James Loch

[citation needed] In 1801, Loch was admitted an advocate in Scotland, and was called to the bar in England at Lincoln's Inn on 15 November 1806, but abandoned the law after a few years of conveyancing practice.

The "Sutherlandshire clearances" of George, Marquis of Stafford, by which between 1811 and 1820 fifteen thousand[citation needed] tenants were removed from the inland to the seacoast districts, were carried out under his supervision.

[1] For much of his life, Loch worked to effect the clearances and "to so mould and control the lives of 'the ignorant and credulous people' that at one time the young among them had to go to his agents for permission to marry".

[4] In June 1827 Loch entered parliament as member for St Germans in Cornwall for the Whigs, and having held that seat until 1830, he was then returned without opposition for the Wick Burghs, and was regularly re-elected until 1852, when he was defeated, by 119 votes to 80, by Samuel Laing.

There is a monument to him, now hidden in the woods, near Uppat Farm marking a spot where he apparently liked to come and view his achievements on the estate.