James Stuart-Mackenzie
{{Short description|British politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2018}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific_prefix = The Honourable
|name = James Stuart-Mackenzie
|honorific_suffix = PC FRSE FSA
| office = Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland
| term_start = 1766
| term_end = 1800
| predecessor = The Earl of Breadalbane and Holland
| successor = The Viscount Melville
| term_start1 = 1763
| term_end1 = 1765
| predecessor1 = The Duke of Atholl
| successor1 = Lord Frederick Campbell
| office2 = British Minister at Turin
| term_start2 = 1758
| term_end2 = 1761
| predecessor2 = The Earl of Bristol
| successor2 = The Lord Rivers
| module = {{Collapsed infobox section begin|Parliamentary offices
|cont = yes
|titlestyle = border:1px dashed lightgrey}}{{Infobox officeholder
|embed = yes
| office3 = Member of Parliament
for Ross-shire
| term_start3 = 1761
| term_end3 = 1780
| predecessor3 = The Lord Fortrose
| successor3 = The Lord MacLeod
| office4 = Member of Parliament
for Ayr Burghs
| term_start4 = 1754
| term_end4 = 1761
| predecessor4 = Sir Henry Erskine
| successor4 = Lord Frederick Campbell
| office5 = Member of Parliament
for Buteshire
| term_start5 = 1747
| term_end5 = 1754
| predecessor5 = Patrick Campbell
| successor5 = James Stuart
| office6 = Member of Parliament
for Argyllshire
| term_start6 = 1742
| term_end6 = 1747
| predecessor6 = Charles Campbell
| successor6 = Sir Duncan Campbell of Lochnell
{{Collapsed infobox section end}}
|birth_name = James Stuart
|birth_date = {{birth date|1718|10|30|df=y}}
|birth_place = Rothesay, Isle of Bute, Scotland
|death_date = {{death date and age|1800|04|08|1718|10|30|df=y}}
|death_place = London, England
|spouse = {{marriage|Lady Elizabeth Campbell|1749|1799|end=d}}
|parents = James Stuart, 2nd Earl of Bute
Lady Anne Campbell
|alma_mater = University of Leiden
Eton College
}}
}}
James Stuart-Mackenzie (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 Great Britain 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.
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.{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|access-date=11 July 2017|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|url-status=dead}}
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."Our Meigle Book." (Dundee:William Kidd & Sons,1930),41.
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.{{Cite web |url=http://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/whipple/explore/astronomy/twotelescopes/ |title=Explore Whipple Collections - Two late 18th-century telescopes |access-date=8 October 2010 |archive-date=12 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101112174958/http://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/whipple/explore/astronomy/twotelescopes/ |url-status=dead }} 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,William Anderson, The Scottish Nation or, the Surnames, Families, Literature, Honours, and Biographical History of the People of Scotland. (Edinburgh: Fullarton, 1877), I: 517. 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.{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|access-date=11 July 2017|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|url-status=dead}}
Notes
{{Reflist|2}}
References
- {{Rayment-hc|date=March 2012}}
- {{cite web |last=Lundy |first=Darryl |url=http://www.thepeerage.com/info.htm |title=FAQ |publisher= The Peerage}}{{Unreliable source?|failed=y |date=February 2013}}
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{{s-par|gb}}
{{succession box | title = Member of Parliament for Argyllshire | years = 1742–1747 | before = Charles Campbell | after = Sir Duncan Campbell of Lochnell}}
{{succession box | title = Member of Parliament for Buteshire | years = 1747–1754 | before = Patrick Campbell
(to 1741) | after = James Stuart
(from 1761)}}
{{succession box | title = Member of Parliament for Ayr Burghs | years = 1754–1761 | before=Sir Henry Erskine | after = Lord Frederick Campbell}}
{{succession box | title = Member of Parliament for Ross-shire | years = 1761–1780 | before = Lord Fortrose | after = John Mackenzie}}
{{s-dip}}
{{succession box | before=The Earl of Bristol | title=British Minister at Turin | years=1758–1761 | after=George Pitt}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box | before=The Duke of Atholl | title=Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland | years=1763–1765 | after=Lord Frederick Campbell}}
{{succession box | before=The Earl of Breadalbane and Holland | title=Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland | years=1766–1800 | after=Henry Dundas}}
{{S-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stuart-Mackenzie, John}}
Category:People educated at Eton College
Category:Leiden University alumni
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Category:Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Scottish constituencies
Category:British MPs 1741–1747
Category:British MPs 1747–1754
Category:British MPs 1754–1761
Category:British MPs 1761–1768
Category:British MPs 1768–1774
Category:British MPs 1774–1780
Category:Members of the Privy Council of Great Britain