Skip to main content
James Boswell .info logo James Boswell .info
  • James Boswell
  • Biographies
  • FAQ
  • Forum
  • Literature
  • Original sources
  • Scholars
  • About the site
Home

Help us improve and win an Amazon gift certificate - four quick questions!

James Ferguson - Lord Pitfour

Biography


Birth: 1700
Death: 1777

Married (1733) to Anne Murray (1708-1793), a sister of the 5th Lord Elibank. Dean of the (Scottish) Faculty of Advocates until 1764 when he was raised to the bench as Lord Pitfour. Member of The Poker Club.

One of his sons, Patrick, a military man, was killed in action in 1780. (Link)

Also known as

  • Lord Pitfour
  • Life with James Boswell

    Boswell dined with Lord Pitfour on November 9, 1762, describing him as "the greatest lawyer in Scotland and one of the best of men, possessed of good sense, honesty, and meekness". They also met in London on various occasions throughout the spring of 1763. In various journal entries and letters he writes about imitating Pitfour in some way or other.

    On July 29, 1763, shortly before leaving for Utrecht, Boswell wrote to Pitfour "that his prophecy that I would return to the law will be fulfilled; and I say that if a saint nowadays obtained the gift of prophecy, none can have a better chance for it than Pitfour."

    Recommended literature

  • Search the Questia online library for "James Ferguson"

  • Mentioned in

    James Ferguson is mentioned in:

  • Journal of my Jaunt, Harvest 1762
  • London Journal 1762-1763
    • Add new comment
    Google
    Custom Search
    Latest 10 biographies
    James Bruce
    Matthias Oesterreich
    Christoph Dietrich von Keller
    Frederick Augustus I of Saxony
    Franz Xavier, Prince of Saxony
    William O'Carroll
    Werner von der Schulenburg
    Marianne de Chesne
    Emerich de Vattel
    Philip Stanhope
    (C) Thomas Frandzen 2004-2009