David William Traill Cargill (1872–1939) was a Scottish philanthropist and art collector. He gives his name to the David W T Cargill Fund. He endowed the David Cargill Chair of Geriatric Medicine at Glasgow University. He was described as an "art collector of great discrimination".

Life

Edgar Degas - Before the Race - Walters 37850

He was born on 14 January 1872 the son of

David Sime Cargill David Sime Cargill (9 April 1826 – 25 May 1904) was a Scottish businessman. He was the founder of Burmah Oil which expanded to become one of the United Kingdom's largest oil companies. Life He was born at Maryton, by Montrose, in Angus, Scotl ...

(1827-1905) of 9 Park Terrace in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. His mother was Margaret Traill (1840-1872) who died at his birth or soon after. His father worked for Milne & Co in the city. Their five storey townhouse faced onto Kelvingrove Park (the house still exists and is a

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

). In 1878 his father married Connell Elizabeth Auld who became David's step-mother. His father founded the

Burmah Oil Company The Burmah Oil Company was a leading British oil company which was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. In 1966, Castrol was acquired by Burmah, which was renamed "Burmah-Castrol". BP Amoco (now BP) purchased the company in 2000. History ...

in 1886 and became immensely wealthy. He worked for Milne & Co in Glasgow and, with his brother Sir John Traill Cargill were also Directors of Burmah Oil. In 1910 he was living at 59 Partickhill Road in Glasgow. In March 1920 he bought William McTaggart's "Where the Smugglers Came Ashore" for £2500 through the art dealer Alexander Reid (art dealer), Alexander Reid. Other known acquisitions are Renoir's "Mont Sainte-Victoire" and Corot's "Brume matinale au marais". He also owned works by Manet, Monet, Sisley, Pissarro, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat and Cezanne. In 1922 he bought "Before the Race, Jockeys Before the Race by Degas (through Reid) for £2100. At some point in the 1930s he bought "Arrangement in Black" (a sister-piece to Arrangement in Grey and Black aka Whistler's Mother) by James Whistler. He died in Lanark on 5 September 1939. His will sold off his art collection to provide multiple philanthropic donations to the university and to Glasgow's well being. The David W T Cargill Trust created other facilities such as the David Cargill Centre which cares for the elderly and David Cargill House.

Artistic recognition

He was portrayed in the act of analysing art by Honoré Daumier known as "Advice to a Young Artist".

Family

He was married to Berthe Josephine Chopier (d.1947).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cargill, David William Traill 1872 births 1939 deaths People from Glasgow Scottish art collectors Scottish philanthropists