John Glassford

John Glassford was known as the greatest of Glasgow's tobacco lords of the 18th century celebrated during his lifetime as "one of the greatest merchants in Europe".

Glassford began his career in the 1740s with various manufacturing interests, the Stocking Manufactory Company and the Glasgow Inkle Factory being only one of them. He entered the tobacco trade in 1750 and became extremely successful in this field, owning a fleet of 25 vessels and a network of tobacco stores across New England. In 1776 he personally traded in 1,823 hogsheads of tobacco. Besides tobacco occupation, he was also interested in textiles and slave trade. In 1761 he became a partner in the Pollokshaws Printfield Company, and was also one of the founders of the Thistle Bank. Profit from trade Glassford partly invested in purchase of land and he owed property in Ayrshire, Lanarkshire and Stirlingshire. Dougalston, north of Glasgow, served as his country seat.

Celebrated in his lifetime as "one of the greatest merchants in Europe", he was the most extensive ship owner of his generation in Scotland, and one of the four merchants who laid the foundation of the commercial greatness of Glasgow through the tobacco trade. However, the tobacco trade has also been the cause of his downfall. The American War of Independence (1775–83) ruined Glasgow's part in the trade, and while other tobacco lords sold their shares before the crash, Glassford decided not to follow their example.

When he died in 1783, his debts amounted to £93,000.