Family and Education

b. c.1704, 1st s. of Sir James Nasmyth, 1st Bt., of Dawyck and Posso by Barbara, da. of Andrew Pringle of Clifton, Roxburgh. m. Jean, da. of Thomas Keith, 2s. suc. fa. 20 July 1720.

Offices Held

Biography

Sir James Nasmyth was the son of a successful lawyer whose family had been granted lands in Posso in 1554.1 He first contested the county unsuccessfully in 1727 against John Douglas, a brother of the hereditary sheriff, the Earl of March, who died, leaving an infant son, in 1731. When Douglas died a year later, Nasmyth, with the support of the deputy sheriff, defeated a former Member for the shire, Sir Alexander Murray, 3rd Bt., of Stanhope, whose petition was rejected by the House of Commons. At the 1734 election, when another deputy sheriff was apparently neutral, Nasmyth and Murray were involved in a double return; on petition Murray withdrew, leaving the seat to Nasmyth. He voted with the Administration in all recorded divisions till he retired in 1741. A botanist of some repute, he died 4 Feb. 1779.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: R. S. Lea

Notes

• 1. J. W. Buchan H. Paton, Peeblesshire, iii. 442-3, 562-9.