GEORGE

See also:

• HERIOT
• GEORGE HERIOT (1563-1623)

HERIOT (1563-1623)  , the founder of Heriot's Hospital, Edinburgh, was descended from an old Haddington family; his father, a goldsmith in Edinburgh, represented the city in the Scottish parliament . George was born in 1563, and after receiving a good education was apprenticed to his father's trade . In 1586 he married the daughter of a deceased Edinburgh merchant, and with the assistance of her patrimony set up in business on his own account . At first he occupied a small " buith " at the north-east corner of St Giles's church, and afterwards a more pretentious shop at the west end of the building . To the business of a goldsmith he joined that of a money-lender, and in 1597 he had acquired such a reputation that he was appointed goldsmith to Queen Anne, consort of James VI . In 16o1 he became jeweller to the king, and followed him to London, occupying a s(1op opposite the Exchange . Heriot was largely indebted for his fortune to the extravagance of the queen, and the imitation of this extravagance by the nobility . Latterly he had such an extensive business as a jeweller that on one occasion a government proclamation was issued calling upon all the magistrates of the kingdom to aid him in securing the workmen he required . He died in London on the loth of February 1623 . In 16o8, having some time previously lost his first wife, he married Alison Primrose, daughter of James Primrose, grandfather of the first earl of Rosebery, but she died in 1612; by neither marriage had he any issue . The surplus . of his estate, after deducting legacies to his nearest relations and some of his more intimate friends, was bequeathed to found a hospital for the education of freemen's sons of the town of Edinburgh; and its value afterwards increased so greatly as to supply funds for the erection of several Heriot foundation schools in different parts of the city . Heriot takes a leading part in Scott's novel, The Fortunes of Nigel (see also the Introduction) .

A

History of Heriot's Hospital, with a Memoir of the Founder, by William Steven, D.D., appeared in 1827; 2nd ed . 1859 .