{{short description|Scottish soldier and politician (1688–1762)}} {{about|the Scottish soldier and politician|the American lawyer|James D. St. Clair}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Use British English|date=February 2026}} General ''James St Clair''' (1688 – 30 November 1762<ref name = Rayment>{{cite web | url = http://www.leighrayment.com/peers/peersS3.htm | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080608023739/http://www.leighrayment.com/peers/peersS3.htm | archive-date = 8 June 2008 | title = Leigh Rayment - Peerage | url-status = usurped | accessdate =3 December 2009 }}</ref>) was a Scottish soldier and Whig politician.
==Background== St Clair was the second son of Henry St Clair, 10th Lord Sinclair and his wife Grizel Cockburn, daughter of Sir James Cockburn, 1st Baronet.<ref name = "Burke's-Peerage">{{cite book | last = Burke | first = John | title = A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire | publisher = Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley | location = London | volume = I | edition = 4th | year = 1832 | pages = 441 }}</ref> As a child he received a commission into the 1st Battalion, Royal Regiment of Foot.<ref name = Balfour>{{cite book | last = Douglas | first = Sir Robert | author-link = Sir Robert Douglas | editor = Sir James Balfour Paul | editor-link = Sir James Balfour Paul | title = The Scots Peerage | volume = VII | publisher = David Douglas | location = Edinburgh | year = 1910 | pages = 588–589 }}</ref>
==Military career== St Clair became an ensign of 6th Regiment of Foot in 1694, however was set on halfpay in 1713.<ref name = Balfour/> In the next year, he was admitted to the 3rd Foot Guards and was promoted to captain in 1714.<ref name = Balfour/> He served as 2nd major of his regiment from 1722 and as 1st major from 1725, having been advanced to the rank of brevet colonel two years before.<ref name = Balfour/> In 1734, St Clair was appointed to the command of the 22nd Regiment of Foot<ref name = Balfour/> and three years later he was transferred to the colonelship of the Royal Regiment of Foot (later renamed as 1st (Royal) Regiment of Foot), which he held until his death.<ref>{{London Gazette | issue = 7614 |page=2.a | date = 28 June 1737 }}</ref>
He rose to brigadier general in 1739 and then after another two years rose to major general.<ref name = DoNB>{{DNB Cite|wstitle=Sinclair, James (d.1762)}}</ref> St Clair became lieutenant-general in charge of the British forces in Flanders in June 1745<ref>{{London Gazette | issue = 8441 |page=2 | date = 15 June 1745 }}</ref> and in the following year, he was sent with six thousand men to attack Quebec.<ref name = DoNB/> Because of delays, he sailed instead to capture the Breton port of Lorient.<ref name = DoNB/> He destroyed the French fortifications near Quiberon and then returned to England.<ref name = DoNB/> The philosopher David Hume records in his autobiography that he was appointed as St Clair's secretary at this time.<ref>Hume, D. (1776), [https://web.archive.org/web/20180719164638/https://socialsciences.mcmaster.ca/econ/ugcm/3ll3/hume/humelife My Own Life], accessed on 14 October 2025</ref>
In 1761, St Clair was finally advanced to the rank of full general.<ref name = DoNB/>
==Political career== St Clair entered the British House of Commons in 1722, sitting for Dysart Burghs until 1734.<ref name = "Commons, 1754-1790">{{cite book | editor = Sir Lewis Namier, John Brooke | title = The House of Commons, 1754-1790 | volume = I | publisher = Secker & Warburg | location = London | year = 2002 | pages = 398 }}</ref> Two years later, he was elected for Sutherland, which constituency he represented until 1747, when he was again returned for Dysart.<ref name = "Commons, 1754-1790"/> He held the latter seat until 1754 and became then member of Parliament for Fife until 1762.<ref name = "Commons, 1754-1790"/> St Clair travelled as envoy to the courts of Turin and Vienna in 1748 and later acted as governor of Cork.<ref name = DoNB/>
