William Macadam (3 November 1783 – 1853Edwin Macadam: http://www.shelwin.com/e/ancestry/macadam/macadam_history.htm ) was an industrialist, a burgess and bailie of Glasgow. He owned a weaving mill and calico printing works in Kilmarnock near Glasgow.
He was the patriarch of a small dynasty of chemical scientists including his sons William Macadam, John Macadam and Stevenson Macadam, grandsons William Ivison Macadam and Stevenson J. C. G. Macadam and great granddaughter Elison A. Macadam.
Businessman and public figure A burgess and a bailie of Glasgow,The Scotsman, 25 January 1901.Belfast News, 30 January 1901 he became a prominent Glasgow businessman who owned and operated a mill near GlasgowMile End Spinning Co., Mile End, Calton Burgh (part of Calton Burgh barony and then Glasgow:Edwin Macadam: Shelwin.com Macadam History.In November 1831 it had 52 Spinners and 19,968 Mule Spindles. List of Cotton Mills and Spinners, and the number of Mule and Throttle Spindles in Lanarkshire, taken on November, 1831. These Mills are all in Glasgow, or its immediate suburbs, with the exception of Blantyre and Lanark. Enumeration of the inhabitants of the city of Glasgow and county of Lanarkshire, James Cleland, November 1831, Page 151. and a mill and textile, calico (and shawl) printing works at Greenholm in Kilmarnock,McAdam & Co. [sic] Kilmarnock Post-Office Directories for 1833–1903 and McKay, Archibald. History of Kilmarnock 1st and 3rd edition, Edwin Macadam: Shelwin.com Macadam History. Ayrshire, south of Glasgow on the River Irvine.The factory occupied some ten acres: John Macadam, Earthwords Archives, Bodmin, Cornwall. John Macadam has generously donated copies of his Earthwords Archives to and for the use of the Ivison Macadam Archives, Runton Old Hall, East Runton, Norfolk UK.
William was the son of John McAdamBorn: about 1760. Died: 1815 or before. Edwin Macadam: Sherwin Macadam History. and Margaret Finlay.Also spelled ffinlay on documents. His father had also been a burgess of Glasgow and an owner of the Mile End Spinning Company.
William Macadam's operation together with that of his fellow industrialists in similar business, used new chemical processes in textile printing which enabled them to develop into large scale industries for the printing of cotton fabrics, which the plants in the area soon became internationally known for.For the method of printing Turkey Red: http://www.valeofleven.org.uk/famousfolk/industrials.html. Producing colours for textile printing required extensive chemical knowledge coupled with technical expertise. Each colour and its varying degrees of brightness had to withstand the different fixing processes and this was particularly difficult when printing Turkey Red.Colouring the Nation: Dyeing and printing techniques, Stana Nenadic and Sally Tuckett, National Museums Scotland, https://www.nms.ac.uk/collections-research/our-research/highlights-of-previous-projects/colouring-the-nation/research/dyeing-and-printing-techniques/the-turkey-red-process/
The fabrics were then made into cotton polka dot handkerchiefs (particularly favoured in France), cotton calico scarves, shawls, garments and chintzes that were used in Britain and exported to Europe and throughout the world. His plants seemed to have been largely involved in the weaving and printing of the heavier of these cotton cloth materials. The process required a lot of water hence the location on the River Irvine and Clyde.
After Macadam's death in 1853, the US Civil War (1861–1865) reduced the vital cotton supplies through Glasgow from 8,700 tonnes (171,252 cwt) in 1861 to 366 tonnes (7,216 cwt) in 1864. Without the basic raw material for their needs, this became a period of major hardship for these companies until India and West Africa became major exporters.Bancroft’s Philosophy of Permanent Colours in two vols 1813. https://www.west-dunbarton.gov.uk/media/4307879/turkey_red_pack_part_i.pdf Thus Macadam's former Kilmarnock plant was sold and part of it was converted into a flour mill.Stevenson J.C.G. Macadam (grandson) letter in John Macadam, Earthwords Archives, Bodmin, Cornwall.
The family's involvement in business as burgesses of Glasgow
Originally burgesses were inhabitants of a city where they owned land and who contributed to the running of the town and its taxation. The title of burgess was later restricted to merchants and craftsmen, so that only burgesses could enjoy the privileges of trading or practising a craft in the city through a Guild or own companies (Macadam belonged to the Weaver's Guild). Only burgesses had the right to vote in municipal or Parliamentary elections. However, these political privileges were removed by the Reform Act in 1832, and the burgesses' ancient exclusive trading rights through their Guilds were abolished in 1846. Thereafter a burgess became a title which gave social standing to the office and usually carried with it a role which involved charitable activities in a Guild, as it does today.Archives The Mitchell Library, North Street, Glasgow.
Macadam's burgess ticket is dated 25 August 1815, allowing him entry into the Weaver's Guild and thus permitted him to carry out business on his own, (his father John McAdam is given as 'deceased' on it).copy John Macadam, Earthwords Archives, Bodmin, Cornwall supplied to Ivison Macadam Archives, Runton, Norfolk.
