John Clerk (merchant)
{{Short description|Scottish merchant}}
{{for|the 18th-century John Clerk of Penicuik|Sir John Clerk, 2nd Baronet}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
John Clerk of Penicuik (1611–1674) was a Scottish merchant noted for maintaining a comprehensive archive of family papers, now held by the National Archives of Scotland and the National Library of Scotland.{{cite book|last1=Roding|first1=Juliette|last2=Heerma van Voss|first2=Lex|title=The North Sea and culture (1550-1800): proceedings of the international conference held at Leiden 21–22 April 1995|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XeDxJ0g5AokC&q=John+Clerk+%281611%E2%80%931674%29&pg=PA303|year=1996|publisher=Uitgeverij Verloren|isbn=978-90-6550-527-9|page=303}}
Background
Born in Montrose, he was the son of merchant William Clerk (d.1620), and was baptised by Alexander Forbes, the Bishop of Caithness, at Fettercairn on 22 December 1611.
He was a person of great ability and of an enterprising commercial spirit. He settled in Paris in 1634, and, in a few years, acquired а very considerable fortune. Collaborating with Robert Inglis, he became the main or sole factor for Edinburgh merchants in Paris.James J. Brown, "Merchant Princes and Mercantile Investment", Michael Lynch, The Early Modern Town in Scotland (Croom Helm, 1987), pp. 136–137. Returning to Scotland in 1646, he purchased the lands (see Penicuik Policies) and barony of Penicuik, in Midlothian, which have ever since continued to be the residence and title of this family.{{cite book |author=Burke, John |year=1832 |title=A General and heraldic dictionary of the peerage and baronetage of the British Empire |volume=I |publisher=H. Colburn and R. Bentley |page=257 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cq8KAAAAYAAJ&q=John+Clerk+of+Pennycuick+parliamentarian&pg=PA257 |authorlink=John Burke (genealogist) }}{{cite web |url=http://www.penicuikhouse.co.uk/history.aspx |title=The Clerk Family |work=Penicuik House Project |publisher=Penicuik House Preservation Trust |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090831074652/http://www.penicuikhouse.co.uk/history.aspx |archivedate=2009-08-31 }}
International exchange
Clerk bought paintings in Paris, some from the collections of Cardinal Richelieu, and sold them to William Kerr, 3rd Earl of Lothian. The Earl of Moray was another of Clerk's customers.Siobhan Talbott, 'Beyond 'the antiseptic realm of theoretical economic models', new perspectives on Franco-Scottish commerce', Journal of Scottish Historical Research, 31:2 (2011), p. 165: J. Lloyd Williams, 'The import of art: the taste for northern European goods in Scotland in the seventeenth century', in J. Roding & L. van Voss, North Sea and Culture 1550-1800 (Amsterdam, 1996), pp. 298-323: Siobhan Talbott, 'British commercial interests on the French Atlantic coast, c.1560–1713', Historical Research, 85:229, (2012), p. 394: R. Wenley, 'William Third Earl of Lothian, Covenanter and Collector', Journal of the History of Collections, 5:1 (1993), pp. 23-41. Making international transfers of money for clients by bills of exchange depended on a network of merchant contacts, including John Jousie and Robert Inglis based in London.Siobhan Talbott, 'Letter-Book of John Clerk of Penicuik', Miscellany of the Scottish History Society, XIV (Boydell, 2013), pp. 5, 20–21, 24–5.
