A presentation by Peter Banks at Kirkandrews Kirk and Kirkcudbright History Society
James Brown was the wealthy co-owner with his brother William of a high-class departmental store and wholesale business in Manchester. He lived in a large house called Longfield built by his father at Heaton Mersey, northwest of Stockport, which remained his principal residence until around the time of his death in 1920. By 1900 he also owned Knockbrex and several surrounding farms. His brother William was installed at Netherlaw near Dundrennan and his father had retired to Barbeth near New Abbey. How did all this come about? We must begin by looking at the story of his father John Brown, the founder of the commercial fortune. James Brown was the first child of John Brown and his wife Elizabeth McConnell who married at Dailly in Ayrshire in 1848 aged 24 and 25.
Before their marriage he probably lived on the northwestern edge of the Merrick at Shalloch on Minnoch but he was born nearby at Tarfessoch the son of a shepherd who died when he was four years old. His mother remarried and had five further children so there was probably pressure on space as the family grew. Elizabeth was a blacksmith’s daughter from Wallacetown near Dailly.
Tarfessoch – birthplace of John Brown
The pair next appear in the Census of 1851, living in Rochester, Kent with their infant son James where John is described as draper and tea merchant (most probably of the peripatetic variety selling merchandise from his pack).In the census of 1841 six drapers and two tea merchants of Scots origin were recorded as living in Rochester. Perhaps
that influenced John Brown’s migration. At some stage after 1851 the family moved to Manchester. By the time their third son, William, was born in 1858 the family was living in Great John Street with five other assistant peripatetic Scottish drapers whom John organised. It is known that John made contact with Ivie Mackie (a wine and spirit merchant and banker) also a fellow migrant from Ayrshire who was mayor Mayor of Manchester from1857 to1860.Mackie introduced him to established warehouses including Bannermans and Rylands and presumably stood guarantor for payment for goods which John and his colleagues sold from their packs in villages around Manchester. By 1859 there were four children, James, Elizabeth Ann who was adopted, John and William.
What we do know is that in 1860 John their father sufficiently impressed Robert Affleck (also from Ayrshire) an established shopkeeper who had just lost his most recent partner, to accept him as a replacement. So, by then John must have established a reputation for probity and hard work and have had cash to spare. Here then begins the rapid rise of Affleck and Brown which came to be described as the “Harrods of the North”. Over the years after 1860 several adjacent shops were acquired and in 1879,’when James Brown was 29, were replaced by a magnificent new departmental store which occupied a block between Oldham Street, Tibb Street. and Dale Street where drapery, clothes, furnishings and
furniture were sold.
Thus, James was well acquainted with large scale construction long before his activities at Knockbrex. Then in 1888, after 28 years of partnership, Robert Affleck died, and the Browns, father and sons James and William took over full control. Brother John seems to have blotted his copy book in some way and emigrated to New Zealand where his business was supplied with goods from the Manchester shop.
The next acquisition was the well-established wholesale business of Coopers in nearby Church Street and so the firm of Brown Brothers now with manufacturing and wholesale facilities in London was created. John Brown’s wife Elizabeth died in 1890 and he may have retired shortly thereafter. Family history suggests that the firm may have overstretched itself around this time but that the brothers took matters in hand and fully reimbursed their creditors who were sufficiently gratified to present them with a silver tea set. From that time until the First World War the combined businesses thrived.
Now let us return to family life in the mid to late1850s to the late 1860s. Family history says that the boys, James, John and William attended school in Castle Douglas and boarded out at Kelton Mains Farm on the track to Threave Castle. There were then two schools in the town, the Parish School in Academy Street and the Free Kirk School in Cotton Street. In the light of later events, it seems the the latter may have been chosen both for its doctrinal position and its headmaster John Cowper who later became head of the Kelton School Board School in 1873. As the boys differed in age by eight years it is unlikely that all three were at school together for long. James made a lifelong friend there in James Douglas who eventually became William’s factor at Netherlaw. Another friend was James Bone who later married sister Elizabeth Ann Brown; the couple remained in the town for the rest of their lives.
Between 1860 when he joined Robert Affleck and 1871 when he built Longfield, his fine family home on Mauldeth Road, Heaton Mersey, John Brown’s fortunes must have risen substantially. Longfield was to remain a family home until 1929 when it was sold by William’s widow.
