49126: John Scobie

John Scobie (c1808-12 April 1889), a native of Tongue in Sutherland, was Chamberlain of the Lews from 1844 to 1848 – the first to be appointed by James Matheson on his purchase of the island in 1844. He lived at Sandwick House.

According to Donald Macdonald, Tolsta, in Lewis: A History of the Island, Scobie was "just and generous in his dealings with the tenants." However he did add the cost of famine-relief meal to the debts of the tenants, which was rectified by his successor, John Munro Mackenzie.

He was married to Johanna Mackinnon (c1823-1884), a daughter of Capt Neil Mackinnon, 93rd Regiment of Duirinish, Skye. They had seven children, Barbara (1846) and Neil Farquhar Mackinnon (1849) born in Stornoway; and Mackay John (1854), Alice (1857), James (1860), Donald (1860) and Maria (1864) born in Sutherland.

After leaving Lewis Scobie was a tenant at Glencanisp 1848-1882 and he died in Keoldale. He is buried at Balnakeil, near Durness.