James Tod of Deanston and Hope Park WS FRSE (c.1795 - 1858) was a 19th-century Scottish lawyer, antiquary and landowner.
He was born around 1795 the eldest son of James Tod of Hope Park, on the south-east side of the Meadows, Edinburgh.[1]
His mother was living as a widow at Hope Park in south Edinburgh in 1813/14.[2]
He was apprenticed to David Wemyss WS from around 1811. The office was at 55 George Street in Edinburgh's First New Town.[3]
He qualified as a Writer to the Signet in 1820. He then set up his own offices at 21 Dublin Street.[4]
Around 1830 he acquired the large estate of Deanston west of Stirling.
In 1848 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers was James David Forbes.[5]
By 1855 he was living in a huge Georgian townhouse at 55 Great King Street in Edinburgh's Second New Town.[6]
He died on 26 March 1858.
The name of Hope Park survives in the street-names Hope Park Terrace and Hope Park Crescent.[7]
His photograph (an early calotype of 1844 by Hill & Adamson) is held by the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.[8]
In 1830 he married Susan Mercer, daughter of James Mercer of Scotsbank.[9] Her brother Robert Mercer married Elizabeth Scott-Moncrieff (1802-1871), daughter of Very Rev Henry Moncrieff of Tullibole Castle near Fossoway.[10]