John Cowan (steel merchant)

Sir John Cowan LLD DL (1844–1929) was a 19th/20th century Scottish iron and steel merchant.

Life

The grave of Sir John Cowan, Grange Cemetery

He was born on a ship going to Jamaica in the West Indies on 12 December 1844, the youngest of seven children and only son of Rev John Cowan^[1] and his wife, Margaret Marshall (d.1886). He was educated at the Edinburgh Institution then studied at Edinburgh University.^[2]

In 1860 he was apprenticed to the firm of Redpath Brown & Co, iron and steel merchants, of 33 Candlemaker Row and 137 Constitution Street in Leith. From he lived with his maternal uncle, James Marshall (d.1873), at 15 Regent Terrace on Calton Hill.^[3]

By the 1870s Cowan lived in a flat at 28 Nelson Street in Edinburgh's Second New Town.^[4]

From 1887 until death he was living at 6 Salisbury Road, a large Victorian villa in the Grange.^[5][6]

From 1900 he was Treasurer and from 1901 to 1903 he was Master of the Merchants Hall in Edinburgh, replacing John Macmillan.^[7] In 1915 he was knighted by King Edward VII in his then role of Chairman of Redpath Brown.^[8]

He died at home 6 Salisbury Road on 7 February 1929. He is buried in the Grange Cemetery in south Edinburgh.^[9] The grave lies in the south-east section.

Family

In 1872 he was married to Marion Dickson Wallace (1851-1932) in Dunfermline. They had at least 11 children but many died in infancy.

Their son, William Morrison Cowan (1895-1919) died as results of wounds received in the First World War whilst serving in the Royal Flying Corps.^[10]

Their other children included Andrew Wallace Cowan FRSA (1877-1964).^[11]

Artistic Recognition

His portrait by Arthur Nowell is held in the Merchants Hall in central Edinburgh.^[12]

References