last=Currie|first=W.W.|publisher=Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green|year=1831|volume= |
The children worked from 6am until 7pm, with breaks for breakfast and dinner. They were given two sets of work clothes which were laundered regularly and a blue dress uniform for Sundays. Sleeping quarters were regularly cleaned and there is evidence to show that many of the pauper children enjoyed better conditions than some of the local children.{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}} Public Health campaigner, Dr James Currie was one of the many visitors. He noted that:<blockquote>''The utmost cleanliness, health and order pervaded the whole manufactory. The children looked cheerful and happy with rosy cheeks and chubby countenances, and I found a variety of excellent regulations established for health, morals and knowledge.''<ref>{{Cite book|title=Memoir of the Life, Writings and Correspondence of James Currie|last=Currie|first=W.W.|publisher=Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green|year=1831|isbn=|volume=1|location=|pages=161|quote=|via=}}</ref></blockquote> |
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Much like Owen later on, Dale was convinced that a good education was essential for all involved. This was a new development in the evolution of factory communities. In England, owners like Arkwright offered Sunday schools but in New Lanark, there was a day school (every day) for under-sixes and an evening school (7-9pm) for older children. There was a formal curriculum which comprised the 3Rs, sewing, church music and religious study. At one stage, the school roll totalled more than 500 pupils and Dale was employing 16 trained teachers to teach more than eight classes. The pupils were grouped according to their ability and promoted to the next class after suitable tests. Teachers received a bonus for each pupil promoted. |
Much like Owen later on, Dale was convinced that a good education was essential for all involved. This was a new development in the evolution of factory communities. In England, owners like Arkwright offered Sunday schools but in New Lanark, there was a day school (every day) for under-sixes and an evening school (7-9pm) for older children. There was a formal curriculum which comprised the 3Rs, sewing, church music and religious study. At one stage, the school roll totalled more than 500 pupils and Dale was employing 16 trained teachers to teach more than eight classes. The pupils were grouped according to their ability and promoted to the next class after suitable tests. Teachers received a bonus for each pupil promoted.{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}} |
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All available evidence indicates that he provided conditions far superior to anything available in Britain at the time. |
All available evidence indicates that he provided conditions far superior to anything available in Britain at the time.{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}} Dale summed up his view of the practical effects of employing the children:<blockquote>…''when it is considered that the greater part of the children who are in the boarding house consists of destitute orphans, children abandoned by their parents... and many who know not who were their parents... it gives me great pleasure to say, that by proper management and attention, much good instead of evil may be done at cotton mills. For I am warranted in affirming that many now have stout, healthy bodies and are of decent behaviour who in all probability would have been languishing with disease and pests to society had they not been employed at Lanark cotton mills.''<ref>{{Cite book|title=David Dale: A Life|last=McLaren|first=D.J.|publisher=Stenlake Publishing Ltd.|year=2015|isbn=|location=Catrine|pages=Appendix 7|chapter=David Dale to T.B. Bayley, July 1796|quote=|via=}}</ref></blockquote>Owen visited New Lanark on a number of occasions and in 1799 he married Dale's daughter, Caroline. He and his partners bought New Lanark and Owen took over as sole manager on 1 January 1800. Over the next two decades Owen became famous for the improvements he made to the social conditions of his workforce, some of which were built on practices established by Dale. Several historians have commented that Owen exaggerated the problems that he found at New Lanark, downplaying Dale's innovations in order to boost the importance of his own, and have, to varying degrees, acknowledged the achievements of both men.<ref>Royle, Edward, ''Robert Owen and the Commencement of the Millennium'' (Manchester University Press, 1998, {{ISBN|0-7190-5426-5}}) pp. 11-12</ref><ref>Donnachie, Ian and Hewitt, George, ''Historic New Lanark'' (Edinburgh University Press, 1993, {{ISBN|9781474407816}}) p. 47</ref><ref>Davis, Robert A. and O'Hagan, Frank, ''Robert Owen'' (Bloomsbury, 2010, {{ISBN|978-1-4725-1893-4}}) pp. 29, 31, 77, 78</ref><ref>Podmore, F. ''Robert Owen – A Biography.'' (Hutchinson & Co., 1906) Vol. 1, pp.82/3</ref><ref>Donnachie, Ian, ''Robert Owen, Social Visionary'' (John Donald, 2000, {{ISBN|978-0-85976-615-9}}) pp. x; 77</ref> |
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==Other business interests== |
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==Business== |
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⚫ | Dale's business interests continued to expand. He had a house in New Lanark but the day to day management was left to William Kelly, a skilled engineer and manager. The main offices of the business were in St Andrew's Square, Glasgow and Dale continued to live in Charlotte Street in the city. Later in life he added a country house, Rosebank, in [[Cambuslang]], to his properties. He divided his time between New Lanark, the Royal Bank and the offices in St Andrews Square. |
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⚫ | He was involved in a number of other cotton mills. Not long after spinning began in New Lanark, Dale built a new mill in [[Blantyre, South Lanarkshire|Blantyre]] and |
