MCDOWALL, Sir James (d. 1661), of Garthland, Stoneykirk, Wigtownshire.

The McDowalls (or McDougals) of Garthland claimed to be descended from Fergus, lord of Galloway, although it is more likely that they were derived from one of the client families associated with the chiefs of south-west Scotland. The McDowalls were certainly a powerful local family by the end of the thirteenth century, and were notorious for siding with the English-backed John Balliol against Robert Bruce.13McKerlie, Galloway, i. 51, 53-4. Later members of the family proved loyal to the Stuarts, and in the early seventeenth century Sir John McDowall aspired to become a courtier, taking as his wife a daughter of Lord Jedburgh, who was related to James VI and I’s favourite, Sir Robert Ker, earl of Somerset. The marriage carried no ‘tochtergood’ (or marriage portion), ‘but simply provided in that match for the hope of the earl of Somerset’s favour and after-bounty to the house of Garthland’.14NRS, GD237/12/12/5. Sir John received a meagre return on his investment. He was knighted by the king in July 1615, but his ambitions to be created earl of Galloway were frustrated by the fall of Somerset within the year.15McKerlie, Galloway, i. 57; ii. 166-7; Shaw, Knights of Eng. ii. 156.

On his death in 1637, Sir John McDowall was succeeded by his eldest son, James. As a young man, James McDowall was motivated more by religion than loyalty, and became a leading Covenanter in the early 1640s. By 1642 he was the most influential landowner in Wigtownshire, being styled ‘sheriff’, and he was chosen as ruling elder for the Presbytery of Stranraer to attend the General Assembly held at St Andrews in the same year. Local and national appointments followed, and between 1643 and 1648 McDowall sat on the committee of estate, the committee of war, and also in the Scottish Parliament, as commissioner for Wigtownshire.16Young, Parliaments of Scot. ii. 450-1. He also served as excise commissioner.17Dow, Cromwellian Scot. 169. McDowall was repeatedly employed as an envoy: to negotiate with the king in 1644, 1646 (which was probably when he was knighted) and 1647, and, in 1646 and 1648, as agent to the Scottish army in Ulster.18Young, Parliaments of Scot. ii. 451; Scot. under the Covenanters ed. Stevenson, 65, 67, 74. In May 1648 McDowall joined Lord Cochrane (William Cochrane*) in a mission to persuade the British commanders to release forces to support James Hamilton, duke of Hamilton and defend Scotland against the English ‘sectaries’.19Acts Parl. Scot. vi. pt. 2, pp. 67-8.

The crushing defeat of Hamilton’s royalists at Preston, and the rise of the ‘Kirk party’ in Scotland pushed McDowall out of politics from the autumn of 1648 until Charles Stuart’s arrival in 1650. In 1651 McDowall again sat on the committee of estates, but the Stuart cause proved transitory, and after the Worcester debacle in September he decided to work with the Cromwellian invaders.20Young, Parliaments of Scot. ii. 451. In February 1652, when Wigtownshire was required to choose deputies to attend the initial negotiations about union with England, McDowall was appointed, alongside the scion of another long-established local family, Sir Andrew Agnew of Lochnaw.21Cromwellian Union ed. Terry, 38. In the autumn McDowall was chosen as a commissioner to travel to London to complete the task of agreeing a union settlement, and he remained in England until the beginning of June 1653.22Cromwellian Union ed. Terry, pp. xxxv, xliv; Landrum, ‘Recs. Anglo-Scottish Union Negotiations‘, 197, 225, 240, 292-3. Co-operation brought material benefits. In his absence, in May 1653, McDowall was put in charge of valuing the rents of Wigtownshire, and he and his servants were authorised to carry arms for their own protection.23Worcester Coll. Oxf. Clarke MS XLV, unfol.: 30 May, 3 Aug. 1653. Later in the decade, McDowall was called upon to adjudicate disputes over assessments rates, working with Agnew, who had become sheriff of Wigtownshire.24Worcester Coll. Oxf. Clarke MS XLVI, unfol.; 5 Feb. 1655.

