Basic Biographical Details

Name:	James Smith
Designation:
Born:	1644 or 1645
Died:	6 November 1731
Bio Notes:	James Smith was born in 1644 or 1645, the son of James Smith (died 1684 or 85), a master mason living in Tarbat, Ross-shire in 1656 and who became a burgess of Forres, Moray, in 1659. In the early 1680s father and son are recorded as the builders of the town bridge in Inverness in an inscription on the bridge itself. Smith junior was destined to become a Roman Catholic priest and on 3 May 1671 he enrolled at the Scots College in Rome where he studied rhetoric, philosophy and theology. During his stay in Rome he would have had the opportunity to study contemporary Italian buildings. This is implied in a letter from Sir John Clerk in 1696. He left the Scots College on 3 October 1675 promising to return but never did so. He may have supported himself after leaving the college by working as a mason. Smith was an educated man who had a knowledge of Latin as proved by a letter by him dating from 1714. By the time he returned to Edinburgh he would have a first-hand knowledge Italian architecture which distinguishes him from his fellow Scots and is paralleled in England only by the gentleman architect Roger Pratt. In 1715 when he offered himself as a candidate for election to Parliament he claimed to have had a ‘liberal education at schools and Colledges at home and occasion to know the world by travelling abroad’ and he refers in a receipt dated December 1677 to ‘my…necessare expenses on my voyage upon the account of Sr. William Bruce’. This demonstrates that he was in touch with the leading figure in the architectural world in Scotland by that date as well as his experience in travelling. In 1676 Smith was working at Holyrood which had been begun under Bruce in 1671. In 1679 he married Janet Mylne, the eldest daughter of Robert Mylne, master mason to the crown of Scotland, who was overseeing the works at Holyrood, bringing Smith into contact with another prominent figure. The accounts of Holyrood show that James Smith had undertaken some of the masonry there. By right of his marriage he became a burgess of Edinburgh in December of 1679. In 1678 Bruce had been dismissed from the post of King’s Works and this left the masons at Holyrood and elsewhere without a superior officer. In 1683 Smith was appointed Surveyor or Overseer of the Royal Works at a salary of £100 per annum on the recommendation of the first Duke of Queensberry. In this capacity he was responsible for the maintenance work at Holyrood and he designed the chapel for the chivalric order of the Knights of the Thistle (which had been revived by James II (VII of Scotland) in 1687) within the old abbey church. His post was renewed by Queen Anne’s government in 1707. However his salary stopped after the Union. He acted as surveyor of the Highland forts erected by the Board of Ordnance in the reign of George I, but in 1719 Andrews Jelfe was appointed ‘Architect & Clerk of Works’ in his place with responsibility for all fortifications under the Board’s jurisdiction. Smith visited London to try to redeem this situation but this was to no avail. In a petition to the Barons of the Scottish Exchequer as well as in a letter to Sir John Clerk of Penicuik he complained that he had been ‘disgracefully turn’d out of His Majesty’s service in the 73d year of his age’. The letter to Sir John also stated that he was forced to ‘hunt for his living elsewhere’. From about 1700 he seems to have had an association with Alexander McGill. They worked together at Yester House from about 1700-15. In 1686 he had purchased the Whitehill estate and built a house there. He tried to develop a colliery there and was afterwards known as ‘Mr Smith of Whitehill’. This was not a financial success (Mylne states that ‘he ruined himself by a Drowned Colliery near Musselburgh’) and he was forced to sell part of the estate in 1706 and the remainder in 1726 to his son-in-law, Gilbert Smith (husband of his daughter Bella) who was a pupil and who became Master Mason to the Crown in 1715. He worked together with Gilbert Smith’s elder brother, James, also a pupil, on some building projects. There is some evidence that Smith had a connection with Colen Campbell during the last ten years of his life which is otherwise almost undocumented. Campbell described Smith as ‘the most experience’d Architect’. The connection with Campbell is surmised because of a collection of drawings (now in the RIBA) which belonged to Campbell but are not from his hand. Several are for houses on which Smith worked (for example Dalkeith House which he remodelled in 1702-10 and Melville House). Colvin notes that there are mannerisms in these drawings which are very similar to a drawing for an unexecuted design of Cullen House by Smith and McGill. Most of the drawings are studies on Palladian themes, many with centralised plans relating to Palladio’s Villa Rotonda and other Vicenza villas and one which was the starting point for Campbell’s designs for a house in the ‘theatrical style’ (the latter published in ‘Vitruvius Britannicus’ volume ii, in 1717). This last drawing and another of Somerset House must have been known to Campbell before the date of the publication of ‘Vitruvius Britannicus’. It is not clear if Campbell was a pupil of Smith or if the drawings were purchased by Campbell at a time when Smith was in financial difficulties. It is possible that Smith’s interest in Palladian architecture went back to his stay in Italy. If this is the case, then the origins of Palladian architecture in Britain must be traced back to Smith travels in Italy. However to offset this theory it should be noted that the parental homes of Smith and Campbell were only a short distance apart on the Moray Firth and that one of the drawings is for an updated scheme for Cawdor Castel, Nairnshire which was the seat of Campbell’s uncle Sir Hugh Campbell. Smith did not design Palladian houses in the way that Campbell did. However he introduced some features of Continental architecture: columns sunk into the wall for example at Hamilton Palace, derived from examples such as those on Michelangelo’s Laurentian Library in Florence or Pietro da Cortona’s SS Luca e Martina in Rome; tapering pilasters such as those flanking the front door at Whitehill; and the use of continuous aprons and ornamental flashings to roof ridges inspired by French examples (such as those illustrated in Androuet du Cerceau’s ‘Plus excellents bastiments de France’ of 1576-9). Smith was also familiar with contemporary English work. In 1693 he consulted Wren’s carpenter about designs for Hamilton Palace. Some of Smith’s details are conservative and rooted in Scottish tradition – for example turnpike stairs and flat-ended pediments, the latter to be found in earlier 17th century Scottish mannerist detailing, the construction requiring a mason’s knowledge. Because Smith was a Catholic in a Presbyterian country, he had few church commissions: the Chapel Royal which was short-lived as it was sacked by a mob in December 1688 during the riot which followed the landing of William the Orange in England and the Canongate Kirk with its restrained Baroque façade which may owe more to Dutch examples than to those in Catholic Italy. He designed monuments to the Duke of Queensberry at Durisdeer and Sir George Mackenzie’s mausoleum in Greyfriars Kirkyard. Smith died in Edinburgh on 6 November 1731 aged 86. He was married twice. By his first wife, Janet, he had eighteen children. She was reputedly a ‘good drawer and very clever’. Smith was very proud of her and had her portrait engraved after her death. She died in 1699 aged 37. His second wife, Anna, bore him fourteen children. Not all the names of his children are known but one of his sons who was born when Smith was aged 70 was christened ‘Climacterick Smith’. Outwith his work as an architect James Smith was a justice of the peace and in 1704 one of the Commissioners of Supply for the County of Edinburgh. He is very likely the James Smith who represented Forres in the Scottish Parliament in 1685-6 and as noted above after the Treaty of Union he sought candidacy in 1715 as an MP but this was unsuccessful. According to Robert Mylne he was a capable sculptor. He supplied the lead statue of Charles II which stands in Parliament Square in 1685, it is not certain if he made it himself since there was a shipping cost (from London or Holland) recorded. However in the accounts of those pair for work at Holyrood ‘Mr James Smith statuary’ is recorded and his list of works includes two monuments. Smith was also familiar with engineering matters. He acted as an arbitrator in a dispute over a harbour at Cockenzie, East Lothian because he ‘had the repute to be very well skilled in works of this nature’. He was also involved in a scheme to supply Scottish towns with water. In 1701 he was given the Scottish rights to operate an engine to raise water which had been invented by Thomas Savery. In the early 1700s he carried out a survey which explored the possibility of a Forth-Clyde Canal with William Adair, Alexander McGill and George Sorocold.

