James Skene (1775 - 1864) was the second son of George Skene of Rubislaw and Jean Moir of Stoneywood. He studied in Germany and was admitted to the Scottish bar on returning to Edinburgh in 1797. Much of his life thereafter was spent in Edinburgh, where he maintained a close friendship with Sir Walter Scott, and was for a time curator of the library and museum of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Subsequent travels took him to Greece, where he settled near Athens, 1838 - 1844. In 1844 he returned to Britain, settling near Oxford where he died, on 27 Mar 1864. The estate of Rubislaw, which had been acquired by Thomas Skene, brother of Sir George Skene, a Danzig merchant and Provost of Aberdeen, 1679 - 1688, in the late seventeenth century, was inherited by James in 1791. During his absence from Aberdeen, he was represented by Sir Henry Jardine, who had married his sister, Catherine.
From the guide to the Papers of James Skene of Rubislaw, Aberdeen, 1800 - 1830, (University of Aberdeen)
