| AdminHistory | Sir James Ramsey Gibson Maitland (1848-1897), 4th Baronet, was a Scottish aquaculturist, a Fellow of the Zoological and Geological Societies, and was elected a Fellow of the Linnean Society on 15 June 1882.
Maitland was born on 29 March 1848 and was the fourth in descent from the Hon. Alexander Maitland, the fifth son of Charles, 6th Earl of Lauderdale. He was educated at St. Andrew's University and at Sandhurst, and in 1867 received a commission in the 4th Dragoon Guards, but only remained for a short time in the army. Subsequently he was a captain in the Highland Borders Militia.
Maitland turned his attentions to aquaculture and fish farming, which he became interested in through Frank Buckland in 1873. He used land on his father's property to create ponds and build hatching houses for trout ova. While rearing trout he found that older trout could produce larger eggs and the fry from them were bigger, stronger and thus more valuable. In 1881 he published a pamphlet on 'Stocking Waters' and an essay on Salmon disease. His work and research brought him great renown and he received a gold and silver medal for fish culture at the Edinburgh Fisheries Exhibition in 1882, and a gold medal from the Société d'Accclimation, Paris. He also received multiple awards at the International Fisheries Exhibition in London.
Maitland continued his work in aquaculture and looked into the breeding, hybridization and transporting of live fish and ova. One of his accomplishments was finding a way to transport live salmon and trout ova to New Zealand and he was awarded with two silver vases by the government of New Zealand for his services.
Maitland served on the Forth District Board and Fishery Board for Scotland and was the acting Convener of the County of Stirling, before becoming the Chairman of the Stirlingshire County Council. He also built a mansion house on the Sauchie estate, naming it Sauchieburn, which he moved into with his wife and daughter in 1893. Three years later his wife died, which severely affected him.
Maitland died at Sauchieburn, of heart disease, on 9 November 1897. |