James Ewing

James Ewing of Strathleven MP FRSE LLD (1775–1853) was Lord Provost of Glasgow (1832–1833), and MP for Glasgow (1832–1835), a plantation owner, slave-holder and West Indies merchant.

Family and early life Ewing was born in Glasgow on 5 or 7 December 1775, son of West Indies merchant and bankruptcy specialist Walter Ewing and his wife Margaret, née Fisher. Ewing's cousin through his mother was prominent abolitionist Rev. Ralph Wardlaw. Ewing was instrumental in the 1807 establishment of the pro-slavery lobbying group the Glasgow West India Association. He served as secretary, chairman and director of the Association at various times.

Honours Ewing was awarded an honorary LLD by the University of Glasgow in 1826. In March 1829, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. The location of the portrait is not known.

Property Ewing lived in Crawford mansion on Queen Street in Glasgow for many years. The house was famous for its rookery, and Ewing consequently became known as Craw Ewing. In 1824 Ewing built Castle House in Dunoon, which he subsequently sold.

Marriage In 1836 Ewing married Jane Tucker Crawford (1812/3–1896). Jane was the daughter of James Crawford of Broadfield, Renfrew, who was also a Scottish merchant.

The ONDB regards Ewing as "among the most financially successful of the city's élite nineteenth-century sugar/slavery aristocracy". His bequests included £17,500 to the Free Church of Scotland, £10,000 to the Royal Infirmary, and £31,000 to the Merchants House to support the dependents of 'decayed Glasgow merchants'. A part of this latter bequest was used to establish a bursary in his name at the University of Glasgow. As Ewing died without issue, his wife inherited a life interest in the estate of Strathleven, after which it passed to his nephew Humphrey Ewing Crum (1802–1887), who assumed the name of Ewing. Ownership of Ewing's properties in Jamaica remained within the family in Scotland.

Not MP for Wareham Ewing is often confused with James Ewing (1784–1852), East India Company official and MP for Wareham.

Writing

Memoir of James Ewing Esq., of Strathleven, formerly Lord Provost of Glasgow, and M.P. for that city, LL. D. of the University of Glasgow: with a series of letters written while on a tour in Italy, Switzerland, by Macintosh Mackay, Published by James Maclehose, 1866, Glasgow View of the history, constitution, & funds of the Guildry, and Merchants House of Glasgow, by James Ewing, published 1817 by an unknown publisher.