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⚫ | He was involved in a number of other cotton mills. Not long after spinning began in New Lanark, Dale built a new mill in [[Blantyre, South Lanarkshire|Blantyre]] and a school for the apprentices. He sold the venture to James Monteith in 1792. In 1788, Dale went into partnership with [http://www.ayrshirehistory.com/mauchline_alexander_family_of_ballochmyle.html Claud Alexander] of Ballochmyle (former Paymaster for the [[East India Company]]) in a spinning mill in [[Catrine]] in Ayrshire. Dale was heavily involved in the design of these mills and within a few years, some 1,300 people were employed. Once again there were apprentice (but no pauper) children and a proper school was provided. He remained involved with the business until 1801 when the mills were sold to James Finlay. In partnership with a number of others, he opened a small mill in [[Spinningdale]] in Sutherland. This was more a charitable effort than anything else. The aim was to provide work and relieve famine, distress in the area and also to stem the tide of emigration from the Highlands. Dale remained involved long after all the others had left and continued to finance it until two years before his death. The mill burned down a year later.{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}} |
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⚫ | In Glasgow, |
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⚫ | In Glasgow, Dale's business profile continued to grow. In [[Dalmarnock]] he set up a dyeworks where cloth was dyed with a new, colourfast dye called '[[Turkey red|Turkey Red]]' (sometimes known in the city as 'Dale's Red'). In the centre of town, in what is now Ingram Street, he built a warehouse and small manufactory which produced linen strips or tapes known as 'incles' or Scotch Tape. The company traded under the name Dale, Campbell, Reid & Dale, the second Dale being his nephew, David Dale Junior. Still in Glasgow, Dale invested in the insurance business. He became a director of the Glasgow Fire Insurance Company, which sold life insurance and annuities and had offices in George Street and Wilson Street. Dale also owned a significant amount of property in and around the city, including lands and tenements in the Ramshorn (Ingram Street) area, Shuttle Street, [[Barrowfield]], [[Ruchill]] and [[Parkhead]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Register of Sasines, Burgh of Glasgow and Barony & Regality of Glasgow|last=|first=|publisher=Glasgow City Archives|year=|isbn=|location=|pages=|quote=|via=}}</ref> |
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⚫ | He was better known for some of his more public philanthropy and civic duties. He served as a Bailie and Magistrate in the city for two years |
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⚫ | Dale was also a director or manager of various charitable projects throughout the city, and newspaper reports of the time talk of his charity, his kindness, his benevolence and his good deeds and public works. Much of this was inspired by his religious belief.<ref>{{cite ODNB |chapter-url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/7014 |title=[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]] |chapter= Dale, David|author=Butt, John|year=2006 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/7014 }}</ref> He was a strongly evangelical Christian, a pastor in the [[First Secession|Dissenting (Secessionist) Church]], preaching on Sundays in meeting houses all over the city. He stated in one of his sermons:<blockquote>''Riches are one great object. These frequently take to themselves wings and flyaway... they profit not in the day of wrath. And if these are obtained by oppressing the poor, or withholding from the needy what his wants demand from us, the consequence is awful... your riches are corrupted.''<ref>{{Cite book|title=Substance of a Discourse by David Dale, 8 January 1792|last=|first=|publisher=Glasgow University Library|year=|isbn=|location=|pages=|quote=|via=}}</ref></blockquote>He donated to small charitable ventures on a regular basis. These included the Howard Fund for prison reform, an injured servicemen's charity, the Royal Northern Infirmary in Inverness, Perth Academy and the newly-formed [http://www.glasgowhumanesociety.com/history Glasgow Humane Society] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161025235012/http://www.glasgowhumanesociety.com/history |date=25 October 2016 }}, where he agreed to become a director and undertake fundraising on their behalf.<ref>{{cite ODNB |chapter-url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/7014 |title=[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]] |chapter= Dale, David|author=Butt, John|year=2006 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/7014 }}</ref> |
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⚫ | He was better known for some of his more public philanthropy and civic duties. He served as a Bailie and Magistrate in the city for two years, something which he found particularly time-consuming and onerous. Nevertheless, he earned a reputation in the press for his relatively lenient approach and became known as 'The Benevolent Magistrate'. When a new road was required between Clydesdale and England, he gave £700 towards the cost. On several occasions he helped to feed those in need. For example, he provided meal to the poor in Stewarton at below cost price and he sent a ship to the U.S. to bring back grain which he distributed to the poor in Glasgow.{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}} [[File:Town's Hospital, Glasgow.jpg|thumb|Town's Hospital, Glasgow.|274x274px|left]] |
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⚫ | [[File:Glasgow Royal Infirmary, c1812.jpg|thumb|Glasgow Royal Infirmary, c1812.|295x295px]] |
