James Jopp (1722–1794) was a Scottish merchant who served as Provost of Aberdeen for five non-consecutive periods. His meeting with Dr Johnson was recorded in

James Boswell James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck (; 29 October 1740 ( N.S.) – 19 May 1795), was a Scottish biographer, diarist, and lawyer, born in Edinburgh. He is best known for his biography of the English writer Samuel Johnson, '' Life of Samuel ...

's diary.

Life

He was born in

Insch Insch () is a village in the Garioch, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is located approximately from the city of Aberdeen. History Insch is home to the Picts, Pictish Picardy Stone which is one of the oldest Pictish stone, Pictish symbol stones ...

north-west of

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

, on 15 April 1722, the son of Andrew Jopp (1675-1742), a tailor and merchant, and his wife Janet Innes. He moved to Aberdeen around 1745 and made a fortune as a wine and cloth merchant. He became a burgess around 1760. He was first elected Provost in 1768. On 23 August 1773, midway through his second period in office, in his capacity as Provost, he met Dr

Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson ( – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...

and his travelling companion,

and presented Johnson with the Freedom of the City of Aberdeen. Boswell wrote that "Jopp did it with very good grace". They then all dined at the Aberdeen townhouse of Sir Alexander Gordon of Letterfourie, also with Prof John Ross, Prof James Dunbar and Prof Thomas Gordon, all of Aberdeen University. In 1776 he purchased the Cotton estate from Lady Diana Middleton and was thereafter addressed as James Jopp of Cotton. In 1786 he was elected Provost for the fifth time but stood down in 1787 before the end of the standard two years in office, due to ill-health. He died in Aberdeen on 7 July 1794.

Family

In 1752 he married Jean Moir (1730-1782), daughter of Rev George Moir minister of Towie, Aberdeenshire.''Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae''; vol. 6; by Hew Scott They had eleven children, six of whom survived to adulthood.

Recognition

Jopp's Lane in Aberdeen is named after James Jopp.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jopp, James 1722 births 1794 deaths People from Insch Lord provosts of Aberdeen 18th-century Scottish merchants