John Turnbull of Abbey St Bathans WS

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

(1820–1891) was a 19th-century Scottish lawyer, landowner, archaeologist and naturalist.

Life

John was born on 3 March 1820 at

Abbey St Bathans Abbey St Bathans ( gd, Abaid Bhaoithin) is a parish in the Lammermuir district of Berwickshire, in the eastern part of the Scottish Borders. Unique in its topography, it is situated in a long winding steep wooded valley that follows the Whitead ...

House in the

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders ( sco, the Mairches, 'the Marches'; gd, Crìochan na h-Alba) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lothi ...

, the son of Grace Brunton and her husband,

George Turnbull of Abbey St Bathans George Turnbull of Abbey St Bathans WS FRSE (1732–1855) was a 19th-century Scottish lawyer, landowner and agricultural improver. Life His father, originally referred to as John Turnbull of Duns, had purchased Abbey St Bathans House from Joh ...

. Around 1834 he was apprenticed as a lawyer in his father's office at 16 Thistle Street in Edinburgh's First New Town. He also undertook formal training in

Scots law Scots law () is the legal system of Scotland. It is a hybrid or mixed legal system containing civil law and common law elements, that traces its roots to a number of different historical sources. Together with English law and Northern Ireland l ...

at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

. In 1841, following in his father's footsteps, John qualified as a

Writer to the Signet The Society of Writers to His Majesty's Signet is a private society of Scottish solicitors, dating back to 1594 and part of the College of Justice. Writers to the Signet originally had special privileges in relation to the drawing up of document ...

and became a junior partner in his father's firm at Thistle Street, thereafter known as W & J Turnbull WS. He lived with his father at 49

George Square George Square ( gd, Ceàrnag Sheòrais) is the principal civic square in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It is one of six squares in the city centre, the others being Cathedral Square, St Andrew's Square, St Enoch Square, Royal Exchange Sq ...

in the South Side. Following his father's death in 1855 he inherited both the legal office and the houses at George Square and Abbey St Bathans. He remodelled the latter extensively. In the 1870s he was Convenor of the

Highland and Agricultural Society The Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland (RHASS) was founded in Edinburgh in 1784 as the Highland Society of Edinburgh. The Society had its root in 1723 when the Society of Improvers of the Knowledge of Agriculture in Scotland was ...

. He was also a member of the

Berwickshire Berwickshire ( gd, Siorrachd Bhearaig) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in south-eastern Scotland, on the English border. Berwickshire County Council existed from 1890 until 1975, when the area became part of th ...

Naturalists Club. He was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

in 1879. His proposers were

Thomas Stevenson Thomas Stevenson PRSE MInstCE FRSSA FSAScot (22 July 1818 – 8 May 1887) was a pioneering Scottish civil engineer, lighthouse designer and meteorologist, who designed over thirty lighthouses in and around Scotland, as well as the Stevenson sc ...

, David Smith, James Leslie and

Peter Guthrie Tait Peter Guthrie Tait FRSE (28 April 1831 – 4 July 1901) was a Scottish mathematical physicist and early pioneer in thermodynamics. He is best known for the mathematical physics textbook '' Treatise on Natural Philosophy'', which he co-wrote wi ...

. He died on 21 June 1891 and is buried with his parents at the churchyard of

. His house in George Square was demolished in the 1960s to allow expansion of the

Family

He was unmarried and had no children.

References

1820 births 1891 deaths People from the Scottish Borders Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Scottish lawyers Scottish naturalists Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh {{Scotland-bio-stub