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So far, so good. Dale was a successful businessman and a generous philanthropist. There is one issue in all of this which needs to be considered – and not just in the case of David Dale. The wealth of Glasgow’s merchants (and therefore of the city itself), whether it derived from tobacco, cotton, rum or sugar, depended on the labour of enslaved men, women and children. Until relatively recently, this was never discussed in much detail. Many of Glasgow’s powerful group of West India merchants, for example, had direct connections to plantations of one form or another and took little part in the burgeoning anti-slavery movement of the late 18th century. Indeed, some of them traded slaves for profit. What was Dale’s position on all of this? |
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⚫ | [[File:Glasgow Royal Infirmary, c1812.jpg|thumb|Glasgow Royal Infirmary, c1812.|295x295px]] Dale was also involved with [[Glasgow Royal Infirmary]]. The Infirmary was intended '...for the reception of indigent persons under bodily distress in the west of Scotland'.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Extracts from the records for the Burgh of Glasgow with Charters and other Documents|last=|first=|publisher=|year=1913|isbn=|editor-last=Renwick|editor-first=R|volume=VIII|location=|pages=|quote=|via=}}</ref> Dale was involved in this project from its very beginning in 1788. He chaired the group which raised the funds, found the land and supervised the building work of this major city institution. He subscribed £200 and when the building finally opened in 1795, he was appointed as a manager, spending the rest of his life as a manager or director. He stood to gain nothing personally from this commitment.{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}} The Infirmary was for the poor. However, as a manager and annual subscriber, he had the right to refer a number of his workers from New Lanark and between 1795 and 1803 he personally referred some 64 patients.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Glasgow Royal Infirmary Minute Book|last=|first=|publisher=Greater Glasgow Health Board Archives|year=|isbn=|volume=1|location=|pages=|quote=|via=}}</ref> |
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== Dale, slavery and the abolition Movement == |
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The raw cotton which Dale, in common with all British mill owners, used for spinning in his mills came from three principal sources, i.e. the United States (e.g. Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana), South America (Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil and the West Indies (Trinidad, Bahamas, Jamaica etc.) – all places where slave labour was the norm. Cotton was traded in the U.K’s major cities, including Glasgow. Anyone who worked in the cotton industry, therefore, depended on the slave trade either directly or indirectly. |
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== Dale's views on slavery == |
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However, by the late 18th century, attitudes to slavery were beginning to change. The Abolition movement was growing and the slavery issue could not be ignored any longer. |
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The raw cotton used in Dale's cotton mills came from three principal sources, the [[United States]], [[South America]] and the [[West Indies]], and were produced in those regions via [[Slavery|slave labour]]. However, by the late 18th century, attitudes to slavery were beginning to change and the fledgling [[Abolitionism in the United Kingdom|British abolitionist movement]] was rapidly gaining pace. The abolitionist movement in Britain was led by [[Thomas Clarkson]] and [[William Wilberforce]], who oversaw the actions of the [[London Society]], which sent representatives across the country seeking support for anti-slavery petitions. The Glasgow Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade was set up in January 1791, with Dale as the chairman. In the same year, he bought shares in the newly-formed [[Sierra Leone Company]] which sought to establish a colony of freed slaves in [[West Africa]].<ref>McLaren, D.J. (2015) ''David Dale: A Life''. Ch.12. Stenlake Publishing Ltd.</ref> |
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The Glasgow group publicised the London Society's pamphlet, with a Preface about the new Glasgow Society. There were various meetings throughout 1791, all chaired by Dale, and the Society sent 100 guineas to the London campaign offices. The following year, it met on a number of occasions in support of the various public petitions which were being drawn up in all the cities and towns in Scotland. At a General Meeting of the Glasgow Society on 1 February 1792, with Dale in the Chair, the members resolved;<blockquote>…''that the traffic in the human species is founded on the grossest injustice, is attended with the utmost cruelty and barbarity to an innocent race of men and is productive of ruin and desolation of a country which the efforts of the well-directed industry of Great Britain might contribute to civilise.''<ref>''The Caledonian Mercury'', 9 February 1792</ref></blockquote>On Commerce and the Enlightenment it said:<blockquote>''[the slave trade]…is directly repugnant to the primary laws of nature…and that its continuance, in this enlightened age, is disgraceful to the nation and utterly inconsistant'' (sic) ''with the profession of Christians.''<ref>''The Caledonian Mercury'', 9 February 1792</ref></blockquote> |
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Chairing the Glasgow Society was a huge statement on Dale’s part – and a courageous one. He stood to lose power and influence among the city’s West India merchants and possibly other members of the Chamber of Commerce, but he did support the (albeit gradual) abolition of the slave trade. The Glasgow group’s first task was to publicise the London Society’s pamphlet, with a Preface about the new Glasgow Society. There were various meetings throughout 1791, all chaired by Dale and the Glasgow Society sent 100 guineas to the London campaign offices. The following year, the Glasgow Society met on a number of occasions in support of the various public petitions which were being drawn up in all the cities and towns in Scotland. |
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==Death== |
