James Wemyss ca.1630-1696
James WEMYSS ca.1630-1696
Biographical Note
Wemyss was probably born around 1630; his father was laird of an estate, Craigton or Craigtoun, near St Andrews in Fife. After university study, he became, by 1657, a regent in St Leonard’s College, St Andrews. In December 1662 he was appointed to be the College’s Principal, and concurrently the minister of the parish of St Leonard’s. In addition he was appointed Dean of St Andrews in February 1664 and was awarded a doctorate of divinity at St Andrews at some point before 1682. Deprived of all his offices in September 1689, following the expulsion of James VII and accession of William III and Mary, he died in October 1696. He married Helen Stirling in 1661.
Books
His library was auctioned in Edinburgh in February 1697. There were 1,223 lots: 322 in folio, 446 in quarto, and 455 in smaller formats. The subject matter was wide: history, geography, language and literature, philosophy, law, warfare, architecture, medicine, and, naturally enough, theology (including scholastic theology) and biblical studies. Imprint dates span the 1510s to Wemyss’s own time, and several languages are present, including ancient Greek, Italian and Spanish.
Sources
- Bibliotheca Vemiana, or a Catalogue of the Books of … Dr James Weems … to be Sold by Way of Auction on Munday [sic] the 14 of February next, ([Edinburgh]: [G. Mosman], 1697). ESTC R186367.
- Scott, Hew, Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae: the Succession of Ministers in the Church of Scotland from the Reformation. New ed., 7 vols (Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, 1915-1928), II, 243; VII, 413.
- Information from Murray Simpson.