George Heriot: Difference between revisions
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==Early life== |
==Early life== |
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Heriot was born in |
Heriot was born in [[Gladsmuir]], ([[East Lothian]]), on 15 June 1563, the eldest son of [[George Heriot (died 1610)|George Heriot]] and Elizabeth Balderstone, and one of ten children.<ref name="ODNB">Handley, 2008.</ref> His father was a well-established [[goldsmith]] from an old [[Haddingtonshire]] family, who served as a Member of the [[Parliament of Scotland]].<ref name="oldDNB">Espinasse, 1891.</ref> |
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On 14 January 1586 he was engaged to marry Christian [[Marjoribanks]], the daughter of Simon Marjoribanks a [[burgess (title)|burgess]] of the [[City of Edinburgh]] and a local merchant<ref name="Jinglin">Lochart, 2004.</ref>; the couple would have two sons, who died in their youth.<ref>Handley notes that they drowned at sea at an unknown date, perhaps when travelling to England with their father in 1603. The two sons are not mentioned at all by Espinasse.</ref> To mark the marriage, and the end of his [[apprenticeship]], Heriot was given 1500 [[merks]]<ref>Around £80 sterling.</ref> by his father in order to establish his own business, which he did in a small "[[luckenbooth]]" near [[St. Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh|St. Giles' Cathedral]],<ref name="ODNB"/> on the site of the entrance of the modern [[Signet Library]].<ref name="oldDNB"/> |
On 14 January 1586 he was engaged to marry Christian [[Marjoribanks]], the daughter of Simon Marjoribanks a [[burgess (title)|burgess]] of the [[City of Edinburgh]] and a local merchant<ref name="Jinglin">Lochart, 2004.</ref>; the couple would have two sons, who died in their youth.<ref>Handley notes that they drowned at sea at an unknown date, perhaps when travelling to England with their father in 1603. The two sons are not mentioned at all by Espinasse.</ref> To mark the marriage, and the end of his [[apprenticeship]], Heriot was given 1500 [[merks]]<ref>Around £80 sterling.</ref> by his father in order to establish his own business, which he did in a small "[[luckenbooth]]" near [[St. Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh|St. Giles' Cathedral]],<ref name="ODNB"/> on the site of the entrance of the modern [[Signet Library]].<ref name="oldDNB"/> |
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Revision as of 13:44, 21 March 2010
George Heriot (15 June 1563 - 12 February 1624) was a Scottish goldsmith and philanthropist. He is chiefly remembered today as founder of George Heriot's School, a large private school in Edinburgh; his name has also been given to Heriot-Watt University, as well as several streets (and one pub) in the same city.
Heriot was the court goldsmith to Anne of Denmark, the wife of King James VI of Scotland, as well as to the king himself; he became very wealthy from this position, and wealthier still as a result of lending this money back to the king and the rest of his court. He moved to London along with the court in 1603, at the time of the Union of Crowns, and remained in London until he died in 1624. He had married twice, but had no recognised children surviving at the time of his death, and he left the bulk of his estate to found a hospital to care for "faitherless bairns" (orphaned children) in his home city.
