John Johnstone (East India Company) on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
John Johnstone (28 April 1734 – 10 December 1795) was a Scottish
The Johnstone family account says that he spent "about a ninth" of his money on the estates at Alva, Hanginghaw and Denovan, and "lived quietly" there until his election to Parliament.
However his letters to his brother William reveal that he continued to engage in speculation and stock manipulation.
Meanwhile, the directors of the East India Company moved to prosecute Johnstone for his actions.
His allies, led by George Dempster of Dunnichen, George Dempster, lobbied on his behalf and in his defence Johnstone published in 1766 ''"A letter to the proprietors of East-India stock"'', subtitled "Vindication of His Conduct in Receiving Presents from the Native Governments of India".
In May 1767, the General Court of the East India Company over-ruled its directors, and dropped all prosecutions against its former servants, and Johnstone walked free.
The following year, at the 1768 British general election, 1768 general election, Johnstone contested the Haslemere (UK Parliament constituency), parliamentary borough of Haslemere in Surrey, where he was defeated.
At the 1774 British general election, next election, in 1774 Johnstone used guile and money to win the seat of Dysart Burghs, which consisted of five burghs in the county of Fife: Kirkcaldy, Burntisland, Kinghorn, and Dysart, Fife, Dysart. The ''Caledonian Mercury'' reported on 2 November 1774 that Johnstone did not declare his interest until after the burghs had chosen their delegates, and caught the sitting MP James Townsend Oswald, James Oswald by surprise. Johnstone won the support of Dysart, and bribed the backing of Burntisland and Kinghorn delegates, winning the seat.
However, at the 1780 British general election, 1780 election Johnstone lost the support of Burntisland to his opponent Sir John Henderson, 5th Baronet, John Henderson, who won the seat on the casting vote of Kirkcaldy.
Johnstone died on 10 December 1795, aged 61, at home in Alva House,
which had been remodelled and expanded in 1789 to the designs of Robert Adam.
Adam's works also included a family mausoleum to house the remains of Johnstone and his wife Caroline in Alva churchyard.
His son James Raymond Johnstone (died 1830), had 8 children, of whom the eldest James Johnstone (1801–1888), James Johnstone (1801–1888) was MP for Clackmannanshire and Kinross-shire (UK Parliament constituency), Clackmannanshire and Kinross-shire.
Alva house remained in his family for over a century, and in 1890 it passed to his descendant Carolin Johnstone. She sold the surrounding estate to reduce her debts, but failed to clear them, and the house was abandoned by the 1920s. It was used for target practice during World War II, and left in ruins.
Portrait of John Johnstone, Betty Johnstone and Miss Wedderburn
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnstone, John 1734 births 1795 deaths Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Scottish constituencies British MPs 1774–1780 British East India Company people Younger sons of baronets Scottish landowners People from Clackmannanshire Paintings by Henry Raeburn
nabob
A nabob is a conspicuously wealthy man deriving his fortune in the east, especially in India during the 18th century with the privately held East India Company.
Etymology
''Nabob'' is an Anglo-Indian term that came to English from Urdu, poss ...
,
a corrupt official of the British East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
who returned home with great wealth. Described as "a shrewd and unscrupulous business man",
he survived several scandals and became a major landowner when he returned to Scotland in 1765.
Johnstone sat in the House of Commons of Great Britain
The House of Commons of Great Britain was the lower house of the Parliament of Great Britain between 1707 and 1801. In 1707, as a result of the Acts of Union of that year, it replaced the House of Commons of England and the third estate of th ...
from 1774 to 1780, having bribed his way to a victory in the Dysart Burghs.
Early life and family
Johnstone was born inEdinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
, the fifth son of Sir James Johnstone, 3rd Baronet
Sir James Johnstone, 3rd Baronet (9 February 1697 – 10 December 1772) was a Scottish baronet and politician. He sat in the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1743 to 1754.
Sir James was the son of Sir William Johnstone, 2nd Baronet. I ...
(1697–1772) and his wife, Barbara (died 1773), daughter of Alexander Murray, 4th Lord Elibank.
The Jacobite plotter Alexander Murray of Elibank
Alexander Murray of Elibank (9 December 1712 – 27 February 1778) was the fourth son of Alexander Murray, 4th Lord Elibank and brother of Patrick Murray, 5th Lord Elibank.Hugh Douglas, âMurray, Alexander, of Elibank, Jacobite earl of Westminste ...
was his uncle.
His brothers included the British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
officer and politician Sir James Johnstone, 4th Baronet
Sir James Johnstone, 4th Baronet (23 January 1726 – 3 September 1794)) was a Scottish officer in the British Army and then a politician. He sat in the House of Commons of Great Britain for all but one of the years 1784 to 1794.
Sir James was t ...
(1726–1794), the wealthy lawyer and politician William (later Sir William Pulteney, 5th Baronet
Sir William Pulteney, 5th Baronet (October 1729 – 30 May 1805), known as William Johnstone until 1767, was a Scottish advocate, landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1768 and 1805. He was reputedly the wealthiest ...
(1729–1805), and the politician and Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
officer George Johnstone (1730–1787).
