FOWLERS, LANGLANDS AND ELDERS

In the FFHS Journal Vol 5 No 1 of September 1992, we listed a number of famous emigrants from Fife who made a significant contribution to the development of the country in which they settled. This article will deal with three of these emigrants, and their families, who founded leading stores/merchant houses in Australia.

FOWLERS

JAMES FOWLER (1831-1858) of Cellardyke, was the first of his family to emigrate to Australia, and with his brother, DAVID, founded the great merchant house in Adelaide of D & J FOWLER. Their grandfather, Captain David Fowler, a shipmaster in Anstruther, had traded with the Baltic and Scottish ports in the latter half of the 18th century and early 19th, and had perished in a storm off the Hebrides in c 1812. His son, JAMES FOWLER (1794-1872), broke the family maritime tradition, and was apprenticed as a joiner in the Nethergate, Crail, under John Elder (1806-1898), who later emigrated to the USA in 1840 and set up the first power-loom to be operated in Paterson, New Jersey. Subsequently, James went into partnership in Anstruther with his brother-in-law, under the firm of Swan and Fowler. When Swan sailed for America in 1822, Fowler took over the general merchant's business in Cellardyke, belonging to his mother-in-law, Mrs Anderson - he was m to Rhea Anderson.(1797-1866) - and it was into this business that his sons, DAVID (1826-1881), JAMES (1831-1858), and GEORGE SWAN FOWLER (1839-1896), were brought up.

As said earlier, James Fowler was the first of the sons to emigrate, in search of prosperity and better health, arriving at Port Adelaide on Nov 15 1850, in the "Anna Maria," 487 tons. On board the ship were his sister, MARGARET FOWLER (1820-1904), and his friends, DAVID (1829-1907) and WILLIAM MURRAY, (1831-1920) of Anstruther, the founders (in 1853) of another great merchant house, D & W MURRAY of Adelaide.

James' first grocery shop was situated in Rundle Street. By the end of 1853 preparations had been completed for his brother, David Fowler, whose own health had also been indifferent in Scotland, to come out to Australia and join him in business. With his wife, JANET KERR (d 1899), and two sons, James and David, and family servant, JAMES STOBIE (d 1882) of Crail, they sailed from London in the Dutch barque, "Fop Smit" on July 14 1854, and arrived at Adelaide, Nov 4 1854.

On Nov 30 1854 the brothers opened shop in the prestigious King William Street area of Adelaide, nearly opposite that of D & W Murray, under the firm of D & J FOWLER. Their father in Cellardyke had partly financed this new venture, as had their brother-in-law, CHARLES STEWART (1809-1877), tobacco manufacturer in Kirkcaldy, who had m Helen Fowler (1821-1882) at Kilrenny on June 24 1844. David brought out with him £2300 worth of goods in the 'Fop Smit."

Tentative plans had been made for the 3rd brother, George Swan Fowler, to join them in business, but could not be set in motion until their father had sold out at Cellardyke, and was free of business responsibilities. These plans were lent urgency with the death of James Fowler on Feb 13 1858. Margaret Fowler made the long journey home to Cellardyke early in 1859, the Cellardyke business was disposed off in December 1859 to Messrs George Sharp and David Murray, following which Margaret brought her younger brother out to Australia, arriving Port Adelaide in July 1860 in the steamer, "Indus." In Nov 1860 David took George Swan Fowler into partnership, retaining the old designation of D & J Fowler.

Thus there was formed the basis of the expansion of the business, an expansion continued by their sons. JAMES RICHARD FOWLER (1865-1939) and DAVID FOWLER (sons of George), and JAMES FOWLER, son of original David, and followed by a 3rd generation, JAMES M FOWLER and WILLIAM MURRAY FOWLER and then by a 4th, WILLIAM MURRAY FOWLER. A limited liability company had been formed in 1899, with a capital of £400,000, and in November 1954 D & J FOWLER LTD celebrated their centenary.

