Robert Inglis (died 1655) was a merchant and financier of Scottish origin working in London in the first half of the 17th century.Robert Wenley, 'William, Third Earl of Lothian: Covenanter and Collector', Journal of the History of Collections, 5:1 (1993), pp. 31-2: William Arthur Shaw, Letters of Denization, 1603–1700 (Lymington, 1911), p. 48: Joseph Jackson Howard, Visitation of London, 2 (London, 1883), p. 1.

A Scottish financial background Robert Inglis's family owned property in Galloway and Ayrshire, and his grandfather John Inglis was the church minister of Ochiltree.Peter Handyside M'Kerlie, History of the Lands and Their Owners in Galloway, 2 (1906), pp. 504, 517: Hew Scott, Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae: Glasgow and Ayr, 3 (Edinburgh, 1920), p. 61 His father, John Inglis, was a merchant burgess in Edinburgh, and had been an apprentice of a skinner, Robert Vernor.Maureen Meikle, The Scottish People 1490–1625 (Lulu, 2013), p. 48: Francis James Grant, Edinburgh Register of Apprentices (Edinburgh: SRS, 1906), p. 96. Robert Inglis inherited lands at Lochtoun in the barony of Ravenstone or Remistoun in Wigtownshire.Inquisitionum Ad Capellam Domini Regis Retornatarum, 2 (1811), nos. 106, 2580.

Robert Inglis's mother, Sara Fowler, was a granddaughter of the wealthy Edinburgh moneylender Janet Fockart,Joseph Jackson Howard, Visitation of London, 2 (London, 1883), p. 1 and her second husband, William Fowler (died 1572), an Edinburgh merchant with a business selling textiles. Sara Fowler's great uncle, the poet William Fowler, was a secretary to Anne of Denmark, wife of James VI and I. The poet William Drummond of Hawthornden was her cousin.Margaret H. B. Sanderson, Mary Stewart's People (Mercat Press; Edinburgh, 1987), pp. 94–6.

Wealth and the Scottish Covenant

Inglis was involved in the finances of aristocrats, particularly those who had acquired lands both in England and Scotland,James J. Brown, "Merchant Princes and Mercantile Investment", Michael Lynch, The Early Modern Town in Scotland (Croom Helm, 1987), p. 136. including the Countess of Home, and her sons-in-law, the Earls of Moray and Lauderdale and daughters. He looked after the affairs of the Countesses of Moray and Lauderdale as "administratices" of their mother's will. Inglis helped William Kerr, 1st Earl of Lothian buy paintings for Newbattle Abbey, including works by George Geldorp.Robert Wenley, 'William, Third Earl of Lothian: Covenanter and Collector', Journal of the History of Collections, 5:1 (1993), pp. 31-2. : National Records of Scotland GD40/2/2/82: Moray papers NRAS 217 box 5.Directory of British Framemakers, Geldorp. National Portrait Gallery

In June 1643, Inglis came to Glasgow in connection with a disputed cargo of "rich commodities", tobacco, and salt hides. He got into an argument on the street. Colin Campbell called him a rascal and "douped him on the breast". The case was referred to the Privy Council of Scotland.P. Hume Brown, Privy Council of Scotland, 2nd series VII (Edinburgh, 1906), pp. 446–7

In January 1646, Inglis lent £100 to James Hope, who was making a trip to Europe to research lead mining technology and to see Elizabeth of Bohemia at The Hague. Inglis was an agent of the Goldsmith's Hall and was able to obtain cash in gold.P. Marshall, 'Diary of Sir James Hope', Miscellany of the Scottish History Society, IX (Edinburgh, SHS, 1958), pp. 142, 166 He was able to give cash in London to holders of "letters of exchange". In September 1646, Thomas Hope wrote to his son-in-law, Charles Erskine of Cambuskenneth, who was in London buying items for Hope's daughter Lady Cardross, that he had sent a letter of exchange for him to present to Inglis.Robert Paul, 'Thomas Hope's Letters', Miscellany of the Scottish History Society, I (Edinburgh: SHS, 1893), pp. 83, 135. Inglis could exchange letters or bills of exchange with other merchant financiers, including John Clerk (first) of Penicuik. A bill made in Edinburgh could be cashed in Paris by a third party.Siobhan Talbott, 'Letter-Book of John Clerk of Penicuik', Miscellany of the Scottish History Society, XIV (Boydell, 2013), pp. 5, 24–5.

