Cecilia Douglas (née Douglas)

Grande dame of Glasgow, art collector, daughter of John Douglas, sister of the partners in J, T and A Douglas (q.v.), and widow of Gilbert Douglas, awarded half the compensation for the Mount Pleasant estate on St Vincent. She has an entry in the ODNB as 'West India planter, slave owner and art collector.'

1. Cecilia Douglas, only surviving daughter of John Douglas, merchant in Glasgow, and sister of General Sir Neil Douglas (who has an entry in the ODNB as 'army officer') and of 6 other brothers, members of the once well known firm of John Thomas and Archibald Douglas, the last survivor of whom was Thomas Dunlop Douglas of Dunlop. She married Gilbert Douglas in 1794 and was widowed in 1807. The Orbiston estate was the creation of Cecilia Douglas from the estates she inherited of Douglas Park and Boggs, to which she added by purchase. She survived her husband 55 years, and died at Douglas Park, or Orbiston house as she latterly called it, in July 1862 aged 91. She was the last survivor of the original nominees on the Tontine buildings at the Cross. Mrs Douglas left a large fortune, and a fine collection of paintings and sculptures, which she made during her extended residence in Italy and which was presented to the Corporation of Glasgow (who deposited them in their Galleries in Sauciehall Street) in accordance with her direction to deposit it 'in some public institution in Scotland'.  She also gave a large window to the Cathedral in Glasgow.

2. There is a memorial plaque on the wall of St Brides Collegiate Church, Bothwell, Lanarkshire to the memory of Gilbert Douglas of Douglas Park born 28/05/1749 died 10/03/1807 and also of Cecilia Douglas of Orbiston his wife born 28/02/1772 died 25/07/1862. The Mount Pleasant estate belonged to Gilbert Douglas, together with a cotton plantation Fairfield in Demerara (of which there is no trace in the compensation records).

T71/892 St Vincent claim no. 490A&B; Mullen, Stephen. 2016 "Douglas, Cecilia (1772–1862), West India planter, slave owner, and art collector." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 12 Jul. 2019. https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-66964.

1. John Guthrie Smith and John Oswald Mitchell, The old country houses of the old Glasgow gentry (2nd edn., Glasgow, James MacLehose & Sons, 1878) LXXIX Orbiston House; Stephens, H. M., and Roger T. Stearn. "Douglas, Sir Neil (1779/80–1853), army officer." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 23 Sep. 2004; Accessed 22 Jan. 2020. https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-7913.

2. http://www.douglashistory.co.uk/history/gilbertdouglas3.htm 'Gilbert Douglas 1749-1807' [accessed 25/01/2012].