John Johnstone of Alva (1734-1795) was the son of Sir James Johnstone, 3rd Baronet, and Barbara, daughter of Alexander Murray, 4th Lord Elibank. Johnstone was educated in Edinburgh before taking the role as a writer in the service of the East India Company in 1750. Between 1751 and 1765, Johnstone took on a series of important roles within the Company, becoming a member of the Bengal Council and serving in the artillery. He was imprisoned for a short period in 1756 due to hostilities between the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj ud-Daula, and the Company.

His various appointments gave him the opportunity to trade privately, particularly in salt. He then formed a partnership with two other Company servants, William Hay and William Bolts and became involved in revenue farming. From this, he was accused of malpractice and fraud, having come into conflict with Henry Vansittart, the Governor of Bengal, and was dismissed in 1764. Within months he was reinstated and returned to Bengal and continued his business, receiving approximately £36,000 worth of gifts, the largest amount given to any individual involved at the time. In 1765, Robert Clive became Governor of Bengal and brought with him a reform which further called into question Johnstone’s conduct, resulting in Johnstone’s resignation.

He returned to Scotland with a large fortune and purchased estates at Alva in Stirlingshire, and in Selkirkshire and Dumfriesshire. He faced prosecution by the East India Company for his activities in Bengal and published A Letter to the Proprietors of East India Stock in 1766 in his defence. He and his brothers succeeded in obtaining the withdrawal of prosecution in 1767 and his brothers, George and William, formed part of the Parliamentary Select Committee of inquiry into the company in 1772. Johnstone was elected MP for Dysart Burghs in 1774 and supported the opposition to the North administration. He lost his seat in 1780 and made an unsuccessful attempt at a seat in Dumfriesshire. He died at his home, Alva House in 1795.

The Adam office had previously made designs for Johnstone's uncle, the 5th Lord Elibank, for a monument to his wife in 1762-63, and also for Johnstone's brother, Sir William Pulteney (formerly Johnstone), a friend of Robert Adam's, for works in Shrewsbury and Bath. Johnstone commissioned Adam to make designs for alterations and additions to his estates at Alva and Denovan and also managed the construction of a family mausoleum at Westerkirk.

In addition, Johnstone asked Adam to design a mausoleum at Alva. There is one surviving preliminary design which shows the front elevation of the single-storey mausoleum largely as executed (SM Adam volume 10/45). Letters from Adam’s Edinburgh clerk, John Paterson, reveal that the foundation was to be laid in May 1790 and the construction continued into 1791, with Johnstone having reservations over payment. The preliminary design shows that Adam considered having a small turret or urn on the roof, neither of which were added to the final building. The Greek Doric columns used to support the central pediment are considered by King to be one of the first uses of this order in Britain and Europe. The pediment projections were repeated on each elevation. Internally, the executed mausoleum has a cross-vaulted ceiling and King states that the mausoleum has been extended to the rear at basement level.

William Fullarton (1754-1808) was a politician and colonial governor. He was the only son of William and Barbara Fullarton and inherited considerable property after the death of his father in 1758. He was educated at the University of Edinburgh before departing for his Grand Tour in 1769, with Patrick Brydone as his tutor. He spent a short time in Lincoln’s Inn before giving up the law to become secretary to the embassy in Paris from 1775-8. Upon his return he was elected MP for Plympton Erle in 1779.

In 1780, he raised a regiment on his estate in collaboration with Thomas Mackenzie which landed in India, and in 1782 he was gazetted colonel in the army of the East India Company. He returned to Scotland and resumed his political career in 1787, sitting for Haddington (1787-90), Horsham (1793-6) and Ayrshire (1796-1703), and becoming a spokesman on India. At the same time, he settled into his life on his Ayrshire estates. He married Marianne Mackay, daughter of George, 5th Lord Reay, in 1792. And he took an interest in agricultural improvement, publishing two memoirs on its progress, including a General View of the Agriculture of the County of Ayr in 1793. In the same year, he was elected fellow of the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh.

He then became first commissioner to Trinidad in 1802 which brought awareness to the brutal leadership of Thomas Picton, who resigned in 1803, with Fullarton publishing his Statement, Letters and Documents, Respecting the Affairs of Trinidad in 1804. He sold his Fullarton estate in 1804 and died of lung inflammation in London in 1808 and was buried in Isleworth.

In c.1790, the Adam office made designs for a substantial castle-style county house along with a forecourt, stables and offices, and a Roman-style temple. Fullarton had grown up with William Adam, nephew of Robert and James, and it is possible that it was through this connection that he had contacted the Adam office to make designs on his estate. Adam also made a preliminary design for a mausoleum at Fullarton, but this does not appear to have been executed.

See also: Alva House, Clackmannanshire; Denovan House, Falkirk; Johnstone Mausoleum, Westerkirk and Fullarton Castle, Ayrshire.

Literature:
National Library Scotland: MSS.19992-19993, Letters from John Paterson to Robert Adam, 1790-91; A.T. Bolton, The Architecture of Robert and James Adam, Volume II, Index, 1922, pp. 14, 72, 77; D. King, The Complete Works of Robert & James Adam and Unbuilt Adam, Volume 1, 2001, pp. 359-362; Volume 2, 2001, pp. 218, 265; M. Fry, ‘Fullarton, William, of Fullarton (1754–1808)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2008, online [accessed 4 December 2023]; D. L. Prior, ‘Johnstone, John (1734-1795)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004, online [accessed 5 December 2023]

With thanks to the Arts Society Fund and the Art Fund’s Jonathan Ruffer Curatorial Grant which enabled archival visits in Edinburgh to support research for this scheme.

Louisa Catt, 2024