George Oswald of Scotstoun and Auchencruive 
Biography of George Oswald of Scotstoun and Auchencruive
George Oswald
George Oswald (1735-1819) was a banker and a tobacco merchant who was elected Rector of the University in 1797.
A minister's son from Dunnet in Caithness, Oswald came to Glasgow to work for his uncles, the leading tobacco merchants Richard and Alexander Oswald. The Oswalds were amongst the leading colonial merchants in Glasgow in this period. Another nephew Richard Oswald of Auchincruive (1705-1784) also served an apprenticeship in Glasgow before going onto to become the most infamous of all Scottish traders in enslaved people, after purchasing Bunce Island, a heavily fortified island off the coast of Sierra Leone. George Oswald, however, remained in Glasgow and became a partner in the Glasgow tobacco firm Oswald, Dennistoun & Co and in the Glasgow Ship Bank. He inherited the estates of Scotstoun and Balshagray near Glasgow and Auchincruive in Ayrshire.
Summary
George Oswald of Scotstoun and Auchencruive
Banker and Merchant
Born 30 July 1735, Dunnet, Scotland.
Died 6 October 1819.
GU Degree:
University Link: Rector
Occupation categories: bankers; sugar merchants; tobacco merchants
NNAF Reference: GB/NNAF/P142293
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Record last updated: 1st Jul 2019
Country Associations
Scotland
Place of Birth
