Stair, John Dalrymple, 1st Earl of, eldest son of James Dalrymple (1619-1695) of Stair (a distinguished lawyer in his day, who rose to be President of the Court of Session; wrote a well-known work, “Institutes of the Law of Scotland”; as a Protestant supported the Prince of Orange, and by him was raised to the peerage as viscount in 1690); adopted law as a profession, and was called to the bar in 1672; got into trouble with Claverhouse, and was fined and imprisoned, but in 1687 was received into royal favour, became Lord Advocate, a Lord Ordinary in the Court of Session, and subsequently as Secretary of State for Scotland was mainly responsible for the massacre of Glencoe (q.v.); was created an earl in 1703, and later was active in support of the union of the English and Scottish Parliaments (1648‒1707).
Definition taken from The Nuttall Encyclopædia, edited by the Reverend James Wood (1907)
Staines * Stair, John Dalrymple, 2nd Earl of