- Sir James Hall, 4th Baronet
Sir James Hall of Dunglass, 4th Baronet (
January 17 ,1761 -June 23 ,1832 ) was a geologist andgeophysicist , born atDunglass ,Haddingtonshire , toSir John Hall, 3rd Baronet (d. 1776), by his spouse, Magdalen (d. 1763) daughter ofSir Robert Pringle, 3rd Baronet , of Stichill,Roxburghshire . Sir James was alsoMember of Parliament for St. Michael's borough (Mitchell, Cornwall) 1807 - 1812.Hall studied at Cambridge University and the
University of Edinburgh . Early in his career, Hall studiedchemistry underJoseph Black andnatural history underJohn Walker (naturalist) . During the 1780s he travelled to France and metLavoisier . He returned to Scotland to promote the new French chemical nomenclature.He was particularly taken by
James Hutton 's "Theory of the Earth" during the 1780s and 1790s, and in the Spring of 1788 was with Hutton andJohn Playfair on the boat trip east from his home atDunglass along the coast of theFirth of Forth , which found the famousHutton's Unconformity atSiccar Point . [ [http://www.james-hutton.org/One/Geology/05.htm Hutton’s Journeys to Prove his Theory] ] He published several papers on the chemical composition of strata. He carried out research ongranite that showed that it was possible for molten rock to form conformities. His results were published in the "Transactions" of theRoyal Society of Edinburgh and were well received by those like John Playfair who wanted to use Hutton's theory to promote a more mathematical approach to geology. Hall traveled extensively inEurope to examine geological formations of theAlps andMount Etna , and noted the similarity oflava flow s inItaly to locations in Scotland.Sir James Hall was President of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh , and author of various works on architecture and the sciences. He married Helen (d. 1837), daughter of Dunbar Hamilton later Douglas (d. 1799), Earl of Selkirk and sister of the 5th Earl of Selkirk. They had issue: three sons and three daughters. Sir James Hall died atEdinburgh , Scotland.He was succeeded by his son and heir,
Sir John Hall, 5th Baronet , F.R.S.Another son,
Basil Hall , was a noted traveller and writer; his daughter Eliza was mother ofHouston Stewart Chamberlain .A daughter Magdalene Hall (1793-1822) married 1stly 1815 Colonel Sir
William Howe DeLancey and secondly Captain Henry Harvey; she was author of "A Week at Waterloo" (first privately published) and died in childbirth with her third child. By DeLancey, her first husband, Magdalene had no issue. [Ruth Fuller-Sessions. [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1027589/Unseen-100-years-sad-love-story-wife-final-days-husband-died-Waterloo.html "Unseen for 100 years, the sad love story of a wife and the final days with her husband who died at Waterloo"] "Daily Mail" 18 June 2008. Fuller-Sessions is descended from one of Magdalene de Lancey's brothers: "Magdalene was my great-great-great-grandfather’s sister."]ee also
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Scottish Enlightenment References
* "The Royal Families of England, Scotland, and Wales, with their Descendants", etc., by Messrs, John and John Bernard Burke, London, 1848: vol.1, pedigree CXXVI.
* "Ten Parishes of the County of Haddington", by John Martine, edited by E.J.Wilson, Haddington, 1894, p.214.
*Rayment
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