Constituency Dates
Scotland 1705 – 1708
Renfrewshire 1710 – 1722
Family and Education
b. c. 1665, 1st s. of Robert Pollock of Pollock by his 2nd w. Jean, da. of Cornelius Crawford of Jordanhill, Renfrew. educ. Glasgow 1679. m. (1) contr. 25 and 30 Jan. 1686, Annabella (d. bef. 15 May 1691), da. of Sir George Maxwell of Nether Pollock, Renfrew, wid. of John Cathcart of Carleton, Ayr, s.p.; (2) Annabella, da. of Walter Stewart of Pardovan, 4s. 3da. suc. fa. 1673; cr. Bt. 30 Nov. 1703.
Offices Held

M.P. [S] Renfrewshire 1700 – 07.

Lt. indep. tp. Scotch horse 1689; capt. 7 Drags. bef. June 1691; maj. Lord Murray’s Ft. 1694; half pay 1698; maj. Earl of Hyndford’s Drags. 1703; lt.-col. Drags. 1706; lt.-col. Lord Carmichael’s Drags. 1710; col. of Drags. 1712; half-pay 1713; gov. Fort William 1715 – 25.

Address
Main residence: Pollock, Renfrew.
biography text

Pollock, who was created a baronet for his services and suffering at the Revolution,1Crawfurd, Shire of Renfrew, 291-2. was returned for the third time for his county as a Whig in 1715. Appointed governor of Fort William, he commanded the garrison there throughout the rebellion, sending back much information to Montrose, though ‘mortified’ at so many ‘ungrate and unnatural’ rebels ‘passing under his nose’.2HMC 3rd Rep. 380. After the rebellion he was said by a Jacobite agent to have supported a petition to allow wives and widows of English Jacobites to retain their jointures out of the estates forfeited by their husbands but to have opposed a similar petition on behalf of their counterparts in Scotland, to the surprise of English Members.3HMC Stuart, vi. 106. Voting consistently with the Government, which ‘probably lost him some of those who formerly were his friends’,4Caldwell Pprs. (Maitland Club lxxi), i. 238. he was defeated in 1722, soon afterwards resigning his military governorship in return for a pension of £300 p.a.5Chas. Cathcart to Walpole, 12 Sept. 1724, Cholmondeley (Houghton) mss. He did not stand again, dying 22 Aug. 1735.

Author
J.M.S.
Volume
Commons 1715-1754
Notes
  • 1. Crawfurd, Shire of Renfrew, 291-2.
  • 2. HMC 3rd Rep. 380.
  • 3. HMC Stuart, vi. 106.
  • 4. Caldwell Pprs. (Maitland Club lxxi), i. 238.
  • 5. Chas. Cathcart to Walpole, 12 Sept. 1724, Cholmondeley (Houghton) mss.