GB 0102 PP MS 1 - Mackinnon, Sir William, 1st Baronet

146 boxes

GB 0102 PP MS 1 Created c1820-1893 Collection (fonds) 146 boxes Mackinnon , Sir , William , 1823-1893 , 1st Baronet , founder of the Imperial British East Africa Company
William Mackinnon was born on 13 March 1823 in Campbeltown, Argyleshire. He was educated in Campbeltown and trained in the grocery trade there. Early in his life he went to Glasgow, where he was employed in a silk warehouse and afterwards in the office of a merchant engaged in the Eastern Trade.

MacKinnon began his business career in 1847, when he joined an old school fellow Robert MacKenzie who was engaged in the coasting trade in the Bay of Bengal. Together they founded the firm of Mackinnon, MacKenzie & Company. On 29 September 1856, the Calcutta and Burmah Steamship Navigation Company was founded, mainly through Mackinnon's exertions. In 1862 the rapidly expanding company was renamed the British India Steamship Navigation Company. What had begun as a single steamer plying between Calcutta and Rangoon, became one of the greatest shipping companies in the world. Under Mackinnon's guidance it developed and created a vast trade around the coast of India and Burma, the Persian Gulf and East Coast of Africa, besides establishing subsidiary lines of connection with Great Britain, the Dutch East Indies and Australia. In 1873, the company established a mail service between Aden and Zanzibar. Mackinnon gained the confidence of Sultan Seyyid Barghash and in 1878 opened negotiations with him for the lease of a territory extending 1,150 miles along the coastline from Tungi to Warsheik, and extending inland as far as the eastern province of the Congo Free State. The British Government however, declined to sanction the concession, which if ratified would have secured for England the whole of what became German East Africa. In 1886 the British Foreign Minister availed himself of Mackinnon's influence to secure the coast line from Wanga to Kipini, a charter was granted and the Imperial British East Africa Company was formally incorporated on 18 April 1888 with Mackinnon as Chairman. The territory was finally taken over by the British Government on 1 July 1895, and became British East Africa. Mackinnon was also instrumental in promoting and funding Sir Henry Morton Stanley's expedition for the relief of Emin Pasha in 1886.

In 1858 Mackinnon became a Director of the City of Glasgow Bank, resigning that position in 1870, eight years before the Bank's complete collapse. Mackinnon did not escape from the consequences of the failure of the Bank, one of the most serious crises in modern Scottish financial history. The liquidators sued him for close to a quarter of a million pounds on a claim connected with advice Mackinnon was said to have given on American railway securities. Following protracted litigation, Mackinnon was completely exonerated by the court from the charges against him when it was demonstrated that the course of action taken by the remaining directors was contrary to his express advice.

Mackinnon was one of the chief supporters of the Free Church of Scotland. However, towards the end of his life the passage of the Declaratory Act, of which he disapproved, led to a difference of opinion between him and the leaders of the Church and he materially assisted the seceding members in the Scottish Highlands. In 1891 he founded the East African Scottish Mission.

In 1882 he was nominated C.I.E. He was created a Baronet on 15 July 1889. He married Janet Colquhoun (d 1894) on 12 May 1856. They had no children. William Mackinnon died on 22 June 1893, in the Burlington Hotel, London. He was buried at Clachan, Argyleshire.

Donated in c1976.

Personal, estate and business papers, c1820-1893, accumulated by Sir William Mackinnon, predominantly during the latter half of the nineteenth century. The material covers a wide range of commercial, imperial and humanitarian topics, and includes correspondence and papers relating to the Imperial British East Africa Company, the British India Steam Navigation Co. and the City of Glasgow Bank.

The papers are arranged into five main categories: Private correspondence; Africa papers: (a) The Imperial British East Africa Company, (b) The Emin Pasha Relief Expedition; papers relating to the British India Steam Navigation Company; papers relating to the City of Glasgow Bank, miscellaneous commercial files, Balinakill estate papers; miscellaneous private correspondence, personal, philanthropic, Free Church etc.Within each category, material is arranged in chronological order.

Unrestricted.

