Captain William Wardlaw

William Wardlaw of Abden was born 8 August 1745 and married Elizabeth Balfour, heiress of Sir Andrew Ramsay.  He served in the Royal Navy, and was appointed Master of the Apollo in 1790, as this extract from his ship’s log shows.  This miniature was painted when William was 60 and it’s by the celebrated miniaturist George Englehart. He also painted William and Elizabeth’s sons, presumably before they left home to serve in the Navy. William Wardlaw added Ramsay to his name he inherited the Whitehill estate in 1825, to comply with the entail.  Thus, his son and heir to Whitehill was called Robert Wardlaw Ramsay.

William and Elizabeth appear to have used Whitehill as their family home. Indeed, William may have added further rooms to the Georgian front, to accommodate them. So, we get a glimpse of Elizabeth living there in 1815, with her brother George. She died in 1816, but William and their children continued to live in Whitehill (when not at sea). He took a keen interest in the management of the estate and to invest in local industry, as indicated by the 1821 Thomson map, which includes a company called Wardlaw & Walker, at Gowerton. Maybe there is more to be found out!