The great English dealers were the Armstrongs, James and Thomas, the
Millers, Murphy, Robert M'Turk, Billie Brown, John Elliot, the
Carmichaels, &c. &c. The Armstrongs were from Yorkshire; they bought
largely of our good beasts at Falkirk, Falkland, and Kinross. Their
credit was unlimited. They paid the cattle, not with Bank of England
notes, but with their own private bills; and whereas they left home
without more money than was necessary to pay the expenses of their
journey, they would return with hundreds of pounds. For example: they
would buy a lot of cattle for L860, give their acceptance for L1000,
and get the balance (L140) from the seller. At last, however, they
became bankrupt, and paid 3s. per pound. My father lost L3300 by them;
and a great many of the returned bills are still in my possession.
Messrs John and William Thom lost about the same sum. The Bannermans of
Perth lost L4000--in fact, were ruined by their loss. My father and the
Thoms stood out. The Thoms lost very heavily by the Millers also. My
father's losses by bad debts were fully L10,000 in all. John Thom of
Uras, Stonehaven, was also one of the firm that lost heavily, and has
always, to his credit, paid 20s. in the pound. It was a saying of an
old friend of mine that no great breeder or great cattle-dealer ever
died rich; and this has held good in the great majority of cases. John
Elliot and William Brown bought largely of our Aberdeen cattle, and
attended Aikey Fair as well as Falkirk. Brown, who was very clever, had
raised himself from being an Irish drover. He rented a farm in the
neighbourhood of Carlisle, and died a few years ago much respected.
Elliot was a Carlisle man, and so were the Millers. Elliot latterly
became a Smithfield salesman, but died many years ago. But Robert
M'Turk stood, in my estimation, at the top of the tree. I have known
him buy seventy score of Highlanders at the October Falkirk Tryst
without dismounting from his pony. I have seen seventy-five score of
Galloways belonging to him in one drove passing through Carlisle to
Norfolk. I have known him buy from a thousand to two thousand of our
large county cattle at Falkirk, sweeping the fair of the best lots
before other buyers could make up their minds to begin. He rented large
grazings in Dumfriesshire, where he wintered and grazed the
Highlanders, and which, I believe, his relatives still retain. He was a
warm friend, and very kind to me when I was almost a boy, and on a busy
day he trusted me to cull the beasts he had bought from myself. I shall
never see his like again at Falkirk or any other place. I have a vivid
recollection of the stout-built man upon his pony, buying his cattle by
the thousand; his calm and composed demeanour was a striking contrast
to the noise made by some jobbers at our fairs in even the buying of an
old cow. Although plain in manner, he was a thorough gentleman, devoid
of slang and equivocation. He was the Captain Barclay of Dumfriesshire,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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