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At a General Meeting of the Glasgow Society on 1 February 1792, with Dale in the Chair, the members resolved;<blockquote>…''that the traffic in the human species is founded on the grossest injustice, is attended with the utmost cruelty and barbarity to an innocent race of men and is productive of ruin and desolation of a country which the efforts of the well-directed industry of Great Britain might contribute to civilise.''<ref>''The Caledonian Mercury'', 9 February 1792</ref></blockquote>On Commerce and the Enlightenment:<blockquote>''[the slave trade]…is directly repugnant to the primary laws of nature…and that its continuance, in this enlightened age, is disgraceful to the nation and utterly inconsistant'' (sic) ''with the profession of Christians.''<ref>''The Caledonian Mercury'', 9 February 1792</ref></blockquote>It is surely to Dale’s credit that he took a public stand against slavery when so many in the city refused to do so. It was risky in that he did not want to alienate the people with whom he required to do business and he required to do business to keep hundreds of people in employment and to support many more people through his charitable work. Moral positions in the late 18th century were not always clear cut. [[Robert Burns]], often see as the champion of equality, was just days away from leaving these shores to work as a bookkeeper (often a synonym for ‘overseer’) in a Jamaican plantation. In the U.S., Washington and Jefferson, the advocates of freedom and liberty for all, were both slave owners. Closer to home, [[David Hume]], Scotland’s famous philosopher of the liberal [[Scottish Enlightenment|Enlightenment]], took a rather less liberal view of things when he wrote that ‘there never was a polished society but of the white race, to which all others are naturally inferior’ and that ‘…there never was a civilised nation of any other complexion than white’. Dale, like all the other mill owners, used slave cotton but, unlike all the others, did what he could to begin the process of abolishing the slave trade. Had more of his colleagues joined him, abolition might not have taken such a long time. |
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== The End of the Beginning == |
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[[File:The grave of David Dale, Ramshorn Cemetery.jpg|thumb|300px|The grave of David Dale, Ramshorn Cemetery]] |
[[File:The grave of David Dale, Ramshorn Cemetery.jpg|thumb|300px|The grave of David Dale, Ramshorn Cemetery]] |
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When Dale died at home, |
When Dale died at his home, Rosebank House in [[Cambuslang]], [[Lanarkshire]]<ref name=":0" /> on 7 March 1806, huge crowds of mourners lined the streets of Glasgow. He was buried in the [[Ramshorn Cemetery]] in central Glasgow in a plot he had purchased some years before. The grave lies on the outer east wall towards the north-east corner.{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}} |
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The Glasgow Herald's obituary of him acknowledged his achievements as a businessman, and noted that: <blockquote>''…his ear was never shut to the cry of distress; his private charities were boundless; and every public institution which had for its object the alleviation or prevention of human misery, in this world or in the world to come, received from him the most liberal support and encouragement.''</blockquote> |
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⚫ | |||
Obituaries appeared in all the newspapers, including the London Times. The Glasgow Herald’s assessment of him was typical of the time. As well as acknowledging his achievements as a businessman, the paper noted that: <blockquote>''…his ear was never shut to the cry of distress; his private charities were boundless; and every public institution which had for its object the alleviation or prevention of human misery, in this world or in the world to come, received from him the most liberal support and encouragement.''</blockquote>But the story does not quite end there. Dale’s death saw the beginning of a new era in New Lanark under Owen. The great social experiment, the New Moral World, the New Social System – all Owen’s ideas – were tested in New Lanark. [[Pestalozzian]] education, nursery schooling, communitarian living – all were tried in New Lanark and the community’s fame grew even more. Owen, however, was always keen to emphasise his own achievements and deliberately underplayed and undervalued Dale’s achievements. There were also serious questions (still unanswered) about Owen’s role in the administration of the Dale estate. Dale’s daughters, for example, never received the money they should have from their father’s estate. That Owen became famous is not in doubt – and rightly so. What is equally clear is that, having been overshadowed by Owen for so long, Dale also deserves some recognition. The Royal Bank, the New Lanark Trust and the Friends of New Lanark are among the few organisations who have sought to rekindle interest in Dale over the years and there is a growing recognition in the academic world but there is some way to go before the general public become aware of his important role in Scottish history and it is to be hoped that Dale’s achievements in the 18th century are recognised as much as Owen’s in the 19th century. |
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{{Reflist}} |
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==Bibliography== |
==Bibliography== |
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<u>Modern publications on Dale:</u> |
<u>Modern publications on Dale:</u> |
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* [http://stenlake.co.uk/books/view_book.php?ref=810 McLaren, D. J. (2015). ''David Dale: A Life.'' Stenlake Publishing Ltd.] |
* [http://stenlake.co.uk/books/view_book.php?ref=810 McLaren, D. J. (2015). ''David Dale: A Life.'' Stenlake Publishing Ltd.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161025235050/http://stenlake.co.uk/books/view_book.php?ref=810 |date=25 October 2016 }} |
