SUTTIE (afterwards GRANT SUTTIE), Sir James, 4th Bt. (1759-1836), of Balgone, Haddington.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790-1820, ed. R. Thorne, 1986
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

21 Mar. 1816 - 1826

Family and Education

b. 10 May 1759, 1st s. of Sir George Suttie, 3rd Bt., of Balgone by Agnes, da. of William Grant, SCJ (Lord Prestongrange). educ. Glasgow Univ. 1777; adv. 1781; L. Inn 1777, called 1785. m. 17 Apr. 1792, Katherine Isabella, da. of James Hamilton of Bangour, 1s. 2da. suc. fa. as 4th Bt. 25/26 Nov. 1783; aunt Janet Grant, Countess of Hyndford, to Prestongrange and took name of Grant before Suttie 1818.

Offices Held

Lt. Haddington fencible cav. 1794, capt. 1796.

Biography

Suttie figured thus in the electoral survey of his county in 1788: ‘A good fortune. Connected with the Countess of Hyndford, and Mr Dundas, and will go with him.’1 In 1816 he was returned unopposed for the county on a vacancy, still connected with Lord Melville and assisted by interests friendly to government. He went on to support them silently, voting with the majorities on the civil list, 6 May 1816; on the composition of the finance committee, 7 Feb., and the Admiralty salaries, 17 and 25 Feb.; against Catholic relief, 9 May, and for the suspension of habeas corpus, 23 June 1817. In the next Parliament he voted against Tierney’s censure motion on 18 May 1819 and for the foreign enlistment bill on 10 June. He promised his constituents to attend in support of measures against sedition in November 1819.2

In the following year he retained his seat by a single vote against Lord John Hay, a Whig who had threatened an opposition to Suttie in 1818. In July 1818 he had complained of local patronage being awarded to his opponents, ‘an insult to me and all my friends in the county’, which made him wonder whether it was true that ‘the best way to obtain favours from the present government was to act in opposition to them’. Melville rebuked him, indicating that the complaint was both petty and, as burgh patronage was in question, irrelevant.3 He died 20 May 1836.

Ref Volumes: 1790-1820

Author: R. G. Thorne

Notes

  • 1. Pol. State of Scotland 1788, p. 168.
  • 2. Edinburgh Advertiser, 20 Oct. 1819.
  • 3. SRO GD51/5/364/25, Suttie to Melville, 11 July, reply 14 July 1818.