On the trail of the Silver King – the Scot who made a mint
Graves in a Bolivian city revive the tale of Andrew Penny, a whaler who jumped ship to seek his fortune, writes Alison Campsie
The long-forgotten graves of three Scots silver and tin miners have been found in an abandoned foreigner’s cemetery in Bolivia.
Dr Stewart Redwood, a geologist originally from Stirlingshire but now of La Paz, discovered the graves in the windswept and treeless mining city of Oruro, which sits high on a desert plateau of the Bolivian Andes.
Here lie the graves of several Scots linked to Andrew Penny, from Birse, Aberdeenshire, who left Scotland in 1852 on a whaling boat bound for the southern ocean.
He jumped ship at Arica in Peru – now Chile – and made his way to Bolivia on foot where he was to make a vast fortune from silver mining.
Mr Penny married a Bolivian woman, Anna Maria Galindo, and later bought a share in the San José mine in Oruro, eventually taking over the entire business. He became known as the Silver King, with several of his family members also prospering from the precious metals found deep in the Andes.
In the graveyard is the burial spot of Mr Penny’s nephew, also Andrew, originally from New Leeds in Aberdeenshire, which is marked by a Celtic Cross. Mr Penny’s adopted son, Mariano Mackenzie Penny, who was abandoned by his father, a miner from Perthshire, also lies here.
The grave of Mr Penny snr’s sonin-law, Andrew Kirk Philp, a mine manager originally from Lochgelly in Fife, can also be found.
Dr Redwood set about finding the graves because of his long-standing interest in the story of the Penny family.
After several previous attempts, Dr Redwood was finally given
access to the padlocked cemetery in Oruro. He said: “The foreigners’ graveyard is abandoned, overgrown with weeds and unkempt.
“Most of the adobe-built niches have collapsed exposing coffins, clothing, skulls and bones, and many of the plaques have been stolen and graves vandalised. However, I was pleased to find that the grave stones were in good condition.”
Dr Redwood said the search for the gravestone of Andrew Penny snr continues. He died suddenly in 1890 in the town of Huanchaca – now a ghost town – with it being presumed that he was laid to rest somewhere there.
News of Mr Penny’s death was widely reported at the time, with the Aberdeen People’s Journal noting that Mr Penny worked first as a gardener at Ballogie House near Aboyne, before joining a couple of whaling voyages to Greenland.
After arriving in Bolivia, it was 30 years before Mr Penny would set foot back in Scotland again, with those who knew him presuming he was dead.
“He had been given up as dead and his friends and acquaintances did not recognise him – indeed they could scarcely believe that he was the man he had known,” the report said.
Mr Penny was remembered for his generosity, supporting the poor of his Aberdeenshire parish, but was not showy with his wealth.
“He was called the Silver King but he steadily and carefully avoided ostentatious displays and evinced most happiness and enjoyment in the companionship of those he had known in his early days,” the report added.
At the time of his death, Mr Penny was preparing to return home to Aberdeenshire, where he had recently bought the Park House and estate in Drumoak Parish for £48,000 – around £6.1m at today’s value.
His tenants were preparing a big welcome home party, but instead received the news that their landlord and friend had died. While the grave of Andrew Penny snr has yet to be found, there is a lasting memorial to him in Oruro.
The Penny Home for Girls orphanage was set up by his wife in his memory and opened in 1900. It is still going strong today.