Over the years the firm of D & J Fowler have given employement to many immigrants from Fife, particulary the East Neuk. JAMES STOBIE (d 1882) of Crail, the servant to the jointfounder and his family, with whom he arrived in Adelaide in Nov 1850 in the "Anna Maria," was probably the first employee, being taken on as a permanent assistant in 1856, at a salary of £3.10s a week. Another early employee was PATRICK GAY, probably from the East of Fife, who was taken on in 1857 at 6s a week. PETER SHARP, from Cellardyke, was employed by the firm for 27 years until 1893, when he left to start his own business. ALEXANDER GARDENER (b Cellardyke, Nov 11 1832, s of Alexander Gardener and Christian Lindsay), arrived Adelaide in March 1865 per the "Queen Bee," and found employment with the firm. ANDREW STEWART, the son of Charles Stewart, tobacco manufacturer, left his native Kirkcaldy in March 1884 to take up an important position with his cousins. His brother. GEORGE FOWLER STEWART (d 1917), was one of the original directors of D & J FOWLER LTD when a limited liability company was formed in 1899, and continued until 1913. Another original director was DAVID MURRAY of Anstruther, Chairman of D & W Murray Ltd.

LANGLANDS

The four sons and daughter of JOHN LANGLANDS, baker in Dundee, and Christian Thoms, all emigrated to Australia. They were ROBERT, HENRY (1794-1863), GEORGE (1803-1861), WILLIAM THOMS, and MARGARET; but it is George Langlands in whom we are particulary interested, for he was founder of the fi rst store and post-office in Horsham, Victoria, a business later known as J LANGLANDS & SONS (1849-1976). The family had its origins in Kilgraston, parish of Dumbarnie, where a WILLIAM LANGLANDS was born in 1611, and came to Dundee from London in 1800.

ROBERT was the first of the brothers to emigrate, with Thomas Fulton (1813-1859), also from Dundee, setting up in 1842 the 'Port Phillip Foundry" in Flinders Street, Melbourne, the first engineering works in Victoria, and one of the two largest employers of labour in Melbourne. He was joined in 1844 by his sister, MARGARET, and then in 1846 by his brother, HENRY. WILLIAM THOMS came out in 1853.

Both Henry and Robert were the partners in the Foundry, and for some time they had been urging GEORGE to come out to Australia and join them in business. George was a master draper in South Street, St Andrews, for upwards of 24 years (1824-1848), having commenced business in May 1824 by purchasing the "large stock" of the retiring St Andrews draper, William Thoms, and opening shop under the sign of GEORGE LANGLANDS & CO, and probably would have continued in St Andrews had not the severe depression in trade, which followed the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1844, caused his bankruptcy in Jan 1848. After settling with his creditors, George took his brothers' advice, and with his wife, Betsy Ritchie (d 1898), and four children, took passage from London in the "Lady Kennaway," which arrived at Port Phillip in December 1848.

In a letter to the "Fife Herald," dated Jan 1852, and published May 20 1852, George Langlands gave a rather bitter account of his leaving St Andrews :- "...having been a master shopkeeper upwards of 24 years in St Andrews, and two years of it a city Magistrate; worked hard during all that time, and left it worse than penniless, to my sore grief, and landed at Port-Philip with less than 3 pounds, and a letter of introduction from High Quarters - thanks to the Dundee M.P. (not the St Andrews one)..." However, it would appear that George over-played his pecuniary difficulties. His passage to Australia was comfortable, and was almost certainly paid for by his brothers, for a study of the manifest of the "Lady Kennaway" reveals that he and his wife and children travelled as "saloon passengers." In Melbourne, he was undoubtedly met by his 2 brothers, Henry and Robert, who were joint owners of a prosperous foundry.

Shortly after his arrival in Melbourne, George Langlands was introduced to the pioneering settler, John Monckton Darlot, the first settler to take up land in the Wimmera. He suggested that Langlands establish a store and post-office in the infant township of Horsham, Victoria, and the latter took up this advice. After a four-week journey by slow-moving oxen drays, the tiny settlement of Horsham was reached on Sunday night, June 30th 1849. The family lived under canvas tent pending the building of their first log store, replaced in 1854 by brick, the first brick building to be erected in Horsham.

George Langlands died after a stroke on Feb 9 1861, and the business was continued by his son, JOHN LANGLANDS (d 1915), and then by his sons, Messrs FRANK, ALFRED and JOHN, under the style of J LANGLANDS & SONS, with a limited liability company being formed in 1930. Later Messrs FRANCIS BRUCE LANGLANDS and EDWARD ROBERT LANGLANDS, sons of Mr Frank, were appointed directors. The Company celebrated its centenary in 1949, when a total of 92 staff were being employed. It was sold to a chain store in 1974, and went into voluntary liquidation in 1976.

