John Montgomerie (died 1725)

John Montgomerie (died 11 March 1725)^[1] was a Scottish businessman, customs farmer and politician.

In the Parliament of Scotland he was a shire commissioner for Linlithgowshire from 1704 until the Union with England in 1707. Despite supporting the union, he did not win a place as one of the Scottish representatives to the first Parliament of Great Britain.^[2]

He unsuccessfully contested Linlithgowshire at the 1708 general election, and was appointed as Under-secretary of State for Scotland in 1709, serving as private secretary to Lord Queensberry.^[2] He was returned to Parliament for Buteshire at a by-election in February 1710, as a nominee of the county's patron Lord Bute. However, Buteshire was an alternating constituency (with Caithness) and was unrepresented in the next Parliament.^[3] No alternative seat was found for Mongtgomerie at the general election in September 1710.^[2]

Montgomerie was a burgess of Edinburgh from 1706, and a director of the Bank of Scotland from 1706. In 1697 he had acquired lands at Wrae in Linlithgowshire, and in 1707 he became a Commissioner of Excise for Scotland. His business failed in 1712-13, and he was pursued by the Treasury over customs funds.^[2]

References

1. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 6)
2. Hayton, D. W. (2002). S. Handley, ed. "MONTGOMERIE, John I (d. 1725), of Wrae, Linlithgow". The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1690-1715. Boydell and Brewer. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
3. Hayton, D. W. (2002). S. Handley, ed. "Buteshire 1690–1715". The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1690-1715. Boydell and Brewer. Retrieved 2 May 2015.