Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Jardine, John

1398995Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 29 — Jardine, John1892William Arthur Jobson Archbold

JARDINE, JOHN (1716–1766), Scottish divine, son of Robert Jardine of Lochmaben, Dumfriesshire, was born 3 Jan. 1716. He was licensed by the presbytery of Lochmaben 7 Sept. 1736, was appointed to Liberton by George II, and was ordained 30 July 1741. On 26 July 1750 he received a call to Lady Yester's Church at Edinburgh, and on 24 April 1754 was transferred to the collegiate or second charge of the Tron Church there. He was created D.D. by the university of St. Andrews 20 Nov. 1758, and became one of his majesty's chaplains in ordinary in September 1759, and one of the deans of the Chapel Royal in August 1761. He was made dean of the order of the Thistle in January 1763. On 30 May 1766 Jardine died suddenly while attending a meeting of the general assembly. He married Jean (d. 1767), eldest daughter of George Drummond [q. v.], lord provost of Edinburgh. By her he left a son, Henry (afterwards Sir Henry) (1766–1851), sometime king's remembrancer, and a daughter, Janet, who married George Drummond Home of Blair Drummond. Jardine was a good preacher, and a man of great social qualities. He moved in the Edinburgh literary set of the time, was a member of the ‘Select Society’ of 1759, and a friend of Home, Hume, and Dr. Alexander Carlyle, but is only known to have written a few articles in the first ‘Edinburgh Review,’ which was founded, largely by his influence, in 1755.

[Scott's Fasti, i. 60, 62, 116; Annals of the General Assembly; Cunningham's Church Hist. of Scotland; Mackenzie's Life of Home, p. 14, &c.; Anderson's Scottish Nation, ii. 568; Carlyle's Autobiography, p. 238, &c.]

W. A. J. A.