Mark Napier (24 July 1798 – 23 November 1879) was a Scottish lawyer, biographer and historical author. He was called to the Bar, practised as an advocate, and was made Sheriff of

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; ; from ) is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the Counties of Scotland, ...

and

Galloway Galloway ( ; ; ) is a region in southwestern Scotland comprising the counties of Scotland, historic counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. It is administered as part of the council areas of Scotland, council area of Dumfries and Gallow ...

. Napier wrote from a strongly

Cavalier The term ''Cavalier'' () was first used by Roundheads as a term of abuse for the wealthier royalist supporters of Charles I of England and his son Charles II of England, Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum (England), Int ...

and Jacobite standpoint. He published Memoirs of the Napiers, of Montrose, and of

Graham Graham or Graeme may refer to: People * Graham (given name), an English-language given name * Graham (surname), an English-language surname * Graeme (surname), an English-language surname * Graham (musician) (born 1979), Burmese singer * Clan ...

Claverhouse Claverhouse is a residential area located on the northern outskirts of Dundee, Scotland with the city centre located 2 miles (3.2 km) from the area. Claverhouse is primarily an affluent residential area and is one of the wealthier areas i ...

, the last of which gave rise to controversy. Napier was a member of the

Edinburgh Calotype Club The Edinburgh Calotype Club (1843 – c.1850s) of Scotland was the first photographic club in the world. Its members consisted of pioneering photographers primarily from Edinburgh and St Andrews. The efforts of the Club's members resulted in ...

and the Photographic Society of Scotland. Founded in 1843 the club is one of the world's first photographic clubs. Mark Napier Cattley

Life

Born on 24 July 1798, he was descended from the Napiers of Merchiston. His great-grandfather Francis Napier, 6th Lord Napier had five sons, of whom the youngest, Mark, a major-general in the army, was the grandfather of the biographer. His father was Francis Napier, 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 ...

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 ...

, and his mother was Mary Elizabeth Jane Douglas, eldest daughter of Colonel Archibald Hamilton of

Innerwick Innerwick () is a coastal civil parish and small village, which lies in the east of East Lothian, from Dunbar and approximately from Edinburgh. Name The name Innerwick is of Anglo-saxon origin and means inland farm or dwelling place. It was ...

Haddingtonshire East Lothian (; ; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In 1975, the historic county was incorporated for loca ...

. He was educated at

Edinburgh High School The Royal High School (RHS) of Edinburgh is a co-educational school administered by the City of Edinburgh Council. The school was founded in 1128 and is one of the oldest schools in Scotland. It serves around 1,400 pupils drawn from four feeder pr ...

and 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 passed advocate at the Scottish bar in 1820. In the 1830s Mark Napier is listed as an advocate living at 11 Stafford Street in

's west end. In 1844 he was appointed sheriff-depute of Dumfriesshire, to which Galloway was subsequently added (in 1874), an office he held for the rest his life. He died at his residence at 6 Ainslie Place on the

Moray Estate The Moray Estate, also known as the Moray Feu, is an early 19th century building venture attaching the west side of the New Town, Edinburgh. Built on an awkward and steeply sloping site, it has been described as a masterpiece of urban plannin ...

in west Edinburgh, on 23 November 1879, as the oldest member of the

Faculty of Advocates The Faculty of Advocates () is an independent body of lawyers who have been admitted to practise as advocates before the courts of Scotland, especially the Court of Session and the High Court of Justiciary. The Faculty of Advocates is a const ...

then discharging legal duties. He is buried in St Cuthberts churchyard in Edinburgh.

Works

Napier's reputation was literary rather than legal: his only strictly legal works were ''The Law of Prescription in Scotland'', 1839, 2nd edit. 1854, and ''Letters to the Commissioners of Supply of the County of Dumfries, in Reply to a Report of a Committee of their Number on the Subject of Sheriff Courts'', 1852, 2nd edit. 1852. In 1834 Napier published ''Memoirs'' of

John Napier of Merchiston John Napier of Merchiston ( ; Latinized as Ioannes Neper; 1 February 1550 – 4 April 1617), nicknamed Marvellous Merchiston, was a Scottish landowner known as a mathematician, physicist, and astronomer. He was the 8th Laird of Merchisto ...

; and in 1839 he edited Napier's unpublished manuscripts with an introduction. His other biographical works suffered from partisan exaggerations arising from his Jacobitism. On the Marquis of Montrose he published ''Montrose and the Covenanters'', 1838, ''Life and Times of Montrose'', 1840, ''Memorials of Montrose and his Times'', a collection of original documents edited for the

Maitland Club The Maitland Club was a Scottish historical and literary club and text publication society A text publication society is a learned society which publishes (either as its sole function, or as a principal function) scholarly editions of old works of ...

(vol. i. 1848, and vol. ii. 1850); and the summation in ''Memoirs of the Marquis of Montrose'', two vols. 1856. Napier's ''Memorials of Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee'', 1859–62, included letters of

and other documents not previously available in print. The publication raised acrimonious controversy related to the execution by drowning of the two

Covenanter Covenanters were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. It originated in disputes with James VI and his son C ...

women, Margaret Maclachlan and

Margaret Wilson Margaret Anne Wilson (born 20 May 1947) is a New Zealand lawyer, academic and former Labour Party politician. She served as Attorney-General from 1999 to 2005 and Speaker of the House of Representatives from 2005 to 2008, during the Fifth ...

, who are still known as the "

Wigtown Martyrs The Wigtown Martyrs or Solway Martyrs, Margaret Maclauchlan and Margaret Wilson, were Scottish Covenanters who were executed by Scottish Episcopalians on 11 May, 1685 in Wigtown, Scotland, for refusing to swear the Oath of Supremacy declaring ...

", because Napier raised doubts as to whether the two women's execution ever took place at all; and he replied to his objectors in the ''Case for the Crown in re the Wigtown Martyrs proved to be Myths versus Wodrow and Lord Macaulay, Patrick the Pedlar and Principal Tulloch'', 1863; and in ''History Rescued, in Reply to History Vindicated'' (by the Rev. Archibald Stewart), 1870. Napier in 1835 published a ''History of the Partition of Lennox''; the Napiers had an historical connection with the earldom of Lennox. He also edited vols. ii. and iii. of

John Spotiswood John Spottiswoode (Spottiswood, Spotiswood, Spotiswoode or Spotswood) (1565 – 26 November 1639) was an Archbishop of St Andrews, Primate of All Scotland, Lord Chancellor, and historian of Scotland. Life He was born in 1565 at Greenbank in M ...

's ''History of the Church of Scotland'' for the

Bannatyne Club The Bannatyne Club, named in honour of George Bannatyne and his famous anthology of Scots literature the Bannatyne Manuscript, was a text publication society founded by Sir Walter Scott to print rare works of Scottish interest, whether in history ...

in 1847. ''The Lennox of Auld, an Epistolary Review of “The Lennox” by William Fraser'' was published posthumously in 1880, edited by his son Francis.

Family

Napier married his cousin Charlotte Ogilvy (1806-1883), daughter of Alexander Ogilvy, and widow of William Dick Macfarlane, and by her had a son and a daughter: Francis John Hamilton Scott, commander in the Royal Navy, and Frances Anne, married to Lieutenant-colonel Cecil Rice.

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Napier, Mark 1798 births 1879 deaths Mark (historian) Members of the Faculty of Advocates Scottish biographers Scottish sheriffs People educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Scottish legal writers 19th-century Scottish historians 19th-century Scottish judges