He was a third-generation burgess of a family of ten burgesses and guild brothers of Glasgow.William's Weaver's burgess ticket is dated 25 August 1815. The Trades House of Glasgow, which houses all the Guilds, records the entry (B. = Burgess and G.B. = Guild Brother).Register of The Burgesses and Guild Brethren of Glasgow, Craig R. Bryce, Trades House archivist, The Trades House of Glasgow. http://www.tradeshousemuseum.org25 August 1815 M'Adam, William, merchant, B[urgess]. and G[uild].B[rother]., as eld.1. son to dec. John M'A., [--], B. and G.B.His brother-in-law William Stevenson, who had married William's sister Ann, daughter of John McAdam, had also become a burgess recorded as such on: 26 May 1808 Stevenson, William, merchant, B. and G.B., as mar. Ann, I. dau. to John M'Adam, weaver, B. and G.B.Register of The Burgesses and Guild Brethren of Glasgow, The Trades House of Glasgow. He was also enrolled as a burgess of Calton,It was a separate Burgh at the time and was not incorporated into Glasgow until 1846: William Campbell (assessor, Glasgow.) (1883). History of the incorporation of corners in Glasgow, R. Anderson a burgh of barony, 6 February 1816.His surname is spelled as McAdam on the Calton Burgh enrolment. Photograph of Burgess ticket in John Macadam, Earthwords Archives, Bodmin, Cornwall.
William was the eldest son of John McAdam,John's Weaver's Burgess ticket dated 19 October 1789 (he was installed as a weaver burgess on the same day as his three younger brothers, James, Thomas and Walter McAdam and brother-in-law John Smellie, who married their sister Elizabeth). 19 October 1786 M'Adam, John, weaver, B. and G.B., as eld. son to Alexander M'A., weaver, B. and G. B. M'Adam, James, weaver, B. and G.B., as second son to Alexander M'A., weaver, B. and G.B. M 'Adam, Thomas, weaver, B. and G. B., as third son to Alexander M'A., weaver, B. and G.B. M'Adam, Walter, weaver, B. and G.B., as fourth son to Alexander M'A., weaver, B. and G.B. Smellie, John, weaver, B. and G.B., as mar. Elizabeth, dau. to Alexander M'Adam, weaver, B. and G.B. There are two further burgesses in the family through John McAdam's wife, Margaret, who was the daughter of William Finlay (Wright Burgess ticket 28 August 1754), who was the eldest son of John Findlay, Burgess, a Maltman.28 August 1754 Finlay, William, Wright, B. and G.B., as eld. L son to dec. John F., Maltman, B. and G.B., :The Trades House of Glasgow.
John in turn was the eldest son of Alexander McAdam.Alexander's Weaver's Burgess ticket dated 5 September 1755, 5 September 1755 M'Adam, Alexander, weaver, B. and G.B., as eld. I. son to John M'A., tanner, servant in the Glasgow tan work, B. and G.B.: The Trades House of Glasgow,
Alexander was in turn the eldest son of an earlier burgess John McAdam, tanner, of Glasgow.Register of The Burgesses and Guild Brethren of Glasgow, The Trades House of Glasgow.
Impact on the future developments in science and chemistry
The various types of new complex chemical processes and inventions involved in Macadam's factory for the manufacturing and printing of cotton, calico, and linen textiles excited his sons and they soon became interested in the new field of chemistry. This meant that they largely did not follow their previous generations in business but went on to play a leading scientific and academic role in developing chemical innovation and knowledge.
Of the five sons, three took up chemical science as a profession, William Macadam, John Macadam and Stevenson MacadamThe Scotsman 25 January 1901 and a fourth, Charles, was involved in a chemical fertiliser company. Subsequently two more generations were involved: Stevenson's two sons William Ivison Macadam and Stevenson J. C. G. MacadamEdwin Macadam: Shelwin Macadam History and William Ivison Macadam's daughter, Elison MacadamElison A. Macadam FIC become the first woman to graduate in chemistry from King's College, London. In this she valiantly persevered in spite of the hostility from the all-male students in the classes towards women entering what was up to then an all-male profession: Ivison Macadam Archives, Runton, Norfolk. Elison had studied under her father, Prof. William Ivison Macadam, and "had wished to continue study for a degree in Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh but at that time women were excluded. Curiously, despite the formal ban from King's College London she was able to study chemistry under Professor F.C. Thompson and Professor Herbert Jackson (chemist) and sit the Chemistry examinations and was then hired by Professor Huntingdon about 1902 in his Laboratory". Chemistry was Their Life: Pioneer British Women Chemists, 1880-1949: Marlene Raynor-Canham, Geoff Raynor-Canham; Imperial College Press 2008. These two King's College, London professors of chemistry may have circumvented the college rule of male only students out of respect for her father in making this ground-breaking exception. Otherwise it is interesting to speculate why King's made an exception in her case, and it may have been because of her determination. Her father Professor W. Ivison Macadam may not have felt he could make an exception for his own daughter at Edinburgh University because of their rule. However he actively fostered the academic involvement of women in other spheres (and one of his own pupils, Aleen Cust, became the first female veterinary surgeon in Britain against great odds). Her younger brother Sir Ivison Macadam subsequently attended King's College, London and for the last 18 years of his life sat on its governing body. (later Desch).Elison later married Professor Dr. Cecil Henry Desch in 1909. Cecil Henry Desch (1874–1958) was a prominent professor of metallurgy A total of seven family members (if one includes Charles Macadam's involvement in chemical fertilisers).Ivison Macadam Archives, Runton, Norfolk.
Family
Macadam was the last in the family to have his name spelled in the various ways that Mac (son of)Mac is the same word as the Gaelic word "meic" meaning "son of". was spelled at the time as McAdam, M'Adam, but usually using both "MacAdam"Flyleaf of book where William has written "Wm. MacAdam, 169 George Street, 1845", document in possession of John Macadam – Earthwords Archives, Bodmin, Cornwall. and "Macadam", but the subsequent members of the family settled on the latter spelling.Edwin Macadam: Shelwin.com Macadam History.
William's two wives
William's first wife was Rachel GentleWilliam and Rachel were married 1 June 1813: John Macadam, Earthwords Archives, Bodmin, Cornwall. with whom he had one son, William.