Sir James Stirling, 1st Baronet

Sir James Stirling, 1st Baronet of Larbert and Mansfield (1739–1805) was a Scottish banker who served three consecutive terms as Lord Provost of Edinburgh.

Sir James Stirling, dressed as Lord Provost, with a view of Edinburgh Tolbooth behind
The grave of Sir James Stirling, Greyfriars Kirkyard

Life

He was born in 1740 or early in 1741, the son of Alexander Stirling, a cloth merchant in Edinburgh, and his wife Jane Muir, daughter of James Muir of Lochfield in Perthshire.

In early life he went to the West Indies as clerk to Archibald Stirling of Keir, a sugar plantation owner there (great-uncle of Sir William Stirling-Maxwell). Not long afterwards James was appointed, through Archibald's influence, as secretary to Sir John Dalling, the governor of Jamaica.[1]

Having acquired a fortune in the West Indies, Stirling returned to Edinburgh, and became partner in the banking house of Mansfield, Ramsay, & Co. On the town council of Edinburgh in 1771, he filled the office of treasurer in 1773–4, and served three consecutive terms as Lord Provost from 1790 to 1800 in total. For his conduct during the reform riots in 1792 he was on 17 July of that year created a baronet.

Stirling was unpopular, and the surgeon Alexander Wood was in danger of being thrown over the North Bridge on being mistaken for him.[2]

In his later life he lived at 69 Queen Street, an elegant townhouse in Edinburgh's First New Town[3] (now demolished).

He died on 17 February 1805.[1] He is buried in the western section of Greyfriars Kirkyard in Edinburgh against the eastern wall, with his parents and children.

Family

Stirling married Alison Mansfield, the daughter of James Mansfield, the senior partner in Mansfield, Ramsay, & Co, his employer.[4]

He left three sons and two daughters.

He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his eldest son, Gilbert Stirling, on whose death in 1843 the baronetcy became extinct.[1]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3  Lee, Sidney, ed. (1898). "Stirling, James (1740?-1805)". Dictionary of National Biography. 54. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  2. ↑  Lee, Sidney, ed. (1900). "Wood, Alexander (1725-1807)". Dictionary of National Biography. 62. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  3. ↑ Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory, 1800
  4. ↑ http://www.falkirkcommunitytrust.org/heritage/archives/finding-aids/docs/russel_aitken/40_-_Gilbert_Stirling.pdf

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Lee, Sidney, ed. (1898). "Stirling, James (1740?-1805)". Dictionary of National Biography. 54. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

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