Ken Nairn on Richard Oswald of Auchincruive

Last week’s speaker was local businessman Ken Nairn whose interests are many and varied. He was invited on this occasion to talk to the club about Richard Oswald of Auchincruive, with a particular focus on the influences and implications of slavery and his association with Benjamin Franklin. Benjamin Franklin and Richard Oswald were central figures in negotiating the 1782–1783 peace treaty ending the American Revolutionary War. As the primary British negotiator, Oswald was chosen by Lord Shelburne for his, and Franklin’s, shared views on free trade and a “philosophic disposition,” allowing them to build trust.

In early 1782, Oswald was sent to Paris for private talks with Franklin, which helped lay the groundwork for formal negotiations.

Ken said Franklin described Oswald as having an “Air of great Simplicity and Honesty,” trusting him more than other British representatives. But despite their rapport, negotiations were tense over issues like loyalist compensation and Canadian borders. Franklin expressed frustration to Oswald in November 1782 about demands to compensate loyalists whose actions had “destroy’d” American property.

Then continued Ken, Oswald, along with Franklin, John Jay, and John Adams, signed the preliminary articles of peace on November 30, 1782, acknowledging American independence.

Though Oswald was replaced for the final signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783 due to political shifts in London, his work with Franklin was crucial.

Moving to the 18th century, Ken cited a number of other folk who made their mark in different ways, although not necessarily with Ayr connections, and these included David Hume, Scottish philosopher and scholar, and his American polymath friend Benjamin Franklin and William Mclure (born in Ayr) who was the creator of the first geological map of an area of the US and was known as the “father of American geology”.

Another notable Ayr man of that period was provost John Ballantine (a contemporary of Robert Burns) whose local family business was trading, through the port of Ayr, with plantations in Virginia and the Caribbean with inevitable links to slavery. His enduring contribution to the town was the promotion of two major capital projects, evidence of which can still be seen today: the building of the original ‘New Bridge’ of Ayr and the piloting of the Royal Charter to turn the ancient Burgh or Grammar School into Ayr Academy.

Sinclair Williamson thanked Ken for such an entertaining and educational snapshot of the Declaration of Independence and how Scots made an enormous impact and valuable contributions to the foundations of the United States of America