John Howie (businessman)

Infobox Celebrity
name = John Howie


imagesize = 175 px
caption =
birth_date = 1833
birth_place = Riccarton, Ayrshire
death_date = 1895
death_place = Hurlford, Ayrshire
occupation = Industrialist
salary =
networth = c. £100,000 (c.$400 million today)
spouse = Mary Paterson
children = Maggie Jessie Reid, Mary Bruce, Agnes Jane, William Frederick Charles, Robert Arthur Douglas, Henry James John
website =
footnotes =

John Howie (12th March 1833 - 20th September 1895) was a wealthy Victorian captain of industry and investor, the proprietor of the renowned J & R Howie Hurlford Fireclay Works. He would have been about 350th on a notional Rich List of Britain at the time, with a fortune equal to over £200 million today. At his death, he was one of the richest men in Scotland.

Background and Career

, and still exists legally as a company today, though it is currently dormant and non-trading.

In spite of his vast wealth, Howie did not live extravagantly, living at the family home of Newhouse in Hurlford, a mansion-house nearby the mine, now an extended 22-bedroomed residential care home. Howie was a Calvinist, his family having been involved in the Covenanting movement.

Howie's son, Frederick, bought Templetonburn House, one of Aryshire's finest mansions built at a cost of £20,000, before burning down later in the 20th century, and its estate.

Death and Legacy

Upon his death in 1895, he had amassed a fortune of £50,000, equivalent to over £100 million today (relative GDP). This sum did not include the value of the business itself or the value of property (which would have taken it to well over £100,000), but was made up from investments, domestic and international, that had been made in numerous mining companies and other manufacturing businesses.

Family

Howie married Mary Paterson and had six children.

* John Howie was the cousin of industrialist Thomas W. Howie
* John Howie was a relation of footballer James Howie
* John Howie was a distant cousin of writer John Howie
* John Howie was the great-great-uncle of actor Robbie Coltrane
* John Howie was first cousin twice removed of the current Lord Glenarthur

External links

* [http://www.futuremuseum.co.uk/Default.aspx?Id=431 FutureMuseum page on Hurlford Fireclay Works]
* [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~cmhrc/lom08wsct.htm List of Mines]
* [http://www.ayrshirehistory.org.uk/Bibliography/monos/amr6.htm List of Miners' Streets Owners]