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<u>Modern publications on Owen:</u> |
<u>Modern publications on Owen:</u> |
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* Donnachie, I. & Hewitt, G. (2015) ''Historic New Lanark''. 2nd edition. E.U.P. |
* Donnachie, I. & Hewitt, G. (2015) ''Historic New Lanark''. 2nd edition. E.U.P. |
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* Donnachie, I. (2005). ''Robert Owen, Social Visionary''. 2nd edition. Birlinn. |
* Donnachie, I. (2005). ''Robert Owen, Social Visionary''. 2nd edition. Birlinn. |
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* Siméon, O. (2017). ''[https://www.palgrave.com/de/book/9783319642260 Robert Owen's Experiment at New Lanark]''. Palgrave Macmillan. |
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Historical publications: |
Historical publications: |
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* Baines, E. (1835) ''History of the Cotton Manufacture in Great Britain.'' London: Fisher. |
* Baines, E. (1835) ''History of the Cotton Manufacture in Great Britain.'' London: Fisher. |
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* Black, W.G. (1912) ‘David Dale’s House in Charlotte Street’, ''Transactions of the Regality'' |
* Black, W.G. (1912) ‘David Dale’s House in Charlotte Street’, ''Transactions of the Regality Club'' ''(1889-1912),'' 4 vols. Vol 4 (1912):93-121. Glasgow: James Maclehose & Sons. |
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* ''Club'' ''(1889-1912),'' 4 vols. Vol 4 (1912):93-121. Glasgow: James Maclehose & Sons. |
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* Liddell, A. (1854) ''Memoir of David Dale''. Blackie. |
* Liddell, A. (1854) ''Memoir of David Dale''. Blackie. |
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* Owen, R. (1857). ''Life of Robert Owen by Himself'' .Effingham Wilson. |
* Owen, R. (1857). ''Life of Robert Owen by Himself'' .Effingham Wilson. |
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* Podmore, F. (1906) ''Robert Owen – A Biography.'' Hutchinson & Co. |
* Podmore, F. (1906) ''Robert Owen – A Biography.'' Hutchinson & Co. |
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{{reflist}} |
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==Sources== |
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*http://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/dale_david.htm |
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==External links== |
==External links== |
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* http://www. |
* http://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/dale_david.htm |
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* http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usbiography/d/daviddale.html |
* http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usbiography/d/daviddale.html |
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* http://www.rampantscotland.com/famous/blfamdale.htm |
* http://www.rampantscotland.com/famous/blfamdale.htm |
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{{Authority control}} |
{{Authority control}} |
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Revision as of 08:20, 19 July 2024
David Dale | |
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![]() David Dale c. 1800 | |
Born | |
Died | 7 March 1806 Rosebank House, Cambuslang, Lanarkshire, Scotland | (aged 67)
Burial place | Ramshorn Cemetery, Glasgow |
Spouse |
Anne Caroline Campbell
(m. 1777, died) |
Children | 9 |
Relatives | Robert Owen (son-in-law) |
David Dale (6 January 1739–7 March 1806) was a leading Scottish industrialist, merchant and philanthropist during the Scottish Enlightenment period at the end of the 18th century.[1] He was a successful entrepreneur in a number of areas, most notably in the cotton-spinning industry, and was the founder of the cotton mills in New Lanark, where he provided social and educational conditions far in advance of anything available anywhere else in the UK. New Lanark attracted visitors from all over the world. Robert Owen, who married Dale's daughter, Caroline, in 1799, used New Lanark to develop his theories about communitarian living, education and character formation.[2] Scottish historian, Tom Devine, described Dale as 'the greatest cotton magnate of his time in Scotland'.[3]
Early career
Dale was born in Stewarton, Ayrshire on 6 January 1739, son of William Dale (1708–1796), a general dealer in the village, and Martha Dunlop (1719–1796).[4] His date of birth is normally given as 6 January but there is no officially recorded date of birth.[5] However, parish records show that he was baptised on 14 January 1739. As a child, he worked with the cattle as a 'herd laddie' in very basic conditions.[4] This was the period of runrigs and impoverished tenant farmers. Dale's family was not wealthy, but he did not experience the absolute poverty and near starvation of many of those involved in tenant farming.[citation needed]
His father apprenticed him to a handloom weaver in Paisley & then he became an agent in Hamilton and, later, Cambuslang – putting out yarn to be woven and collecting the finished cloth. He arrived in Glasgow c1763 as a clerk to a silk merchant and began his own small business in the High Street, importing linen yarns from France and the Netherlands.[6]
The business grew rapidly and Dale became a wealthy merchant in the city. In 1777, at the age of 38, he married 24 year old Anne Caroline (Carolina) Campbell, whose late father had been the Chief Executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland. In 1783 Dale had his own mansion built in Glasgow's fashionable Charlotte Street.[7] The couple were together for 14 years until the death of Carolina. During that period, they had nine children, four of whom, including their only son, died in infancy.
Pivotal years
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bd/Dale_from_%27The_Morning_Walk%27.jpg/177px-Dale_from_%27The_Morning_Walk%27.jpg)
The period 1783-1785 saw Dale's career take off in a number of directions. By 1785 he was no longer a city merchant but a budding entrepreneur, banker and industrialist.
