Memoirs of a banking-house

MEMOIRS
BANKING-HOUSE.
The founder of the Edinburgh house of business of which I am
now to give some account, was Patrick Coutts, the fourth son of
Alexander Coutts, provost of Montrose, whose grandfather is said
to have been a son of the family of Auchintowl, and to have
settled in Montrose in the end of the sixteenth century.*
At what period Mr Patrick Coutts removed from Montrose to
Edinburgh I have not learned. But it appears by his books of
accounts, still in our possession, that he carried on business in
* The pedigree of Mr Coutts has been tlras stated to me by a letter from
Mr Charles Thomson of Montrose, who had it from Mrs Patison, a relative of
the family.
' The first of the family came to Montrose towards the end of the sixteenth
century. He is said to have been a son of Coutts of Auchintowl, a vassal
of the family of Macdonald. This gentleman had a son, 'William, who
was provost of Montrose. "William was succeeded by his son, Alexander,
who lived to a great age, and left six sons and three daughters : of the
sons, William, the eldest, was also provost of Montrose, as was likewise
John, the second son ; Hercules, the third, settled in London ; Peter, the
fourth, settled in Edinburgh ; Robert, the fifth, went to America, and died
there ; James, the youngest, also went to America, but returned after some time,
and purchased the lands of Hallgrcen, in the shire of Kincardine, and was also
provost of Montrose. This gentleman was the father of the late Mr Coutts of
Hallgreen ; and Provost Coutts of Edinburgh was the son of Peter, the fourth
son of Alexander Coutts. I shall only add that I have had opportunity to learn
that the family have been long and universally respected in Montrose as people
of very great benevolence, honour, and integrity.' Of the truth of this last
assertion there can be no better proof than that in three generations four of the
family were elected chief magistrate of their native town.