McDowall was useful to the English government not only for his local influence but also for his administrative experience during the 1640s; and under the ordinance of grace and pardon issued in April 1654 he was included as a commissioner for claims on the forfeited estates.25A. and O. This appointment was seen by the radical Covenanters (or ‘Protesters’) of the south west as religious as well as political apostasy, and they condemned McDowall as one of a triumvirate of collaborators which also included John Swinton* of Swinton and Sir William Lockhart*of Lee. The radical minister James Guthrie reportedly thought that all three ‘should so grieve the spirit of God as to quench him or cause him put them to open shame, for their walking contrary to his light and checks’.26Wariston Diary, ii. 315. His lay counterpart, Sir Archibald Johnston* of Wariston, was comforted by reports that ‘Garthland had little content’, although he still used the laird as a useful conduit when lobbying the government for changes in religious policy.27Wariston Diary, ii. 304, 310. These reactions show that, despite their religious differences, the Protesters recognised that McDowall was now a man of considerable influence.

Between 1654 and 1656, McDowall became increasingly identified with the Cromwellian regime. His election for Wigtownshire in the summer of 1654 was no doubt on his own interest in the shire, but it may also reflect his standing as a sequestrations commissioner. In the first protectorate Parliament the level of McDowall’s activity is unclear, partly because the committee of Scottish affairs (to which he was appointed on 29 Sept.) dealt with most of the business concerning Scotland, and evidence of its deliberations is patchy.28CJ vii. 371b. His support for the government’s line is suggested, however, by the efforts made by the Scottish commander-in-chief, George Monck* (following the ‘directions’ of the protector himself), to ensure Wigtownshire provided the promised allowance to its MP. Writing on 23 August 1655, Monck ordered the sheriff ‘to be careful that Sir James McDowall should be forthwith satisfied … for his service in the late Parliament of England’, and on the same day he gave McDowall a pass, presumably to allow him to take up the case in person.29Worcester Coll. Oxf. Clarke MS XLVII, unfol.: 23 Aug. 1655. Oliver Cromwell’s* approval of McDowall was also apparent in rumours circulating in London in April 1655 that he would be one of four Scots appointed to the new council of Scotland.30Clarke Pprs. iii. 32. Although McDowall was not eventually chosen as a councillor, in September 1655 he was promoted by the newly arrived president, Lord Broghill (Roger Boyle*), becoming one of three commissioners ‘for management of the excise, customs, and sequestrations’. McDowall’s inclusion in the commission was prompted by his service as the Covenanters’ excise commissioner in the 1640s, and also because the council thought ‘it would be requisite to have one of the country’ to assist in raising the new tax.31TSP iv. 48. The new post brought McDowall as salary of £365 a year.32TSP iv. 48, 527. More importantly, it seems to have increased his prestige among Scots of all political colours. In October 1655, McDowall was on good terms the influential Protester, Sir Alexander Brodie* of Brodie; and in the same month he was made a burgess and guild-brother by the Resolutioner-dominated Edinburgh council.33Brodie Diary, ed. Laing, 159; Roll of Edinburgh Burgesses ed. Watson, 325. In December 1655 he was one of the new assessment commissioners appointed to oversee tax collection in Wigtownshire.34Acts Parl. Scot. vi. part 2, p. 841. Although he may not have played a hands-on role in the local administration, his work as a customs and excise commissioner entailed visits to the south west as well as further afield, as shown in a pass granted on 7 March 1656 which allowing him to travel into Galloway, all other parts of Scotland, and also to Ireland. On the same day he was allowed a post-warrant between Leith and London.35Worcester Coll. Oxf. Clarke MS XLVII, unfol.: 7 Mar. 1656.

