James Maitland, 8th Earl of Lauderdale

James Maitland, 8th Earl of Lauderdale

James Maitland, 8th Earl of Lauderdale KT PC (born January 26, 1759 at Hatton House , Ratho , Midlothian , † September 10, 1839 at Thirlestane Castle , Berwickshire ) was a British peer , politician and economist.

Life

James Maitland was the eldest son of James Maitland, 7th Earl of Lauderdale . He studied at the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow jurisprudence . In 1780 he was first elected to the British House of Commons . He was from 1780 to 1784 MP for the Rotten borough of Newport in Cornwall , and from 1784 to 1789 for the Borough of Malmesbury in Wiltshire . After he had inherited the title of nobility from his father in 1789, the Scottish peers elected him as Representative Peer in the British House of Lords , whereby he left the House of Commons. Maitland initially supported the ideas of the French Revolution and stayed longer in Paris during this time . At times he was even a personal friend of Jean Paul Marat .

When the Whigs under Grenville in 1806 came to power, Maitland was one of the titles Baron Lauderdale , of Thirlestane in the County of Berwick , awarded with a fixed seat in the House of Lords was associated, as it for Peerage of the United Kingdom was one . He was also inducted into the Privy Council in 1806 and was briefly Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland in July 1806 .

Between August and October 1806 he took part as a diplomat in Paris in the unsuccessful peace negotiations with Napoleon I , which Charles James Fox had established. He later became a Tory , voted against the 1832 electoral reform, and was the head of the Scottish High Tories. In 1821 he was accepted as a Knight Companion in the Thistle Order . He died on September 10, 1839 at his family seat at Thirlestane Castle in Berwickshire.

Marriage and offspring

Eleanor Todd, around 1780

On August 15, 1782, he married Eleanor Todd (around 1762-1856), the only daughter and heir to Anthony Todd, secretary in the General Post Office . With her he had four sons and five daughters:

• James Maitland, 9th Earl of Lauderdale ;
• Anthony Maitland, 10th Earl of Lauderdale ;
• Hon. John Maitland (1789–1839), British Army Colonel;
• Hon. Charles James Fox Maitland (1793-1817);
• Lady Anne Maitland (1786–1829) ⚭ 1807 Robert Fraser of Torbreck;
• Lady Mary Maitland (1788–1877) ⚭ 1819 Edward Stanley of Cross Hall;
• Lady Eleanor Maitland (1790–1869) ⚭ 1815 James Balfour of Whittinghame;
• Lady Julian Jane Maitland (1791–1827) ⚭ 1823 Sir John Warrender, 5th Baronet;
• Lady Charlotte Maitland (1792-1813).

Economics

In addition to his political activities, Maitland was also an important economist of his time. In An inquiry into the nature and origin of public wealth (1804) he appears as an opponent of Adam Smith's theories . In it, the importance of the state budget on the general economic situation was problematized for the first time. It is therefore considered a fundamental work of Keynesianism . There was a heated dispute with Henry Brougham about this work, which has been translated into several languages .

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• An Inquiry into The Nature and Origin of Public Wealth and into the Means and Causes of its Increase. Archibald Constable & Co., Edinburgh 1804 (Second edition 1819; English; PDF file; 14.49 MB ).

Web links

Commons : James Maitland, 8th Earl of Lauderdale  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Mr James Maitland at Hansard (English)
• James Maitland, 8th Earl of Lauderdale on thepeerage.com
• Lauderdale, Earl of (S, 1624) at Cracroft's Peerage

predecessor	Office	successor
James Maitland	Earl of Lauderdale 1789-1839	James Maitland
New title created	Baron Lauderdale 1806-1839	James Maitland