In 1783 he joined Edinburgh businessman Robert Scott Moncrieff in setting up the first Glasgow agency of the Royal Bank of Scotland – a business arrangement possibly assisted by his wife's family connections. Within a few years, the Glasgow branch was doing business worth one million pounds.[9] America was no longer a British colony and Glasgow merchants no longer depended on tobacco for their fortunes. Textiles, sugar and rum were the new tobacco. In 1783, there was an opportunity for Dale to extend his reputation and influence with the establishment of the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce Archived 24 May 2016 at the Wayback Machine, the first of its type in Britain. Dale became a director, later deputy chairman, and joined forces with the likes of James Oswald, James Dennistoun, John Glassford, Thomas Buchanan and many others – ex tobacco lords, sugar & rum merchants, textile merchants and entrepreneurs from the coal, chemical and brewing industries. Dale became an important figure in the commercial life of Glasgow and remained an influential figure in Chamber until his death.[10]
According to one source, Dale by this time had become:
...the prosperous Glasgow merchant who, by virtue of pure force of character and intelligence, had fairly broken down that wall of distinction which once separated him from the great tobacco and sugar lords and could now wear his cocked hat jauntily, display his silver knee buckles showily and take the place of honour on the crown of the causeway with the proudest of them all.[11]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/04/Portrait_of_Richard_Arkwright.jpg/222px-Portrait_of_Richard_Arkwright.jpg)
New Lanark
In 1784 Richard Arkwright visited Scotland in 1784 at the request of George Dempster, landowner and Perthshire M.P. Arkwright, owner of the several successful cotton mills in England, acknowledged as the father of the cotton industry and one of the richest men in Britain, was persuaded to visit Lanark, with a view to establishing a cotton mill in the area.[12]
Dale and Dempster accompanied Arkwright to where New Lanark is today. The site was considered to be suitable and a partnership was agreed between the three of them. Construction work began immediately and the mill buildings were based on Arkwright's own mills in Cromford. Men and boys were sent from New Lanark to Cromford for initial training and the mills began spinning in early 1786, at which point both Dempster and Arkwright left the partnership, leaving Dale as the sole owner. By the 1790s there were nearly 1,400 people living and working in the community.[citation needed] Business boomed and the village attracted thousands of visitors from all over the world. These included William and Dorothy Wordsworth, Samuel Coleridge and Robert Owen.[13] They were attracted by a very successful spinning business, but New Lanark also became known as a model factory community where business, philanthropy and education all came together for the first time anywhere in Britain. The community became as famous for its social & educational provision as it did for anything else – something which Owen was later to capitalise upon.[14]
The apprentice children
Much of the focus was on Dale's treatment of his child employees – the so-called apprentice or pauper children. It was common practice for large numbers of children to be employed in mills and elsewhere from the age of 6 or 7 to age 15 or thereabouts. In New Lanark, village children worked alongside some 300 apprentice or pauper children from the charity workhouses in Glasgow and Edinburgh. They were often orphans, looked after by the parish, which was very keen to reduce costs by sending them out to work. The children were not paid but were given board & lodging in No.4 Mill. To begin with, they worked as reelers and pickers but later they worked at a range of jobs where they could learn skills which they could use when they left the mills. Some joined the army and navy; some became joiners or smiths and some were kept on in New Lanark. Employers like Dale were seen as charitable and benevolent because they offered the chance of employment, board and lodging and the acquisition of transferable skills.[citation needed]
The children worked from 6am until 7pm, with breaks for breakfast and dinner. They were given two sets of work clothes which were laundered regularly and a blue dress uniform for Sundays. Sleeping quarters were regularly cleaned and there is evidence to show that many of the pauper children enjoyed better conditions than some of the local children.[citation needed] Public Health campaigner, Dr James Currie was one of the many visitors. He noted that:
The utmost cleanliness, health and order pervaded the whole manufactory. The children looked cheerful and happy with rosy cheeks and chubby countenances, and I found a variety of excellent regulations established for health, morals and knowledge.[15]
Much like Owen later on, Dale was convinced that a good education was essential for all involved. This was a new development in the evolution of factory communities. In England, owners like Arkwright offered Sunday schools but in New Lanark, there was a day school (every day) for under-sixes and an evening school (7-9pm) for older children. There was a formal curriculum which comprised the 3Rs, sewing, church music and religious study. At one stage, the school roll totalled more than 500 pupils and Dale was employing 16 trained teachers to teach more than eight classes. The pupils were grouped according to their ability and promoted to the next class after suitable tests. Teachers received a bonus for each pupil promoted.[citation needed]
All available evidence indicates that he provided conditions far superior to anything available in Britain at the time.[citation needed] Dale summed up his view of the practical effects of employing the children:
…when it is considered that the greater part of the children who are in the boarding house consists of destitute orphans, children abandoned by their parents... and many who know not who were their parents... it gives me great pleasure to say, that by proper management and attention, much good instead of evil may be done at cotton mills. For I am warranted in affirming that many now have stout, healthy bodies and are of decent behaviour who in all probability would have been languishing with disease and pests to society had they not been employed at Lanark cotton mills.[16]
Owen visited New Lanark on a number of occasions and in 1799 he married Dale's daughter, Caroline. He and his partners bought New Lanark and Owen took over as sole manager on 1 January 1800. Over the next two decades Owen became famous for the improvements he made to the social conditions of his workforce, some of which were built on practices established by Dale. Several historians have commented that Owen exaggerated the problems that he found at New Lanark, downplaying Dale's innovations in order to boost the importance of his own, and have, to varying degrees, acknowledged the achievements of both men.[17][18][19][20][21]
Other business interests
Dale's business interests continued to expand. He had a house in New Lanark but the day to day management was left to William Kelly, a skilled engineer and manager. The main offices of the business were in St Andrew's Square, Glasgow and Dale continued to live in Charlotte Street in the city. Later in life he added a country house, Rosebank, in Cambuslang, to his properties. He divided his time between New Lanark, the Royal Bank and the offices in St Andrews Square.