McDowall’s re-election for Wigtownshire in August 1656 was again influenced by his increasing national and local influence. The election, which took place on 13 August, was managed by McDowall’s old ally, Sir Andrew Agnew, and the voters included many of his friends and relatives.36C219/45, unfol. Broghill, when reporting the election to John Thurloe*, identified McDowall as ‘one of our commissioners for the excise and customs’, and presumably counted him among the government candidates.37TSP v. 322. During the early months of the second protectorate Parliament, McDowall lived up to this expectation. Most of his activity in the Commons centred on Scottish business, and, more specifically, on business sponsored by the Scottish council. His appointment to the committee of trade on 20 October no doubt related to his position as a commissioner of the customs and excise in Scotland; on 29 October he was named to the committee on the bill to remove wardships and tenures north of the border; and on 4 December he was included in the committee to solve the problem of theft on the borders.38CJ vii. 442a, 447a, 464a. These were principally government concerns, although the last appointment may also reflect the needs of his Wigtownshire constituents. On 30 December McDowall’s closeness to the government is again suggested by his appointment on the committee to settle the Kinneil estate on George Monck.39CJ vii. 476b. Other committee appointments also had a Scottish dimension, as they dealt with bills to satisfy the creditors of the Edinburgh merchant, Sir William Dick (9 Feb. 1657), to settle the postage in all three nations (29 May), and to re-organise their treasuries (30 May).40CJ vii. 488b, 542a, 543a.

McDowall’s activity in Parliament increased dramatically in June 1657. He was a leading figure in sorting out the Scottish assessments. On 8 June he reported amendments to the £15,000 Scottish assessment bill (in a report ‘which held two hours’ according to the diarist, Thomas Burton*).41Burton’s Diary, ii. 196. Two days later McDowall was chosen, with the earl of Tweeddale (John Hay) and Judge George Smyth as the framer of a further three-year assessment for Scotland: this was incorporated into the general assessment bill for the three nations, on a motion of George Downing, and McDowall then moved for the general bill to go on to its second reading.42Burton’s Diary, ii. 207. The details of the northern contribution were committed to the committee of Scottish affairs, whence McDowall reported an amended clause on 22 June.43CJ vii. 550a, 554a, 568a. McDowall’s official activity can also be seen in the bill for the pardon of the earl of Callander and Lord Cranston: as a sequestrations commissioner, he was named to the committee set up on 15 June, attended its meeting on 17 June, and was charged (with Tweeddale and John Lockhart) with the perusal of former orders about the cases.44CJ vii. 557b; NLS, MS 7032, f. 97 His tellership (on 22 June) in favour of reducing the level of excise levied on wine presumably reflected his duties as excise commissioner, and he was apparently working in this with two other Scottish MPs: Colonel Stephen Winthrop and Sir Edward Rodes.45CJ vii. 568b.

As well as his official duties as a member of the Scottish government, McDowall was also involved in the politics of the three kingdoms, which had become focused on the Humble Petition and Advice in the spring and summer of 1657. McDowall’s committee appointments suggest that he slowly turned against the new reforms: although he was named to the committee to arrange a time to present the original, monarchical, form of the constitution to Cromwell on 27 March, on 23 May he was chosen to negotiate a hearing for the revised, protectoral Humble Petition, and on 15 June he was added to the committee to consider the clause in the Additional Petition designed to overturn the lenient measures on the Scottish franchise stipulated by the original Humble Petition.46CJ vii. 514b, 538b, 557a. Other sources confirm that McDowall was shifting his position. There were signs of this as early as March 1657, when Sir William Lockhart in Paris received news that McDowall was among four Scots who had ‘dissented from the rest’ to oppose the revival of kingship; and it is telling that McDowall was not included among those Scottish MPs who voted in favour of including the offer of the crown in the Humble Petition.47CCSP iii. 256; Narrative of the Late Parliament (1657), 23 (E.935.5). A few weeks later, when the Additional Petition was debated, McDowall spoke in favour of re-committing the franchise clause, ‘to pen it more restrictively’, and thus exclude former royalists. This was a snub to those, like Broghill, who sought to broaden the regime’s support north of the border by reconciling the majority Resolutioner faction in the Kirk, and Johnston of Wariston, who charted ‘the changings of … Garthland’, thought his new stance ‘remarkable’.48Burton’s Diary, ii. 251; Wariston Diary, iii. 86-7