Early life
Heriot was born in Gladsmuir, (East Lothian), on 15 June 1563, the eldest son of George Heriot and Elizabeth Balderstone, and one of ten children.[1] His father was a well-established goldsmith from an old Haddingtonshire family, who served as a Member of the Parliament of Scotland.[2]
On 14 January 1586 he was engaged to marry Christian Marjoribanks, the daughter of Simon Marjoribanks a burgess of the City of Edinburgh and a local merchant[3]; the couple would have two sons, who died in their youth.[4] To mark the marriage, and the end of his apprenticeship, Heriot was given 1500 merks[5] by his father in order to establish his own business, which he did in a small "luckenbooth" near St. Giles' Cathedral,[1] on the site of the entrance of the modern Signet Library.[2]
He was elected a burgess of the City of Edinburgh in January 1588, at the age of twenty-four, and in May that year was admitted to membership of the Edinburgh goldsmiths' guild. Within six years, he had risen to the status of "deacon convener" of the incorporated trades guilds of the city.[1]
Goldsmith to the Crown
From early in the 1590s, Heriot had been selling items to Anne of Denmark, the Queen Consort, and on 17 July 1597, he was officially appointed the goldsmith to the Queen. The role of a goldsmith in the early modern period extended beyond simply the making and trading of jewellery and precious metals; in effect, he had now become her banker. Over the following years, he would lend her significant amounts of money, often secured on jewellery he himself had sold her.[1] Anne's love of jewellery was "legendary", and by the late 1590s both she and the king were taking out significant loans to support their spending.[6] This ensured Heriot's position would remain lucrative; it had been estimated that between 1593 and 1603 he may have done as much as £50,000 of business with the Queen.[1]
Heriot's financial involvement with the court grew stronger over the years; he was appointed jeweller to King James VI in 1601, and was later involved in a governmental plan to replace the circulating currency of Scotland. By 1603, he held the right to farm the customs.[1]
In 1603, the Union of the Crowns saw James VI inherit the English throne. The king promptly moved his court to London, and Heriot - along with much of the court - followed suit. His loyalty was rewarded, and in November he was appointed a jeweller to the king, on a salary of £150. This sinecure was a small amount in comparison to his private business, which by 1609 saw him with loans to Queen Anne of £18,000, from which he drew a sizable interest. [1]
His wife Christian having died, he returned to Edinburgh in 1609 in order to marry Alison Primrose, the daughter of James Primrose of Carington, the clerk to the Scottish Privy Council. The marriage was short-lived, as Alison died in 1612, and childless.[7]
Death and legacy
Heriot died in London in February 1624, and was buried at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, where the sermon was given by Walter Balcanquhall.[8]
Heriot is believed to have had two sons by his first wife, who were drowned at sea, but the exact details of their death are unknown. He had no other legitimate children - his second marriage was childless - but in his will left money to provide for two illegitimate daughters, aged ten and four. There were additional bequests to his stepmother and his half-siblings, as well as his nieces and nephews. However, the residue of the estate, some £23,625, was left to the city of Edinburgh, in order to establish a hospital for the education of "poor fatherless boys".[1]
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g h Handley, 2008.
- ^ a b Espinasse, 1891.
- ^ Lochart, 2004.
- ^ Handley notes that they drowned at sea at an unknown date, perhaps when travelling to England with their father in 1603. The two sons are not mentioned at all by Espinasse.
- ^ Around £80 sterling.
- ^ Meikle & Payne, 2008.
- ^ Handley, 2008. Per Espinasse, 1891, this may have been James Primrose (d. 1641), the father of Archibald Primrose, Lord Carrington.
- ^ Balcanquhall was a Scottish clergyman, who would become Dean of Rochester the following year, and who served as one of Heriot's executors. He may have been a nephew of Heriot's; his mother was one Margaret Marjoribanks, whom the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography records as the "daughter of an Edinburgh merchant"; this tallies closely with the background of Heriot's first wife Christian, and it is plausible that the two may have been sisters.
References
- Handley, Stuart (2008). "Heriot, George (1563–1624)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/13078. Retrieved 2009-04-16.
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- Espinasse, Francis (1891). "Heriot, George (1563–1624), founder of Heriot's Hospital, Edinburgh". Dictionary of National Biography.
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- Note that the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography article is based on the original Dictionary of National Biography entry, but the two differ on several minor points. Where they conflict, the newer article is assumed to be accurate. The older article contains a number of details (e.g., a presumed deathdate for Heriot's first wife) omitted in the newer article; it is unclear if this is for reasons of space, or if those details were found inaccurate.
- Meikle, Maureen M, and Payne, Helen (2008). "Anne (1574–1619)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/559. Retrieved 2009-04-16.
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- Lockhart, Brian R.W. (2004). Jinglin'Geordie's Legacy: A History of George Heriot's School. Edinburgh: Tuckwell Press. ISBN 978-1862322578.
See also
- William Fettes, another Edinburgh businessman, after whom Fettes College is named.
- List of universities named after people