==Personal life== thumb|Rosslyn Castle In 1735, St Clair bought Rosslyn Castle, which was later inherited by the male heirs of his sisters. On the death of his older brother John St Clair in 1750, he succeeded de jure as Lord Sinclair, but never assumed the title, preferring to retain his seat in the Commons.<ref>Richard Cannon, ''Historical Record of the Twenty-Second, or the Cheshire Regiment of Foot'' (London, 1849) [https://archive.org/stream/cihm_27094#page/n103/mode/2up pages 52-53]</ref>
Around 1745, he married Janet Dalrymple, the youngest daughter of Sir David Dalrymple, 1st Baronet and widow of Sir John Baird, 2nd Baronet.<ref name = Landed-Gentry>{{cite book | last = Burke | first = John | editor = Peter de Vere Beauclerk-Dewar | title = Burke's Landed Gentry of Great Britain | isbn = 0-9711966-0-5 | year = 2001 | pages = 44 | publisher = Burke's Peerage and Gentry }}</ref> Their marriage was childless.<ref name = "Burke's-Peerage"/> St Clair died in Dysart in 1766 and was survived by his wife for four years.<ref name = Landed-Gentry/> With his death the lordship became dormant until 1782, when it reverted to Charles St Clair, a first cousin of James Sinclair, 7th Lord Sinclair.<ref name = "Burke's-Peerage"/>
==Legacy== St. Clair, Minnesota is named after St. Clair.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stclair.govoffice2.com/|title= City of St.Clair Minnesota |publisher= City of St.Clair Minnesota |accessdate= 8 October 2012}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== * [http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1715-1754/member/st-clair-hon-james-1688-1762 The History of Parliament: ST. CLAIR, Hon. James (1688-1762), of Sinclair, Fife and Balblair, Sutherland]
{{s-start}} {{s-par|gb}} {{s-bef| before = William Kerr }} {{s-ttl| title = Member of Parliament for Dysart Burghs | years = 1722–1734 }} {{s-aft| after = Thomas Leslie }}
{{s-bef| before = Sir James Fergusson }} {{s-ttl| title = Member of Parliament for Sutherland | years = 1736–1747 }} {{s-aft| after = George Mackay }}
{{s-bef| before = James Oswald }} {{s-ttl| title = Member of Parliament for Dysart Burghs | years = 1747–1754 }} {{s-aft| after = James Oswald }}
{{s-bef| before = James Oswald }} {{s-ttl| title = Member of Parliament for Fife | years = 1754–1762 }} {{s-aft| after = James Wemyss }}
{{s-mil}} {{s-bef| before = William Barrell }} {{s-ttl| title = Colonel of the 22nd Regiment of Foot | years = 1734–1737 }} {{s-aft| after = John Moyle }}
{{s-bef| before = The Earl of Orkney }} {{s-ttl| title = Colonel of the 1st (Royal) Regiment of Foot | years = 1737–1762 }} {{s-aft| after = Sir Henry Erskine, 5th Bt }}
{{s-reg|sct}} {{s-bef| before = John St Clair }} {{s-ttl| title = Lord Sinclair<br />''de jure'' | years = 1750–1762 }} {{s-vac| dormant | next = Charles St Clair }} {{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Clair, James}} Category:1688 births Category:1762 deaths 26 Category:Nobility from Fife Category:British Army generals Category:British Army personnel of the Seven Years' War Category:British MPs 1722–1727 Category:British MPs 1727–1734 Category:British MPs 1734–1741 Category:British MPs 1741–1747 Category:British MPs 1747–1754 Category:British MPs 1754–1761 Category:British MPs 1761–1768 Category:Cheshire Regiment officers Category:Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Scottish constituencies Category:Royal Scots officers Category:Whig (British political party) MPs Category:Politics of Fife Category:Politics of Highland (council area) Category:18th-century Scottish military personnel