Sir Stair Agnew (6 December 1831 – 12 July 1916) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

public official. He served as

Registrar General for Scotland The General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) () was a non-ministerial directorate of the Scottish Government that administered the registration of births, deaths, marriages, divorces and adoptions in Scotland from 1854 to 2011. It was also r ...

Life

He was born at

Lochnaw Castle Lochnaw Castle is a 16th-century tower house five miles from the town of Stranraer, in the historical county of Wigtownshire, Scotland. The central square tower, five storeys high, formed part of the new castle. Lochnaw Castle shows four per ...

in the parish of Leswalt in

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway (; ) is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, located in the western part of the Southern Uplands. It is bordered by East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and South Lanarkshire to the north; Scottish Borders to the no ...

, the fifth son of Sir Andrew Agnew of Lochnaw, 7th Baronet and his wife, Madeline Carnegie. He studied at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

, graduating in 1855. He rowed in the

Oxford and Cambridge boat race The Boat Race is an annual set of rowing (sport), rowing races between the Cambridge University Boat Club and the Oxford University Boat Club, traditionally rowed between open-weight eight (rowing), eights on the River Thames in London, Englan ...

in 1854. He worked as an

Advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. List of country legal systems, Different countries and legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a ba ...

from 1860, and was Legal Secretary to the

Lord Advocate His Majesty's Advocate, known as the Lord Advocate (), is the principal legal adviser of both the Scottish Government and the Crown in Scotland for civil and criminal matters that fall within the devolution, devolved powers of the Scottish P ...

from 1861–1866 and 1868–1870, Queen's Remembrancer for Scotland from 1870–1881, and Registrar-General for Scotland and Keeper of the Records of Scotland and Deputy Clerk Register from 1881–1909. In 1871 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 being

Philip Kelland Philip Kelland PRSE FRS (17 October 1808 – 8 May 1879) was an English mathematician. He was known mainly for his great influence on the development of education in Scotland. Life Kelland was born in 1808 the son of Philip Kelland (d.1847), ...

. Agnew married a woman named Georgina More Nisbett (1838-1916), and they had at least three children: Stair Carnegie Agnew (born 1872), Georgina Constance Maxwell (born 1877) and Dora Charlotte (born 1879). He was appointed

Companion of the Order of the Bath Companion may refer to: Relationships Currently * Any of several interpersonal relationships such as friend or acquaintance * A domestic partner, akin to a spouse * Sober companion, an addiction treatment coach * Companion (caregiving), a caregi ...

(CB) in 1885 and promoted to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 1895 Birthday Honours, thereby receiving a knighthood. In 1905 he is listed as living at 22 Buckingham Terrace, just west of Dean Bridge in

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 ...

.Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1905-6 He is buried with his wife (who had died only a few weeks earlier) and daughters 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

. The grave is on the north wall of the north extension of the original cemetery, near the north-west corner.

References

1831 births 1916 deaths Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Younger sons of baronets Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Cambridge University Boat Club rowers Burials at the Dean Cemetery {{scotland-bio-stub