ALLARDICE (ALLERDYCE), Sir George (1672-1709), of Allardice, Kincardine.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1690-1715, ed. D. Hayton, E. Cruickshanks, S. Handley, 2002
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1707 - 1708

Family and Education

bap. 17 Aug. 1672, 2nd s. of Sir John Allardice by Mary, da. of John Graham, Ld. Kinpont [S].  educ. 1688–92 Aberdeen Univ. (Marischal Coll.).  m. contr. 20 Oct. 1692, Anna (d.1735), da. of James Ogilvy, 3rd Earl of Findlater [S], sis. of Hon. Patrick Ogilvy*, 3s. 5da.  suc. bro. Dec. 1690; kntd. 1704.1

Offices Held

Commr. justiciary for Highlands [S] 1693, 1701, peace in the Highlands 1694; master of the mint [S] 1704.2

Burgess, Edinburgh 1696.3

MP [S], Kintore 1702–7.

Biography

An ancient Kincardineshire family, dating from at least the 15th century, the Allardices of that ilk had twice represented the county in the Scottish parliament. Allardice’s father never sat in parliament, but made an advantageous match with the family of Graham, earls of Airth and Menteith. Allardice himself improved the family fortunes through trade, which facilitated his marriage to the Earl of Findlater’s daughter in the autumn of 1692. This alliance was welcomed by Allardice’s mother, but (according to a tradition preserved by the servants) the bride herself was not immediately enraptured, apparently shedding tears at ‘the mean appearance of the house’. Upon the birth of his first child in 1693, Allardice reported proudly to his brother-in-law Sir James Ogilvy that ‘I have made you both an uncle and a godfather’. Ogilvy, the future Lord Chancellor Seafield, proved the most important of Allardice’s political connexions. In 1694 Ogilvy’s legal expertise was largely responsible for resolving a disputed inheritance from the 2nd Earl of Airth and Menteith, Allardice acknowledging that he had been ‘singularly obliged to his kindness in my affairs’. Seafield’s appointment as secretary of state in 1696 made him an influential patron, Allardice reporting appreciatively to his father-in-law in August 1698 that ‘there is none can know vacancies, or what may be done for a friend [better] than your son’.4

Returned to the Scottish parliament with Seafield’s backing in 1702, Allardice followed his patron’s lead in collaborating with the ‘New Party’ in 1704 and was rewarded with a knighthood and appointment as master of the mint. He voted solidly (apart from two insignificant abstentions) in favour of the Union and was included on the Court slate of representatives to the first Parliament of Great Britain. He did not, however, make his mark at Westminster though his attendance can nevertheless be deduced from several committee nominations during November and December. His only known vote was on 22 Jan. 1708 in support of the abortive attempt by the Court to defer the abolition of the Scottish privy council. He did not stand in 1708, not least because his former seat had been subsumed within Elgin Burghs, which was reserved for Seafield’s brother, Patrick Ogilvy. Allardice was reported as terminally ill in September 1709, and died on 5 Oct.5

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Author: David Wilkinson

Notes

  • 1. Hist. Scot. Parl. 14–15; Scots Peerage ed. Paul, i. 141–3; Recs. Marischal Coll. and Univ. of Aberdeen (New Spalding Club), ii. 262; Retours, i. Kincardine, 174.
  • 2. Hist. Scot. Parl. 14–15.
  • 3. Scot. Rec. Soc. lix. 30.
  • 4. HMC 5th Rep. 632; Hist. Scot. Parl. 14–15; Seafield Corresp. 90, 110, 125, 160, 243; Scot. Hist. Soc. ser. 3, v. 58–59; Scots Peerage, 141.
  • 5. Info. from Dr P. W. J. Riley on members of Scot. parl.; NLS, ms 14498, ff. 82–83; Boyer, Anne Annals, iii. app. 44; Riley, Union, 331; SRO, Seafield mss GD248/566/85/46, Allardice to Findlater, 22 Jan. [1708]; Atholl mss at Blair Atholl, box 45, bdle. 8, no. 79, James Murray to Atholl, 8 Sept. 1709.