James_Alexander_Stewart-Mackenzie

James Alexander Stewart-Mackenzie

James Alexander Stewart-Mackenzie

British politician

James Alexander Stewart-Mackenzie (23 September 1784 – 24 September 1843) was a Scottish politician and British colonial administrator.

Quick Facts 7th Governor of British Ceylon, Monarch ...

Early life

He was born James Alexander Stewart on 23 September 1784.[1] James was the son of the former Georgina Isabella d'Aguilar and Vice Admiral The Hon. Keith Stewart, who died when he was eleven. His younger brother was Lt. Leveson Douglas Stewart (the father of John Stewart of Nateby Hall). Following his father's death, his mother married secondly, in 1797, Lt.-Col. Richard Fitzgerald, who was killed in action at the Battle of Waterloo.[2]

His paternal grandparents were Alexander Stewart, 6th Earl of Galloway and the former Lady Catherine Cochrane (the youngest daughter of John Cochrane, 4th Earl of Dundonald).[3] His maternal grandfather was Ephraim Lópes Pereira d'Aguilar, 2nd Baron d'Aguilar.[4]

Career

Stewart-Mackenzie was elected to the House of Commons as Member of Parliament for Ross-shire in 1831. When that constituency was abolished in 1832, he was elected for the new Ross and Cromarty, serving until 1837.[1]

He left the House of Commons to become British governor of Ceylon from March 1837 to 1840, and then Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands (based in Corfu) from December 1840 to 1843.[1]

Personal life

After his marriage on 21 May 1817 to Mary Elizabeth Frederica Mackenzie ("the Hooded Lassie"), widow of Vice Admiral Sir Samuel Hood and daughter of Francis Mackenzie, 1st Baron Seaforth (whose title had become extinct when his four sons all predeceased him), he assumed the additional surname of Mackenzie. Mary's younger sister, Helen Anne Mackenzie, was the wife of Joshua Henry Mackenzie, Lord Mackenzie.[5][6] In 1819, Stewart-Mackenzie sold the house and grounds of Woodfall Gardens, Glasserton to Stair Hathorn-Stewart at the neighboring Physgill estate. Together, James and Mary were the parents of:[7]

Stewart-Mackenzie died on 24 September 1843. His widow died on 28 November 1862 and was buried at Fortrose.[12]

Descendants

Through his eldest son Keith, he was a grandfather of James Alexander Francis Humberston Mackenzie, who was created Baron Seaforth in 1921, and of Mary Jeune, Baroness St Helier, society hostess and politician.

Through his daughter Louisa, he was a grandfather of Hon. Mary Florence Baring (1860–1902),[13] married William Compton, 5th Marquess of Northampton, becoming the Marchioness of Northampton.[14][15]

References

  1. [1]
    Fisher, David R. "STEWART MACKENZIE, James Alexander (1784-1843), of Brahan Castle, nr. Dingwall, Ross". www.historyofparliamentonline.org. History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
  2. [2]
    Booth (bookseller.), John (1817). The Battle of Waterloo: Also of Ligny, and Quatre Bras, Containing the Series of Accounts Published by Authority, British and Foreign, with Circumstantial Details Relative to the Battles, from a Variety of Original and Authentic Sources, with Connected Official and Private Documents, Forming an Historical Record by Those who Had the Honour to Share in the Operations of the Campaign of the Netherlands, 1815. J. Booth. p. 306.
  3. [3]
    "Galloway, Earl of (S, 1623)". www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Heraldic Media Limited. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  4. [4]
    "Baron d'Aguilar, Portuguese Baron of the Holy Roman Empire". www.twickenham-museum.org.uk. Twickenham Museum. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
  5. [5]
    Cumming, Constance Frederica Gordon (1904). Memories. Blackwood. p. 28.
  6. [6]
    The Scots Magazine. Sands, Brymer, Murray and Cochran. 1821. p. 189.
  7. [7]
    Lodge, Edmund; Innes, Anne; Innes, Eliza; Innes, Maria (1856). The Peerage of the British Empire as at Present Existing: Arranged and Printed from the Personal Communications of the Nobility ... Saunders and Otley. p. 251.
  8. [8]
    Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage, and Companionage: Comprising Information Concerning All Persons Bearing Hereditary Or Courtesy Titles, Knights, and Companions of All the Various Orders, and the Collateral Branches of All Peers and Baronets. Dean & Son, Limited. 1902. p. 352.
  9. [9]
    Drawings, British Museum Department of Prints and; Howe, Edward Russell James Gambier (1903). Catalogue of British and American Book Plates Bequeathed to the Trustees of the British Museum by Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks. Order of the Trustees, Sold at the British Museum. p. 21.
  10. [10]
    Burke, Bernard (1871). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland. Harrison. p. 887.
  11. [11]
    "Ashburton, Baron (UK, 1835)". www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Heraldic Media Limited. Archived from the original on 30 December 2013. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
  12. [12]
    "Mary Elizabeth Frederica Stewart-Mackenzie (1783–1862), Lady Hood". artuk.org. Art UK. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
  13. [13]
    Fielding, Kenneth J. (2004). "Ashburton, Louisa Lady". In Cumming, Mark (ed.). The Carlyle Encyclopedia. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. pp. 22–23. ISBN 978-0-8386-3792-0.
  14. [14]
    McDonald, Lynn (2006). Florence Nightingale on Women, Medicine, Midwifery and Prostitution: Collected Works of Florence Nightingale. Waterloo, Ontario, Canada: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. p. 710. ISBN 978-0-88920-916-9.
  15. [15]
    "Obituary". The Times. London, England. 3 June 1902. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
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