James_Steuart_of_Coltness
James Steuart of Coltness
Scottish merchant, banker, landowner, politician and Covenanter
Sir James Steuart of Coltness (1608 – 31 March 1681) was a Scottish merchant, banker, landowner, politician and Covenanter.[1]
James Steuart of Coltness | |
|---|---|
Portrait of Steuart by David Scougall (c. 1658) | |
| Lord Provost of Edinburgh | |
| In office 1658–1659 | |
| Preceded by | Sir Andrew Ramsay, Lord Abbotshall |
| Succeeded by | Robert Murray |
| Commissioner for Edinburgh | |
| In office 1649–1650 | |
| Preceded by | Sir John Smyth |
| Succeeded by | Samuel Desborrow |
| Lord Provost of Edinburgh | |
| In office 1648–1649 | |
| Preceded by | Sir Archibald Tod |
| Succeeded by | Sir Archibald Tod |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1608 |
| Died | 31 March 1681 |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Spouses | Anne Hope
(m. 1630; died 1646)Marion McCulloch Elliott
(m. 1648) |
| Children | Sir James Steuart Sir Robert Steuart, Bt. |
| Parent(s) | James Steuart Marion Carmichael |
| Occupation | Merchant, banker, landowner, politician |
Steuart was the second son of Marion Carmichael and James Steuart (1575–1607), of Allanton, Lanarkshire, and was born posthumously.[2][3] Marion was sister of Sir James Carmichael, Justice General of Scotland.[4]
He was a merchant and banker in Edinburgh, acquired a large fortune, then acquired the estates of Kirkfield (from Sir John Somerville of Cambusnethan) and Coldness (from Sir John Hamilton of Edston), both in Lanarkshire, in 1653.[2]
He became a burgess of Edinburgh and guild member in 1631, apparently through his marriage to Thomas Hope's niece.[4]
Public office
Steuart served as Provost of Edinburgh from 1648 to 1652, Commissioner for Edinburgh to the Parliament of Scotland from 1649 to 1650, and Lord Provost again in 1659. For a period of time, he was the Collector of Excise and Accountant-General for the Scottish Army.[5]
His period of office as Provost included the decision to fortify the harbour of Leith and to create a new road between Edinburgh and Leith (later called Leith Walk.[4]
Scottish Restoration
At the Restoration (1660) he was dismissed from public roles due to his being a Covenanter. After confinement in Edinburgh Castle, Steuart was sent to Dundee as a prisoner. He was granted a pardon in 1670.[6]
In 1630, he married Anne Hope (d. 1646), daughter of Henry Hope and niece of Sir Thomas Hope of Craighall.[7] Together, they had:[8]
- Sir Thomas Steuart, 1st Baronet of Coltness (1631–1698)[9][10]
- Sir James Steuart of Goodtrees (1635–1713)[10]
- William Steuart (1640–1700)[3]
- Sir Robert Steuart, 1st Baronet of Allanbank (1643–1707)
- Marion Steuart (1645–1706), who married John Maxwell (1648–1732)[3]
In 1648, two years after Anne's death, Steuart married Marion McCulloch Elliott (d. 1690), widow of Sir John Elliott, and only daughter and heiress of David McCulloch, of Goodtrees.[10]
Sir James Steuart died on 31 March 1681.[10]
- Notes
- "Sir James Steuart of Coltness". collections.ed.ac.uk. University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
- "James Steuart [Stewart] b. 1608 d. 1681: MacFarlane Clan & Families Genealogy". clanmacfarlanegenealogy.info. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
- "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 March 2019. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - Taylor, W. L. (December 1957). "A Short Life of Sir James Steuart: Political Economist". The South African Journal of Economics. 25 (4): 290–302. doi:10.1111/j.1813-6982.1957.tb02850.x.
- Anderson, William (1863). The Scottish Nation: Or The Surnames, Families, Literature, Honours, and Biographical History of the People of Scotland, Volume 3. p. 509.
- Matthew H.C.G., editor, Dictionary of National Biography on CD-ROM (Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 1995). Hereinafter cited as Dictionary of National Biography.
- "Person Page - Sir James Steuart of Coltness". thepeerage.com. The Peerage. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
- "University of Edinburgh Archive and Manuscript Collections | Special Collections | Coltness Papers". archives.collections.ed.ac.uk. University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
- Calderwood, Margaret Steuart (1884). Letters and Journals of Mrs. Calderwood of Polton: From England, Holland and the Low Countries in 1756. D. Douglas. p. 379. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
James Steuart of Coltness (1608–1681).
- Sources
- Joseph Foster, Members of Parliament, Scotland (London and Aylesbury, 1882), p. 326