John Rutherfurd

Major John Rutherfurd of Edgerston (12 June 1712 – 8 July 1758) was a Scottish soldier and politician. Early life Rutherfurd was baptized 12 June 1712. He was the eldest surviving son of Sir John Rutherfurd of Rutherfurd and Edgerston, and his first wife, Elizabeth Cairncross, who married in 1710. His father was the head of an old Roxburgh family. Among his eighteen siblings was Walter Rutherfurd, who moved to American and became a prominent merchant. A younger brother, Sir Robert Rutherfurd, was created a Baron of Russia by Catherine the Great in 1768. His paternal grandparents were Thomas Rutherfurd of Teviotdale and Susannah (née Riddell) Rutherfurd, and he was eleventh in descent from James Rutherfurd of Clan Rutherford, who was granted the manorial lands of Edgerston in 1492 by King James IV of Scotland. His maternal grandfather was William Cairncross of West Langlee, Roxburghshire. He was educated at Lincoln's Inn in 1731 and became an advocate in 1734.