John Clerk of Pennycuik

John Clerk of Pennycuik (modern Penicuik) (1611–1674) was a Scottish merchant noted for maintaining a comprehensive archive of family papers, now held by the National Archives of Scotland and the National Library of Scotland.[1]

For the 18th-century John Clerk of Penicuik, see Sir John Clerk, 2nd Baronet.

Born in Montrose, he was the son of merchant William Clerk (d.1620), and was baptised by Alexander Forbes, the Bishop of Caithness, at Fettercairn on 22 December 1611.

He was a person of great ability and of an enterprising commercial spirit. He settled in Paris in 1634, and, in a few years, acquired а very considerable fortune. Returning to Scotland in 1646, he purchased the lands (see Penicuik Policies) and barony of Penicuik, in Midlothian, which have ever since continued to be the residence and title of this family.[2][3]

Clerk bought paintings in Paris, some from the collections of Cardinal Richelieu, and sold them to William Kerr, 3rd Earl of Lothian. The Earl of Moray was another of Clerk's customers.[4]

In 1647 Clerk married Mary Gray,[5] fourth daughter of Sir William Gray[6] of Pittendrum (brother-in-law to John Smith of Grothill), by whom he had five sons and five daughters. On his death he was succeeded by his eldest son, Sir John Clerk, 1st Baronet.[2]

References
  1. Roding, Juliette; Heerma van Voss, Lex (1996). The North Sea and culture (1550-1800): proceedings of the international conference held at Leiden 21–22 April 1995. Uitgeverij Verloren. p. 303. ISBN 978-90-6550-527-9.
  2. Burke, John (1832). A General and heraldic dictionary of the peerage and baronetage of the British Empire. I. H. Colburn and R. Bentley. p. 257.
  3. "The Clerk Family". Penicuik House Project. Penicuik House Preservation Trust. Archived from the original on 2009-08-31.
  4. Siobhan Talbott, 'Beyond 'the antiseptic realm of theoretical economic models', new perspectives on Franco-Scottish commerce', Journal of Scottish Historical Research, 31:2 (2011), p. 165: J. Lloyd Williams, 'The import of art: the taste for northern European goods in Scotland in the seventeenth century', in J. Roding & L. van Voss, North Sea and Culture 1550-1800 (Amsterdam, 1996), pp. 298-323: Siobhan Talbott, 'British commercial interests on the French Atlantic coast, c.1560–1713', Historical Research, 85:229, (2012), p. 394: R. Wenley, 'William Third Earl of Lothian, Covenanter and Collector', Journal of the History of Collections, 5:1 (1993), pp. 23-41.
  5. Siobhan Talbott, 'Letter-Book of John Clerk of Penicuik', Miscellany of the Scottish History Society, XV, (Woodbridge, 2014), p. 11.
  6. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/146497063.pdf
Attribution
  • This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "A General and heraldic dictionary of the peerage and baronetage of the British Empire" by John Burke

See also


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