John Howie (12 March 1833 – 20 September 1895) was a wealthy Victorian

captain of industry In the 19th century, a captain of industry was a business leader whose means of amassing a personal fortune contributed positively to the country in some way. This may have been through increased productivity, expansion of markets, providing more ...

and

investor An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future Return on capital, return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some specie ...

, the proprietor of the renowned J & R Howie

Hurlford Hurlford (Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile Àtha Cliath'') is a village in East Ayrshire, Scotland. It has a population of 4,968. Hurlford's former names include Whirlford and Hurdleford. The village was named Whirlford as a result of a ford crossing ...

Fireclay Works. He would have been about 350th on a national Rich List of Britain at the time, with a fortune equal to over £200 million today. At his death, he was one of the richest men in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Background and career

Born the son of William Howie, and his second cousin Margaret Howie, Howie joined the family firm and quickly established it as one of the foremost fireclay works in Britain (later bought by

Armitage Shanks Armitage Shanks is a British manufacturer of bathroom fixtures and plumbing supplies, now part of the group Ideal Standard. In 2004, Armitage Shanks had eight factories in the United Kingdom, the largest in Armitage, Staffordshire. Armitage Sh ...

), producing a huge range of items from bricks, sanitary ware such as toilets and baths, drainage materials, feeding dishes and troughs, chimneys and garden ornaments. He also owned several large coal mines and pits. Howie's family owned much of the town of Hurlford, including Marchmont Place, Salisbury Place, Collier Row, Office Row, Chapel Cottages, Skerrington Row and Howie's Square. They also owned small mining villages including Hemphill and Corsehill. J & R Howie continued to operate under the

National Coal Board The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "v ...

, and still exists legally as a company today, though it is currently dormant and non-trading. In spite of his vast wealth, Howie did not live extravagantly, living at the family home of Newhouse in Hurlford, a mansion-house nearby the mine, now an extended 22-bedroomed residential care home. Howie was a

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

, his family having been involved in the

Covenanting Covenanters ( gd, Cùmhnantaich) were members of a 17th-century Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian polity, Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and the primacy of its leaders in religious af ...

movement. Howie's son, Frederick, bought Templetonburn House, one of Aryshire's finest mansions built at a cost of £20,000, before burning down later in the 20th century, and its estate.

Death and legacy

Upon his death in 1895, he had amassed a fortune of £50,000, equivalent to over £100 million today (relative GDP). This sum did not include the value of the business itself or the value of property (which would have taken it to well over £100,000), but was made up from investments, domestic and international, that had been made in numerous mining companies and other manufacturing businesses.

Family

Howie married Mary Paterson and had six children. * John Howie was the cousin of industrialist

Thomas W. Howie Thomas Wyllie Howie, JP (8 April 1856 – 18 July 1927) was a Scottish captain of industry. Background Howie was born in Riccarton, Ayrshire, on 8 April 1856, to Robert and Bethia (Wyllie) Howie, into a wealthy industrial family who had be ...

* John Howie was a relation of footballer James Howie * John Howie was a distant cousin of writer John Howie * John Howie was the great-great-uncle of actor

Robbie Coltrane Anthony Robert McMillan (30 March 195014 October 2022), known professionally as Robbie Coltrane, was a Scottish actor and comedian. He gained worldwide recognition in the 2000s for playing Rubeus Hagrid in the ''Harry Potter'' film series. He ...

* John Howie was first cousin twice removed of the current Lord Glenarthur

External links

FutureMuseum page on Hurlford Fireclay Works

{{DEFAULTSORT:Howie, John 1833 births 1895 deaths 19th-century Scottish businesspeople Scottish investors People from East Ayrshire Scottish Calvinist and Reformed Christians