Sir Patrick Johnston (1650–1736) of Edinburgh was a Scottish merchant and politician who sat in the

Parliament of Scotland In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

from 1702 to 1707 and as a Whig in the

British House of Commons The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 memb ...

between 1707 and 1713. He was

Lord Provost of Edinburgh The Right Honourable Lord Provost of Edinburgh is elected by and is the convener of the City of Edinburgh Council and serves not only as the chair of that body, but as a figurehead for the entire city, ex officio the Lord-Lieutenant of ...

three times from 1700 to 1702, from 1704 to 1706, and from 1708 to 1710.

Early life

Johnston was the son of Archibald Johnston, 2nd Laird of Hilton (1630–1671) and his wife, Catherine Winram. He was apprenticed to Robert Blackwood, an Edinburgh merchant in 1677 and became burgess of Edinburgh in 1684. He married Margaret Kynnear (Kinnear) on 9 June 1684. He became involved in local politics in Edinburgh, and was a merchant councilor in 1694 and bailie in 1695. In 1695 he was one of the 30 men who set up the "Company of Scotland Trading in Africa and the Indies" generally just called the

Company of Scotland The Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies, also called the Scottish Darien Company, was an overseas trading company created by an act of the Parliament of Scotland in 1695. The act granted the company a monopoly of Scottish trade ...

. The company collapsed in 1698 after the ill-fated

Darien Scheme The Darien scheme was an unsuccessful attempt, backed largely by investors of the Kingdom of Scotland, to gain wealth and influence by establishing New Caledonia, a colony in the Darién Gap on the Isthmus of Panama, in the late 1690s. The pl ...

an attempt to colonise

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

and all investors, including Johnston, lost a fortune. He was baron bailie for Canongate in 1696 and bailie for Edinburgh again in 1699

Political career

In 1700 Johnstone became

in succession to Sir George Home of Kello. It was not allowed for anyone to serve for more than two consecutive years as Provost and in 1702 he was succeeded by

Hugh Cunningham of Bonnington Sir Hugh Cunningham of Bonnington (1642–1710) was a 17th-century Scottish merchant who served as Lord Provost of Edinburgh from 1702 to 1704. Life He was the son of Hugh Cunningham of Craigend House near Stow, a descendant of William Cunn ...

. He was knighted before 1702. In 1702, he was elected

Burgh Commissioner A commissioner was a legislator appointed or elected to represent a royal burgh or shire in the Parliament of Scotland and the associated Convention of the Estates. Member of Parliament (MP) and Deputy are equivalent terms in other countri ...

for

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 ...

. He became a member of the Scottish Privy Council from 1702 to 1704. In 1704 he became Provost again for two years and was also Privy Counsellor again for two years. He was appointed to the commission for union with England in 1706, as a gesture towards the capital's governing body. He managed to obtain important concessions for Edinburgh, such as the continuation of the ale duty; and the majority of the council was persuaded to support union with England. The people of Edinburgh were unconvinced, and let out their frustration on Johnstone. In October 1706 his house was attacked by the mob, ‘who threw stones at his windows, broke open his doors and searched his house for him, but he had narrowly made his escape. In parliament he generally voted for the Court. After the

Union of 1707 The Acts of Union refer to two acts of Parliament, one by the Parliament of Scotland in March 1707, followed shortly thereafter by an equivalent act of the Parliament of England. They put into effect the international Treaty of Union agre ...

he was one of the

Scottish representatives to the first Parliament of Great Britain The Scottish representatives to the first Parliament of Great Britain, serving from 1 May 1707 to 26 May 1708, were not elected like their colleagues from England and Wales, but rather hand-picked. The forty five men sent to London in 1707, to t ...

and was appointed Commissioner of the Equivalent. On 19 November 1707, he presented a petition to the House from Scottish merchants complaining of the English failure to live up to promises of free trade under the Union. He was also involved in the drafting a bill to encourage the salmon fishery on 2 February 1708. He not stand at the

1708 British general election The 1708 British general election was the first general election to be held after the Acts of Union had united the Parliaments of England and Scotland. The election saw the Whigs gain a majority in the House of Commons, and by November the Whi ...

, giving way to Sir Samuel McClellan, who was then Provost of Edinburgh. He was re-elected as Provost in September 1708 for a unique third term of office. After the death of McClellan he was returned as Member of Parliament at a by-election on 25 November 1709. In January 1710 he reported that he had obtained an exemption from the coal tax and a reduction in the window tax, both of which would benefit Edinburgh. He voted for the impeachment of Dr Sacheverell to support the administration and through his personal convictions. He was returned as a Whig at the

1710 British general election The 1710 British general election produced a landslide victory for the Tories. The election came in the wake of the prosecution of Henry Sacheverell, which had led to the collapse of the previous government led by Godolphin and the Whig Junto. ...

. He voted for the ‘

No Peace without Spain No Peace Without Spain was a popular British political slogan of the early eighteenth century. It referred to the ongoing War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714) in which Britain was a leading participant. It implied that no peace treaty cou ...

’ motion 7 December 1711 and opposed the Scottish toleration bill on 21 Jan. 1712. He also sought financial aid for the construction of a new dock at Leith, but was unsuccessful. He did not stand at the

1713 British general election The 1713 British general election was held on 22 August 1713 to 12 November 1713, to elect members of the House of Commons, the lower house of the Parliament of Great Britain. It produced further gains for the governing Tory party. Since 1710 R ...

or after.

Death and legacy

Johnston died on 7 September 1736. He and his wife had at least 11 children many of whom died in infancy. His eldest son, Patrick, followed him in trade but did not aspire to a political career. Other surviving sons included Cpt. George Johnston of Kimmerghame and Monkstown (1686–1770). His daughter Harriet married Sir John Warrender son of

Sir George Warrender, 1st Baronet Sir George Warrender, 1st Baronet (c. 1658 – 4 March 1721) of Bruntsfield and Lochend, Edinburgh was a Scottish merchant and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1715 to 1722. Warrender was the only son of George Warrender and his w ...

. Sir George Warrender was Lord Provost from 1713 to 1715. He was grandfather to General James Johnston governor of

Minorca Menorca or Minorca (from , later ''Minorica'') is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. Its name derives from its size, contrasting it with nearby Mallorca. Its capital is Maó, situated on the is ...

(George's son).The Scots Magazine, vol 32, p.343

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnston, Patrick 1650 births 1736 deaths 17th-century Scottish merchants Politicians from Edinburgh Lord provosts of Edinburgh Shire commissioners to the Parliament of Scotland Members of the Parliament of Scotland 1702–1707 Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Scottish constituencies