During the 1640s, Inglis was involved in loans and financing of public commissions sent from Edinburgh to London. He stood security as a guarantor for loans made by William Dick of Braid in 1644,Margaret Alice Forbes, Curiosities of a Scots Charta Chest (Edinburgh, 1897), p. 6: and he was on occasion Dick's factor in London.A Diary of the Public Correspondence of Sir Thomas Hope of Craighall, pp. 141–3, 162 Inglis obtained money for provisions and gold on bills of exchange to pay the Scottish army of the Solemn League and Covenant.Charles Sanford Terry, Papers relating to the Army and Solemn League of the Covenant, 2 (Edinburgh: SHS, 1917), p. 363: TNA SP 46/106 f.233. In May 1644, he accepted £7,300 from the Countess of Home as a loan to balance gold sent to the Scottish army in Ireland at Carrickfergus. The soldier Sir John Ruthven was involved in this financial transaction.Mary Anne Everett Green, Calendar of the Proceedings of the Committee for Compounding: General Proceedings, 1 (London, 1889), pp. 4–5, 10: David Stevenson, The Scottish Revolution: The Triumph of the Covenanters (David & Charles, 1973), p. 281: Laura A. M. Stewart, 'English Funding of the Scottish Armies in England and Ireland, 1640-1648', The Historical Journal, 52:3 (September 2009), pp. 578–579: TNA SP 46/106 ff. 99-104: Daniel Wilson, Memorials of Edinburgh, 2 (Edinburgh, 1848), p. 74.

At the time of the "Engagement", in December 1647,Laura A. M. Stewart, Urban Politics and the British Civil Wars: Edinburgh, 1617–53 (Brill, 2006), p. 279. Inglis received letters from Scotland for Elizabeth Maxwell, Countess of Lanark. A list of cipher names compiled by James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose around the year 1648 includes a note about correspondence to be left with "Robert Inglis, Merchand of London, at London stone". The London Stone was a landmark at Cannon Street.Mark Napier, The Life and Times of Montrose (Edinburgh, 1840), p. 535.

When the Earl of Lauderdale was declared "delinquent" in 1648, his furnishings in London and Highgate were forfeited and sold despite petitions and counter-claims that the furniture belonged to his daughter Mary Maitland or had been sold to Robert Inglis.HMC 7th Report, 55–56: Calendar of the Proceedings of the Committee for Advance of Money, 1642-1656, part 2 (London, 1888), pp. 948-952, the National Library of Scotland holds related papers and charters from the archive of the Tweeddale family, executry papers MS 14547.

In March 1649, Inglis received the sum of £13,837 6s 8d. for managing the expenses of the Scottish commissioners at the trial of Charles I.David Laing, Correspondence of Sir Robert Kerr: First Earl of Ancram, 1 (Edinburgh, 1875), p. lxxxvi.

Robert Inglis died in London in 1655. Further details of his property and business transactions were registered in the records of the Edinburgh Commissary Court, including bonds from the merchant John Clerk, and from Prudence Stock, a widow who held a freehold in Chelsea, and was a partner in Lady Lane of Horton's Charity.'1656 Inglis, Robert', National Records of Scotland, Wills and testaments, CC8/8/68, Edinburgh Commissary Court), 522-536: The Chelsea Charities: 1862 Report of the Vestry to the British Museum (London, 1863), p. 68.Sir Robert Lane, Westminster Abbey

