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These items relate almost exclusively to the Clerk of Penicuik family and to various branches of the Maxwell family. The pivotal figure in terms of the letterbook is Sir George Clerk-Maxwell, originally George Clerk (1715-1784), 4th Baronet of Penicuik (from 1782) who married Dorothea Clerk-Maxwell in June 1735. He obtained the lands of Drumcreiff in Annandale from his father during 1737-8; he acquired the lands of Middlebie, also in Dumfries-shire, partly through their exposure to sale in 1738 and partly through the claims of his wife, whose mother was heiress there. Clerk was a celebrated agricultural improver but also held a number of positions in government: a king's remembrancer in the Exchequer from 1761, a commissioner in the Customs from 1763 and a trustee for improving fisheries and manufactures in Scotland. Some of the items also relate to the Maxwell family of Barncleugh while a residue relates to the Johnstons of Elshieshiells. The law pamphlet of 1711(GD1/1432/6) suggests a connection between the affairs of these families and so these documents have not been sub-divided but chronologically arranged. |