Sir Samuel McClellan, MacClellan or McLellan (c. 1640–1709) was a Scottish cloth merchant and politician who 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 1708 to 1709. He served as

Lord Provost of Edinburgh The Right Honourable Lord Provost of Edinburgh is the convener of the City of Edinburgh local authority, who is elected by City_of_Edinburgh_Council, the city council and serves not only as the chair of that body, but as a figurehead for the e ...

from 1706 to 1708.

Early life

McClellan was descended from the McClellans of Raeberry Castle near Bomby in

Kirkcudbright Kirkcudbright ( ; sco, Kirkcoubrie; gd, Cille Chùithbeirt) is a town, parish and a Royal Burgh from 1455 in Kirkcudbrightshire, of which it is traditionally the county town, within Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. The town lies southwest of C ...

. He was the eldest son of Rev Patrick McClellan (died 1666) of Girthon near

and his wife Jean Primrose. He was apprenticed to Robert Douglas, an Edinburgh merchant, and after Douglas died in 1679, he was admitted as a burgess of

Edinburgh 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 ...

in his own right. MacClellan retained some interest during the 1670s in property in the stewartry (in 1676 he is recorded as owner of the Tannifad and Whinniehill farm estates) but he focused his attention on Edinburgh. In 1681, he invested £100 in the new cloth manufactory at the Newmills Cloth Manufactory at Amisfield Haddington, east of Edinburgh. With an employment force of 700, it was one of the largest factories in all Scotland. He and his partners secured a series of important contracts for military uniforms. In 1690 he received a lucrative contract for 647 military red coats from Alexander Gordon,

Viscount Kenmure Viscount of Kenmure was a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created by Charles I in 1633 for the prominent Presbyterian Sir John Gordon, 2nd Baronet. He was made Lord Lochinvar at the same time, also in the Peerage of Scotland. Both titles w ...

, replacing uniforms damaged in the

Battle of Killiecrankie The Battle of Killiecrankie ( gd, Blàr Choille Chnagaidh), also referred to as the Battle of Rinrory, took place on 27 July 1689 during the 1689 Scottish Jacobite rising. An outnumbered Jacobite force under John Graham, Viscount Dundee and S ...

Career

McLellan was treasurer to Kirk sessions at Edinburgh in 1690, and a merchant councillor from 1692 to 1693. He was baron bailie for Leith in 1693 and old bailie in 1695. By 1694, he married Marjorie Thomson. From 1696 to 1698, he was treasurer for the city. In 1696 he bought shares in the ill-fated

Company of Scotland The Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies, also called the Scottish Darien Company, was an overseas trading company created by an Act of the Parliament of Scotland in 1695. The Act granted the Company a monopoly of Scottish trade ...

, also buying £3000 on behalf of the City of Edinburgh probably in his capacity as City Treasurer.Green Galloway
/ref> However, despite investment he was not an official company member. In 1697 McLellan took over the stewart and justiciar, Orkney and Shetland, Stewartry of

Orkney Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...

, supplying goods to the island, and ensuring such supply from others. In 1702, he was old dean of guild and became a magistrate in 1704. He was dean of guild in 1705 and in 1706 was elected Lord Provost of Edinburgh in succession to Sir Patrick Johnston at

Michaelmas Michaelmas ( ; also known as the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, the Feast of the Archangels, or the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels) is a Christian festival observed in some Western liturgical calendars on 29 September, a ...

1706. Johnston rather than McClellan was the broker of the

Act of Union 1707 The Acts of Union ( gd, Achd an Aonaidh) were two Acts of Parliament: the Union with Scotland Act 1706 passed by the Parliament of England, and the Union with England Act 1707 passed by the Parliament of Scotland. They put into effect the te ...

, but McClellan, as a major investor in the

, received compensation for his losses in the company under the terms of agreement of the Act of Union. McLellan was burgess of Perth in 1708, and at the

1708 British general election The 1708 British general election was the first general election to be held after the Acts of Union had united the Parliaments of England and Scotland. The election saw the Whigs finally gain a majority in the House of Commons, and by November ...

, was returned as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

. He was given a detailed set of instructions from his constituents and was voted £300 for expenses in London. The convention of royal burghs also promised him £100 to promote their interests. At Michaelmas 1708, he was succeeded as Lord Provost by Johnston, who returned to office after a period of self-imposed exile. His record in Parliament does show much activity, and he did not meet any of his constituent's objectives, but he claimed an additional sum of £106 7s. 2d in expenses. He also looked after his own interests while in London. He gave financial inducements to Robert Walpole and

Sir David Dalrymple, 1st Baronet Sir David Dalrymple, 1st Baronet, of Hailes (1665 – 3 December 1721) was a Scottish advocate and politician who sat in the Parliament of Scotland from 1698 to 1707 and in the British House of Commons from 1707 to 1721. He served as Lord Advo ...

, to secure Scottish forage contracts.

Death and legacy

McLellan died on 22 September 1709 leaving three sons and four daughters. He was succeeded by his eldest son, James, who subsequently made an abortive bid for the barony of Kirkcudbright, claiming to be the nearest male heir to a peerage that had failed in its main line. He was father of P. MacLellan (Patrick?), who is noted as a donor to the Orphan Hospital in 1770. and was grandfather to William McClellan, 6th

Lord Kirkcudbright Lord Kirkcudbright was a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created for Sir Robert Maclellan of Bombie on a 1633 royal visit to Scotland by King Charles I of England. Maclellan had already been created a baronet of Nova Scotia in 1631. S ...

.Debrett's Peerage of Scotland His deals for forage contracts were censured in the report of the public accounts commissioners on 21 December 1711. The New Mills factory was auctioned in 1712 following his death. His brother Robert McClellan of Barmachagan fought at the

Battle of Rullion Green The Battle of Rullion Green took place on 28 November 1666, near the Pentland Hills, in Midlothian, Scotland. It was the only significant battle of the Pentland Rising, a brief revolt by Covenanter dissidents against the Scottish government. S ...

in 1666. After several years in hiding he returned as a Captain fighting at the

Battle of Drumclog The Battle of Drumclog was fought on 1 June 1679, between a group of Covenanters and the forces of John Graham of Claverhouse, at Drumclog, in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. The battle Following the assassination of Archbishop James Sharp on ...

and

Battle of Bothwell Brig A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

. He was banished from Scotland in 1685 and sent (as a punishment) to

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. Robert's son (Samuel's nephew) also Robert (died 1717) became a tobacco merchant trading between America and Glasgow.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McClellan, Samuel 1709 deaths Lord Provosts of Edinburgh Scottish politicians Scottish businesspeople Year of birth uncertain