John Clerk of Penicuik
Encyclopedia
Sir John Clerk of Pennycuik, 2nd Baronet (1676–1755) was a Scottish
politician, lawyer, judge, composer and architect.
He was Vice-President of the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh, the pre-eminent learned society
of the Scottish Enlightenment
.
by his first wife Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Henderson of Elvington.
He had a legal education first at University of Glasgow and then at Leiden University
. During 1697 and 1698 he went on a Grand Tour
and in 1700 was admitted to the Scottish Bar.
for Whithorn
from 1702 to 1707, and a Commissioner for the Union of Parliaments for the Whig Party
: he sat in the first Parliament of Great Britain
in 1707. He was appointed a Baron of the Exchequer
for Scotland on the constitution of the Exchequer Court, 13 May 1708, a position he held for nearly half a century. With Baron Scrope, in 1726, he drew up an Historical View of the Forms and Powers of the Court of Exchequer in Scotland, which was printed at the expense of the Barons of Exchequer for private circulation.
A leading supporter of the Act of Union 1707 with the Kingdom of England
, Clerk wrote in his memoir
s of English
novelist, journalist
and secret agent
Daniel Defoe
: "He was therefor a spy among
us, but not known to be such, otherways the Mob of Edinburgh
had pull him to pieces".the exact wording of the quote varies for example Trevelyan uses "a spy among us, but not known to be such, otherwise the mob of Edinburgh had pulled him to pieces" (Trevelyan, p. 277).
, the English antiquary, which forms a portion of the Reliquiae Britannica of 1782.
who, during his latter years, spent much of his time at Penicuik House. His son, Sir James Clerk, erected at the family seat an obelisk
to Ramsay's memory. Sir John was a patron to various other artists and architects, and even dabbled in architecture
himself.
ed by the baroque
composer Arcangelo Corelli
, but his own work has often been overlooked, primarily since the only record of his composition seems to be his own papers. One of his humorous songs was O merry may the maid be that marries the miller.
) and that correspondence is in the National Archives. She became the third wife of Alexander, 9th Earl of Eglinton.
He married, firstly, on 23 February 1701, Lady Margaret, eldest daughter of Alexander Stewart, 3rd Earl of Galloway who died in childbirth on 26 December that year. Her son, John, survived, but died unmarried in 1722. Sir John remarried Janet, daughter of Sir John Inglis of Cramond, by whom he had seven sons and six daughters. He died at Penicuik House on 4 October 1755.
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
politician, lawyer, judge, composer and architect.
He was Vice-President of the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh, the pre-eminent learned society
Learned society
A learned society is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline/profession, as well a group of disciplines. Membership may be open to all, may require possession of some qualification, or may be an honor conferred by election, as is the case with the oldest learned societies,...
of the Scottish Enlightenment
Scottish Enlightenment
The Scottish Enlightenment was the period in 18th century Scotland characterised by an outpouring of intellectual and scientific accomplishments. By 1750, Scots were among the most literate citizens of Europe, with an estimated 75% level of literacy...
.
Early life
John Clerk was son of Sir John Clerk, 1st BaronetSir John Clerk, 1st Baronet
Sir John Clerk, 1st Baronet was a Scottish politician, created a Baronet of Nova Scotia on 24 March 1679. Sir John served in the Parliament of Scotland, and, in 1700, acquired the lands and barony of Leswade, near Edinburgh....
by his first wife Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Henderson of Elvington.
He had a legal education first at University of Glasgow and then at Leiden University
Leiden University
Leiden University , located in the city of Leiden, is the oldest university in the Netherlands. The university was founded in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, leader of the Dutch Revolt in the Eighty Years' War. The royal Dutch House of Orange-Nassau and Leiden University still have a close...
. During 1697 and 1698 he went on a Grand Tour
Grand Tour
The Grand Tour was the traditional trip of Europe undertaken by mainly upper-class European young men of means. The custom flourished from about 1660 until the advent of large-scale rail transit in the 1840s, and was associated with a standard itinerary. It served as an educational rite of passage...
and in 1700 was admitted to the Scottish Bar.
Parliament
He was a member of the Parliament of ScotlandParliament of Scotland
The Parliament of Scotland, officially the Estates of Parliament, was the legislature of the Kingdom of Scotland. The unicameral parliament of Scotland is first found on record during the early 13th century, with the first meeting for which a primary source survives at...
for Whithorn
Whithorn
Whithorn is a former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, about ten miles south of Wigtown. The town was the location of the first recorded Christian church in Scotland, Candida Casa : the 'White [or 'Shining'] House', built by Saint Ninian about 397.-Eighth and twelfth centuries:A...
from 1702 to 1707, and a Commissioner for the Union of Parliaments for the Whig Party
British Whig Party
The Whigs were a party in the Parliament of England, Parliament of Great Britain, and Parliament of the United Kingdom, who contested power with the rival Tories from the 1680s to the 1850s. The Whigs' origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute rule...
