James Oswald (merchant)

James Oswald (2 May 1779 – 3 June 1853) was a Scottish merchant and Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow.

James Oswald was born on 2 May 1779, the fifth child and second son of Alexander Oswald of Shieldhall, Glasgow, and Margaret Dundas, and was the grand-nephew of Richard Oswald.

He was the paternal first cousin of Richard Alexander Oswald and paternal uncle of Alexander Haldane Oswald, both Members of Parliament.

On the death of Richard in 1841, James Oswald succeeded to the family estate at Auchincruive, and the estates of Cavens and Preston in Kirkcudbright, by deed of Entail (Fee tail) specified by Richard Oswald.

Shortly after the founding of the Glasgow Bank by Alexander Dennistoun in 1809, Oswald joined other influential merchants there.

Oswald’s older brother, Richard Alexander Oswald was also a merchant in Glasgow and together they owned a mill in Barrowfield. In 1812, they formed Oswald, Stevenson & Co., a company formed for mercantile transactions in cottons and yarns, with Nathaniel Stevenson and his brother James. On the death of Richard Alexander Oswald in 1821, James Stevenson took control of the cotton branch while Oswald remained in partnership with Nathaniel for a further nearly 40 years, with Oswald retiring from the company which operated in Glasgow and Manchester on 31 December 1848. Another of Oswald’s business ventures was a company called Oswald, Tennant & Co., which went into bankruptcy due to a "trail of rapid commercial misfortunes connected with India". It is not clear when this occurred, but the company was still trading in 1837

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