James Oliphant

Lt. Colonel James Oliphant (1796–1881) was Director and Chairman of the Honourable East India Company, and Equerry to the Maharajah Duleep Singh of the Punjab.

James was the fourth son (of seven children) of Ebenezer Oliphant, 7th of Condie and Mary, third daughter of Sir William Stirling of Ardoch.

One of his brothers was Sir Anthony Oliphant, Chief Justice of Ceylon and accredited with having the first tea plantation in that country. Sir Anthony's son was Laurence Oliphant the famous author, diplomat, politician, lawyer, traveller and mystic. James's eldest brother was Laurence Oliphant, 8th of Condie and 30th Chief of Clan Oliphant who was the Member of Parliament for Perth between 1832 and 1837. A third brother was Thomas Oliphant, artist and musician.

In the nineteenth century, the names of four Oliphants featured repeatedly in the (Hansard) records of the Houses of Parliament. They were the three brothers: Laurence Oliphant; James Oliphant; Sir Anthony Oliphant and also the latters's son, Laurence Oliphant.

Lt. Col. James Oliphant married firstly, at Pudupattinam, 23 July 1822, to Lucy, daughter of George Maidman. James had seven children with Lucy (she died and was buried at Secunderabad, on 29 March 1832). James married secondly at Secunderabad, on 29 March 1832, to Sophia Ann, daughter of General Thomas Truman, of the Madras Army. Sophia and James had thirteen children together (she died 1 June 1897). One of the children was General William Stirling Oliphant of the Bengal Army and another was Arthur Craigie Oliphant, guardian of the children of the Maharajah Duleep Singh. One of Arthur Craigie's children was Sir Lancelot Oliphant, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Belgium and Director General of the Foreign Office. Lancelot was married to Christine McRae Sinclair, Viscountess Churchill. Another of James's grandsons (and brother to Sir Lancelot Oliphant) was Rear Admiral Laurence Richard Oliphant, who was married to the Hon. Adelaide Daphne Hermione Willoughby, daughter of the 10th Baron Middleton, who are the grandparents of the present (34th) Chief of the Oliphants.

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