Old Photograph Balruddery House Scotland

Old photograph of Balruddery House near Dundee, Scotland. This now demolished mansion house was owned by James Martin White, usually known to as Martin White or J. Martin White, born 1858, died 7 July 1928. He was a wealthy Scottish businessman and Liberal Party politician. He also took a keen interest in the establishment of the scientific study of sociology in association with his boyhood friend Patrick Geddes and was an enthusiastic supporter of the development of the pipe organ. White was born in New York, USA, the son of wealthy jute merchant James Farquhar White and his wife Elizabeth Grundy. White Senior, had, in 1849, established a dry goods company, J F White & Company, in New York selling all kinds of imported and domestic textiles. However with the onset of the American Civil War he had returned home to Scotland and leased Castle Huntly, Perthshire as the family home. In 1880 they bought and moved to a baronial house at Balruddery, Angus, near the city of Dundee. He ran his family business from Dundee and New York, but took a back seat to pursue political and scientific interests. J Martin White studied engineering at Cassel in Germany and was very interested in the technological innovations of his time, becoming chairman of the Dundee Technical Institute. He was a keen photographer and had his own darkroom from the late 1870s. In April 1881 he and his father, James F White, installed electricity at their house, Balruddery. Martin White was also a collector and connoisseur of Japanese art. White was married twice. On 6 August 1898 he married Mary MacRae, a water colourist, and they had two children. Due to his infidelity the marriage broke down in 1906, and the couple were divorced in 1912. Mary MacRae White went on to be a successful artist in the United States. In 1913 he married Alice Priscilla Frost, a widow. J Martin White died suddenly at Balruddery in July 1928. He was buried locally, with a monument to his memory erected in Liff Parish Church.



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