James Johnstone, 3rd Earl of Annandale and Hartfell and 2nd Marquess of Annandale (c.1687–1730) was a Scottish politician who sat in the British House of Commons briefly in 1708 before being disqualified as eldest son of a Scottish peer. Johnstone was born about 1688, the eldest son of William Johnstone, 2nd Earl of Annandale and Hartfell and 1st Marquess of Annandale and his first wife Sophia Fairholm daughter of John Fairholm of Craigiehall, Linlithgow. After the Act of Union Johnstone was returned by his father 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 ...

as the

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 o ...

(MP) for both

Dumfriesshire Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries or Shire of Dumfries (''Siorrachd Dhùn Phris'' in Gaelic) is a historic county and registration county in southern Scotland. The Dumfries lieutenancy area covers a similar area to the historic county. I ...

and

Linlithgowshire West Lothian ( sco, Wast Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Iar) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and was one of its shires of Scotland, historic counties. The county was called Linlithgowshire until 1925. The historic county was bounded geogra ...

. However he was disqualified from both seats on 3 December 1708 because he was the eldest son of a Scottish peer. He fell out with his father because he wanted to travel abroad on an allowance from his father of £400 p.a. Johnstone succeeded his father to the title in 1721 and stood for election as a Scottish representative peer in 1722, but was defeated, possibly because of allegations of being a Jacobite. He gave up political ambitions and spent most of his adult life travelling in Italy where he amassed a great collection of art and antiquities. In 1726 he took legal action with the aim of preventing his half-brothers from inheriting his peerages and estates and directed that these should pass to his sister

Henrietta Hope, Countess of Hopetoun Charles Hope, 1st Earl of Hopetoun KT PC (1681 – 26 February 1742) was a Scottish nobleman. Early life He was the son of John Hope of Hopetoun by a daughter of the 4th Earl of Haddington. His father, John Hope, purchased the barony of Nid ...

, and her descendants. Johnstone died in Italy in February 1730 aged 42, and his body was returned from Italy and buried in

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 Unite ...

. His attempt to cut out his brothers was only partly successful, for only his Scottish lands and his art collection passed to Henrietta. His peerages, which could not be lawfully alienated in the way he intended, passed to his half-brother

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...

who succeeded as 4th Earl of Annandale and Hartfell and 3rd Marquess of Annandale. Johnstone's portrait hangs today at

Hopetoun House Hopetoun House is a country house near South Queensferry owned by the Hopetoun House Preservation Trust, a charity established in 1974 to preserve the house and grounds as a national monument, to protect and improve their amenities, and to pr ...

near Edinburgh

References

* ''The Complete Peerage 1959'' (sub Annandale) * ''Burke's Peerage 1999'' (sub Annandale and Hartfell). {{DEFAULTSORT:Annandale, James Johnstone, 2nd Marquess of 1680s births 1730 deaths Burials at Westminster Abbey Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Scottish constituencies British MPs 1708–1710 Marquesses of Annandale