William Kirkpatrick of Ellisland and Shaws (1705 – 17 October 1777) was a Scottish lawyer, academic and politician.
[1] His father died before William and his older brother Thomas (later 3rd Baronet of Closeburn) turned 18, which led to local gentleman and future MP Charles Areskine (Erskine), Lord Tinwald overseeing the end of their formal education.
William married Areskine's daughter Jean Erskine, 21 years his junior, on 21 December 1746 [2] in Edinburgh, and they had at least five children.
When in 1735 he resigned from that role, it was to contest the by-election for his father-in-law’s Dumfries Burghs seat in the House of Commons after Areskine won both it and Dumfriesshire in the 1734 election.
[7] Among his grandsons were the noted antiquary and artist Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe and his older brother General Matthew Sharpe, who followed in the footsteps of both Areskine and Kirkpatrick by serving as Member of Parliament for Dumfries Burghs, albeit 100 years later.