The Honourable James Wedderburn

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". ...

(12 November 1782 – 7 November 1822) was a 19th-century Scottish judge who served as Solicitor General for Scotland from 1816, dying in office aged 39. He is sometimes called James Wedderburn-Colville.

Life

He was born in Inveresk House on 12 November 1782, the fourth son of Isabella Blackburn and James Wedderburn-Colville of

Ochiltree Ochiltree is a conservation village in East Ayrshire, Scotland, near Auchinleck and Cumnock. It is one of the oldest villages in East Ayrshire, with archaeological remains indicating Stone Age and Bronze Age settlers. A cinerary urn was found i ...

House in

Ayrshire Ayrshire (, ) is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county, in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. The lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area of Ayrshire and Arran covers the entirety ...

. John Wedderburn of Ballindean, 6th Baronet of Blackness (1729–1803) was his father's elder brother. Both brothers spent decades buying and managing

sugar plantations in the Caribbean Sugar plantations in the Caribbean were a major part of the economy of the islands in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Most Caribbean, Caribbean islands were covered with Sugarcane, sugar cane fields and mills for refining the crop. The main ...

, re-establishing the family fortune following the execution and

attainder In English criminal law, attainder was the metaphorical "stain" or "corruption of blood" which arose from being condemned for a serious capital crime (felony or treason). It entailed losing not only one's life, property and hereditary titles, but ...

of their father the 5th baronet after the Jacobite uprising of 1745. James was educated at the grammar school in

Musselburgh Musselburgh (; ; ) is the largest settlement in East Lothian, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth, east of Edinburgh city centre. It had a population of as of . History The name Musselburgh is Old English language, Old English in ...

. His father died in 1802 and, not yet of age, he became wealthy. The following year he was admitted as an advocate at the Scottish bar. In 1804 he undertook further study at

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...

in London the aim at the English bar. In 1810 Allan Maconochie, Lord Meadowbank appointed him Advocate Depute to Scotland. However he resigned in 1811 to take on the role of Sheriff of

Peebles Peebles () is a town in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. It was historically a royal burgh and the county town of Peeblesshire. According to the United Kingdom census, 2011, 2011 census, the population was 8,376 and the estimated population in ...

. In 1814 he was living with his family at 126 George Street in Edinburgh's New Town. In July 1816 he was appointed Solicitor General for Scotland. In 1821 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 proposer was Sir William Arbuthnot. He lived his final years at 31 Heriot Row in Edinburgh. He died on 7 November 1822, aged 39, during a visit to his sister Lady Selkirk at St Mary's Isle in Kirkcudbrightshire. He is buried there.

Family

He was brother to Andrew Colville. In December 1813 he married Isabella Clerk (1789–1865), sister of Sir George Clerk, 6th Baronet of Penicuik and

John Clerk Maxwell of Middlebie John Clerk (later Clerk Maxwell) of Middlebie (1790–1856) was a Scottish advocate and father of the mathematical physicist James Clerk Maxwell. Life He was born in Edinburgh on 10 November 1790, the son of Janet Irving and Captain James Clerk ...

(father of

James Clerk Maxwell James Clerk Maxwell (13 June 1831 – 5 November 1879) was a Scottish physicist and mathematician who was responsible for the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation, which was the first theory to describe electricity, magnetism an ...

). They had three daughters and four sons:The Wedderburn Book p.314 * James Wedderburn (1814–1863) * Janet Isabella (1815–1852) married James Hay Mackenzie WS * George Wedderburn (1817–1865) * Jean (1818–1897) married Peter Blackburn of

Killearn Killearn (, from orig. ''Ceann Fhearann'', "Head/End of (the) Land/Territory"; until the 15th century when ''Ceann'' was replaced by ''Cill''; denoting the presence of a house of worship)Knight "What's in a Name"(August 2014) (pdf) ''Killearn C ...

* John Wedderburn (1820–1879) * Andrew Wedderburn (1821–1896) * Jemima (1823-1909), a noted artist, married Prof Hugh Blackburn, Peter's brother

Artistic recognition

His wife Isabella was portrayed by Sir Henry Raeburn around the time of their marriage.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wedderburn, James 1782 births 1822 deaths 19th-century Scottish judges Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh James