COMMANDER MILLIKEN CRAIG OF BALLEWAN, HEIC

Master Mariner: Slave Owner

Commander Milliken Craig is the son of John Craig, Cloth Bleacher and Manufacturer at Linlithgow Bridge, and his wife, Betty Stark. He was born on 16 January 1765 and his baptism was registered at Linlithgow in West Lothian, Scotland.

The Lands of Ballewan

Commander Milliken Craig of Ballewan inherited the lands of Wester Ballewan and Ballewan Buchanan, including the Teinds thereof and the Teinds of Cult Craigbernard, from his cousin John Craig of Ballewan. On 18 November 1789 he had a precept of clare constat by which the Commissioners of the William, Duke of Montrose, confirmed that John Craig of Ballewan died in possession of these lands and that Milliken Craig was his heir. He took formal possession on 28 November 1789 and a sasine in his favour was registered on 3 December 1789. [National Archives of Scotland, H.M. General Register House, Edinburgh, Stirlingshire Sasine Abridgements for 1789, abridgement number 1663 which cites P.R.30.476] Commander Milliken Craig’s precept of clare constat is noticed in John Guthrie Smith’s account of the family. John Guthrie Smith, F.S.A. Scot.,The Parish of Strathblane and its Inhabitants from Early Times: A Chapter of Lennox History (Glasgow, James MacLehose and Sons, Publishers to the University, 1886), page 160

The Lands of Cult Craig

Commander Milliken Craig of Ballewan inherited the lands of Cult Craig, part of the barony of Campsie in Stirlingshire, from his cousin John Craig of Ballewan. On 12 November 1789 he had a precept of clare constat by which the Commissioners of Sir William Edmonstone of Duntreath confirmed that John Craig of Ballewan had died in possession of this land and that Milliken Craig was his heir. He took possession on 28 November 1789 and a sasine in his favour was registered on 3 December 1789. [National Archives of Scotland, Stirlingshire Sasine Abridgements for 1789, abridgement number 1664 which cites P.R.30.477]

Commander Milliken Craig of Ballewan exchanged part of his lands of Cult Craig for other land belonging to John Foyer of Cult Edmonstone John Guthrie Smith, F.S.A. Scot.,The Parish of Strathblane and its Inhabitants from Early Times: A Chapter of Lennox History (Glasgow, James MacLehose and Sons, Publishers to the University, 1886), page 81

H.E.I.C: The Last Voyages of the Ship Queen

The ship Queen was launched in 1785 and served the British East India Company as an East Indiaman. She made four voyages to India and China for the Company and was on the initial leg of her fifth voyage when a fire on 9 July 1800 destroyed her at St. Salvador. Wikipedia: Queen 1785 ship

For her third voyage, the Queen was under the command of Captain Milliken Craig. As war with France had broken out, she sailed under a letter of marque that had been issued to Craig for her on 27 December 1793. Queen left Portsmouth on 2 May 1794, bound for Madras and Bengal, and reached Madras on 11 September. She sailed up India's east coast to Diamond Harbour, which she reached on 15 October. Her return voyage took her past Saugor on 30 Jan 1795 and to Madras again on 29 March. She arrived at St Helena on 17 August and the Downs of 25 November. Wikipedia: Queen 1785 ship

Again under Craig's command, Queen left Portsmouth on 11 August 1796, bound for St Helena and Bencoolen. She then stopped at St Helena on 16 October and the Cape on 24 November. On 17 February 1797 she arrived at Madras. She then sailed directly to Bencoolen, which she reached on 8 May. From there she sailed to Diamond Harbour, reaching it on 10 October. She passed Saugor on 16 December on her way back to Bencoolen, which she reached on 21 February 1798. She did not arrive back in Britain until almost a year later, on 9 February 1799.Wikipedia: Queen 1785 ship