William married Florence Odham around 1887 and moved from Longfield to The Laurels also on Mauldeth Road where their son Jack was born in 1889. It would appear that William also purchased the estate at Netherlaw during the 1890s. James Brown remained at Longfield with his parents where his mother died in 1890. In 1894, still unmarried, James purchased Knockbrex and the farms of Carrick, Barlocco, Corseyard and Kinganton from Captain John Hope, grandson of the 6th Earl of Selkirk. Previously Knockbrex seems to have been let for shooting rather than used as a family home. Did James just wish to be a landed and sporting gentleman, or did he envisage establishing an estate for a future family dynasty?
We do not know the answer to that but in 1898 at the age of 48 he married 29-year-old Eliza May Southern. Her father was James Wilson Southern, a businessman in the timber trade notable for his dedication to public service and education. Aged18 in 1858 he studied English under the guidance of Rev. William Gaskell at The Working Men’s College which merged a year later with Owen’s College a forerunner of Manchester University. After teaching in Sunday Schools and evening classes and becoming a Poor Law Guardian, he was elected to Manchester City council and later as an Alderman chaired the committee responsible for its world leading Free Library Service, became Leader of the Liberal Group and served as Deputy Chairman of the Manchester Ship Canal Company on behalf of the City. He was also Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee which coordinated dealings with the Government at Westminster.
He and his second wife Sarah, Eliza’s mother, (his first wife had died young) were active in the Manchester Committee for Irish Relief set up in response to an appeal by Father Tom Flannery to provide aid to an impoverished region of Connemara. In connection with that Eliza spent time alone in a cottage in Carna teaching women to knit items that could be sold in England and to help with their collection and marketing. Surely an unusual activity for an unchaperoned and wealthy nineteen-year-old woman in Victorian Society. The Freedom of the City was conferred on James Southern by a delegation from Manchester as he lay gravely ill at Knockbrex with Eliza in1907, he was knighted in the same year but died two years later.
There is no evidence that James Brown, unlike his brother William, was much involved in public affairs around Manchester and it has been reported that his father John, unlike Robert Affleck, also took little interest in them. Although we know nothing about Eliza May’s formal education, it is clear that James Brown had chosen for his wife a mature young woman who had been brought up in a large, lively and cultured family at the centre of civic life in one of the most important cities in the world for nearly thirty years.
So, at the time of his marriage James Brown had owned Knockbrex and associated farms for four. years and had started his programme of building and development. For that he needed an architect and chose George H Higginbottom who with his older brother Walter had been in practice in Manchester since 1877 building commercial properties in the city centre. Walter Higginbottom lived at 52, Mauldeth Road, so was a close neighbour to James Brown at Longfield. Almost certainly it would have been George who chose the artist craftsmen to work at Knockbrex. Of those the most notable was James Smithies a metal worker member of the Northern Art Workers Guild who exhibited widely and was featured in The Studio magazine. Another was Frank Hallows a high-class cabinet maker from Hulme, Cheshire. Both men had significant workshops. In order to ensure orderly and efficient delivery of his schemes James as an absentee owner required a Clerk of Works for whom he built a house at the end of Chapeltown Row. The builder responsible for all work on the estate was Wallace and Co. of Kirkcudbright who set up a stone masons’ yard on site.
The original, white harled, Georgian Knockbrex house was of three bays with a long, mainly single story, extension to the west which was further extended and raised to its present height. A new wing was added to the eastern end to house the necessary billiard room and an equally essential nursery was also provided. For the newly oak panelled dining room James commissioned Frank Hallows to construct a large suite of oak furniture decorated with Scottish thistles and English roses in honour of husband and wife. These changes, which did not finish until around 1900, together with all the other projects in hand in the policies must have made life for the visiting family uncomfortable and no doubt muddy. Eliza May certainly mentioned her dislike of the inconveniences in the diary she kept for her infant son.
At the same time the policies were provided with lawns, formal gardens and a boating lake all of which were cared for by several gardeners. The stables and associated cottages were rebuilt, and additional facilities provided, notably the Laundry and the Electric House where electric power was provided by an oil engine. Finally, there was the eccentric gothic garage to house the very modern motor cars. A reliable water supply was obtained from a spring on Barlocco land above an underground storage tank in Doon Wood.
