Sir James Nasmyth, 2nd Baronet ( – 4 February 1779), also known as Naesmyth, of Dawyck and Posso, Peebleshire, was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

botanist and politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, 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 ...

between 1732 and 1741.

Early life

Nasmyth was the eldest son of Sir James Nasmyth, 1st Baronet, lawyer of Dawyck and Posso, and his wife Barbara Pringle, daughter of Andrew Pringle of Clifton,

Roxburgh Roxburgh () is a civil parish and formerly a royal burgh, in the historic county of Roxburghshire in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. It was an important trading burgh in High Medieval to early modern Scotland. In the Middle Ages it had at lea ...

. He succeeded to the

baronetcy A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

when his father died in 1720. He married Jean Keith, daughter of Thomas Keith.

Career

At the 1727 general election, Nasmyth contested

Peeblesshire Peeblesshire (), the County of Peebles or Tweeddale is a Counties of Scotland, historic county of Scotland. Its county town is Peebles, and it borders Midlothian to the north, Selkirkshire to the east, Dumfriesshire to the south, and Lanarkshire ...

, a seat with about 20 voters which was controlled by the

Earls of March Earl of March is a title that has been created several times, respectively, in the Peerage of Scotland and the Peerage of England. The title derives from the " marches" or borderlands between England and either Wales (Welsh Marches) or Scotland ( ...

. He lodged a

petition A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication. In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to an officia ...

after he was defeated by the sitting Member of Parliament (MP) John Douglas, claiming that the Sheriff of Peebles had been biased. The petition was rejected. When Douglas died in 1731, Nasmyth contested the seat again at the resulting by-election on 28 April 1732, against the former MP Sir Alexander Murray, Bt. By this time William Douglas, 2nd Earl of March had died, and the 3rd Earl was only 6 years old. Nasmyth won the seat with the support of the Deputy Sheriff, and Murray's petition was rejected. Two separate election meetings were held at the 1734 general election, so the deputy sheriff made a double return of both Nasmyth and Murray. Murray withdrew his petition, and on 7 February 1735 Nasmyth was declared to have been elected. He voted consistently with the government, and retired from the House of Commons at the 1741 general election. Nasmyth planted 809 hectares of mixed woodlands on the Dawyck estate. He discovered the upright beech (''

Fagus sylvatica ''Fagus sylvatica'', the European beech or common beech, is a large, graceful deciduous tree in the Fagaceae, beech family with smooth silvery-gray bark, large leaf area, and a short trunk with low branches. Description ''Fagus sylvatica'' i ...

'' 'Dawyck') and funded several plant-collecting expeditions to

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

Later life and legacy

For his botanical work, Nasmyth was made a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 1767. Nasmyth died on 4 February 1779 leaving two sons. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his son James.

References

, - 1700s births 1779 deaths 18th-century Scottish botanists Fellows of the Royal Society Baronets in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Scottish constituencies British MPs 1727–1734 British MPs 1734–1741 {{Scotland-GreatBritain-MP-stub