Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 8.djvu/216

164 indeed, no want of unemployed work-people; for the change of commercial relations caused by the first American war, then raging, very much limited the labour demand, and many, especially from the Highland districts, were in consequence emigrating. It arose from prejudice on the part of the people, more particularly in the Lowlands, against all factory labour. Parents would neither work themselves nor allow their children to enter the mills. In this dilemma Mr. Dale offered employment to a number of Highland families who were emigrating from the Hebrides to America, but had been driven by stress of weather into Greenock, and most of them availed themselves of the opening for securing a comfortable livelihood in their native land. The Celts, appearing to have less repugnance to factory labour than their countrymen in the south, agents were sent to the Highlands, who engaged many other families to become workers at New Lanark; but as the mills were at last increased to four, there was still a deficient supply of labour, especially in the department best served by youths, and recourse was had to the poor-houses of Glasgow and Edinburgh, from which orphan and other pauper children were obtained, and whose moral and religious education was combined with their industrial training. From these sources were the workers in the mill and the villagers of New Lanark chiefly drawn, forming a population which, at all periods of its history, has commended itself for decent and orderly behaviour.

After Mr. Dale had been in business several years, but before he had engaged in any of the large concerns now described, he, in September 1777, married Miss Ann Caroline Campbell, daughter of John Campbell, Esq., W.S., Edinburgh. It is not known whether this lady brought him any fortune, but there is reason to suppose that her father's connection with the Royal Bank of Scotland as a director, led to Mr. Dale's appointment as agent of that establishment in Glasgow, and thus increased his commercial credit and command of capital. Miss Campbell, who had been brought up in the same religious connection with her husband, was also of one heart and mind with him in all his schemes of benevolence. She was the mother of seven children, whom she trained up in the fear of the Lord. Mrs. Dale died in January, 1791. Mr. Dale did not again many. It was, of course, not to be expected that all the undertakings in which Mr. Dale was embarked should prove equally successful. One at least was a total failure. It was generally understood that he lost about ₤20,000 in sinking a coal-pit in the lands of Barrowfield, the coal never having been reached, owing to the soil being a running quick-sand, which could not be overcome, although the shaft was laid with iron cylinders. Messrs. Robert Tennant and David Tod were his copartners in this unfortunate project; but they together held a comparatively small share. Mr. Dale was, however, eminently successful on the whole, and had acquired a large fortune. In 1799, being then in his sixty-first year, and nearly his fortieth in business, he resolved on freeing himself of at least a portion of his commercial responsibilities. The mills at Lanark had been uniformly prosperous, yielding returns larger perhaps than any other of his concerns; yet, possibly from his being sole proprietor, and in circumstances to relinquish them without delay, he at once disposed of these extensive and valuable works. Mr. Robert Owen, then a young man, residing in Lancashire, was in Glasgow on a visit, and being previously known to Mr. Dale as having, by his talent and persevering industry, raised himself from humble circumstances to be manager of an extensive spinning-mill at Chorlton, he consulted with him as to the propriety of selling the works. The information thus