Loyal servant's family windfall

BBC News 22/05/2006

A hunt has been launched for the descendants of an Edinburgh servant who have been offered a share of a £5m fortune.

James Cullen Colquhoun served in the prominent Dundas household in the 1800s before travelling with his master's son to Canada.
Robert Dundas secured a valuable collection of North American Indian artefacts which are to be auctioned.
The family now wants the faithful servant's family to profit.

Current owner Simon Carey, great-grandson of the Rev Robert Dundas, 77, said who lives in Hampstead, north London, told the Times newspaper: "It would be wonderful if we were able to find relatives of James Cullen Colquhoun. They were devoted family servants.

"I have been trying to find what happened to him. If there were any direct descendants, I would love to give money to them.

"I think £5,000 would be a bit mean, but perhaps we could offer tens of thousands of pounds."

Gold mine
Colquhoun was said to have served William Pitt Dundas, the Registrar-General for Scotland, before quitting the post and travelling to Canada at the same time as his master's son, Robert, in 1859.

He worked in a gold mine in British Colombia, and later set up a guesthouse with his wife on Vancouver Island.

He was said to have been penniless when he died in about 1868 in San Francisco.

Five years earlier, Robert Dundas had embarked on a trip to Metlakatla, a community of Tsimshian Indians near Prince Rupert.

There he bought more than 80 artefacts from a British naval officer, including a shaman's mask, a carved clan hat and decorated clubs used to kill human sacrifices.

They are set to reach up to £5m when they go on sale at Sotheby's in New York in October, according to the Times.