James’ ambition to become a substantial landowner did not stop there. Between 1896 and 1898 he acquired the farms of Chappelton, Muncraig and Ingleston. He also added Kirkandrews to his holdings, in part from the St. Mary’s Isle estate in 1898 and the remainder from the Roberton estate which he purchased from the family of Samuel Smith
in 1896.In the same year Rattra was bought from Rev. W.I. Gordon. Despite several attempts he failed to buy Margrie House for guest overspill from Knockbrex when there were large shooting parties.
Many other interesting projects were to come, most notably the remarkable Coo Palace of 1911 complete with milking parlour, dairy, stables, electric power, weigh bridge and striking water tower which housed the dairyman and a terrestrial telescope. Another was the Bathing House just west of Barlocco Island reached from Knockbrex via a romantic carriage road which ascended Barhill on a causeway supported by a massive retaining wall and proceeded eastwards with fine views of Ardwall and Barlocco Islands, past stone seats and a ruinous folly set in a pretty dell.
The harbour at Knockbrex
James also built the wharf and store house at the harbour and excavated and partially restored the fort at Castle Haven. Kirkandrews was redeveloped by demolishing the corn mill and drying kiln, building two new cottages and a fully equipped laundry. Old cottages were given new porches, a water supply and flush toilets.
Kirkandrews around 1908. The corn mill is still standing, on the left, with the newly-constructed Kirk behind it. Knockkennoch, on the right, has two new porches added. Washing is hanging out at the laundry.
The most notable addition was the Kirk which replaced a corrugated iron mission chapel. It was conceived as a multipurpose hall for the estate, a non -denominational place of worship and a venue for public and private meetings and celebrations. The kitchen at Milne Croft was provided with a large cooking range for food preparation for shooting parties and other events in the Kirk.
The terms Arts and Crafts are often associated with the name and buildings of James Brown but even allowing for the lack of any definitive Arts and Crafts style it is not easy to define him as a devotee of the Movement. The mansion house is a hybrid of Georgian and Victorian styles, and the gardens, lake and pleasure grounds are of a more municipal nature than the type of gardening advocated by Gertrude Jekyll, Edwin Lutyens and William Robinson except perhaps for the pergolas. From time-to-time senior staff from Manchester’s parks and gardens were invited to stay at Knockbrex presumably to offer advice. James especial devotion in gardening was for roses which he bred and exhibited successfully at many shows. He also travelled to the Low Countries in search of specimens to adorn his beds and those pergolas.
The laundry building at Knockbrex, with rose bushes in the foreground
The Laundry and Electric House have an Arts and Crafts feel to them but with their red tile-hanging and half-timbering are more appropriate for Southern England than Scotland. That is not true of the new cottages in Kirkandrews which are much more suited to the region and rejoice in their local stone and exquisite pebble patterned paths. The garage is akin to Castle Coch, the Coo Palace owes much to Holland and the carriage way recalls that at Mount Edgecumbe which he may have visited whilst on holiday at Salcombe. Whether these were conscious or indeed true allusions is unknown. The Kirk is difficult to classify, the glazing of the windows and internal furnishings are probably the strongest Arts and Crafts features. Externally it is best described as an original conception and certainly not vernacular. The presence of a lych gate, albeit a fine one, is unusual in Scotland. James paid particular attention to boundary walls which repay careful attention on account of their variety and quality; those around the original entrance to the Coo Palace are especially fine. In my view the most successful Arts and Crafts building is the enlarged Fisher Croft which may owe something to C.F.A. Voysey, a number of whose prints James owned.
In short, I think it best to say that James Brown and his architect enjoyed themselves by producing whimsical buildings for their own satisfaction and enjoyment rather than adhering to any particular style or philosophy. The major Higginbottom buildings in Manchester are ascribed to Walter so perhaps George had a different role in the partnership. Maybe his relationship with James Brown gave him an opportunity to engage in architectural fun and why not if they could afford to do so? Did Arts and Crafts exhibitions in London and Manchester and the presence of Morris and Co. with shops and workshops close to Affleck and Brown’s shop around 1883 have any influence on James’ taste? We do not know the answer.
