John Coutts (merchant)

John Coutts (1699–1750) was a Scottish merchant and banker, Lord Provost of Edinburgh in 1742.^[1]

John Coutts

Life

The eldest son of Patrick Coutts, a tradesman in Edinburgh, and formerly of Montrose, by his wife, Christina Smith, he was born on 28 July 1699. He went into business as commission agent and dealer in grain. Acquiring capital, he became a negotiator of bills, a business which the banks then neglected.^[2]

In 1730 Coutts entered the town council, and in 1742 he was elected lord provost, spending lavishly, and conducting the banquetings in his own home. He held office till 1744, having been once re-elected. He was a patron of the fine arts.^[2]

Coutts died at Nola, near Naples, in 1751, at the age of 52.^[2]

Family

By his wife Jean Stuart, who died in 1736, Coutts had five sons and a daughter. Of those sons, James and Thomas were founders of the banking house of Coutts & Co.;^[2] two other sons, John and Patrick, survived to adulthood. When John died in 1761, and Patrick became insane, the firm brought in an outsider, Sir William Forbes, 6th Baronet, who had worked in the Edinburgh end of the business.^[1]

Notes

1. Price, Jacob M. "Coutts, John". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/6468. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
2.  Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1887). "Coutts, John". Dictionary of National Biography 12. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1887). "Coutts, John". Dictionary of National Biography 12. London: Smith, Elder & Co.