ELDERS.

GEORGE ELDER (1785-1868), the son of William Elder, merchant, South Leith, had come to Kirkcaldy by 1812, when he had married JOANNA HADDON LANG (1795-1857), dau of Alexander Lang, candlemaker, South Leith, and opened business as a hardware merchant and shipowner in the High Street. He was the father of four sons who established a great merchant house in Adelaide, eventually known as ELDER SMITH & CO.

In 1839, it was decided at a family conference to extend the business to the newly established colony of South Australia, and, accordingly, his son, ALEXANDER LANG ELDER (1815-1885), set sail from Kirkcaldy on July 16 1839 as sole passenger on the family schooner, the 89-ton "Minerva," with a cargo of rum, whiskey, brandy, tar, fish, biscuits, tinware, gunpowder, agricultural machinery, and seed. South Australia was reached on Jan 2 1840, and by July 1840 he was trading in Adelaide under the title of A L ELDER, general and commission agent at Flaxman and Rowland's store in Rundle Street. By September he had found his own premises in Hindley Street, where he continued until 1849, when he removed to larger premises in Grenfell Street.

As the Adelaide business expanded, reinforcements in the form of other brothers, and a brother-in-law, were sent from Scotland. CAPTAIN WILLIAM ELDER (1804-1882), a merchant captain, who had first visited Adelaide on June 27 1840, when he brought out 183 Scottish and Irish immigrants from Greenock and Dublin in the "William Nichol," again visited his brother in Feb 1844 as commander of the barque, "Symmetry," 408 tons, and this time decided to stay. CAPTAIN JAMES MALCOLM (d 1865), the brother-in law of Captain William Elder, arrived in 1846 from Bahia, Brazil, on board the "Malcolm," and was appointed the firm's agent at Port Adelaide, and was later manager at Wallaroo. GEORGE ELDER, JNR (1816-1897) arrived in 1849, followed in 1854 by the greatest of all the brothers, SIR THOMAS ELDER (1818-1897).

As quickly as the brothers followed one another to Australia, so did they leave. Alexander Lang Elder was the first to go, resigning at the end of Jan 1853, and with his wife and three children, settled in London in 1855. There he acted as London agent of the Adelaide company until 1884, when he took his two eldest sons into partnership in the firm of A L ELDER & CO. Captain WIlliam Elder left Australia soon after Alexander, and returned to Scotland, where he became proprietor of 'St Margaret's," North Queensferry.

This left George Elder, jnr and Thomas Elder as sole partners in the business, which became ELDER & CO. However, this designation did not last for long, for George Elder returned to Scotland in 1855, and settled in Ayrshire.

The firm then became ELDER, STIRLING & CO. in a partnership consisting of THOMAS ELDER, EDWARD STIRLING (1804-1873), JOHN TAYLOR (d 1865), and ROBERT BARR SMITH (1824-1915), Elder's brother-in-law (Smith had m JOANNA ELDER at Tivoli, nr Melbourne, on April 15 1856). Edward Stirling retired in 1861, followed by John Taylor 2 yrs later, and on Jan 31 1863, the firm assumed its historic title of ELDER SMITH & CO, with Thomas Elder and Rbt Barr Smith as sole partners.

The prosperity of this new firm was lain during the partnership of Elder Stirling & Co, when they financed Sir William Watson Hughes' (from Pittenweem) newly-discovered copper mines at Wallaroo and Moonta, which, after initial losses, brought huge returns. With this sound foundation, under their direction, and also under that of their successor, PETER WAITE (1834-1922) - from Pitcairn, nr Kirkcaldy, who had come out to Melbourne in the "British Trident" on June 8 1859 - who became Chairman in 1883, the firm of ELDER SMITH & CO diversified into pastoral concerns, and became one of the world's largest wool selling firms, and also had interests in Adelaide Steamtug and Adelaide Steamship Companies. It was incorporated into a limited liability company in 1882, and celebrated its centenary in 1939. [A J Campbell, Editor]

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

Years to Remember: A Record of the First Hundred Years of D. and J Fowler Ltd (Adelaide, 1954)

Langlands & Sons Pty Ltd. A Century of Trading in Horsham, 1849-1949 (Horsham, 1951)

Elder Smith & Co Ltd: The First Hundred Years (Adelaide, 1940)

Australian Dictionary of Biography

Private Correspondence