Hunters and Company, Bankers, Ayr
- Reference:GB 1830 HUN
- Dates of Creation:1657-1854
- Name of Creator:
- Language of Material:English
- Physical Description:1 linear metre
Scope and Content
Collection includes:
Contracts of Co-partnery and Minutes of Agreement between the Partners, 1807-1846
Papers Concerning Legal Issues, 1812-1829
Minutes of Meetings of Partners, 1812-1843
Property records including Inventory of Writs and Title Deeds of properties belonging to Messrs Hunters and Company and a Report by David Cowan regarding Blackhouse Estate, 1657-1835
Correspondence re changes in the partnership and amalgamation with the Union Bank of Scotland, 1765-1846
Miscellaneous records, 1792-1854
Banknotes, 1781-1829
Head Office and branch records including cash account ledger and letter books of Irvine and Girvan agencies, 1802-1833
Administrative / Biographical History
Hunters and Company of Ayr was established in October 1773, with a capital of £10,000, of which £5,000 was initially paid-up. The most prominent partner was James Hunter (1727-1776). The son of a Provost of Ayr, he belonged to one of the burgh's foremost merchant families. The Hunters had been heavily involved in the tobacco trade until the late 1760s, but had switched their business interests to sugar by 1772.
James Hunter had served as Cashier of both the Ayr Banking Company (John MacAdam & Co.) from 1763, and the Ayr Bank (Douglas, Heron & Company), following the amalgamation of the two in 1771. It was partly to fill the void left by the spectacular failure of Douglas, Heron & Company in 1772 that Hunters & Company was established.
The five founding partners included James' brother Robert, his son-in-law, William Wood and his cousin Major William Hunter of Brownhill. There was also a secret partner – another James Hunter.
This James Hunter was a cousin of James Hunter of Ayr and a partner in the highly-respected Edinburgh private bank, Sir William Forbes, James Hunter and Company. But when his involvement became public, he withdrew from the Ayr partnership, fearing that the association with a new Ayr bank would damage his other business interests. He did however provide valuable advice to the partners on the running of the company and the rules which they should follow in the operation of their business.
The cautious nature of these was a reflection of the lessons learned from the Ayr Bank failure. For example, he advised that no bills exceeding £300 were to be discounted and no agents were to be employed to circulate the company's notes.
The latter rule had been overturned in practice by 1775, when an agent was employed in Kilmarnock to circulate and exchange the company's notes, and to discount bills. Other agents were employed at Irvine (from 1786) and Maybole (where the agency was run by a later partner, Bailie Niven). By April 1777, the circulation of the company's notes had reached £42,000.
In August 1776, the principal founding partner, James Hunter, died. He was replaced by John Ballantine, his wife's cousin, and a friend and patron of Robert Burns. At this juncture, William Wood became Cashier and Manager of the bank. The partners of the company by 1790 were Colonel William Hunter of Brownhill, Robert Hunter of Thurston (both from the original partnership), John Ballantine, merchant in Ayr and Hugh Hamilton of Pinmore.
In 1821, Hunters & Co. took over the business of the Kilmarnock Banking Company. As a result, Hunters & Co established an agency there under Charles D. Gairdner. (Presumably their earlier Kilmarnock agency had closed by then). Management of the business at Kilmarnock did not always run smoothly, and a disagreement between Gairdner and one of the local partners, Quintin Kennedy, became so heated that, in 1830, Kennedy withdrew from the partnership and formed a rival company, the Ayrshire Bank.
The managing partner of Hunters and Co from 1821 until 1841, was William Cowan, father-in-law of Gairdner. Cowan also served several terms as Provost of Ayr. A new contract of partnership was drawn up in 1841, increasing their numbers to ten. The partners comprised William Cowan; Charles D. Gairdner; William Niven of Kirkbride; Andrew Hunter of Bonnytoun; W. Campbell of Netherplace; Alexander Hunter, W.S. (who was also a director of the British Linen Bank); Hugh Cowan (nephew of William); Cuthbert Cowan (son of William); Alexander Paterson, Irvine; and Patrick Charles, surgeon apothecary, Surrey.
By this time, however, the company was struggling to compete against the large joint-stock banks. In 1843, its business - which by then included branches at Girvan, Galston, Maybole, Stewarton and Troon, as well as Kilmarnock and Irvine - was acquired by the Glasgow-based Union Bank of Scotland.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged into the following series:
- HUN/1: Contracts of Co-partnery and Minutes of Agreement
- HUN/2: Papers Concerning Legal Issues
- HUN/3: Minutes of Meetings of Partners
- HUN/4: Property records
- HUN/5: Correspondence
- HUN/6: Miscellaneous
- HUN/7: Banknotes
- HUN/8: Head office and branch records
Access Information
Access is by appointment only, and at the discretion of the Archivist. Please e-mail archives@lloydsbanking.com for further information.
Other Finding Aids
Item catalogue available - please e-mail archives@lloydsbanking.com for further details.
Please note that this catalogue replaces the NRAS survey of the Hunter and Company records undertaken in the 1970s (NRAS1110).
Conditions Governing Use
Copying of material is permitted at the discretion of Lloyds Banking Group Archives.
Accruals
No further accruals expected.
Related Material
Records relating to the takeover of Hunters & Company, Bankers, Ayr by the Union Bank of Scotland, and subsequent history, may be found in the collection of the Union Bank of Scotland (GB1830 UBS).
Other related archive material in our collections include:
- GB1830 BOS/8/14/35 'Chronicle: Charles G. D. Tennant's account of his family's involvement with the Bank of Scotland, Hunters and Company of Ayr, Union Bank of Scotland and British Overseas Bank'. (Handwritten and typescript).
- GB1830 MCC/2 Letter Book of Ebenezer McCulloch and Company, Merchants, 1764-1767 includes some correspondence with James Hunter & Co., Ayr.
Some artefacts relating to Hunters and Company can be found in the collections of the Museum on the Mound ( http://www.museumonthemound.com/).
Ayrshire Archives hold the following collection: Acc:884 Hunter-Blair Papers c.1700-c.1960. It includes correspondence, receipts and legal documents of the Hunter-Blair family.
Bibliography
S. G. Checkland, Scottish Banking A History, (1975)
Charles A. Munn, The Scottish Provincial Banking Companies 1747-1864 (Edinburgh, 1981)
Robert Rait, The History of the Union Bank of Scotland (Glasgow, 1930)
Anon, 'Arthur C.D. Gairdner Esq.', ( Scottish Bankers Magazine, Vol. 4, April 1912)
Anon, 'The late Mr David Cowan Gairdner' ( Scottish Bankers Magazine, Vol. 11, April 1919-Jan 1920)
Anon, 'Enterprise and Refinement: James Hunter and the Ayr Sugar House' (Aug 2013); published online by South Ayrshire Council History Blog: https://southayrshirehistory.wordpress.com/2013/08/05/enterprise-and-refinement-james-hunter-and-the-ayr-sugar-house/
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