James Simpson Fleming

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

(1828–1899) was a Scottish lawyer and banker. From 1858 to 1871 he was a partner in the legal firm of McGrigor, Stevenson & Fleming. In the 1870s he was responsible for introducing the

Royal Bank of Scotland The Royal Bank of Scotland Public Limited Company () is a major retail banking, retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest and Ulster Bank. The Royal Bank of Sco ...

to London.

Life

He was born in

Forfar Forfar (; , ) is the county town of Angus, Scotland, and the administrative centre for Angus Council, with a new multi-million-pound office complex located on the outskirts of the town. As of 2021, the town had a population of 16,280. The town ...

in 1828. He was baptised on 7 March 1828. He was educated locally then apprenticed as a lawyer. He then went on to study law at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

and the

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

. In March 1847 he began working at the Western Bank of Scotland in Glasgow, leaving in 1852 to set up his own legal practice. He returned to the bank in 1854 combining his two skills as the bank's legal adviser. He rose to become sole manager of the bank. His investigation of financial irregularities at the bank led to it ceasing trading in November 1857 (a major scandal of the day). Fleming assisted in the bank's liquidation. At this time Fleming was living at 9 Park Street East in Glasgow. After a period practising law he again turned to bank work, and in 1871 became Senior cashier and General Manager of the

. During the next ten years Fleming made major improvements to the company, bringing it to the forefront of Scottish banking. This included a critical move in 1873 to establish a base in London requiring a change in the original 1727 legal conditions upon the bank, limiting it to practice only in Scotland. In 1875 Fleming's knowledge successfully fended off a challenge by the English banks, objecting to the Scottish invasion. In 1878 Fleming also advised during the massive collapse of the City of Glasgow Bank. In 1876 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

. His proposers were George Auldjo Jamieson,

Andrew Douglas Maclagan Sir Andrew Douglas Maclagan PRSE FRCPE FRCSE FCS FRSSA (17 April 1812, in Ayr – 5 April 1900, in Edinburgh) was a Scottish surgeon, toxicologist and scholar of medical jurisprudence. He served as president of 5 learned societies: the Royal ...

, David Stevenson and David Smith. He retired to Edinburgh in 1892 and died at home 16 Grosvenor CrescentEdinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1898-99 on 8 July 1899. He is buried with his wife Elizabeth in

Dean Cemetery The Dean Cemetery is a historically important Victorian cemetery north of the Dean Village, west of Edinburgh city centre, in Scotland. It lies between Queensferry Road and the Water of Leith, bounded on its east side by Dean Path and o ...

in western Edinburgh. The grave lies in the northwest corner of the Victorian north extension, against the north wall.

Other Positions of Note

*Chairman of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce (c.1864–1871) *Director of the Scottish Widows Fund 1871–1898 * Justice of the Peace for both Stirling and Edinburgh

Publications

*''Scottish Banking: A Historic Sketch'' (1877)

Family

In 1852 he married Elizabeth Reid (1825–1894). They had five children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fleming, James Simpson 1828 births 1899 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Scottish bankers Scottish non-fiction writers People from Forfar 19th-century Scottish businesspeople