Sir James Milles Riddell (sometimes shown as James Milne Riddell)

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 ...

DCL, 2nd Baronet of

Ardnamurchan Ardnamurchan (, gd, Àird nam Murchan: headland of the great seas) is a peninsula in the ward management area of Lochaber, Highland, Scotland, noted for being very unspoiled and undisturbed. Its remoteness is accentuated by the main access ...

and

Sunart Sunart ( , Scottish Gaelic: ''Suaineart'') is a rural district and community in the south west of Lochaber in Highland, Scotland, on the shores of Loch Sunart, and part of the civil parish of Ardnamurchan. The main village is Strontian, at the head ...

(1787–1861) was a 19th-century Scottish landowner and agricultural improver.

Life

He was born on 3 June 1787 the son of Thomas Riddell, and his wife, Margaretta Campbell. His grandfather Sir James Riddell, 1st Baronet of Ardnamurchan and Sunart outlived his father Thomas, and on James' death in 1797 James Milles Riddell became 2nd baronet at the age of ten. They lived at the family estate of

Strontian Strontian (; gd, Sròn an t-Sìthein) is the main village in Sunart, an area in western Lochaber, Highland, Scotland, on the A861 road. Prior to 1975 it was part of Argyllshire. It lies on the north shore of Loch Sunart, close to the head of the ...

in Argyleshire where in 1791

Thomas Charles Hope Thomas Charles Hope (21 July 1766 – 13 June 1844) was a British physician, chemist and lecturer. He proved the existence of the element strontium, and gave his name to Hope's Experiment, which shows that water reaches its maximum density at ...

first discovered

strontium Strontium is the chemical element with the symbol Sr and atomic number 38. An alkaline earth metal, strontium is a soft silver-white yellowish metallic element that is highly chemically reactive. The metal forms a dark oxide layer when it is ex ...

(originally called strontianite, in recognition of its finding place). He studied at

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

. In 1820 he had a townhouse in Edinburgh's Second New Town at 30 Abercromby Place. In 1821 he was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 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 ...

, his proposer being

. In 1828 the

clachan A clachan ( ga, clochán or ; gd, clachan ; gv, claghan ) is a small settlement or hamlet on the island of Ireland, the Isle of Man and Scotland. Though many were originally kirktowns,MacBain, A. (1911) ''An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaeli ...

s (tied villages) of Bourblaige and Tornamona were, on the instructions of Sir James Milles Riddell, brutally cleared. "In one case a half-witted woman was locked in her cottage, the door being barricaded on the outside by mason-work. ... The laird's men shot the dogs, shot the goats, drove away the cows, then they took the roofs off. It was in the wintertime that they did it. Ploughs were put through the potato pits so that they would spoil in the frost." He died in Edinburgh on 28 September 1861 and is buried in St John's Churchyard at the west end of

Princes Street Princes Street ( gd, Sràid nam Prionnsan) is one of the major thoroughfares in central Edinburgh, Scotland and the main shopping street in the capital. It is the southernmost street of Edinburgh's New Town, stretching around 1.2 km (three ...

. The grave lies in the north-west corner of the enclosure attached to the east end of the church.

Family

In 1822 he married Mary Brooke, daughter of Sir Richard Brooke, 5th Baronet. They had one daughter, Mary Augusta Riddell (died 1879). On his death the baronetcy passed to Thomas Miles Riddell, a cousin.

Artistic Recognition

His portrait by Joseph Slater, Jr. was later engraved by

Frederick Christian Lewis Frederick Christian Lewis (1779–1856) was an English etcher, aquatint and stipple engraver, landscape and portrait painter and the brother of Charles Lewis (1786–1836). Life He studied under J. C. Stadler and in the schools of the Royal ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Riddell, James Milles 1787 births 1861 deaths 19th-century Scottish landowners Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Baronets in the Baronetage of Great Britain 19th-century British businesspeople Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford