James Dalrymple, 1st Viscount of Stair

James Dalrymple, 1st Viscount of Stair (May 1619 – 29 November 1695), Scottish lawyer and statesman, was born at Drummurchie, Barr, South Ayrshire.

James Dalrymple descended from several generations of a family inclined to the principles of the Reformation. He had ancestors among the Lollards of Kyleboth both on his father's and his mother's side. His father, James Dalrymple, laird of the small estate of Stair in the District of Kyle, Ayrshire, died when he was an infant. His mother, Janet Kennedy of Knockdaw, is described as "a woman of excellent spirit", who took care to have him well-educated. From the grammar school at Mauchline he went, in 1633, to the University of Glasgow, where he graduated in arts on 26 July 1637. Next year he went to Edinburgh, probably with the intention of studying law, but the troubles of the times, then approaching a crisis, led him to change his course, and we next find him serving in the Earl of Glencairn's regiment in the War of the Covenant.

What part he took in it is not certainly known, but he was in command of a troop when recalled in 1641 to compete for a regency (as a tutorship or professorship was then called) in the University of Glasgow. He was elected in March. Mathematics, logic, ethics and politics were the chief subjects of his lectures, and a notebook on logic by one of his students has been preserved. His activity and skill in matters of college business were praised by his colleagues, who numbered amongst them some of the leading Covenanting divines, and his zeal in teaching was gratefully acknowledged by his students. After nearly seven years' service he resigned his regency, and removed to Edinburgh, where he was admitted to the bar on 17 February 1648.

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