He was involved in a number of other cotton mills. Not long after spinning began in New Lanark, Dale built a new mill in Blantyre and a school for the apprentices. He sold the venture to James Monteith in 1792. In 1788, Dale went into partnership with Claud Alexander of Ballochmyle (former Paymaster for the East India Company) in a spinning mill in Catrine in Ayrshire. Dale was heavily involved in the design of these mills and within a few years, some 1,300 people were employed. Once again there were apprentice (but no pauper) children and a proper school was provided. He remained involved with the business until 1801 when the mills were sold to James Finlay. In partnership with a number of others, he opened a small mill in Spinningdale in Sutherland. This was more a charitable effort than anything else. The aim was to provide work and relieve famine, distress in the area and also to stem the tide of emigration from the Highlands. Dale remained involved long after all the others had left and continued to finance it until two years before his death. The mill burned down a year later.[citation needed]
In Glasgow, Dale's business profile continued to grow. In Dalmarnock he set up a dyeworks where cloth was dyed with a new, colourfast dye called 'Turkey Red' (sometimes known in the city as 'Dale's Red'). In the centre of town, in what is now Ingram Street, he built a warehouse and small manufactory which produced linen strips or tapes known as 'incles' or Scotch Tape. The company traded under the name Dale, Campbell, Reid & Dale, the second Dale being his nephew, David Dale Junior. Still in Glasgow, Dale invested in the insurance business. He became a director of the Glasgow Fire Insurance Company, which sold life insurance and annuities and had offices in George Street and Wilson Street. Dale also owned a significant amount of property in and around the city, including lands and tenements in the Ramshorn (Ingram Street) area, Shuttle Street, Barrowfield, Ruchill and Parkhead.[22]
Philanthropy and civic duty
Dale was also a director or manager of various charitable projects throughout the city, and newspaper reports of the time talk of his charity, his kindness, his benevolence and his good deeds and public works. Much of this was inspired by his religious belief.[23] He was a strongly evangelical Christian, a pastor in the Dissenting (Secessionist) Church, preaching on Sundays in meeting houses all over the city. He stated in one of his sermons:
Riches are one great object. These frequently take to themselves wings and flyaway... they profit not in the day of wrath. And if these are obtained by oppressing the poor, or withholding from the needy what his wants demand from us, the consequence is awful... your riches are corrupted.[24]
He donated to small charitable ventures on a regular basis. These included the Howard Fund for prison reform, an injured servicemen's charity, the Royal Northern Infirmary in Inverness, Perth Academy and the newly-formed Glasgow Humane Society Archived 25 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine, where he agreed to become a director and undertake fundraising on their behalf.[25] He was better known for some of his more public philanthropy and civic duties. He served as a Bailie and Magistrate in the city for two years, something which he found particularly time-consuming and onerous. Nevertheless, he earned a reputation in the press for his relatively lenient approach and became known as 'The Benevolent Magistrate'. When a new road was required between Clydesdale and England, he gave £700 towards the cost. On several occasions he helped to feed those in need. For example, he provided meal to the poor in Stewarton at below cost price and he sent a ship to the U.S. to bring back grain which he distributed to the poor in Glasgow.[citation needed]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5f/Town%27s_Hospital%2C_Glasgow.jpg/274px-Town%27s_Hospital%2C_Glasgow.jpg)
For twenty years he was a director of the Town's Hospital, the equivalent of a charity workhouse for the poor, orphans, elderly, sick and, until 1814, the mentally ill, serving on the institution's Manufacturing Committee.[citation needed]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7c/Glasgow_Royal_Infirmary%2C_c1812.jpg/295px-Glasgow_Royal_Infirmary%2C_c1812.jpg)
Dale was also involved with Glasgow Royal Infirmary. The Infirmary was intended '...for the reception of indigent persons under bodily distress in the west of Scotland'.[26] Dale was involved in this project from its very beginning in 1788. He chaired the group which raised the funds, found the land and supervised the building work of this major city institution. He subscribed £200 and when the building finally opened in 1795, he was appointed as a manager, spending the rest of his life as a manager or director. He stood to gain nothing personally from this commitment.[citation needed] The Infirmary was for the poor. However, as a manager and annual subscriber, he had the right to refer a number of his workers from New Lanark and between 1795 and 1803 he personally referred some 64 patients.[27]
Dale's views on slavery
The raw cotton used in Dale's cotton mills came from three principal sources, the United States, South America and the West Indies, and were produced in those regions via slave labour. However, by the late 18th century, attitudes to slavery were beginning to change and the fledgling British abolitionist movement was rapidly gaining pace. The abolitionist movement in Britain was led by Thomas Clarkson and William Wilberforce, who oversaw the actions of the London Society, which sent representatives across the country seeking support for anti-slavery petitions. The Glasgow Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade was set up in January 1791, with Dale as the chairman. In the same year, he bought shares in the newly-formed Sierra Leone Company which sought to establish a colony of freed slaves in West Africa.[28]
The Glasgow group publicised the London Society's pamphlet, with a Preface about the new Glasgow Society. There were various meetings throughout 1791, all chaired by Dale, and the Society sent 100 guineas to the London campaign offices. The following year, it met on a number of occasions in support of the various public petitions which were being drawn up in all the cities and towns in Scotland. At a General Meeting of the Glasgow Society on 1 February 1792, with Dale in the Chair, the members resolved;
…that the traffic in the human species is founded on the grossest injustice, is attended with the utmost cruelty and barbarity to an innocent race of men and is productive of ruin and desolation of a country which the efforts of the well-directed industry of Great Britain might contribute to civilise.[29]
On Commerce and the Enlightenment it said:
[the slave trade]…is directly repugnant to the primary laws of nature…and that its continuance, in this enlightened age, is disgraceful to the nation and utterly inconsistant (sic) with the profession of Christians.[30]
Death
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b7/The_grave_of_David_Dale%2C_Ramshorn_Cemetery.jpg/300px-The_grave_of_David_Dale%2C_Ramshorn_Cemetery.jpg)
When Dale died at his home, Rosebank House in Cambuslang, Lanarkshire[4] on 7 March 1806, huge crowds of mourners lined the streets of Glasgow. He was buried in the Ramshorn Cemetery in central Glasgow in a plot he had purchased some years before. The grave lies on the outer east wall towards the north-east corner.[citation needed]
The Glasgow Herald's obituary of him acknowledged his achievements as a businessman, and noted that:
…his ear was never shut to the cry of distress; his private charities were boundless; and every public institution which had for its object the alleviation or prevention of human misery, in this world or in the world to come, received from him the most liberal support and encouragement.