Foundation of George Heriot's School

John Clerk wrote bills of exchange involving Inglis and another Scottish merchant in London, John Jossy or Jousie.Siobhan Talbott, 'Letter-Book of John Clerk of Penicuik', Miscellany of the Scottish History Society, XIV (Boydell, 2013), pp. 20–1. He was a relative of the textile merchant Robert Jousie who had been involved in Scottish crown finance.Maria Hayward, Stuart Style (Yale, 2020), pp. 53–4: Jemma Field, 'Dressing a Queen: The Wardrobe of Anna of Denmark at the Scottish Court of King James VI, 1590–1603', The Court Historian, 24:2 (2019), p. 154. With John Jousie, in 1639, Inglis was appointed to be an executor of the will of Robert Johnstone LL.D., a historian and a benefactor of George Heriot's School.Memoirs of George Heriot, jeweller to King James VI, pp. 173–4David Irving, Lives of Scotish Writers, 1 (Edinburgh, 1839), 291–294. Johnstone, the Lombard Street goldsmith William Terry, and the French-born apothecary Gideon Delaune had been the executors of the goldsmith George Heriot, who made a bequest to found a school in Edinburgh.Bruce P. Lenman, 'Jacobean Goldsmith-Jewellers as Credit-Creators: The Cases of James Mossman, James Cockie and George Heriot', The Scottish Historical Review, 74:198, Part 2 (October 1995), p. 167.De LAUNE, Gideon, The Huguenots of SpitalfieldsPhilippa Glanville, Silver in England (Routledge, 1987), p. 228. Johnstone appointed the courtier and architect David Cunningham of Auchenharvie to be overseer of his own will.Memoirs of George Heriot, jeweller to King James VI, p. 182.

These families were closely connected. David Cunningham of Auchenharvie was a cousin of David Cunningham of Robertland, who married Elizabeth Jousie, widow of the goldsmith James Heriot, a brother of George Heriot.Memoirs of George Heriot (Edinburgh, 1822), p. 177. The younger Robert Jousie, a courtier and Yeoman of the Robes, had carried jewels to Spain for Prince Charles in 1623.Neil Cuddy, 'The Revival of the entourage', David Starkey, The English Court (Longman, 1987), p. 187: Bruce P. Lenman, 'Jacobean Goldsmith-Jewellers as Credit-Creators: The Cases of James Mossman, James Cockie and George Heriot', The Scottish Historical Review, 74:198, Part 2 (October 1995), p. 174, transcribed as "Mr Robert Hossie" [sic], this Robert Jousie is frequently confused with his father.REED Online: Sir John Oglander's List

Family Robert Inglis married Christian Udwart, a daughter of Nicoll Udwart (the younger) and Katherine Balcanquhall, a daughter of the minister Walter Balcanquhall. Her brother, also called Walter Balcanquhall, was Dean of Rochester and a friend of George Heriot.Bruce P. Lenman, 'Jacobean Goldsmith-Jewellers as Credit-Creators: The Cases of James Mossman, James Cockie and George Heriot', The Scottish Historical Review, 74:198, Part 2 (October 1995), p. 174. Their marriage contract was made on 18 January 1628. Nicoll Uddert and Sara Fouler settled the sums of 10,000 and 18,000 merks in Scottish money on the couple.'1656 Inglis, Robert', National Records of Scotland, Wills and testaments, CC8/8/68, Edinburgh Commissary Court), 527–8.

In London, they lived in Walbrook Ward, and Inglis claimed a coat of arms.Joseph Jackson Howard, Visitation of London, 2 (London, 1883), p. 1. Christian Inglis was involved in her husband's business, and was authorised to issue money drawn on letters of credit when her husband was not in London.Hope's Diary, p. 162: TNA SP 46/106 f.146, Sunderland, 11 April 1644. Thomas Hope called her "Christian Inglis", and her husband's will names her as "Christiane Edward alias Ingles". Usually, women in early modern Scotland did not change their surnames to that of their husband on marriage.Jenny Wormald, Court, Kirk, and Community (London, 1981), p. 30.History Workshop, What's in a Surname? Rebecca Mason'1656 Inglis, Robert', National Records of Scotland, Wills and testaments, CC8/8/68, Edinburgh Commissary Court), 527.

Their children included: John Inglis Sarah Inglis

References