No publication without written permission. Apply to archivist in the first instance.
English

Published catalogue, A Handlist of the Papers of Sir Wm Mackinnon, Baronet (SOAS, 1977). Detailed catalogue available at http://www.a2a.pro.gov.uk

The School of Oriental and African Studies also holds papers of Francis George Hall, who was an employee of the Imperial British East Africa Company (Ref: MS 225864), and papers of Sir Harry Hamilton Johnston relating to East Africa (Ref: MS 193299).

Letters of Sir William Mackinnon (1880-1884) are held at the National Library of Scotland, Manuscripts Division, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EW (Ref: MS 20311xx). Letters to Duncan Mackinnon (1873-1880) held at the National Library of Scotland, Manuscripts Division (Ref: Acc 6168). Letters from the 9th Duke of Argyll (1884-1893) are held privately: enquiries to the National Register of Archives (Scotland), HM General Register House, Edinburgh, EH1 3YY (Ref: NRA(S) 0006, NRA 9955 Campbell, NRA(S) 1209/1614). Records of the British India Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. (1856-1970) are held at the National Maritime Museum, Manuscripts Section.

15 May 2000 Agricultural economics Ancient religions Argyll Associations Balinakill Banks British East Africa British India Steam Navigation Company x Calcutta Burmah Steamship Navigation Company Charitable organisations Christianity Christians City of Glasgow Bank Clachan Colonial countries Colonization East Africa Enterprises Europe Finance Financial institutions Free Church of Scotland Glasgow Imperial British East Africa Company India Kenya Lanarkshire Land economics Land tenure Mackinnon , Sir , William , 1823-1893 , 1st Baronet , founder of the Imperial British East Africa Company Maritime transport Organizations Pasha , Mehmet Emin , 1840-1892 , physician, naturalist and colonial administrator x Schnitzer , Eduard Carl Oscar Theodor x Schnitzer , Isaak Eduard Political systems Protestantism Protestant nonconformists Protestant nonconformity Protestants Religions Religious groups Religious institutions Scotland Sea transport Shipping South Asia Stanley , Sir , Henry Morton , 1841-1904 , Knight , explorer, author and journalist x Rowlands , John Tarbert Transport UK Water transport Western Europe London England

Donated in c1976.

Personal, estate and business papers, c1820-1893, accumulated by Sir William Mackinnon, predominantly during the latter half of the nineteenth century. The material covers a wide range of commercial, imperial and humanitarian topics, and includes correspondence and papers relating to the Imperial British East Africa Company, the British India Steam Navigation Co. and the City of Glasgow Bank.

The papers are arranged into five main categories: Private correspondence; Africa papers: (a) The Imperial British East Africa Company, (b) The Emin Pasha Relief Expedition; papers relating to the British India Steam Navigation Company; papers relating to the City of Glasgow Bank, miscellaneous commercial files, Balinakill estate papers; miscellaneous private correspondence, personal, philanthropic, Free Church etc.Within each category, material is arranged in chronological order.

Unrestricted.

No publication without written permission. Apply to archivist in the first instance.

• English

• Latin

English

The School of Oriental and African Studies also holds papers of Francis George Hall, who was an employee of the Imperial British East Africa Company (Ref: MS 225864), and papers of Sir Harry Hamilton Johnston relating to East Africa (Ref: MS 193299).

Published catalogue, A Handlist of the Papers of Sir Wm Mackinnon, Baronet (SOAS, 1977). Detailed catalogue available at http://www.a2a.pro.gov.uk

Letters of Sir William Mackinnon (1880-1884) are held at the National Library of Scotland, Manuscripts Division, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EW (Ref: MS 20311xx). Letters to Duncan Mackinnon (1873-1880) held at the National Library of Scotland, Manuscripts Division (Ref: Acc 6168). Letters from the 9th Duke of Argyll (1884-1893) are held privately: enquiries to the National Register of Archives (Scotland), HM General Register House, Edinburgh, EH1 3YY (Ref: NRA(S) 0006, NRA 9955 Campbell, NRA(S) 1209/1614). Records of the British India Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. (1856-1970) are held at the National Maritime Museum, Manuscripts Section.

• English