George Mackillop - Notes

January 22 (1835) George Mackillop, of Hobart Town, arrived in Sydney in the brig Siren and sailed for Hobart Town in April. He went first to the district known as the Cowpastures, Nepean River and then to the Maneroo country. From there, accompanied by a party, two of whom were James MacFarlane and Thomas Livingstone, he made his way a few miles to the south of Lake Omeo, and gave the name Strath Downie to the locality he reached and now known as Omeo.

Jardine Matheson Archive at Cambridge University Library contains correspondence from Robert Taylor and James Matheson to a variety of people including George Mackillop and the company Cruttenden, Mackillop & Co., Calcutta
http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F0012%2FMS%20JM%2FC1

NSW Colonial Secretary Index 1788-1825
http://colsec.records.nsw.gov.au/

SUTHERLAND, James Charles Colebrook. Of the firm Alexander and Co, Calcutta
1822 Nov 19; 1823 Apr 25	Re opinion sought by Crittenden, Mackillop & Company of Calcutta, as to rate of exchange applying to a bill of exchange drawn by Frederick Goulburn on the Governor General of India, the subject of a Declaration & Protest by George Mackillop of that firm (Reel 6063; 4/1785 pp.18, 20)

MACKILLOP, G. Of Calcutta
1823 Feb 26	Re importations of wool and spirits (Reel 6056; 4/1764 pp.24-24a)

A break through
During my regular Google search for additional material about George Mackillop I located the British website - History of Parliament - which contained information about James Mackillop, George's brother who was a member of parliament for two years. - http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1820-1832/member/mackillop-james-1786-1870.
This website provided information that I had been searching for for many years - information about the parents of James and George.

Their father, John Mackillop, was a farmer at St Ninians. The Gazetteer for Scotland entry for St Ninians - http://www.scottish-places.info/towns/townhistory836.html - mentions that the area is involved in the woollen industry so he was probably a sheep farmer.

In 1781 John married Mary Downie, the daughter of Robert Downie 1735-1805. Robert was a farmer and a distiller. He married Margaret Morison (Morrison) in 1758 and they had a number of children including George (1762 - 1808) and Robert (1771-1841). Mary's brothers, Robert and George both went to India - George served in the East India Company army while Robert became a merchant initially working with Daniel Maitland but eventually at the company Downie, Cruttenden and Company. When he left India in 1811 the company became Cruttenden and Mackillop and Company with his two nephews taking over his role.  Robert Downie also became a member of parliament and much of the above information can be found on his page on the History of Parliament website -  http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1820-1832/member/downie-robert-1771-1841.

The above information not only allocates parents to George and James but also explains how they became involved in India as merchants through family connections.

Mention in the last online resource was also made of Robert Downie's uncle, John Downie of Authentie, which led to information about his son Sir John Downie (1777-1826) who served in the British Army in the West Indies and in the Peninsular Wars in Spain fought against the French.