John 'Jock' Urquhart of Carriacou

Third son of Captain John Urqhart of Craigston (1696-1756) and his wife Jean Urquhart of Meldrum (1720-1757). Purchased an estate of 120 acres on Carriacou in 1770 which later became Craigston. The land and 33 enslaved people were purchased for £5642 10s 3d, of which £3062 0s 3d was to be paid to Robert Maxwell of Carriacou and the remained due by mortgage to John Maxwell of Terraughtie, Dumfries-shire and William Todd. A further purchase in 1771 from Robert and John Maxwell is unclear but includes a further 7 enslaved people. It appears that the sum paid to purchase the estate included investments from Jock Urquhart's wider family, in particular his eldest brother William Urquhart (1741-1796). More land was added in the mid 1770s. By the 1780s co-owned Meldrum estate with his cousin William Urqhuart of Meldrum (1698-1755) and in 1784 he bought out his cousin's moity.

An inventory of Craigston and Meldrum estates was taken by Edward Thornton 15/09/1785, probably shortly after John "Jock" Urqhart's death. At death, his debts were nearly £17,000, of which nearly £3,000 was due to his cousin William for the purchase of his half of Meldrum, just over £10,000 was his debt to his brother Wiliam and nearly £3,000 was the purchase price for his initial half of Meldrum. Thornton valued Meldrum and Craigston at £18,000 sterling. His sole heir was his eldest brother William, with an annuity of £100 a year for life to his sister Elizabeth Arbuthnot (1742-1831) and £50 per annum each to Elizabeth's two daughters until they were married.

H. Gordon Slade, 'Craigston and Meldrum Estates, Carriacou,1769-1841', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 114 (1984), 481-537. See http://www.islandtrees.com/IMAGES/Craigston.pdf [accessed 05/03/2020].

We are grateful to Stephen Lewis for his assistance with compiling this entry.