Craig and Queen left Torbay on 3 May 1800 on her last, ill-fated voyage, to Madras and China.Queen put into Salvador, Bahia, to replenish her water. She was in company with the East Indiaman Kent, with which she had left Torbay in convoy. During the night of 8–9 July a fire broke out on Queen while most of her officers and passengers were ashore. Lookouts on Kent appear to have noticed the smoke before the crew of Queen did, and Kent sent boats and fire-fighting equipment, but the currents were too strong for them to be of much use. the fire was discovered burning in the gun-room at 3 am, though no one had visited it after 8pm. The cause of the fire was attributed to a Portuguese gunboat which had come alongside Queen, ostensibly as an anti-smuggling measure.The Portuguese gunboat had a fire lit aboard, part of which the crew threw into the Queen's gun-room scuttle, starting the fire. The fire raged out of control, but fortunately winds and currents pushed Queen out of the bay and so away from Kent.[Queen blew up at 7 am. Casualties on board Queen were heavy. An officer on Kent wrote a letter from Salvador a little more than a week later and reported that many aboard her had drowned when they leaped into the water. He estimated that she had lost six passengers, some 30 troops (of an unspecified number that she was carrying to India) and who could not get the hatchways in time, and 70 of her crew. Because the fire broke out during the night and boats could not be launched, all the survivors, including five ladies, who had lost everything but whatever clothes they had on. Wikipedia: Queen 1785 ship

The following new ships will be launched this year for the service of the East India Company..........A fine new ship, of 1200 tons burthen, built by Moses Agar, Esq., for the service of the East India Company, this season will be launched from Mr Randall's Dock, and to be commanded by Captain Milliken Craig. She is built on the bottom of the Queen, which was unfortunately burnt sometime since in the harbour of St Salvadore. [The Morning Chronicle 25 November 1802/sourced at British Library No: BB3207087548] also reports that Captain Craig sworn into command at East India House.

Death

Commander Milliken Craig died at Georgetown in Guyana on 1 January 1820.

Marriage

Commander Milliken Craig married Janet Munro, daughter of the Reverend James Munro, Minister of the Gospel at Kinloss in Morayshire. They were married on 7 January 1796, at the Church of Saint Edmund The King and Martyr in Lombard Street, London, England. Two days before the marriage, on 5 January 1796, Milliken Craig gave his future wife a liferent annuity of £150 Sterling and secured the same on his lands of Ballewan and Cult. Janet Munro took formal possession 17 March 1796 and a sasine in her favour was registered on 26 March 1796 [National Records of Scotland, reference G.R.555.56]

Child Born out of Wedlock

In his last will and testament, which was made at Georgetown in Guyana on 16 June 1819, Commander Milliken Craig made provision for his mistress: I give and bequeath to my dear and beloved Marion Emilia Knibblewhite whom I left pregnant at my house No. 3 Leigh Street, Burton Crescent, London under the particular care of my most particular friend Henry Ffauntleroy, Esquire, one of my Executors, five hundred pounds sterling per annum during her natural life and if she joins me here I give and bequeath her three thousand pounds sterling during her natural life and whom it is my intention to marry as soon as I can and when I do, this settlement of three thousand pounds sterling per annum is to become her marriage settlement barring her from all further claims upon my properties in these United Colonies or any where else and to be paid her quarterly in either case in London free of all and every deductions.'Milliken died 1st January 1820 never knowing that Marion had, or was about to give birth to a son named Henry. He may have been born after Milliken's death because he does not appear to have received any recognition or inheritance rootsweb; Duncan Family of Strathblane

Milliken's main London residence was 27 Gloucester Place, but he probably had to find another property for Marion at the time she was pregnant as he couldn't have her living at Gloucester Place as they were unmarried.

Published Accounts of the Family

1. John Guthrie Smith, F.S.A. Scot.,The Parish of Strathblane and its Inhabitants from Early Times: A Chapter of Lennox History (Glasgow, James MacLehose and Sons, Publishers to the University, 1886), page 160
2. Legacies of Slave-ownership: Milliken Craig
3. Wikipedia: The Ship Queen 1785
4. Susan Miller, Commander Milliken Craig of the Honourable East India Company (Scottish Local History Issue 88, Spring 2014) pp. 9-13