This article uses original research throughout, based on archival research across the UK, North America and the West Indies. It uses the careers of two Ayrshire gentlemen to show how networks of influence and obligation connected Scottish emigre nationalists to land, wealth, family and position in England, Ireland, and the American colonies in a period of opportunity for Scots to exploit the settlements after the Glorious Revolution (1688) and the Act of Union (1707). It is a study of patriarchy, networks of masculinity and exploitation by race and gender.