What were the pleasures that James took from his fine country house and estate? Family residences at Christmas, Easter and in the Summer involved large shooting parties, perhaps his favourite activity, social gatherings with dances, swimming and boating on the lake which boasted a rustic boathouse. At Christmas there were parties for children, tenants and staff around an electrically illuminated Christmas tree where gifts were distributed to children and tenants were given lengths of cloth. In summertime there were garden parties for the Liberals and retriever trials were popular with visitors with gun dogs. Both James and Eliza May were active supporters of the Liberal Party in the Stewartry and of Kirkcudbright cottage hospital whilst Eliza May founded Kirkcudbright Reading Circle in 1919 and the Liberal Social Council in1913 and was president of the district War Work Association.
Three game keepers were employed with the Head Keeper living at Kinganton where he raised pheasants and housed gun dogs in the kennels. Christmas shoots lasted three days: on Wednesdays those through Rattra and Roberton woods yielded a variety of birds. On Thursday large drives over the southern farms of Chapelton, Ingleston and Muncraig led to hundreds of hares being shot and finally on Friday even larger numbers of pheasants were killed over Knockbrex’s policies.
Another of James’ interests was preservation of the Belted Galloway breed of cattle, a small herd of which was housed palatially in and around the Coo Palace and exhibited successfully at the Royal Highland Show. A fisherman, William Jarret, was employed to provide fresh sea food and equipped with a boat, the Queen Mary, which was usually rowed but sometimes sailed. A slipway for it was constructed to the west of Barlocco beach near the little cave. Fish were caught on baited lines and in trammel nets and lobsters were captured in creels. Excess catch was taken around farms and cottages by horse and cart.
What do we know about James Brown himself? He clearly had a great deal of drive, ability, and vision as well as concern for his staff and tenants. All those attributes would have been developed as head of a large store long before he purchased Knockbrex. He was conscious of the importance of the provision of work on the house and estate to the community at a time of great agricultural depression. Indeed, elaborate wall building and paving for example seem to have been undertaken to make work and to provide small rewards for children who collected pebbles from the beaches. Compared to local farmers, he was regarded as an enlightened employer concerned for the welfare and hygiene of employees and their families. Evidence for this remains in the three laundries he built including one for Mrs Gray at Ingleston after he found her scrubbing washing at her back door.
On the other hand, he was also conscious of his social position and expected it to be acknowledged. He could be strict and unyielding in response to perceived shortcomings reported to him when he came from Manchester. However, he was generally regarded as a good laird. There appear to have been tensions amongst the house staff and on one occasion in the early 1900s all the maids and Mr.and Mrs.Morratt gave their notices; Eliza May was pleased to see the back of that married couple.
Despite his robust appearance, James’s health does not appear to have been good, especially in the later years of his life. In 1913 he suffered a severe stroke which paralysed his left side, he nearly died and had to remain in bed for seven or eight weeks. He seems to have been prone to bronchitis so took care to avoid winter influenza. Like many of his merchant class he was a Liberal in politics, but we cannot be sure of his religious beliefs. The Kirk was devoid of traditional religious symbols and the original stone depiction of St. Andrew over the fireplace probably related chiefly to the name of the hamlet. James himself called it a Hall but supplied it with a large print Bible and would have liked a means of making music. One feels that he was tolerant of a variety of affiliations. However, he did have his son, James Douglas, brought to Knockbex to be christened by Mr. Henderson, a former minister in Borgue who at the time was minister at St. Vincent’s United Presbyterian Church in Glasgow. (a masterpiece of Greek Thompson). After the ceremony held in the drawing room and attended by family, staff and tenants, Mr Henderson planted a Douglas Fir near the front door to commemorate both James’s son and heir and his lifelong friendship with the other James Douglas.
Finally, we come to later stages in the family’s history. With the birth of William’s son Jack in 1889 all seemed set for the next generation to eventually join the family business. The boy’s character and ability were much praised, he received his education at The Leys School in Cambridge and Manchester University and as hoped joined the firm on graduation.
In 1901 John Brown, the patriarch died at Longfield after returning from Barbeth.
When James Douglas Brown was born ten years after his cousin Jack, his parents James and Eliza, especially the latter I think, began to provide him with a well-rounded education suitable for a country gentleman that promoted his physical and intellectual development. His pony riding lessons began at the age of two, he learned to shoot before he went to his prep school and was taught to dance and play the ‘cello. Before going to Bilton Grange as a boarder aged eight, he was introduced to the three Rs, French and Latin by tutors at home. From Bilton he went on to Rugby School. At both he had a good academic record and collected natural history books as his prizes. Whilst at Bilton his interest in natural history was encouraged by one of his teachers Mr.Southcomb.