The improvement of relations between McDowall and the Protesters in the summer of 1657 can be seen in their joint efforts to secure the lucrative post of commissary of the south west shires, currently held by William Ross* of Drumgarland. Wariston lobbied the protector ‘about Sir James McDowall and the commissariot of Galloway’ on 15 July.49Wariston Diary, iii. 93. A month later it was reported that the prominent Protester minister, Patrick Gillespie, had tried ‘stealing his hand to a gift of a commissariot to Sir James McDowall’, but the attempt had ‘forfeited his credit with the protector’ and left many of the officers ‘discontented’.50Consultations ed. Stephen, ii. 90. George Monck was also offended at ‘such unhandsome dealings, to put an honest man out of his place’.51TSP vi. 443 The incident does not seem to have compromised McDowall’s position with the Cromwellian government. He continued to be held in high esteem by Monck, who in September pressed for him to be appointed as a judge of admiralty, describing him as ‘a discrete gentleman’.52TSP vi. 517.

In January 1658 McDowall attended the second sitting of Parliament, and was named to the committee which complimented the protector by asking him to publish his speech of 21 January.53CJ vii. 589a. In June 1658, Monck wrote to Secretary Thurloe ‘to put you in mind of [McDowall] concerning the place of the admiralty here’ adding ‘I think the gentleman will deserve that favour, having been always faithful to his highness’.54TSP vii. 199-200. McDowall was again returned for Wigtownshire in the elections for the third protectorate Parliament in 1659, but his activity in Westminster was slight. He took no part in the debates on the rights of Scottish member to sit, and although he was named to the committee of Scottish affairs on 1 April, his only recorded intervention in the House came the next day, when he questioned the wisdom of requiring the Scots to observe parliamentary fasts.55CJ vii. 623b. McDowall advocated moderation – ‘I would, to satisfy all, have the word ‘recommend’’, rather than ‘require’, in the order – yet it seems that this was born of a desire for political stability rather than religious toleration, for ‘I wish all the ministers of the three nations were of one mind’.56Burton’s Diary, iv. 332.

With the fall of the protectorate, McDowall made his peace with the restored commonwealth, aided by the continuing involvement of old friends such as Monck, Swinton and Tweeddale in the new regime. In May 1659 he joined Swinton and David Barclay* in sending a petition to Parliament ‘for stopping courts till the act of union were passed’, and urging that the deputies who had negotiated the union in 1652 should be reconvened.57Wariston Diary, iii. 116. The petition was ‘given in to the Parliament’ by McDowall and Swinton in June.58J. Nicoll, Diary of Public Transactions (Edinburgh, 1836), 242-3. In October 1659, McDowall was again involved in the Scottish administration, and he liaised with Adam Baynes* over the customs and excise, which he argued should be ‘raised according to the same rates and by the same laws’ and ‘under the same regulation’ as those for England.59Add. 21425, f. 151. McDowall’s activities during the Restoration period are obscure. He died in 1661, and was succeeded by his son, William McDowall, who married the daughter of Alexander Beatoun of Langhermiston in 1669. William followed his father in opposing the Stuarts, was investigated for his encouragement of conventicles in the 1670s, and was among the first Scots to welcome William III in 1689.60Young, Parliaments of Scot. ii. 451; NRS, GD237/12/18/7. Garthland and the patrimonial estates remained in the family until 1810, and the death of the last laird, William MacDowall†, who had served for nearly 30 years as MP for Renfrewshire, Ayrshire and Glasgow Burghs.61McKerlie, Galloway, i. 58, 60; HP Commons, 1754-90.