Buildings and Designs

This was involved with the following buildings or structures from the date specified (click on an item to view details):
	Date started	Building name	Town, district or village	Island	City or county	Country	Notes
	1678	Methven Castle	Methven		Perthshire	Scotland	Was involved with a design for the house
	c. 1680	Drumlanrig Castle	Drumlanrig		Dumfriesshire	Scotland	Rebuilding perhaps on the basis of designs made by Robert Mylne, Smith's father-in-law.
	1681	Inverness Bridge	Inverness		Inverness-shire	Scotland
	1683	Hamilton Palace	Hamilton		Lanarkshire	Scotland
	1683	University of St Andrews, St Salvator's College	St Andrews		Fife	Scotland	Advice on repairs
	1686	Queensberry House			Edinburgh	Scotland	Advised on completion of house which had been bought incomplete from Lord Hatton.
	c. 1686	Whitehill	Musselburgh		Edinburgh	Scotland
	1688	Canongate Parish Church			Edinburgh	Scotland
	1688	Holyrood Abbey			Edinburgh	Scotland	Fitted up Abbey Church as Chapel Royal for King James II. Destroyed by mob later in 1688. Smith was in charge as Surveyor of the Royal Works and was presumably responsible for the designs. In December 1687 after a visit to James II in Whitehall he was paid an extra £120 as the experssion of the king's satisfaction with 'the preformance of his duty'. William Morgan recently employed on Chelsea Hospital was the master carver and 'three images for the high altar' were carved by Grinling Gibbons'.
	c. 1690	Greyfriars Churchyard, Sir George Mackenzie of Rosehaugh mausoleum			Edinburgh	Scotland
	1692	Tweeddale Lodging			Edinburgh	Scotland	Repairs to house
	1693	Newbattle Abbey	Newbattle		Midlothian	Scotland	Repairs from 1693 onwards. Smith's advice was sought but it is not clear whether he was the effective architect or not.
	1695	Parish Church	Durisdeer		Dumfriesshire	Scotland	Aisle or mausoleum forming the north transept of the church.
	c. 1695	Traquair House	Peebles		Peeblesshire	Scotland	Alterations including the forecourt and gate-piers
	1696	Bothwell Parish Church and Hamilton Monument	Bothwell		Lanarkshire	Scotland	Monument to the Third Duke of Hamilton (originally in Hamilton Collegiate Church). James & James Smith (Close et al, 2016, p.144).
	1696	Surgeon's Hall and Anatomical Theatre			Edinburgh	Scotland
	1697	Drumlanrig Castle	Drumlanrig		Dumfriesshire	Scotland	Ogee roofed pavilions added
	1697	Melville House			Fife	Scotland	May have executed the design by Bruce.
	1700	Strathleven House	Strathleven		Dunbartonshire	Scotland	Attribution on stylistic grounds
	c. 1700	Yester House	Gifford		East Lothian	Scotland	With Alexander McGill
	1702	Dalkeith House			Midlothian	Scotland	Remodelled
	1704	Aberdeen Town House			Aberdeen	Scotland	Advice in connection with the north wing.
	1709	Cullen House and estate buildings	Cullen		Banffshire	Scotland	Designs - in McGill's hand and endorsed 'Mrs Smith & McGill's 3rd design of Cullen house'
	1710	Church	Gifford		East Lothian	Scotland	Possibly the architect with Alexander McGill.
	1714	Caputh Cemetery, monument to John Mackenzie and MArgaret Hay of Delvine	Caputh		Perthshire	Scotland
	1716	Parish Church	Durisdeer		Dumfriesshire	Scotland	Remaining part of church probably to Smith's designs
	1719	The Town's New House	Stirling		Stirlingshire	Scotland	In conjunction with Alexander McGill
	1720s(?)	Smith's Land			Edinburgh	Scotland	Built as an investment
	c. 1720	Dupplin Castle	Forteviot		Perthshire	Scotland	Office-wings added and perhaps earlier works at the Castle. Macky states that 'Mr Smith, the Architect, lives there till he finishes it'.
	Early 1700s	Old Cullen House	Cullen		Banffshire	Scotland	Stables at rear - north/south arm

