CHAPTER XLVI. 



WOOL AND WOOL STAPLING, &c. 



The Highland Society, soon after its formation, directed 

 its attention to the improvement of wool, and the intro- 

 duction of woollen manufactures into the Highlands. In 

 June 1790, a Committee was appointed, of which Sir John 

 Sinclair was Chairman, to take into consideration the 

 preservation of the Shetland breed of sheep, so remarkable 

 for their fine wool. On the 2nd of July 1790, a report was 

 submitted to the Directors by Sir John, containing very 

 accurate and valuable information on the subject, obtained 

 from Dr James Anderson and others. 



From this report (which was published in pamphlet 

 form, and extensively circulated), first arose the idea of 

 establishing a society for the purpose of encouraging the 

 native wool of Britain, on which Sir John Sinclair made a 

 report to the Society on the 19th of November 1790. At a 

 meeting held on the 31st of January 1791, a Society for 

 the special object of improvement in wool was formed. 

 Sir John Sinclair was named Chairman, and Sir Alexander 

 Ramsay, Deputy-Chairman. The Directors were the Duke 

 of Argyll, Earl of Dumfries, Earl of Hopetoun, Lord 

 Sheffield, Lord Chief Baron, Lord Provost of Edinburgh, 

 Sir J. E. Swinburne, Sir Joseph Banks, Sir James Foulis, 

 John Erskine of Mar, Robert Oliphant of Rossie, Robert 

 Belsches of Greenyards, George Ramsay, yr. of Barnton, 

 Gilbert Hamilton, of Glasgow. Sir William Forbes, Trea- 

 surer ; and James Home, Secretary. The subscription was 

 one guinea per annum, or ten guineas at admission. 



To this new institution — the British Wool Society 

 — the Highland Society not only transferred the care of that 

 particular department — the wool and woollen manufactures 

 of Scotland — but also the sheep of the Shetland breed it had 



