Early Years in Scotland
Born at Saltcoats, Ayrshire, he was the second son of Captain Alexander Allan and his wife Jean Crawford (1782–1856). In 1819, Alexander Allan had founded the Allan Shipping Line, which became synonymous with running goods and passengers between Scotland and Montreal. Hugh Allan received a parish education at Saltcoats before starting work in 1823 at the family's counting house of Allan, Kerr & Co., of Greenock. Three years later he was sent by his father to Montreal to work as a clerk for the grain merchant, William Kerr. In 1830, he took a year off to travel through his native Scotland (he later named his home, Ravenscrag, after his favorite childhood haunt in Ayrshire) and continued via London, New York and Upper Canada.
Read more about this topic: Hugh Allan
Famous quotes containing the words early, years and/or scotland:
“For with this desire of physical beauty mingled itself early the fear of death—the fear of death intensified by the desire of beauty.”
—Walter Pater 1839–1894, British writer, educator. originally published in Macmillan’s Magazine (Aug. 1878)
“A man may take care of a furnace for twenty-five years and still forget to duck his head when he starts going down the cellar stairs.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)
“The state of monarchy is the supremest thing upon earth: for kings are not only God’s Lieutenants upon earth, and sit upon God’s throne, but even by God himself they are called gods.”
—James I of England, James VI of Scotland (1566–1625)