James Lyle Mackay was born in Scotland in 1852. In 1871, at the age of 19 he left Scotland for London where he explored employment opportunities. In 1874 he was offered a post in the Calcutta office of Mackinnon Mackenzie. His progress through the firm was impressive and by the late 1880s he was a powerful figure both within and outside the partnership.

When, in 1911, James Mackay was created a Baron in recognition of his work on the Viceroys’ Council in India, he took the title Baron Inchcape of Strathnavar in commemoration of the Inchcape Rock Lighthouse, 12 miles offshore from his birthplace, that had made a deep impression on him during his childhood as a symbol of unyielding persistence and self-belief and represented the power of courage, perseverance and teamwork.

In the years up to 1900, James Mackay invested heavily in promising local industries. It was his own early investments in various merchant partnerships that ultimately became the Inchcape Group.

In 1894 Mackay returned to Britain and joined the board of BI, launching new shipping routes around the world.  BI’s regular passenger services and the extra business that came with them were managed by the company’s London agent Gray Dawes that played a significant part in the Inchcape story.  Itself a merchant partnership founded in 1865 by Messrs. Gray and Dawes, it played a central role, working closely with other offices around the world and managing and supplying business to many of the constituent parts of the eventual Inchcape Group.  Gray Dawes was later to become one of two principal subsidiaries of the Group.

In 1914 James Mackay spearheaded the merger of BI with Britain’s other marine giant at the time, the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O) and, when the Chairman of P&O, Sir Thomas Sutherland, stood down, James Mackay (now Lord Inchcape) became head of the biggest shipping combine on earth.

The Inchcape enterprise survived the Great Depression that followed the 14-18 War. In 1929 James Mackay was created an Earl and took the courtesy title of Viscount Glenapp after the name of his Scottish home.

James Mackay, the 1st Lord Inchcape and the inspiration and driving energy behind the Inchcape name died, aged 80, on 23 May 1932.

1st Earl of Inchcape

Source: Inchcape Family Records