Robert Graham (1735 – 11 December 1797), who took the name Bontine in 1770 and Cunninghame Graham in 1796, was a Scottish politician and poet.Robert Graham
University of Glasgow (multitab page) He is now remembered for a poem ''If doughty deeds my lady please'', which was later set to music by his great-great-grandson, Rev. Malise Cunninghame Graham and also by

Sir Arthur Sullivan Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (13 May 1842 – 22 November 1900) was an English composer. He is best known for 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including ''H.M.S. Pinafore'', ''The Pirates of Penzance' ...

Early life

Robert, the second son of Nicol Graham of Gartmore and Lady Margaret Cunningham, was born at

Gartmore Gartmore (Scottish Gaelic ''An Gart Mòr'') is a village in the Stirling council area, Scotland. It is a village with a view of the Wallace Monument in Stirling, almost 25 miles away. Formerly in Perthshire, it is one mile from the A81 Glasgo ...

Perthshire Perthshire (locally: ; gd, Siorrachd Pheairt), officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, ...

, and educated, along with his elder brother William, at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

(matriculating under Professor Andrew Rosse). He spent much of his early life in

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

, where he was a planter, slave-owner and

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as indust ...

, and became Receiver-General for Taxes in 1753 and profited from his involvement in

sugar plantations in the Caribbean Sugar plantations in the Caribbean were a major part of the economy of the islands in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Most Caribbean, Caribbean islands were covered with Sugarcane, sugar cane fields and mills for refining the crop. The main ...

Slave holder in Jamaica

Graham writes in his letters of numerous liaisons with enslaved women and this infers he is likely to have fathered children by them. As a wealthy businessman, Cunninghame acquired enslaved people as domestic servants, oversaw large groups of enslaved plantation workers and later sold the enslaved people he 'owned' when he and Anne Taylor returned to Scotland. In 1752, Graham left Britain for the

Colony of Jamaica The Crown Colony of Jamaica and Dependencies was a British colony from 1655, when it was captured by the English Protectorate from the Spanish Empire. Jamaica became a British colony from 1707 and a Crown colony in 1866. The Colony was pri ...

, where he was a slave-owner, landowner and planter, politician, and public servant until 1770. By 1753, aged 18, he was the receiver-general of taxes. Graham represented the parish of St David in the Assembly of Jamaica (1765–67). By 1770, he left Jamaica for Britain and became laird of Ardoch in Dunbartonshire. He had succeeded to the estate, (entailed upon him in 1757), on the death of his second cousin William Bontine in the late 1760s.

Family and marriage

While in Jamaica, Graham married Anne Taylor, sister of Sir John Taylor Baronet of Lyssons Hall, in 1764 (as recorded in the Cunninghame Graham Family Bible) and Simon Taylor, one of Jamaica's wealthiest merchants and plantation-owners. He built the current Ardoch House (near Dumbarton) in colonial style for Anne. Anne died in December 1780, leaving two daughters and two sons. He secondly married Elizabeth Buchanan circa 1783, by whom he had a further son and daughter; they separated in 1787 and divorced in 1789.

Property

He changed name twice; firstly, under the terms of an

entail In English common law, fee tail or entail is a form of trust established by deed or settlement which restricts the sale or inheritance of an estate in real property and prevents the property from being sold, devised by will, or otherwise alien ...

by which he inherited the Ardoch estate from William Bontine, he took the surname Bontine until his father died. Secondly, in line with the 1709 entail of William 12th

Earl of Glencairn Earl of Glencairn was a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1488 for Alexander Cunningham, 1st Lord Kilmaurs (created 1450). The name was taken from the parish of Glencairn in Dumfriesshire so named for the Cairn Waters which run ...

, he assumed the name and arms of Cunninghame, in addition to those of Graham, on the death in 1796 of Maj. Gen. John Cunninghame, 15th Earl of Glencairn and last in line. From him Robert inherited the

Finlaystone Finlaystone House is a mansion and estate in the Inverclyde council area and historic county of Renfrewshire. It lies near the southern bank of the Firth of Clyde, beside the village of Langbank, in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. Finl ...

estate, so that he is often known as Robert Cunninghame Graham of Gartmore and Finlaystone. At his death, his estates stretched from Perthshire (Gartmore & Kippen), through Dunbartonshire (Galingad & Ardoch) and across the Clyde to Renfrewshire (Finlaystone); in addition he held the lands of Lochwood in Lanarkshire and his Jamaican plantation at Roaring River.