: he sat in the first Parliament of Great Britain
Parliament of Great Britain
The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and Parliament of Scotland...
in 1707. He was appointed a Baron of the Exchequer
Court of Exchequer (Scotland)
The Court of Exchequer was formerly a distinct part of the court system in Scotland, with responsibility for administration of government revenue and judicial matters relating to customs and excise, revenue, stamp duty and probate...
for Scotland on the constitution of the Exchequer Court, 13 May 1708, a position he held for nearly half a century. With Baron Scrope, in 1726, he drew up an Historical View of the Forms and Powers of the Court of Exchequer in Scotland, which was printed at the expense of the Barons of Exchequer for private circulation.
A leading supporter of the Act of Union 1707 with the Kingdom of England
Kingdom of England
The Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state to the northwest of continental Europe. At its height, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and several smaller outlying islands; what today comprises the legal jurisdiction of England...
, Clerk wrote in his memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
s of English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
novelist, journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and secret agent
Secret Agent
Secret Agent is a British film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, loosely based on two stories in Ashenden: Or the British Agent by W. Somerset Maugham. The film starred John Gielgud, Peter Lorre, Madeleine Carroll, and Robert Young...
Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe , born Daniel Foe, was an English trader, writer, journalist, and pamphleteer, who gained fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe. Defoe is notable for being one of the earliest proponents of the novel, as he helped to popularise the form in Britain and along with others such as Richardson,...
: "He was therefor a spy among
us, but not known to be such, otherways the Mob of Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
had pull him to pieces".the exact wording of the quote varies for example Trevelyan uses "a spy among us, but not known to be such, otherwise the mob of Edinburgh had pulled him to pieces" (Trevelyan, p. 277).
Academic leanings
Of his other treatises, Clerk wrote papers in the Philosophical Transactions: one an Account of the Stylus of the Ancients and their different sorts of Paper, printed in 1731, and the others On the effects of Thunder on Trees and Of a large Deer's Horns found in the heart of an Oak, printed in 1739. He was the author of a tract entitled Dissertatio de quibusdam Minumentis Romanis &c, written in 1730 but not published until 1750. For upwards of twenty years he also carried on a learned correspondence with Roger GaleRoger Gale (antiquary)
Roger Gale was an English scholar and antiquary as well as a Member of Parliament for Northallerton. His father was an ecclesiastic and professor at Cambridge, which the younger Gale also attended. After his graduation, Gale briefly served as a diplomat in France, as well as holding a position as...
, the English antiquary, which forms a portion of the Reliquiae Britannica of 1782.
Patron of the Arts
Sir John Clerk was one of the friends and patrons of Allan RamsayAllan Ramsay
Allan Ramsay may refer to:*Allan Ramsay , also known as Allan Ramsay the Elder, Scottish poet*Allan Ramsay , also known as Allan Ramsay the Younger, Scottish portrait painter...
who, during his latter years, spent much of his time at Penicuik House. His son, Sir James Clerk, erected at the family seat an obelisk
Obelisk
An obelisk is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape at the top, and is said to resemble a petrified ray of the sun-disk. A pair of obelisks usually stood in front of a pylon...
to Ramsay's memory. Sir John was a patron to various other artists and architects, and even dabbled in architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
himself.
Musical talent
Clerk had a musical bent also, and while in Rome may have been tutorTutor
A tutor is a person employed in the education of others, either individually or in groups. To tutor is to perform the functions of a tutor.-Teaching assistance:...
ed by the baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
composer Arcangelo Corelli
Arcangelo Corelli
Arcangelo Corelli was an Italian violinist and composer of Baroque music.-Biography:Corelli was born at Fusignano, in the current-day province of Ravenna, although at the time it was in the province of Ferrara. Little is known about his early life...
, but his own work has often been overlooked, primarily since the only record of his composition seems to be his own papers. One of his humorous songs was O merry may the maid be that marries the miller.
Family
Sir John succeeded his father in his title and estates in 1722. He unsuccessfully courted Susanna, daughter of Sir Archibald Kennedy of Culzean, Baronet (ancestor of the Marquess of AilsaMarquess of Ailsa
Marquess of Ailsa, of the Isle of Ailsa in the County of Ayr, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 10 September 1831 for Archibald Kennedy, 12th Earl of Cassillis. The title Earl of Cassillis had been created in 1509 for the 3rd Lord Kennedy. This title had been...
) and that correspondence is in the National Archives. She became the third wife of Alexander, 9th Earl of Eglinton.
He married, firstly, on 23 February 1701, Lady Margaret, eldest daughter of Alexander Stewart, 3rd Earl of Galloway who died in childbirth on 26 December that year. Her son, John, survived, but died unmarried in 1722. Sir John remarried Janet, daughter of Sir John Inglis of Cramond, by whom he had seven sons and six daughters. He died at Penicuik House on 4 October 1755.
Further reading
- Clerk, John, Sir, 1676–1755; (Editor: Gray, John Miller, 1850–1894). Memoirs of the life of Sir John Clerk of Penicuik, baronet, baron of the Exchequer, extracted by himself from his own journals, 1676-1755, Edinburgh, Printed at the University press by T. and A. Constable for the Scottish history society, 1892. On the website of The Internet Archive, retrieved 2009-12-09
External links
- Digitised scores of his musical works can be viewed through the Five Centuries of Scottish Music collection hosted by AHDS Performing Arts
- A recording of his cantatas is available from Hyperion