Another brother, Patrick, died in the Black Hole of Calcutta
The Black Hole of Calcutta was a dungeon in Fort William, Calcutta, measuring , in which troops of Siraj-ud-Daulah, the Nawab of Bengal, held British prisoners of war on the night of 20 June 1756. John Zephaniah Holwell, one of the British p ...
.
In 1765 Johnstone married Elizabeth Caroline Keene, daughter of a Colonel Keene from Northamptonshire, and niece of the diplomat Sir Benjamin Keene. They had one son and daughter. His daughter, Ann Elizabeth (b. 1776, d. 1851) married James Gordon of Craig. His son, James Raymond Johnstone of Alva, married Cholmondeley (surname), Mary Elizabeth Cholmeley (b. c 1778, d. 9 Sep 1843).
The family became very powerful, and it was claimed that by the late 1750s they were "involved in every major event in the British Empire".
Career
India
Johnstone went to Bengal in 1751, as a British East India Company#Writers, writer for the East India Company. He was at Dacca in 1756 when conflict broke out and was taken prisoner. After his release, emboldened by the death of his brother Patrick, he volunteered to join the company's military forces under Robert Clive for the Battle of Plassey, and saw further military service before resuming civilian work in 1757. In about 1760 Johnstone was placed in charge of the company's affairs in Midnapore, and became a member of the Bengal Council. His success there led to a transfer in 1762 to Burdwan, where he developed private businesses which led to conflict with Henry Vansittart, the Governor of Bengal. This led to Johnstone being dismissed by the Company in early 1764, but the company's Court of Directors overturned the decision on 21 March 1764, and he was reinstated by May. Johnstone's former ally Robert Clive did not support Johnstone's return to his post, and when Clive succeeded Vansittart as governor in 1765 he began an inquiry into gifts totalling over £50,000 which Johnstone had secured from the new Nawab of Bengal, Najimuddin Ali Khan. In 1764, the Company had adopted new regulations which required its officers to sign a covenant that they would accept non-trivial gifts only with the prior approval of the directors. Clive forced the resignation of Johnstone, who sailed for Britain in October 1765 with a fortune estimated at £300,000 (equivalent to £ in ). Aged 31, Johnstone proceeded to buy estates in Scotland, first at Alva, Clackmannanshire, Alva in Stirlingshire, and later in Selkirkshire and Dumfriesshire.Scotland
The Johnstone family account says that he spent "about a ninth" of his money on the estates at Alva, Hanginghaw and Denovan, and "lived quietly" there until his election to Parliament.
However his letters to his brother William reveal that he continued to engage in speculation and stock manipulation.
Meanwhile, the directors of the East India Company moved to prosecute Johnstone for his actions.
His allies, led by George Dempster of Dunnichen, George Dempster, lobbied on his behalf and in his defence Johnstone published in 1766 ''"A letter to the proprietors of East-India stock"'', subtitled "Vindication of His Conduct in Receiving Presents from the Native Governments of India".
In May 1767, the General Court of the East India Company over-ruled its directors, and dropped all prosecutions against its former servants, and Johnstone walked free.
The following year, at the 1768 British general election, 1768 general election, Johnstone contested the Haslemere (UK Parliament constituency), parliamentary borough of Haslemere in Surrey, where he was defeated.
At the 1774 British general election, next election, in 1774 Johnstone used guile and money to win the seat of Dysart Burghs, which consisted of five burghs in the county of Fife: Kirkcaldy, Burntisland, Kinghorn, and Dysart, Fife, Dysart. The ''Caledonian Mercury'' reported on 2 November 1774 that Johnstone did not declare his interest until after the burghs had chosen their delegates, and caught the sitting MP James Townsend Oswald, James Oswald by surprise. Johnstone won the support of Dysart, and bribed the backing of Burntisland and Kinghorn delegates, winning the seat.
However, at the 1780 British general election, 1780 election Johnstone lost the support of Burntisland to his opponent Sir John Henderson, 5th Baronet, John Henderson, who won the seat on the casting vote of Kirkcaldy.
Death and legacy
Johnstone died on 10 December 1795, aged 61, at home in Alva House,
which had been remodelled and expanded in 1789 to the designs of Robert Adam.
Adam's works also included a family mausoleum to house the remains of Johnstone and his wife Caroline in Alva churchyard.
His son James Raymond Johnstone (died 1830), had 8 children, of whom the eldest James Johnstone (1801–1888), James Johnstone (1801–1888) was MP for Clackmannanshire and Kinross-shire (UK Parliament constituency), Clackmannanshire and Kinross-shire.
Alva house remained in his family for over a century, and in 1890 it passed to his descendant Carolin Johnstone. She sold the surrounding estate to reduce her debts, but failed to clear them, and the house was abandoned by the 1920s. It was used for target practice during World War II, and left in ruins.
References
Bibliography
*External links
Portrait of John Johnstone, Betty Johnstone and Miss Wedderburn
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnstone, John 1734 births 1795 deaths Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Scottish constituencies British MPs 1774–1780 British East India Company people Younger sons of baronets Scottish landowners People from Clackmannanshire Paintings by Henry Raeburn