Cecilia Douglas (née Douglas) (28 February 1772 – 25 July 1862) was an important

slave owner The following is a list of slave owners, for which there is a consensus of historical evidence of slave ownership, in alphabetical order by last name. A * Adelicia Acklen (1817–1887), at one time the wealthiest woman in Tennessee, she inh ...

art collector A private collection is a privately owned collection of works (usually artworks) or valuable items. In a museum or art gallery context, the term signifies that a certain work is not owned by that institution, but is on loan from an individual ...

and philanthropist from Glasgow, Scotland. A very wealthy woman (worth c. £40,000), her fortune was derived from slavery in the Caribbean.

Early life

Cecilia Douglas was born to John Douglas, a West Indian merchant, and Cecilia Buchanan on 28 February 1772. She was the fifth of 11 siblings, and one of only two daughters.

Marriage

Douglas married Gilbert Douglas, a rich West Indian plantation owner from Balcony, on 26 January 1794, in Glasgow. Their marriage lasted until Gilbert's death in 1807. No children resulted from the union. Gilbert owned two plantations: Fairfield, a cotton plantation in

Demerara Demerara ( nl, Demerary, ) is a historical region in the Guianas, on the north coast of South America, now part of the country of Guyana. It was a colony of the Dutch West India Company between 1745 and 1792 and a colony of the Dutch state ...

, and Mount Pleasant, a sugar plantation on the island of St. Vincent.

Later life

After the death of Gilbert in 1807, she inherited half shares in his plantations and enslaved people in St Vincent and Demerara. Her late husband also bequeathed her the use of estates in Lanarkshire in Scotland, Douglas Park and Boggs. In the 1820s she toured Europe, acquiring a variety of artworks and made profitable investments in British industry and commerce. Douglas lived at Orbiston House for the remainder of her years. She commissioned a stained-glass window in

Glasgow Cathedral Glasgow Cathedral ( gd, Cathair-eaglais Ghlaschu) is a parish church of the Church of Scotland in Glasgow, Scotland. It is the oldest cathedral in mainland Scotland and the oldest building in Glasgow. The cathedral was the seat of the Archbisho ...

to preserve her own and her family's legacy. This has since been removed.

Death

Douglas died at Orbiston House on 25 July 1862. She bequeathed her entire art collection to Glasgow Corporation. Some of the paintings are displayed in the

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum is a museum and art gallery in Glasgow, Scotland. It reopened in 2006 after a three-year refurbishment and since then has been one of Scotland's most popular visitor attractions. The museum has 22 galleries, h ...

, Glasgow.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Douglas, Cecilia 1772 births 1862 deaths Scottish slave owners Women slave owners