248 Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 
Such and other eminent services met with their due meed of public 
recognition. Not only did he adorn the Civic Chair, but he became Lord 
Lieutenant of the County of the City of Edinburgh ; his Alma Mater con- 
ferred on him the degree of LL.D. in 1894, and a few months later Queen 
Victoria bestowed on him the honour of knighthood. 
Born by western seas, reared in a Highland manse, the eldest of a 
family of sons who — after school life — had to depend largely on their own 
exertions, early inspired to excel, Sir James was ever the hardest of workers, 
for whom, until his later years, the usual holiday was scarcely existent. 
Partly owing to his iron constitution, and partly from the variety of his 
mental interests, he did not seem to require the relaxations of the ordinary 
man. But latterly he keenly enjoyed his motor-boat on the Clyde, to the 
boating and line-fishing of his boyhood being added the mechanical interest 
of his motor-engine. Towards the end of his life he became subject to 
bronchitis and to heart weakness, and to these he succumbed on 22nd 
January 1918, at the age of 72. 
To many, the news of his death meant little more than the passing of a 
useful and distinguished citizen, but to his intimates it meant the loss of 
a loyal, hospitable, and generous-hearted friend, who would spare neither 
time nor strength on their behalf, and whose memory will ever be 
cherished by them. 
His first wife died in 1882. In 1897 he married Mary Ruth, daughter 
of Captain G. B. Prior, R.A., and widow of Captain MacKenzie, Bombay 
Cavalry, by whom and two daughters he is survived, and by Lady Russell’s 
two daughters by her previous marriage. He was buried in the Dean 
Cemetery, where so many of Edinburgh’s honoured citizens have their last 
resting-place. 
