Alexander Allan (ship-owner)
| Captain Alexander Allan | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
26 February 1780 Fairlie, North Ayrshire |
| Died | 18 March 1854 (aged 74) Glasgow |
| Known for | Allan Shipping Line |
Captain Alexander Allan (26 February 1780 – 18 March 1854), was the Scottish sea captain and businessman who founded the Allan Shipping Line in 1819. Rising from shoemaker to shipping magnate in little more than thirty years, Allan retired in 1839 having made a fortune and created a dynasty. He is recognised as one of the major contributors to Scotland's commercial interests in the early 19th century, and to the establishment of the Firth of Clyde as an international centre of shipping. During the Napoleonic Wars his brig, Jean – so named for his wife – held the record for the fastest crossing between the Firth of Clyde and Quebec City. Under his five sons, the Allan Line became the world's largest privately owned shipping empire.
Sandy Allan was born at Fairlie, North Ayrshire, the third son of James Allan – a cheerful and well-respected carpenter on the Fairlie House estate – and his wife Jean Brown (1750–1821), daughter of Gilbert Brown (1708–1774). His mother was the younger sister of Agnes (Brown) Burns, the mother of Sandy's famous first cousin, the Scottish bard, Robert Burns, whose family also worked on the Fairlie estate. In the summer of 1786, Robert Burns stayed with the Allans at their cottage while avoiding a writ from James Armour in consequence of his relationship with Jean Armour.
Sandy Allan had expected to become a carpenter, but after his father's death when he was twelve, he was apprenticed to a shoemaker in Kilmarnock, working ten hours a day, except on Sundays. By 1800, when he was employed as a journeyman shoemaker near Galston, Sandy quit and moved to Saltcoats, intent on learning to be a ship's carpenter. He gave that idea up almost immediately for the chance to go to sea and was soon sailing as mate to Captain John Wilson of Saltcoats. Within a few years, Allan had served as Master and part-owner of several first-class ships trading out of Saltcoats. In 1806, at Saltcoats, he married Jean Crawford (1782–1856), whose family lived in a small cottage in Castleweerock.
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Wikipedia