Sir James Stirling, 1st Baronet

Sir James Stirling, 1st Baronet of Larbert and Mansfield (c. 1740 – 17 February 1805) was a Scottish banker who served three consecutive terms as Lord Provost of Edinburgh.

[1] In early life he went to the West Indies as clerk to Archibald Stirling of Keir, a sugar plantation owner there (great-uncle of Sir William Stirling-Maxwell).

Not long afterwards James was appointed, through Archibald's influence, as secretary to Sir John Dalling, the governor of Jamaica.

[2] Having acquired a fortune in the West Indies, Stirling returned to Edinburgh, and became partner in the banking house of Mansfield, Ramsay, & Co. based in Cantore's close in the Luckenbooths next to St Giles Cathedral.

[3] Stirling was unpopular, and the surgeon Alexander Wood was in danger of being thrown over the North Bridge on being mistaken for him during the Dundas Riots in June 1792.