Sir William Pulteney, 5th Baronet (October 1729 – 30 May 1805), known as William Johnstone until 1767, was a Scottish

advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. Different countries' legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a barrister or a solicitor. However, ...

, landowner and politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

between 1768 and 1805. He was reputedly the wealthiest man in Great Britain. He profited from slave plantations in North America, and invested in building developments in Great Britain, including the

Pulteney Bridge Pulteney Bridge is a bridge over the River Avon (Bristol), River Avon in Bath, Somerset, Bath, England. It was completed by 1774, and connected the city with the land of the Pulteney family which it wished to develop. Designed by Robert Adam in ...

and other buildings in Bath, buildings on the sea-front at Weymouth in

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

, and roads in his native Scotland. He was a patron of architect

Robert Adam Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his o ...

and civil engineer

Thomas Telford Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE, (9 August 1757 – 2 September 1834) was a Scottish civil engineer. After establishing himself as an engineer of road and canal projects in Shropshire, he designed numerous infrastructure projects in his native Scotla ...

Early life

William Johnstone, as he was born, was the second 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 ...

of Wester Hall,

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from the ...

, and his wife Barbara Murray, the oldest sister of the literary patron

Patrick Murray, 5th Lord Elibank Patrick Murray, 5th Lord Elibank (1703–1778) was a Scottish soldier, lawyer, author and economist. Life He was the son of Alexander Murray, 4th Lord Elibank (1677-1736), and his wife Elizabeth (née Stirling; died 1756), daughter of George St ...

. His older brother was the soldier 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 ...

. His younger brothers included the politician and naval officer George Johnstone and the

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 ...

official John Johnstone.

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, �Murray, Alexander, of Elibank, Jacobite earl of Westminste ...

, a Jacobite, was his uncle. He studied law, became a member of the

Faculty of Advocates The Faculty of Advocates is an independent body of lawyers who have been admitted to practise as advocates before the courts of Scotland, especially the Court of Session and the High Court of Justiciary. The Faculty of Advocates is a constit ...

in 1751, and went on to become an eminent advocate. He lived in Edinburgh and associated with several major figures of the country's learned society, including philosopher and historian

David Hume David Hume (; born David Home; 7 May 1711 NS (26 April 1711 OS) – 25 August 1776) Cranston, Maurice, and Thomas Edmund Jessop. 2020 999br>David Hume" ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 18 May 2020. was a Scottish Enlightenment philo ...

, political philosopher and economist

Adam Smith Adam Smith (baptized 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish economist and philosopher who was a pioneer in the thinking of political economy and key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. Seen by some as "The Father of Economics"——— ...

, and architect

. He was a brother of Commodore George Johnstone and first cousin of

Patrick Ferguson Patrick Ferguson (1744 – 7 October 1780) was a Scottish officer in the British Army, an early advocate of light infantry and the designer of the Ferguson rifle. He is best known for his service in the 1780 military campaign of Charles C ...

Marriage and name change

On 10 November 1760, he married heiress Frances Pulteney. Frances was the third daughter of MP and government official Daniel Pulteney and first cousin once removed of

William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath, (22 March 16847 July 1764) was a British Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1707 to 1742, when he was created the first Earl of Bath by King George II. Bath is sometimes stated to have be ...

. She inherited William’s substantial fortune and estates close to Bath in

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

after his death in 1764 and that of his

younger brother Younger Brother is an electronic duo formed in 2003 by Simon Posford and Benji Vaughan. Their debut album '' A Flock of Bleeps'' was released in 2003, followed by '' The Last Days of Gravity'' in 2007 and ''Vaccine'' in 2011. After making a ...

and heir in 1767. On inheriting, Johnstone changed his name in 1767 to Pulteney. Simultaneously, his daughter’s name was also changed from Henrietta Laura Johnstone to Henrietta Laura Pulteney.

Pulteney Bridge

At that time Bath was expanding, but the Pulteneys' rural

Bathwick Bathwick is an electoral ward in the City of Bath, England, on the opposite bank of the River Avon to the historic city centre. Bathwick was part of the hundred of Bath Forum. The district became part of the Bath urban area with the 18th centu ...

estate was separated from the city by the River Avon, and with no bridge in place the only means of crossing the river was via a small ferry. They decided a bridge needed to be built, and Pulteney turned to his friend and fellow countryman, architect Robert Adam. Adam was influenced by his travels to

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

and

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

and proposed a bridge incorporating shops along both sides. This was completed in 1773, but the Pulteneys' original plans for Bath's expansion did not take effect until 1788 when Bath architect Thomas Baldwin started to create a new estate. As well as the bridge bearing their name, the Pulteneys' involvement is recalled by

Great Pulteney Street Great Pulteney Street is a grand thoroughfare that connects Bathwick on the east of the River Avon with the City of Bath, England via the Robert Adam designed Pulteney Bridge. Viewed from the city side of the bridge the road leads directly to t ...

in Bathwick, reputed to be the longest boulevard of its kind in Europe, while Henrietta Street was named after their daughter.

Parliamentarian

Pulteney represented

Cromarty Cromarty (; gd, Cromba, ) is a town, civil parish and former royal burgh in Ross and Cromarty, in the Highland area of Scotland. Situated at the tip of the Black Isle on the southern shore of the mouth of Cromarty Firth, it is seaward from ...

and later

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

, where he usually resided, in seven successive Parliaments. He first but unsuccessfully contested the Shrewsbury seat in 1768, but subsequently won the seat for Cromarty (losing this to Cosmo Gordon in 1774). In 1774, he again contested Shrewsbury, and although he was defeated, he was returned on petition the following March (and retained the seat until his death in May 1805). On 1 June 1782, his wife Frances died, leaving him her fortune.

