Dalrymple, John

1648-1707

Sir John Dalrymple, first earl of Stair, was the son of James, first Viscount Stair. John studied law and became an advocate in 1672. He received a knighthood in 1667. John was incarcerated in Edinburgh Castle 1682-3 and again in the tollbooth in 1684. The man responsible was John Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee. When the Convention of Estates met in 1688-9 they declared that James VII and II had 'forfaulted' his right to the crown. Dundee raised an army in support of the king, but was killed in the moment of victory at the pass of Killiecrankie. Under the new monarchs, William and Mary, John became Lord Advocate and Secretary of State. A government enquiry traced the orders for the infamous massacre of Glancoe in 1692 to the secretary. His political opponents seized on this and he was forced to resign in 1695. In 1703 he was raised a step up in the peerage from a viscount to an earl. He was involved in the political wrangling of the union settlement. In his will he even seems to claim for travelling expenses to London. There are also reference to his investments in the 'Company of Scottland trading to affrica and the indies'. This company set up a colony on the Darien peninsula in Panama, which came to a disastrous end. John's widow was the dowager countess of Stair. She was a prominent member of Edinburgh society. Lady Stair's house, where she lived from 1719 until her death in 1759, is now the Writers' Museum.

Further reading: Mitchison, Rosalind, Lordship to Patronage: Scotland 1603-1745, (Edinburgh, 1983) Hopkins, Paul, Glencoe and the end of the Highland War, (Edinburgh, 1998)

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