sentences:  When he was 18 years old he commenced his business life, trading in wine and tea from premises in the High Street.In 1787 he married Maria Malcolm and in 1788 their only son, William Fettes (1788-1815) was born.His life covered a period of economic expansion in Scotland and, at the commencement of the Napoleonic Wars, he was ideally placed to establish connections with Durham, Leeds and Newcastle becoming an underwriter, a military contractor and, in 1800, a director of the British Linen Bank.