John 'Jock' Urquhart of Carriacou

1750 - 1785


Biography

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.


Sources

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.


Further Information

Occupation
Planter

Associated Estates (3)

The dates listed below have different categories as denoted by the letters in the brackets following each date. Here is a key to explain those letter codes:

  • SD - Association Start Date
  • SY - Association Start Year
  • EA - Earliest Known Association
  • ED - Association End Date
  • EY - Association End Year
  • LA - Latest Known Association
1770 [SY] - 1785 [EY] → Owner
1780 [EA] - 1784 [EY] → Joint owner
1784 [SY] - 1785 [EY] → Owner

Jock purchased the remaining moity from his cousin William in 1784 for nearly £3000. He died in 1785, leaving his brother William Urqhuart of Craigston as his heir.


Relationships (3)

Brothers
Uncle → Nephew
Uncle → Nephew

Addresses (1)

Craigston Castle, Turriff, Aberdeenshire, North-east Scotland, Scotland