References

Bibliographic References

The following books contain references to this :
	Author(s)	Date	Title	Part	Publisher	Notes
	Acts of Parliament		Acts of Parliament of Scotland			xi, p139, x, pp80, 267
	Crawford, J	1874	Memorials of Alloa			p91
	Dunbar, John (ed.)	1995	Minerva's Flame: The Great houses of James Smith
	Frew, John and Jones, David (eds)	1988	Aspects of Scottish Classicism		St Andrews	A. Mackechnie: 'James Smith's Smaller Country Houses'
	Historical Manuscripts Commission		Xth Report			Appendix I, p197
	Mylne, R S		The Master Masons to the Crown of Scotland			p200
	New DNB		New Dictionary of National Biography
	New Spalding Club	1906	Records of the Scots Colleges in Douai, Rome etc		New Spalding Club	p118
	Privy Council		Register of the Privy Council of Scotland			vi, p385
	Scottish Record Society		Roll of Edinburgh Burgesses 1406-1700			p456
	The Political State of Great Britain		The Political State of Great Britain			xlii, p522
	Treasury Books		Cal. Treasury Books			xxii, 469, xxiv, 257, xxv, 52
	Treasury Papers		Cal. Treasury Papers 1708-14			p194
	Vitruvius Britannicus	1717	Vitruvius Britannicus			i, plate 16, ii, p3, plate 90
	Wood, M and Armet, H		Extracts from the Records of the Burgh of Edinburgh 1689-1701
	Wood, M and Armet, H		Extracts from the Records of the Burgh of Edinburgh 1701-18			pp282-3
	Wood, M and Armet, H (eds)		Extracts from the Records of the Burgh of Edinburgh, 1681-9

Periodical References

The following periodicals contain references to this :
	Periodical Name	Date	Edition	Publisher	Notes
	Architectural History	1974	xvii		Article 'A Scottish Origin for English Palladianism?' by H Colvin
	Caledonian Mercury	8 November 1731
	The Book of the Old Edinburgh Club	1930	xvii		p83

Archive References

The following archives hold material relating to this :
	Source	Archive Name	Source Catalogue No.	Notes
	Moray District Record Office	Moray Archives		Forres Burgh Records
	NAS	Deeds Mackenzie	58.609
	National Archives of Scotland (formerly SRO)	Gifts and deposits	GD 40/viii/58
	National Archives of Scotland (formerly SRO)	Gifts and deposits	GD 29/263
	National Archives of Scotland (formerly SRO)	Gifts and deposits	GD 18/5004
	National Archives of Scotland (formerly SRO)	Gifts and deposits	GD 124/15	Letters from Smith to the Earl of Mar
	National Archives of Scotland (formerly SRO)	Register House Plans	RHP 2541, 4093
	National Archives of Scotland (NAS)	Records Prefixed 'E'	E 307/2; E 26/11/4, 317
	National Library of Scotland	Manuscript Collection	MS 1103, f.171	Letters from Smith to John Mackenzie of Delvine.
	RIBA Archive, Victoria & Albert Museum	RIBA Drawings Collection