James Stark (statistician)

James Stark of Huntfield FRSE FRCPE FSSA (9 November 1811–2 July 1890) was a 19th-century Scottish physician who became the first Superintendent of Statistics in Scotland.

He was born on 9 November 1811 at 2 Bristo Street[1] in Edinburgh's South Side, the son of Emma Brown (d.1815) and her husband, John Stark.

[3] In 1854, following the passing of the Scottish Registration Act, William Pitt Dundas in his role as Registrar General for Scotland, requested that the government fund a Superintendent of Statistics; preferably of medical background.

The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh put forward Dr James Stark.

He is also memorialised on his parents' grave in St Cuthbert's Churchyard in central Edinburgh, at the west end of Princes Street Gardens.