James Stuart-Mackenzie

James Stuart-Mackenzie PC FRSE FSA (30 October 1718 – 8 April 1800) was a Scottish politician and joint founder of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1783. The second son of James Stuart, 2nd Earl of Bute, he served as Member of Parliament for various Scottish constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1742 to 1780. Stuart-Mackenzie was the British Minister at Turin from 1758 to 1761. He was made a Privy Councillor in 1761, and served as Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland from 1763 to 1765, and again from the following year until his death in 1800.

The Honourable
James Stuart-Mackenzie
PC FRSE FSA
Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland
In office
1766–1800
Preceded byThe Earl of Breadalbane and Holland
Succeeded byThe Viscount Melville
In office
1763–1765
Preceded byThe Duke of Atholl
Succeeded byLord Frederick Campbell
British Minister at Turin
In office
1758–1761
Preceded byThe Earl of Bristol
Succeeded byThe Lord Rivers
Parliamentary offices
Member of Parliament
for Ross-shire
In office
1761–1780
Preceded byThe Lord Fortrose
Succeeded byThe Lord MacLeod
Member of Parliament
for Ayr Burghs
In office
1754–1761
Preceded bySir Henry Erskine
Succeeded byLord Frederick Campbell
Member of Parliament
for Buteshire
In office
1747–1754
Preceded byPatrick Campbell
Succeeded byJames Stuart
Member of Parliament
for Argyllshire
In office
1742–1747
Preceded byCharles Campbell
Succeeded bySir Duncan Campbell of Lochnell
Personal details
Born
James Stuart

(1718-10-30)30 October 1718
Rothesay, Isle of Bute, Scotland
Died8 April 1800(1800-04-08) (aged 81)
London, England
Spouse
Lady Elizabeth Campbell
​
​
(m. 1749; died 1799)​
Parent(s)James Stuart, 2nd Earl of Bute
Lady Anne Campbell
Alma materUniversity of Leiden
Eton College

Life

Born James Stuart, he was a younger son of James Stuart, 2nd Earl of Bute, and his wife Lady Anne Campbell, daughter of Archibald Campbell, 1st Duke of Argyll. Prime Minister John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, was his elder brother.

He was educated at Eton College 1728 to 1732 then travelled to Europe to study at the University of Leyden where he graduated in 1737.[1]

He inherited the Rosehaugh estates near Avoch in Ross-shire through his paternal grandmother Agnes Mackenzie and assumed the additional surname of Mackenzie. He was returned to Parliament for Buteshire in 1747, a seat he held until 1754, and then represented Ross-shire from 1761 to 1780. In 1761 he was sworn of the Privy Council. In 1763 he became Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland until 1765 and then again in 1766 until his death.

In 1752 Hon. James Stewart Mackenzie sold Rosehaugh and bought from Sir Thomas and William Nairn the ecclesiastical lands of Kirkhill in Meigle, which belonged to the Holy Trinity of Dunkeld, and upon the site of the former Castle, which had been used as a grange for the Churchmen, he erected Belmont Castle, at a cost of £10,000.[2]

He was a very studious man and a great astronomer. A telescope, purportedly specially made for him, is in the Robert Whipple Collection at the University of Cambridge.[3] He was responsible for the building of the observatory on Kinpurnie Hill, then part of his estate. The observatory was designed by Alexander Bryce (1713 - 1786), Minister of Kirknewton and East Calder, but remained incomplete.

He died on 6 April 1800.

Family

Stuart-Mackenzie married his first cousin Lady Elizabeth Campbell,[4] daughter of John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll, in 1749. They had no surviving children. She died in July 1799. Stuart-Mackenzie survived her by less than a year and died in April 1800. According to a decision in 1803 his estates were passed on to his nephew James Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie.

He was brother-in-law to Robert Bruce, Lord Kennet.[5]

Notes
  1. Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
  2. "Our Meigle Book." (Dundee:William Kidd & Sons,1930),41.
  3. "Explore Whipple Collections - Two late 18th-century telescopes". Archived from the original on 12 November 2010. Retrieved 8 October 2010.
  4. William Anderson, The Scottish Nation or, the Surnames, Families, Literature, Honours, and Biographical History of the People of Scotland. (Edinburgh: Fullarton, 1877), I: 517.
  5. Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 11 July 2017.

References
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