Neill Malcolm 12th of Poltalloch

Son of Neill Malcolm 11th of Poltalloch (q.v.) and Mary Houghton nee Brisset, and father of Neill Malcolm 13th of Poltalloch and John Malcolm (each of whom q.v). Left £500,000 at his death in 1837. The Malcolm family have a recent entry in the ODNB that details the role of Neill Malcolm (ii) or 12th of Poltalloch in accelerating his father's move from trade to investment in Britain and portrays him as a 'paternalistic' landlord in Scotland. But note also that the ODNB entry shows that the Malcolm family of Poltalloch (over the period from about 1750–1857) illustrate how slave-owning 'offered a minor west of Scotland landholding family the opportunity to transform themselves into wealthy chieftains who combined new money with the traditional trappings of authority, enjoying interests and dependents on three continents. They moved from followers of the Campbell dukes of Argyll into challengers for influence with their own property in London. However, the end of slavery in the West Indies exposed the shallowness of their position and Neill (iii) [1797-1857] relocated both his colonial ambitions and many of his Argyll dependants to Canada and Australia. They were remembered largely for their ownership of slaves in Jamaica and their unsympathetic treatment of tenants in Argyll.'

1. Married Mary Anne Orme in 1797. Their son John Malcolm (1805-1893), 1st Baron Malcolm of Poltalloch, is in the ODNB as 'art collector and landowner.' The entry says that his father 'owned extensive landed estates in Argyllshire and sugar plantations in Jamaica.' John Malcolm inherited from his brother Neill Malcolm 13th of Poltalloch in 1857.

2. Neill Malcolm was a partner in Stirling Gordon until 31/05/1828, when he inserted his son David Cuthbert Orme Malcolm as partner.

W.D. Rubinstein, Who were the rich? A biographical directory of British wealth-holders Vol. 1 1809-1839 p. 451 reference 1837/24; Matthew Kilburn, ‘Malcolm family of Poltalloch (per. 1750–1857)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2016 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/107421, accessed 18 Nov 2016]; see also Allan I. MacInnes 'Commercial Landlordism and Clearance in the Highlands: The Case of Arichonan' in Juan Pan-Montojo, Frederik Pedersen (eds.) Communities in European History: Representations, Jurisdictions, Conflicts (Pisa, 2007) pp. 47-64 lettereold.humnet.unipi.it/ai/books2/communities/03_MACINNES.pdf [accessed 11/07/2017[ (we are grateful to Jim Brennan for drawing this reference to our attention).

1. Stephen Coppel, ‘Malcolm, John, of Poltalloch (1805–1893)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2005 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/62981, accessed 15 Jan 2015].

2. Edinburgh Gazette 3656, 17 June 1828 p. 159.