Land speculation in North America

In July 1770

Alexander Fordyce Alexander Fordyce (7 August 1729-8 September 1789) was an eminent Scottish banker, centrally involved in the bank run on Neale, James, Fordyce and Downe which led to the credit crisis of 1772. He used the profits from other investments to c ...

collaborated with two planters John and William Macintosh on

Grenada Grenada ( ; Grenadian Creole French: ) is an island country in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea at the southern end of the Grenadines island chain. Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands, Carriacou and Pe ...

and borrowed 240,000 guilders in bearer bonds from Hope & Co. Also William Pulteney, Samuel Hoare (1716–1796) and John Harman were involved. Pulteney invested in plantations in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

and in land what is today western

New York state New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

. The settlements of Bath, Pulteney,

Henrietta Henrietta may refer to: * Henrietta (given name), a feminine given name, derived from the male name Henry Places * Henrietta Island in the Arctic Ocean * Henrietta, Mauritius * Henrietta, Tasmania, a locality in Australia United States * Henrie ...

and Caledonia are evidence of his speculation at the end of the 18th century, through '

The Pulteney Association The Pulteney Association was a small group of British investors who in 1792 purchased a large portion of the Western New York land tract known as the Phelps and Gorham Purchase. The Pulteney Associates were Sir William Pulteney, 5th Baronet (1729� ...

' an agency run by his agent Charles Williamson.

Patron of Thomas Telford

In 1783, Pulteney began working with

, later the most eminent civil engineer of his day. When Pulteney first met him, Telford was a young stonemason from the same parish of

Westerkirk Langholm , also known colloquially as the "Muckle Toon", is a burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, southern Scotland. Langholm lies between four hills in the valley of the River Esk in the Southern Uplands. Location and geography Langholm sits no ...

, who had travelled to London to seek work. In 1787, Pulteney commissioned Telford to supervise restoration works at

Shrewsbury Castle Shrewsbury Castle is a red sandstone castle in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. It stands on a hill in the neck of the meander of the River Severn on which the town originally developed. The castle, directly above Shrewsbury railway station, is ...

, following

's designsGareth Williams, The Hidden Hand of Genius; Robert Adam & The Pulteney Estate in Shropshire, in Georgian Group Journal vol. XXIV pp.65-80 and helped his appointment as Surveyor of Public Works for

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

. Later, as Governor of the British Fisheries Society, Pulteney appointed Telford to design the world’s then-largest

herring Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae. Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, i ...

fishing port, at

Wick Wick most often refers to: * Capillary action ("wicking") ** Candle wick, the cord used in a candle or oil lamp ** Solder wick, a copper-braided wire used to desolder electronic contacts Wick or WICK may also refer to: Places and placename ...

Caithness Caithness ( gd, Gallaibh ; sco, Caitnes; non, Katanes) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. Caithness has a land boundary with the historic county of Sutherland to the west and is otherwise bounded by ...

. The village was named

Pulteneytown Wick ( gd, Inbhir Ùige (IPA: �inivɪɾʲˈuːkʲə, sco, Week) is a town and royal burgh in Caithness, in the far north of Scotland. The town straddles the River Wick and extends along both sides of Wick Bay. "Wick Locality" had a population of ...

and is the location of the '' Old Pulteney'' whisky distillery. Pulteney was also influential in Telford's 1801 appointment to devise a master plan to improve communications in the

Highlands of Scotland The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Sco ...

, a massive project that was to last 20 years. Pulteney also took a lively interest in many other engineering projects, including that of

Bell Rock lighthouse The Bell Rock Lighthouse, off the coast of Angus, Scotland, is the world's oldest surviving sea-washed lighthouse. It was built between 1807 and 1810 by Robert Stevenson on the Bell Rock (also known as Inchcape) in the North Sea, east of the ...

, supporting a bill in 1803.

Family legacy

He succeeded to the Johnstone baronetcy in 1794 on the death of his elder brother James Johnstone. He was thus titled 5th Baronet Pulteney, having declined several offers of a peerage during his parliamentary career. In 1804 Pulteney married, as his second wife, Margaret, widow of Andrew Stuart and daughter of Sir William Stirling. The marriage did not last long. Pulteney died

intestate Intestacy is the condition of the estate of a person who dies without having in force a valid will or other binding declaration. Alternatively this may also apply where a will or declaration has been made, but only applies to part of the estat ...

Bath House Public baths originated when most people in population centers did not have access to private bathing facilities. Though termed "public", they have often been restricted according to gender, religious affiliation, personal membership, and other cr ...

Piccadilly Piccadilly () is a road in the City of Westminster, London, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road that connects central London to Hammersmith, Earl's Court, ...

, London, on 30 May 1805, and was buried at

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

. His daughter, (Henrietta) Laura, was created 1st Baroness of Bath on 26 July 1792 and 1st Countess of Bath on 26 October 1803. In 1794, she had married her father's first cousin Sir James Murray, who had taken the name Murray-Pulteney. She died on 14 July 1808 without bearing children and her titles became extinct.

References

External links

*
Sir William Johnstone Pulteney (sic) and the Scottish Origins of Western New York
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pulteney, Sir William, 5th Baronet 1729 births 1805 deaths Members of the Faculty of Advocates People of the Scottish Enlightenment People from Dumfries and Galloway Baronets in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Scottish constituencies British MPs 1768–1774 Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1774–1780 British MPs 1780–1784 British MPs 1784–1790 British MPs 1790–1796 British MPs 1796–1800 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1801–1802 UK MPs 1802–1806 Scottish landowners