as chairman of the Unchartered Banks of Scotland when the Bank Acts of these years were passing through Parliament. He was frequently sent for by Sir Robert Peel, when he fought what proved to be a losing battle for freedom of note issues as against the centralizing views of the Prime Minister. Nor was his energy satisfied with his own proper occupations. He was at one time a member of the Town Council and a magistrate of Glasgow. He was several years president of Anderson's University, and for eight years he acted as secretary to the Chamber of Commerce in succession to his friend, Mr. Dugald Bannatyne.
"Enough has now been said to show that an important place must be assigned, among the men who have made Glasgow what it now is, to the name of James Andrew Anderson. His official duties were of a high and responsible order, and were performed in a manner which secured him the entire confidence of his fellow-citizens. This rested wholly on his capacity for good work, combined with unbending integrity, for Mr. Anderson had none of the airs and graces which sometimes appear to do service for solid attainments. In figure he was tall, angular, and somewhat ungainly, with a rugged, serious countenance. He was a typical Scot, always earnest and grave, and yet a vein of kindliness and humour would often force itself through the somewhat hard exterior of his manner.
Mr. Anderson retired from the management of the Union Bank of Scotland in May, 1852, and died at his residence of Carlung, in Ayrshire, on the 10th May, 1863."
From: James MacLehose, Memoirs and portraits of one hundred Glasgow men who have died during the last thirty years and in their lives did much to make the city what it now is (Glasgow, James MacLehose & Sons, 1886), 3. James Andrew Anderson, available at http://gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/mlemen/mlemen003.htm [accessed 14/08/2012].
£1,889 15S 5D
Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Central Scotland, Scotland
Carlung, Ayrshire, Southern Scotland, Scotland