James Mackay, 1st Earl of Inchcape

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

James Lyle Mackay, 1st Earl of Inchcape, GCMG, GCSI, KCIE (11 September 1852–23 May 1932) was a British colonial administrator in India.

Mackay was the second son of James Mackay of Arbroath and his wife, Deborah Lyle. In 1874 he went to India where he joined the staff of Mackinnon, Mackenzie & Co in Calcutta and by 1914 was the sole surviving senior partner of the company that would be renamed Inchcape plc in 1981. Mackay was appointed President of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce in 1890, a member of the Legislative Council of the Viceroy of India in 1891 and a member of the Council of the Secretary of State for India in 1897. In 1902, he and Chinese statesman Sheng Xuanhuai negotiated and signed the Sino-British "Mackay Treaty," which anticipated the abolition of extraterritoriality in China.

Mackay was largely responsible for solving India’s currency problems and for the adoption of the Gold Standard, he was knighted by King George V for his services to industry and nation in 1911. Mackay later served as Vice-President of the Suez Canal Company, Chairman of P&O and a Director of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company and the National Provincial Bank.

He chose the title “Baron Inchcape of Strathnaver” to commemorate the Inchcape Rock, which lies off Arbroath, and Strathnaver in Scotland. He later became a Viscount and finally, in 1929, he was appointed the first Earl of Inchcape.

[edit] Family

On 10 July 1883, Mackay married Jean Shanks and they had five children:

Hon. Kenneth, later styled Viscount Glenapp, later 2nd Earl of Inchcape (1887-1939)
Lady Margaret Cargill (d. 1958), married Alexander Shaw, 2nd Baron Craigmyle
Lady Janet Lyle (d. 1972), married Lt-Col Frederick Bailey, landowner.
Lady Elsie^[1] (circa 1893-1928), aviatrix, actress, and interior designer for P & O, married (later annulled) actor, Dennis Wyndham. Disappeared at sea while attempting an east-westerly Atlantic flight.
Lady Effie (1895-1984), married Sir Eugen Millington-Drake, diplomat. Amongst their five children were the artist Teddy Millington-Drake (1932-1994) and the daughter Marie (1924-1973), who in 1960 married the 12th Duke of Carcaci, of an ancient Sicilian aristocratic family.