Sir James Stirling, 1st Baronet of

Larbert Larbert (, ) is a town in the Falkirk (council area), Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town lies in the Forth Valley above the River Carron (Forth), River Carron which flows from the west. Larbert is from the shoreline of the Firth of Fo ...

and Mansfield (c. 1740 – 17 February 1805) was a Scottish banker who served three consecutive terms as

Lord Provost of Edinburgh The Right Honourable Lord Provost of Edinburgh is elected by and is the convener of the City of Edinburgh Council and serves not only as the chair of that body, but as a figurehead for the entire city, ex officio the Lord-Lieutenant of ...

Life

He was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

in 1740 or early in 1741, the son of Alexander Stirling, and his wife Jane Muir, daughter of James Muir of Lochfield in

Perthshire Perthshire (Scottish English, locally: ; ), officially the County of Perth, is a Shires of Scotland, historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore, Angus and Perth & Kinross, Strathmore ...

. Although sometimes stated as the son of a cloth merchant, more contemporary records state he was the son of a fish merchant standing on the

Royal Mile The Royal Mile () is the nickname of a series of streets forming the main thoroughfare of the Old Town, Edinburgh, Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland. The term originated in the early 20th century and has since entered popular usage. The Royal ...

at the head of Marlin's Wynd, now the site of the

Tron Kirk The Tron Kirk is a former principal parish church in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is a well-known landmark on the Royal Mile. It was built in the 17th century and closed as a church in 1952. Having stood empty for over fifty years, it was used ...

. As the church predates this, the description must mean facing the Tron Kirk.Grants Old and New Edinburgh In early life he went to the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

as clerk to Archibald Stirling of Keir, a sugar plantation owner there (great-uncle of

Sir William Stirling-Maxwell Sir William Stirling-Maxwell, 9th Baronet, KT, FRSE (8 March 181815 January 1878) was a Scottish historical writer, art historian and politician. Until 1865 he was known as William Stirling, and several of his books were published under that ...

). Not long afterwards James was appointed, through Archibald's influence, as secretary to Sir John Dalling, the

governor of Jamaica This is a list of viceroys in Jamaica from its initial occupation by Spain in 1509, to its independence from the United Kingdom in 1962. For a list of viceroys after independence, see Governor-General of Jamaica. For context, see History of Jama ...

. Having acquired a fortune in the West Indies, Stirling returned to Edinburgh, and became partner in the banking house of Mansfield, Ramsay, & Co. based in Cantore's close in the

Luckenbooths The Luckenbooths were a range of tenements which formerly stood immediately to the north of St Giles' Cathedral, St. Giles' Kirk in the Royal Mile#High Street, High Street of Edinburgh from the reign of James II of Scotland, King James II in the ...

next to

St Giles Cathedral St Giles' Cathedral (), or the High Kirk of Edinburgh, is a parish church of the Church of Scotland in the Old Town of Edinburgh. The current building was begun in the 14th century and extended until the early 16th century; significant alteratio ...

. He served on the town council of Edinburgh in 1771, he filled the office of treasurer in 1773–4, and served three consecutive terms as

Lord Provost A lord provost () is the convenor of the local authority, the civic head and the lord-lieutenant of one of the principal cities of Scotland. The office is similar to that of a lord mayor. Only the cities of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Stirlin ...

from 1790 to 1800 in total. For his conduct during the reform riots in 1792 (in Edinburgh called the Dundas Riots) he was on 17 July of that year created a baronet. He was then living on St Andrew Square just north of Rose Street. Stirling was unpopular, and the surgeon Alexander Wood was in danger of being thrown over the North Bridge on being mistaken for him during the Dundas Riots in June 1792. In 1793 he authorised the take over of Peter Williamson's existing private postal service, and transformed the system into one of the first penny post systems. In his later life he lived at 69 Queen Street, an elegant townhouse in Edinburgh's First New Town (now demolished). He died on 17 February 1805. He is buried in the western section of

Greyfriars Kirkyard Greyfriars Kirkyard is the graveyard surrounding Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located at the southern edge of the Old Town, Edinburgh, Old Town, adjacent to George Heriot's School. Burials have been taking place since the late 1 ...

against the eastern wall, with his parents and children.

Family

Stirling married Alison Mansfield, the daughter of James Mansfield, the senior partner in Mansfield, Ramsay, & Co, his employer. He left three sons and two daughters. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his eldest son, Gilbert Stirling, a Lieutenant in the

Coldstream Guards The Coldstream Guards is the oldest continuously serving regular regiment in the British Army. As part of the Household Division, one of its principal roles is the protection of the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, monarchy; due to this, it often ...

, on whose death in 1843 the baronetcy became extinct. His daughter Janet Stirling married Admiral Sir Thomas Livingston (1769–1853) of Westquarter near

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

.Kay's Originals: Sir James Stirling

Notes

Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Stirling, James 1740s births 1805 deaths Nobility from Edinburgh Scottish bankers Lord provosts of Edinburgh Baronets in the Baronetage of Great Britain

James James may refer to: People * James (given name) * James (surname) * James (musician), aka Faruq Mahfuz Anam James, (born 1964), Bollywood musician * James, brother of Jesus * King James (disambiguation), various kings named James * Prince Ja ...

18th-century Scottish businesspeople