Political career

Graham was elected a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

, representing Stirlingshire, in 1794. He was a pro-

Jacobin , logo = JacobinVignette03.jpg , logo_size = 180px , logo_caption = Seal of the Jacobin Club (1792–1794) , motto = "Live free or die"(french: Vivre libre ou mourir) , successor = Pa ...

of that time, and identified as a Radical. During his time in the House he attempted to introduce a Bill of Rights which foreshadowed the

Reform Bill In the United Kingdom, Reform Act is most commonly used for legislation passed in the 19th century and early 20th century to enfranchise new groups of voters and to redistribute seats in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ...

of 1832. He was a close friend of

Thomas Sheridan Thomas Sheridan may refer to: *Thomas Sheridan (divine) (1687–1738), Anglican divine *Thomas Sheridan (actor) (1719–1788), Irish actor and teacher of elocution *Thomas Sheridan (soldier) (1775–1817/18) *Thomas B. Sheridan (born 1931), America ...

Charles James Fox Charles James Fox (24 January 1749 – 13 September 1806), styled ''The Honourable'' from 1762, was a prominent British Whig statesman whose parliamentary career spanned 38 years of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He was the arch-riv ...

, Sir Thomas Dundas (later 1st Baron Dundas) and the poet

Hector McNeil Hector McNeil (10 March 1907 – 11 October 1955) was a Scottish Labour politician. McNeil was educated at Woodside School and the University of Glasgow, trained as an engineer and worked as a journalist on a Scottish national newspaper. He w ...

. Graham was appointed

Rector of the University of Glasgow The (Lord) Rector of the University of Glasgow is one of the most senior posts within University of Glasgow, the institution, elected every three years by students. The theoretical role of the rector is to represent students to the senior manage ...

, holding the position from 1785 to 1787, in which year he instituted the Gartmore Gold Medal (awarded biennially) for the best discourse by a student on political liberty.

Death and legacy

In later life he suffered from frequent bouts of gout in the organs. He died at Gartmore on 4 December 1797 and was interred in the Gartmore family burial ground.

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...

– whose patron James, 14th Earl of Glencairn, was Graham's first cousin – writing to the Edinburgh bookseller, Mr Hill, describes Graham as: "...the noblest instance of great talents, great fortune and great worth that ever I saw in conjunction."

Descendants

Graham's great-great-grandson,

Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham (24 May 1852 – 20 March 1936) was a Scottish politician, writer, journalist and adventurer. He was a Liberal Party Member of Parliament (MP); the first ever socialist member of the Parliament of the United Ki ...

was a writer, journalist and adventurer. He was also a notable politician, being a

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

MP. and a founder of both the

Scottish Labour Party Scottish Labour ( gd, Pàrtaidh Làbarach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Labour Pairty; officially the Scottish Labour Party) is a social democratic political party in Scotland. It is an autonomous section of the UK Labour Party. From their peak o ...

and the

National Party of Scotland The National Party of Scotland (NPS) was a centre-left political party in Scotland which was one of the predecessors of the current Scottish National Party (SNP). The NPS was the first Scottish nationalist political party, and the first which c ...

.Robert Cunninghame Graham, Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/-719617813 Retrieved 9 June 2022. His great-great-great-grandson, Admiral Sir Angus Edward Malise Bontine Cunninghame Graham of Gartmore and Ardoch KBE CB was

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

Flag Officer, Scotland. He was nephew and heir to Robert Bontine Cunningham Graham.

Footnotes

References

* R. B. Cunninghame Graham, (1925) ''Doughty Deeds, an account of the life of Robert Graham of Gartmore, poet and politician, 1735–1797'' London: William Heinemann Ltd. *Joseph Foster. (1882) ''Members of Parliament, Scotland, including the minor barons, the commissioners for the shires, and the commissioners for the burghs, 1357–1882. On the basis of the parliamentary return 1880, with genealogical and biographical notices.'' (2nd Ed.) Aylesbury: Hazell, Watson, and Viney. *''The University of Glasgow Story'' http://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/biography/?id=WH0240&type=P . Retrieved 2009-04-07. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cunninghame Graham, Robert Rectors of the University of Glasgow 1735 births 1797 deaths Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Scottish constituencies Politics of Stirling (council area) Scottish people of the British Empire People from Stirling (council area) Alumni of the University of Glasgow Scottish merchants British radicals Tax collectors British MPs 1790–1796 18th-century Scottish businesspeople 18th-century Jamaican people 18th-century Jamaican writers 18th-century Scottish poets Planters of Jamaica