George Heriot
Encyclopedia
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...
goldsmith
Goldsmith
A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Since ancient times the techniques of a goldsmith have evolved very little in order to produce items of jewelry of quality standards. In modern times actual goldsmiths are rare...
and philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
. He is chiefly remembered today as founder of George Heriot's School
George Heriot's School
George Heriot's School is an independent primary and secondary school on Lauriston Place in the Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland, with around 1600 pupils, 155 teaching staff and 80 non-teaching staff. It was established in 1628 as George Heriot's Hospital, by bequest of the royal goldsmith George...
, a large private school
Private school
Private schools, also known as independent schools or nonstate schools, are not administered by local, state or national governments; thus, they retain the right to select their students and are funded in whole or in part by charging their students' tuition, rather than relying on mandatory...
in 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...
; his name has also been given to Heriot-Watt University
Heriot-Watt University
Heriot-Watt University is a university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The name commemorates George Heriot, the 16th century financier to King James, and James Watt, the great 18th century inventor and engineer....
, as well as several streets (and one pub) in the same city.
Heriot was the court goldsmith to Anne of Denmark
Anne of Denmark
Anne of Denmark was queen consort of Scotland, England, and Ireland as the wife of King James VI and I.The second daughter of King Frederick II of Denmark, Anne married James in 1589 at the age of fourteen and bore him three children who survived infancy, including the future Charles I...
, the wife of King James VI of Scotland
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
, 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 GladsmuirGladsmuir
Gladsmuir is a village and parish in East Lothian, Scotland, situated on the A199 and near Tranent and Prestonpans.-Description:The name Gladsmuir stems from the Scots word Gled, meaning a bird of prey, , combined with Muir; the Scots form of Moor...
, (East Lothian
East Lothian
East Lothian is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a lieutenancy Area. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Scottish Borders and Midlothian. Its administrative centre is Haddington, although its largest town is Musselburgh....
), on 15 June 1563, the eldest son of George Heriot
George Heriot (died 1610)
George Heriot was a Scottish goldsmith and member of the Parliament of Scotland. He is perhaps best known as the father of the philanthropist George Heriot, his eldest son.-Career:...
and Elizabeth Balderstone, and one of ten children. His father was a well-established goldsmith
Goldsmith
A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Since ancient times the techniques of a goldsmith have evolved very little in order to produce items of jewelry of quality standards. In modern times actual goldsmiths are rare...
from an old Haddingtonshire family, who served as a Member of the Parliament of Scotland
Parliament 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...
.
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; the couple would have two sons, who died in their youth. To mark the marriage, and the end of his apprenticeship
Apprenticeship
Apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a skill. Apprentices or protégés build their careers from apprenticeships...
, Heriot was given 1500 merks by his father in order to establish his own business, which he did in a small "luckenbooth" near St. Giles' Cathedral, on the site of the entrance of the modern Signet Library.
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.
Goldsmith to the Crown
From early in the 1590s, Heriot had been selling items to Anne of DenmarkAnne of Denmark
Anne of Denmark was queen consort of Scotland, England, and Ireland as the wife of King James VI and I.The second daughter of King Frederick II of Denmark, Anne married James in 1589 at the age of fourteen and bore him three children who survived infancy, including the future Charles I...
, 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. 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. 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.
Heriot's financial involvement with the court grew stronger over the years; he was appointed jeweller to King James VI
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
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
Tax farming
Farming is a technique of financial management, namely the process of commuting , by its assignment by legal contract to a third party, a future uncertain revenue stream into fixed and certain periodic rents, in consideration for which commutation a discount in value received is suffered...
.
In 1603, the Union of the Crowns
Union of the Crowns
The Union of the Crowns was the accession of James VI, King of Scots, to the throne of England, and the consequential unification of Scotland and England under one monarch. The Union of Crowns followed the death of James' unmarried and childless first cousin twice removed, Queen Elizabeth I of...
saw James VI inherit the English throne. The king promptly moved his court to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, 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
Sinecure
A sinecure means an office that requires or involves little or no responsibility, labour, or active service...
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.
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.
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 BalcanquhallWalter Balcanquhall
Walter Balcanquhall was a Scottish clergyman who became a staunch royalist and supporter of the church policy of Charles I of England.-Life:...
.
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 the "puir, faitherless bairns" of deceased Edinburgh burgesses.
Memorials
A statue of Heriot stands on the north entrance tower of the school. This is by Robert MylneRobert Mylne
Robert Mylne was a Scottish architect and civil engineer, particularly remembered for his design for Blackfriars Bridge in London. Born and raised in Edinburgh, he travelled to Europe as a young man, studying architecture in Rome under Piranesi...
the King's Master Mason. It bears a Latin inscription which translates as: "This statue shows my body, this building shows my soul".
See also
- William FettesWilliam FettesSir William Fettes, 1st Baronet was a wealthy Scottish businessman and philanthropist, who left a bequest which led to the foundation of Fettes College, in Edinburgh.-Life:...
, another Edinburgh businessman, after whom Fettes CollegeFettes CollegeFettes College is an independent school for boarding and day pupils in Edinburgh, Scotland with over two thirds of its pupils in residence on campus...
is named. - List of universities named after people
External links
- Contemporary image of George Heriot at the National Portrait Gallery.