Letters from Sir Walter's banker surface after 200 years

SPECIAL FEATURE ON A FASCINATING LEGAL HISTORY PROJECT

A sizeable cache of letters written by a Scottish Borders lawyer in the first half of the Nineteenth Century is helping academics to uncover valuable new information about life in South-east Scotland between 1820 and 1840, an era of prolific social and industrial change.

Correspondence written by and to George Craig, a writer to the signet, banker and insurance agent whose clients included the author Sir Walter Scott and members of the Scottish Borders gentry was found in a cupboard at the Galashiels law firm of Iain Smith & Partners.

These rare hand-written survivors have become the subject of a research project headed by John Finlay, Professor of Scots Law at Glasgow University in collaboration with archivists at Scottish Borders Council which is now custodian of the so-called letter books. The paperwork from Craig's clients and contacts, adds to the collection's historic significance.

The letters are being studied and interpreted before being published online, and Professor Finlay will visit George Craig's home town of Galashiels in January to present a paper on his research to members of the Old Gala Club.

Then, in May 2023, Edinburgh University Press plan to publish a book by the professor entitled George Craig of Galashiels: The Life and Work of a Nineteenth Century Lawyer. 

Craig (1783-1853) was baron bailie of Galashiels and estate factor to John Scott of Gala (1790-1840), the eight laird of Galashiels. A baron-bailie was a magistrate appointed by the lord superior in a burgh of barony who acted as the ruling power in the absence of the local laird.

The recently discovered letter books span the years 1821 to 1840, and cover Craig's activities as a writer (law agent), banker, insurance agent, baron bailie and notary public. He worked as a sole practitioner until he took on, as his partner, William Rutherford from Jedburgh, who later became the first chief magistrate of Galashiels.

Topics covered in the letters include sheep farming, local disputes, and emigration from the Borders to New South Wales and the Americas.

Professor Finlay told us: "It is not obvious from looking at them [the letters] that they are connected to Craig, since his name very rarely appears, but there is no doubt that they are his. Having identified them, the task was then to find out more about Craig – internal evidence from the letter books is the best source, since surviving examples of letters from Craig or those working for him seem to be fairly limited in number."

He said he had looked at quite a few lawyers’ letter books but the breadth of Craig’s correspondence was unusual. There was a lot of detail about working arrangements for weavers, for instance, because Craig was an insurance agent and arranged to insure their properties.

"Some of his major clients, for whom he acted as land agent, lived at a distance and that means the correspondence is particularly regular and detailed. This includes individuals such as George Fairholme of Greenknowe, John Scott of Gala, and Professor Alexander Monro of Craiglockhart and Cockburn. Since he was also a bank agent, Craig’s letters have a very strong slant towards banking matters. While lots of law agents were also bank agents, this is the only set of letter books I have seen from someone who operated in both capacities. This means that there is a lot of information about local fairs and the day-to-day routine of local banking."

Professor Finlay had been previously aware of a number of Borders lawyers, particularly in Kelso and Selkirk, but also in Hawick, Jedburgh, Peebles and elsewhere. The letters would add to our knowledge of them quite significantly. 

"They also include some (limited) information about characters like James Hogg and Sir Walter Scott. What letter books offer, above collections of individual letters which archives tend to hold, is continuity and the possibility of getting to understand the development of particular relationships over time. Craig’s letter books cover nearly 20 years and he conducted correspondence with some individuals across the entirety of that time, so it is possible to pick up a lot of detail about working relationships."

According to the project website: "In literary and intellectual terms, Craig lived in the Romantic Era He thought he lived in ‘the age of adventure’ and he spent much of his time traversing the Borders. He also superintended Gala House on behalf of John Scott, the laird of Gala whose factor he was."

During the period covered by Craig's letters the Scottish Borders suffered serious depopulation as desperate members of the local farming community left the region in a bid to better themselves in Australia or North America.

One of the most interesting pieces of correspondence is a letter from John Horsburgh, a penniless tenant farmer at Caddonhead on the Torwoodlee Estate near Galashiels.

Horsburgh is seeking advice by contacting eminent people to see if he can land a job in New South Wales or Van Diemen's Land [now Tasmania] even though he cannot afford the fare.

The project's website explains: "He wanted to leave because of the ‘peculiarly hard times the farmer has experienced for years past in this country’, a refence to land improvement and development of new agricultural techniques over the previous generation, such as better drainage, crop rotation, enclosure of land, improved machinery, better animal feed, leading to improved efficiency resulting in less need for as many tenant farmers as there had been in the past."

The Glasgow University web page featuring 'George Craig of Gala' can be found here:

www.gla.ac.uk/schools/law/research/themes/legalhistoryatglasgow/engagement/georgecraigofgala/