James Dick of Prestonfield


Sir James Dick of Prestonfield was a 17th/18th century Scottish merchant who served as Lord Provost of Edinburgh from 1679 to 1681. He was the first Baronet of Prestonfield and was progenitor to the Dick baronets.

Life

He was born around 1644 the son of Alexander Dick and his wife, Helen Rocheid. Alexander was the son of William Dick of Braid, a prominent statesman who was Lord Provost of Edinburgh 1638-1640 and who had loaned the city £45,000 in 1646.
James Dick was a merchant and Dean of Guild in Edinburgh.
James purchased the Priestfield estate, including the medieval Priestfield House, in 1677. In 1679 he was elected Lord Provost of Edinburgh under the title of James Dick of Priestfield in succession to Francis Kinloch. In 1681/82 he was the Member of Parliament for Edinburgh.
Priestfield House had been built by King James IV's printer, Walter Chepman. The house had a long history of Catholic sympathy. In 1713 he purchased the estate of Corstorphine from Hugh Wallace of Ingliston who had purchased it from the Forresters, the traditional family in that area, in 1698.
He died on 15 November 1728.

Family

He married Anne Paterson, daughter of William Paterson of Dunmure in Fife.
Their daughter Janet Dick married William Cunningham of Caprington. Their son William Cunningham inherited the baronetcy on James' death in 1728 and readopted the surname Dick.