Newbiggin House at Penicuik
Clerk made his home at Newbiggin House at Penicuik, a fortified house built or rebuilt by John Preston of Fentonbarns which near stood the site of Penicuik House. Clerk extended the old house with the advice of a mason John Thomson. He had a new oven built using two cart loads of specially selected tufa stone from North Berwick.J. R. D. Falconer, General Account Book of John Clerk of Penicuik, 1663-1674 (Edinburgh: Scottish History Society, 2021), pp. 133, 138. The same stone had been used for ovens at Holyroodhouse in the 16th century.John G. Dunbar, Scottish Royal Palaces (Tuckwell: East Linton, 1999), p. 187: Henry Paton, Accounts of the Masters of Work, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1957), pp. lii, 72, 100. A carpenter, James Sandelands, made drawers for his pine wardrobe and picture frames.J. R. D. Falconer, General Account Book of John Clerk of Penicuik, 1663-1674 (Edinburgh: Scottish History Society, 2021), pp. 93, 100. Some carnation striped Worsted wool wall hangings for the house were woven in the Canongate by James Crommie.J. R. D. Falconer, General Account Book of John Clerk of Penicuik, 1663-1674 (Edinburgh: Scottish History Society, 2021), p. 117. Clerk criticised Willie Gray, who slated the roof of Newbiggin for him in 1658, as "a deceiving cobbling knave". Clerk built a new dovecote at Newbiggin in April 1672. He paid Thomas Cosh to fetch and feed doves from nearby landowners, from Clerk's small dovecot in the gable end of the stable, and from the nesting holes built in the main house.J. R. D. Falconer, General Account Book of John Clerk of Penicuik, 1663-1674 (Edinburgh: Scottish History Society, 2021), pp. 449-50.
Nails for his building projects were supplied by two "nail wives", Elspeth and Isobell Fermer. Clerk bought plum and ash trees from Matthew Mitchell in Dalkeith for the garden and orchards of Newbiggin. He employed a shoe maker or "cordiner", Thomas Robb, who would stay at Newbiggin and make shoes for the family. Clerk recorded in his account book in 1670 that he paid Robb "too much, he being but a faking rascal".J. R. D. Falconer, General Account Book of John Clerk of Penicuik, 1663-1674 (Edinburgh: Scottish History Society, 2021), pp. 10-12, 329, 353.
Clerk attended the weddings of his servants at the kirk of Penicuik, and recorded expenses he paid towards the food and entertainment "at the brydell" for himself and other members of the family and household. On 21 June 1672 Jennet Lourie married George Pennycooke and Clerk contributed 12 shillings each for Luckie, Helen Gray, Helen Clark, and Nans Clerk.J. R. D. Falconer, General Account Book of John Clerk of Penicuik, 1663-1674 (Edinburgh: Scottish History Society, 2021), p. 457.
Marriages and family
In 1647 Clerk married Mary Gray,Siobhan Talbott, 'Letter-Book of John Clerk of Penicuik', Miscellany of the Scottish History Society, XV, (Woodbridge, 2014), p. 11. fourth daughter of Sir William Gray{{Cite web |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/146497063.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2019-02-28 |archive-date=2019-03-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190301014500/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/146497063.pdf |url-status=dead }} of Pittendrum (brother-in-law to John Smith of Grothill), by whom he had five sons and five daughters. She had a study at Newbiggin and kept a household account book, but this does not survive.J. R. D. Falconer, General Account Book of John Clerk of Penicuik, 1663-1674 (Edinburgh: Scottish History Society, 2021), pp. 7, 232. By this marriage the Clerk family inherited the "Penicuik Jewels" which are thought to have belonged to Geillis Mowbray, a companion of Mary, Queen of Scots.Walter Seton, [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89099964603&view=1up&seq=39 The Penicuik jewels of Mary Queen of Scots (Edinburgh, 1923), p. 29]
On 27 January 1670 John Clerk married his second wife, Elizabeth Johnston, at Edinburgh's Trinity College Kirk.J. R. D. Falconer, General Account Book of John Clerk of Penicuik, 1663-1674 (Edinburgh: Scottish History Society, 2021), p. 313.
On his death in 1674 he was succeeded by his eldest son, Sir John Clerk, 1st Baronet.
See also
References
{{reflist}}
;Attribution
- {{source-attribution|"A General and heraldic dictionary of the peerage and baronetage of the British Empire" by John Burke}}
External links
- [https://vanishedcomforts.wordpress.com/2018/11/13/john-clerk-and-his-edinburgh-retail-showroom-1649/ Description of John Clerk's salesmanship in 1649 and retail stock in Edinburgh]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clerk, John}}
Category:17th-century Scottish people
Category:People from Midlothian