DOWN MEMORY LANE: When 'jobs for the boys' saw the public robbed of land under rogue Provost Phineas Mackintosh
One hundred and thirty years ago Phineas Mackintosh stepped down as Provost of Inverness on completion of his fourth term of office, during which time he had enriched himself to acquire land at the expense of the burgh.
Local people suspected but didn’t realise this rogue Provost, aided by fellow councillors, was on the make and it wasn’t until half a century later that a national investigation would flag up one of Phineas’s fiddles.
His parents had been unfortunate to lose several offspring in childhood. When the next was about to be born in 1725 they opted to open the Bible at random and the name Phineas was there. The child which took the name proved a survivor in more ways than one.
He gazes down haughtily on today’s elected reps from George Harrison Park’s portrait in which he is seated and clutching his silver-handled stick.
Phineas was elected Provost for the first time in 1770, stepping down after his three-year term to be replaced by William Chisholm, only to reappear in 1776 before it was again Chisholm’s turn in 1779.
Phineas was back in 1782, succeeded again by Mackintosh before he returned to the top job once more in 1788.
This “Buggins Turn” approach enabled the few to control power in council chambers throughout the country, with public land being left at their mercy as one favour begat another.
The town lands of Drumdevan (hence today’s Drumdevan Road and Drumdevan Place) were in Common Good ownership, but in 1783 the Inverness magistrates sold them to Phineas without anyone else being able to make an offer. It was to prove, literally, a steal.
This became his Drummond estate, including today’s Drummond Road. Mackintosh had already built a Georgian mansion, Old Drummond House in the late 1770s. It stands in Oak Avenue and is now apartments.
He now described himself as Phineas Mackintosh of Drummond.
In 1796 public land at Campfield, along the Ness side and adjoining Drummond estate, was also disposed of. This area, named from being where militia trained, encompassed the ground between Stratherrick Brae and the river and was described as “barren” in council minutes.
This was far from the truth, but it enabled Phineas to acquire the land at a relative pittance. A higher offer had come forward, but was rejected by his friends in the council chamber.
The pilfering Provost was not alone in such shenanigans, which became such a talking point that parliament engaged a select committee which found that councils were “exclusive”, with vacancies seldom occurring and not being filled by well-qualified councillors.
This resulted in a Royal Commission on Municipal Corporations in Scotland which produced damning evidence and recommendations for change. As a key example of abuse, it cited Inverness Town Council’s disposal of Drummond.
Scottish local government was shaken up with the Reform Act, which saw the total number of voters in Scotland rocket upwards from only 4500 to 64,500.
Inverness Town Council was extended from one ward to three. Reform candidates won the seats and used their power to open council meetings to the public, a real shock for the old guard.
Councils are very different nowadays. The scrutiny is far greater than when Provost Phineas was allowed to fill his boots with wealth which should have belonged to the local people.
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