Alexander Allan (ship owner)

Captain Alexander Allan , was the Scottish sea captain and businessman who founded the Allan Shipping Line in 1819. Rising from shoemaker to shipping magnate in little more than thirty years, Allan retired in 1839 having made a fortune and created a transatlantic dynasty. He is recognised as one of the major contributors to Scotlands commercial interests in the early 19th century, and to the establishment of the Firth of Clyde as an international centre of shipping. During the Napoleonic Wars his brig, Jean so named for his wife held the record for the fastest crossing between the Firth of Clyde and Quebec City. Under his five sons, the Allan Line became the worlds largest privately owned shipping empire.

Sandy Allan was born at Fairlie, North Ayrshire, the third son of James Allan a cheerful and wellrespected carpenter on the Fairlie House estate and his wife Jean Brown , daughter of Gilbert Brown . His mother was the younger sister of Agnes Burns, the mother of Sandys famous first cousin, the Scottish bard, Robert Burns, whose family also worked on the Fairlie estate. In the summer of 1786, Robert Burns stayed with the Allans at their cottage while avoiding a writ from James Armour in consequence of his relationship with Jean Armour.

Source: Wikipedia