References
- ^ McLaren, D. J. (2015). David Dale: A Life. Catrine: Stenlake Publishing Ltd.
- ^ Donnachie, Ian, Robert Owen, Social Visionary (2nd edition. Edinburgh University Press. 2015) p. x.
- ^ Devine, T.M. (1999). The Scottish Nation 1700-2000. Penguin. p. 115.
- ^ a b c Butt, John (2006). "Dale, David". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/7014. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ National Records of Scotland indicate 1 January but, in the absence of parish documentation, this is simply a computer default date.
- ^ Butt, John (2006). "Dale, David". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/7014. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ Black, W.G. (1912). "David Dale's House in Charlotte Street". Transactions of the Regality Club (1889-1912). Vol. 4. James Maclehose & Sons. pp. 93–121.
- ^ Stuart, R (1848). Views and notices of Glasgow in Former Times. Allan & Ferguson. p. 117.
- ^ Munro, N (1928). The History of the Royal Bank of Scotland 1727-1927. Clark Ltd.
- ^ Glasgow Chamber of Commerce Minutes. Glasgow City Archives.
- ^ Stewart, G (1881). Curiosities of Glasgow as Exhibited Chiefly in the Business Career of its Old Commercial Aristocracy. J. Maclehose. p. 50.
- ^ Baines, E (1835). History of the Cotton Manufacture in Great Britain. Fisher.
- ^ New Lanark Visitors Book 1795-99. University of Glasgow Archives.
- ^ Butt, John (2006). "Dale, David". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/7014. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ Currie, W.W. (1831). Memoir of the Life, Writings and Correspondence of James Currie. Vol. 1. Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green. p. 161.
- ^ McLaren, D.J. (2015). "David Dale to T.B. Bayley, July 1796". David Dale: A Life. Catrine: Stenlake Publishing Ltd. pp. Appendix 7.
- ^ Royle, Edward, Robert Owen and the Commencement of the Millennium (Manchester University Press, 1998, ISBN 0-7190-5426-5) pp. 11-12
- ^ Donnachie, Ian and Hewitt, George, Historic New Lanark (Edinburgh University Press, 1993, ISBN 9781474407816) p. 47
- ^ Davis, Robert A. and O'Hagan, Frank, Robert Owen (Bloomsbury, 2010, ISBN 978-1-4725-1893-4) pp. 29, 31, 77, 78
- ^ Podmore, F. Robert Owen – A Biography. (Hutchinson & Co., 1906) Vol. 1, pp.82/3
- ^ Donnachie, Ian, Robert Owen, Social Visionary (John Donald, 2000, ISBN 978-0-85976-615-9) pp. x; 77
- ^ Register of Sasines, Burgh of Glasgow and Barony & Regality of Glasgow. Glasgow City Archives.
- ^ Butt, John (2006). "Dale, David". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/7014. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ Substance of a Discourse by David Dale, 8 January 1792. Glasgow University Library.
- ^ Butt, John (2006). "Dale, David". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/7014. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ Renwick, R, ed. (1913). Extracts from the records for the Burgh of Glasgow with Charters and other Documents. Vol. VIII.
- ^ Glasgow Royal Infirmary Minute Book. Vol. 1. Greater Glasgow Health Board Archives.
- ^ McLaren, D.J. (2015) David Dale: A Life. Ch.12. Stenlake Publishing Ltd.
- ^ The Caledonian Mercury, 9 February 1792
- ^ The Caledonian Mercury, 9 February 1792
Bibliography
Modern publications on Dale:
- McLaren, D. J. (2015). David Dale: A Life. Stenlake Publishing Ltd. Archived 25 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine
Modern publications on Owen:
- Claeys, G. (ed)(1993) The Selected Works of Robert Owen. Pickering & Chato.
- Davis, R. & O’Hagan, F. (2014) Robert Owen. Bloomsbury.
- Donnachie, I. & Hewitt, G. (2015) Historic New Lanark. 2nd edition. E.U.P.
- Donnachie, I. (2005). Robert Owen, Social Visionary. 2nd edition. Birlinn.
Historical publications:
- Baines, E. (1835) History of the Cotton Manufacture in Great Britain. London: Fisher.
- Black, W.G. (1912) ‘David Dale’s House in Charlotte Street’, Transactions of the Regality Club (1889-1912), 4 vols. Vol 4 (1912):93-121. Glasgow: James Maclehose & Sons.
- Liddell, A. (1854) Memoir of David Dale. Blackie.
- Owen, R. (1857). Life of Robert Owen by Himself .Effingham Wilson.
- Podmore, F. (1906) Robert Owen – A Biography. Hutchinson & Co.
External links
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