James Tod of Deanston and Hope Park WS

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". ...

(c.1795–1858) was a 19th-century Scottish lawyer, antiquary and landowner.

Life

He was born around 1795 the eldest son of James Tod of Hope Park, on the south-east side of the

Meadows A meadow ( ) is an open habitat or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non-woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as they maintain an open character. Meadows can occur naturally under favourable condition ...

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 ...

. His mother was living as a widow at Hope Park in south Edinburgh in 1813/14. He was apprenticed to David Wemyss WS from around 1811. The office was at 55 George Street in Edinburgh's First New Town. He qualified as a

Writer to the Signet The Society of Writers to His Majesty's Signet is a private society of Scottish solicitors, dating back to 1594 and part of the College of Justice. Writers to the Signet originally had special privileges in relation to the drawing up of documen ...

in 1820. He then set up his own offices at 21 Dublin Street. Around 1830 he acquired the large estate of

Deanston Deanston () is a village in the Stirling council area, Scotland, on the south bank of the River Teith east of Doune, in south-west Perthshire. It is a part of the parish of Kilmadock. Etymology The name comes from Walter Drummond, Dean of Dun ...

west of

Stirling Stirling (; ; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Central Belt, central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town#Scotland, market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the roya ...

. In 1848 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 was

James David Forbes James David Forbes (1809–1868) was a Scottish physicist and glaciologist who worked extensively on the conduction of heat and seismology. Forbes was a resident of Edinburgh for most of his life, educated at its University and a professor ...

. By 1855 he was living in a huge Georgian townhouse at 55 Great King Street in Edinburgh's Second New Town. He died on 26 March 1858.

Recognition

The name of Hope Park survives in the street-names Hope Park Terrace and Hope Park Crescent.

Artistic Recognition

His photograph (an early

calotype Calotype or talbotype is an early photographic process introduced in 1841 by William Henry Fox Talbot, using paper coated with silver iodide. Paper texture effects in calotype photography limit the ability of this early process to record low ...

of 1844 by

Hill & Adamson Hill & Adamson was the first photography studio in Scotland, set up by painter David Octavius Hill and engineer Robert Adamson in 1843. During their brief partnership that ended with Adamson's untimely death, Hill & Adamson produced "the first ...

) is held by the

Scottish National Portrait Gallery National Galleries Scotland: Portrait is an art museum on Queen Street, Edinburgh. Portrait holds the national collections of portraits, all of which are of, but not necessarily by, Scots. It also holds the Scottish National Photography Collec ...

Family

In 1830 he married Susan Mercer, daughter of James Mercer of Scotsbank. Her brother Robert Mercer married Elizabeth Scott-Moncrieff (1802-1871), daughter of Very Rev Henry Moncrieff of

Tullibole Castle Tullibole Castle is a 17th-century castle in Crook of Devon, a village in Perth and Kinross Perth and Kinross (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. It is bordered by Highla ...

near Fossoway.Honest George, by Eileen Stewart

References

1858 deaths Lawyers from Edinburgh 19th-century Scottish landowners Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh {{Scotland-bio-stub