Quotes:Lindsay, James Ludovic

Zirkoff, Boris

Lindsay, James Ludovic, 26th Earl of Crawford and 9th Earl of Bal- carres, born at St. Germain-en-Laye, July 28, 1847, deceased at London, January 31, 1913. Astronomer, collector and bibliophile, descendant from one of the oldest families of the British Isles; he was the only son of Alexander William Crawford Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford and 8th Earl af Balcarres, by his wife Margaret, eldest daughter of Lieutenant-General James Lindsay, of Balcarres. Educated at Eton; attended for a brief period Trinity College, Cambridge, then entered the Grenadier Guards; resigned commission after being elected M.P. for Wigan, a seat which he held until he succeeded to his father’s earldom, 1880. Greatly attracted to astronomy, he organized a station at Cadiz, 1870. for observation of the eclipse of the sun, rendering valuable assistance to the expedition sent by the British Government. Erected, 1872, an observatory at Dunecht, near Aberdeen, equipped with the newest telescopes; became associated with Mr. (later Sir) David Gill, and in 1874, proceeded with him and Dr. Ralph Copeland to Mauritius, 535 to observe the transit oi Venus. Presented to the nation, 1888, all his telescopes, instruments and astronomical library, for the purpose of establishing an improved observatory at Edinburgh. During the rest of his life, made large collections of proclamations, broadsides, and documents of the French Revolution; his valuable collection of postage stamps, as well as of philatelic books, he bequeathed to the British Museum. Was an enthusiastic bibliophile, adding greatly to the remarkable library inherited from his father. The inception of this library, one of the largest privately owned libraries in the British Isles, can be traced to John Lindsay, Lord Menmuir of Balcarres, second son of David, 9th Earl of Crawford (born 1552). He was one of the Octavians who with the Privy Council governed the land during the minority of James VI. James Lindsay issued a number of Catalogues and handlists, as well as a collation of the rarest books with notes, in a valuable series of four large volumes, entitled Bibliotheca Lindesiana, containing the description of the vast holdings preserved at Haigh Hall, Wigan. Though not a professional mathematician, he had considerable mechanical skill and took an interest in the development of electrical engineering, acting as Chief British Commissioner at the electrical exhibition at Paris, 1881. He also rendered active service by scientific explorations in his yacht Valhalla. Elected President of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1878 and 1879, Fellow of the Royal Society, 1878, and Trustee of the British Museum, 1885. It was at one of the meetings of the Trustees that he was taken gravely ill, Jan. 30, 1913, and died the next day, at 2 Cavendish Square. He was buried at the old Chapel of Balcarres House, Fife. James Lindsay was married, 1869, to Emily Florence, second daughter of Col. the Hon. Edward Bootle Wilbraham, by whom he had one daughter and six sons. He was succeeded as 27th Earl by his oldest son David Alexander Edward (b. 1871) who was a member of Lloyd George’s Coalition Cabinet, 1916-22.

Very little seems to be known regarding the occult leanings of James Ludovic Lindsay, and no information of any kind is available on this subject in official sources. However, we learn some very interesting facts concerning him in one of the letters from Master K.H. to A. P. Sinnett (Letter No. VIII, received through H. P. Blavatsky, about Feb. 20, 1881; see Mahatma Letters, pp. 26-27).

Source: Boris de Zirkoff, «H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings», vol. 2, pp. 534-535