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Scots Mining CompanyThe Scots Mining Company, or Scotch Mines Company,[1] was formed shortly after the Jacobite rising of 1715 by Sir John Erskine with the intention of better developing the mineral resources of Scotland.[2] Primary investors were largely garnered from expatriate Scots living in London.[1] HistoryFollowing its incorporation by royal charter in 1729,[1] the Scots Mining Company procured leases for mines at Leadhills and elsewhere.[2] The company was near bankrupt when, in 1734, the mathematician James Stirling was appointed manager.[3] The systems of mining, social organisation and living conditions of the workers that Stirling introduced at Leadhills were revolutionary for their time,[2] including reducing the underground day to six hours, introducing health insurance and hiring a surgeon to directly improve the lot of the men. In addition, he concentrated on better housing, education and the founding of the Leadhill Miners Reading Society in 1741.[3] Many of these characteristic features of the company's paternalism were copied by other large mines.[1] By 1830, the company was the largest and most successful concern working the lead mines at Leadhills.[4]: 1 Following a protracted court case regarding water rights with the rival Leadhills Mining Company the Scots Mining Company was wound up in 1861.[4]: 13 OperationsLeadhillsThe area between Leadhills and Wanlockhead was the richest lead mining district in Scotland.[5] The Leadhills concession was obtained from the Earl of Hopetoun[6] on whose land a significant deposits of lead and silver had been mined since 1513,[7] and a limited gold mining operation had begun in 1517.[8] At the height of the trade in 1810, more than 1,400 tons of lead were being produced annually,[5] by a workforce of 200 men.[1] TyndrumLead was discovered on the Breadalbane estates in 1741.[9] Mines were operated by three companies prior to the Scots Mining Company acquiring the lease in 1768. The company began working the mines in a more systematic manner, including the establishment of a smelter locally.[10] The Scots Mining Company pulled out in 1791,[4]: 1 though operations continued intermittently until 1858 when the mines were reacquired by the Marquess of Breadalbane, who worked them until his death in 1862.[10] References
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