James Brown was conscious that he was a relatively old father and often an absentee from Knockbrex during the holidays. As a remedy Fisher Croft was extended and modernised so that Mr. and Mrs. Southcomb could act as companions to the growing boy. Clearly this suggests that Eliza May too was often away with her husband at
Longfield, the house she preferred. Later Mr. Southcomb became factor on the estate. James Douglas’ senior years at school coincided with the war so, as most boys of his class did, he joined the OTC and on leaving Rugby went for officer training. Fortunately, the war ended before he could be sent to France. He was then free to enter Oriel College at Oxford where he read History and rowed. The next sequence of events is a little uncertain, but it seems likely that he took another degree or diploma in Forestry at Oxford either before or during his employment by the recently formed Forestry Commission. He first worked in the New Forest and subsequently at Santon Downham nursery in Thetford Forest.
Jack Brown, now married to Dorothy Freeman, was not so fortunate. He was killed in action in France in August 1918 shortly after being awarded the Military Cross for two acts of courageous leadership.
So, when James Brown, after retiring to Knockbrex, died in 1920 and was carried to rest at Kirkandrews on a horse drawn waggon like William Morris, William Brown, now residing at Longfield, was left in sole charge of Affleck and Brown. When William died in 1927 the business was carried on by Mr. Pratt the very capable General Manager; on his retirement in 1928 a crisis arose. Many family members relied on the shop for their income, so the burden fell on James Douglas who now had to sacrifice his chosen career for the family good. In the meantime, whilst at Oxford in 1925 he had married Lorraine Sandow daughter of one of his mother’s childhood friends Blanche Brooks. Lorraine’s father was the famous strongman and fitness promoter Eugen Sandow. Lorraine’s sister Helen had visited Knockbrex around 1902 as a toddler so it is clear that the family contact was ongoing and it was whilst James Douglas was in London during a vacation having work experience at the Army and Navy Stores that he fell for her. By 1929 there were two girls, Patricia and Ann but the young family had to uproot and move closer to Manchester so that James Douglas could discharge his new duties effectively if reluctantly. He bought a substantial six-bedroom residence with staff accommodation, some land, orchard and farm buildings called One Oak at Cheadle Hulme. It was not a happy move, with a house perhaps over provided with servants and a husband grappling with a difficult and unwanted job, Lorraine found time cloying in her hands and sought relief elsewhere. The marriage collapsed and ended in divorce.
The home at Knockbrex had been broken up and let soon after James Brown’s death in 1920 and sold later. Eliza May was thus left homeless as her brother-in-law William, following James’ retirement, had taken over at Longfield which she had always regarded as home rather than Knockbrex. She left for Buxton and then moved several times before
dying in Mombasa, Kenya in 1941 whilst visiting her married daughter Jean Vanhegan.
James Douglas Brown, who had now married Marjorie Macmyn, daughter of the Kirkcudbright Doctor, retained Fisher Croft as a holiday home and wartime refuge. Subsequently he bought out Mr. Logan’s tenancy of Roberton which became home for his second family. In 1947 One Oak was sold. For several years thereafter he commuted weekly to Manchester staying at the Midland Hotel but when Debenhams acquired Affleck and Brown he remained a director for a time before retiring to farm at Roberton. In the 1950s, Ingleston and Muncraig were sold to tenants and later so was Rattra. In 1929 Longfield was sold by William’s widow Florence at a discount to Stockport Council to become an open-air school; it was later demolished to make way for a more modern building. In 1942 Netherlaw was taken by the MOD when the range was being developed and was also demolished.
As so often happens with family businesses, Affleck and Brown rose and fell in three generations. Nobody failed, its demise was caused by the fortunes of war, Jack Brown paid with his life, his cousin James Douglas surrendered his chosen career and perhaps his marriage. And of course, the terms of business had changed too.
If you think that I have drawn too slight a portrait of James Brown perhaps I should urge you to act upon the command on the plaque to Sir Christopher Wren in St. Paul’s Cathedral.
“IF YOU SEEK HIS MEMORIAL, LOOK ABOUT YOU.”
C. Peter Banks. July 2020. Revised January 2022 and November 2022.