Thomas W. Howie

Infobox Person
name = Thomas Wyllie Howie

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image_size = 200px
caption = Thomas W Howie
birth_date = birth date|1856|4|8|df=y
birth_place = Riccarton, Ayrshire, Scotland, UK
death_date = death date and age|1927|7|18|1856|4|8|df=y
death_place = Falkirk, Scotland, UK
occupation = Business, Victorian Captain of Industry
spouse = Barbara Picken
parents = Robert Howie and Bethia Wyllie
children = Margaret Howie
Robert Wyllie Howie
Bethia Howie
Martha Howie
Barbara Howie
Jean Howie

Cr His Worship Thomas Wyllie Howie, JP, Esq. (8 April 1856 – 18 July 1927) was a Victorian captain of industry who lived in Falkirk, Scotland.

Background

Howie was born in Riccarton in Ayrshire, Scotland on 8 April 1856 to Robert and Bethia Howie, into a wealthy industrial family who had been active in the Covenanting movement. He was born at the family home, Newhouse, a mansion-house nearby the fireclay mine which the family owned. There he was brought up alongside his cousin, who would become the mining magnate John Howie. The house is now a 22-bedroomed residential care home. Howie's father, Robert, died at The Crichton Institution in Dumfries, a lunatic hospital for affluent patients, when Thomas was 27.

Career

He and his wife settled in Falkirk where he became a partner in Campbell & Co Fireclay Works and coal mine, Roughcastle. He later became owner of the mine and brickworks. Previous to settling in Falkirk the Howie family lived in Hurlford, where they owned the renowned Hurlford Fireclay Works (until it was bought by Armitage Shanks), which produced pottery, bricks, chimneys, garden ornaments and enamelled sanitary ware (lavatories, baths, urinals etc.) The family owned much of the town, including Marchmont Place, Salisbury Place, Collier Row, Office Row, Chapel Cottages, Skerrington Row and Howie's Square. They also owned small mining villages, including Hemphill.

A supporter of the Conservative Party, Thomas Howie was a Justice of the Peace and elected a Stirling County Councillor for Falkirk, Vice-Chairman of the Parish Council, as well as Chairman of the Landward Committee and a member of Falkirk Bowling Club and Falkirk and County Club.

Family

Howie married Barbara Picken and had six children: Margaret, Robert Wyllie, Bethia, Martha, Barbara and Jean. His sons attended the High School of Glasgow and his daughters St. George's School for Girls and his grandchildren either the High School of Glasgow, Glenalmond College or St. George's.

Death and Legacy

At a Water Board outing he took ill and never recovered, dying in 1927. The local newspaper at the time remembered him as a 'bright and cheery man', and notes that he 'took a deep interest in parochial affairs and was particularly sympathetic towards the deserving poor'. Thomas Howie is buried in Falkirk Cemetery. On his death, his share of the brickworks business was valued at £12,000, which is equivalent to over £2,300,000 in today's terms (relative GDP per capita).

treet Named After Him

A street, "Howie Place", in Falkirk, is named after him. It is nearby the site of the brickworks he once owned.

Trivia

*"Thomas Howie was the cousin of industrialist John Howie (businessman)"
*"Thomas Howie was a distant cousin of writer John Howie"
*"Thomas Howie was the great-grandfather of actor Robbie Coltrane"
*"Thomas Howie was the 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]