Constituency : Ashburton 1843-7, Ross and Cromarty 1847-68
Sir James was another Scottish landowner but something of an arriviste, his father being a trader in India. Matheson made his fortune through his partnership with William Jardine in the shipping firm Jardine, Matheson and Company . They were based in Canton and well placed to benefit from the end of the East India Company's monopoly of Anglo-Chinese trade. They cannot escape the opprobrium for encouraging the opium trade. James was sent to England to persuade the government to declare war on China but got no joy out of Wellington. In 1839 Jardine had more luck with Palmerston and the First Opium War was the result.
In 1841 Jardine became Whig MP for Ashburton but died two years later and James replaced him in the by-election. The following year he bought the whole of Lewis for over half a million pounds and built himself Lewis Castle near Stornoway. He then began a philanthropic campaign improving roads and drainage which was extended to provide relief during the Highland Potato Famine in the late 40s. He also assisted a number of islanders to emigrate voluntarily. He was rewarded with a baronetcy in 1851.
For the 1847 election he switched seats to the more convenient Ross and Cromarty. His background in the opium trade was not forgotten and he was referred to as the "Member for Opium" in the Press. This inhibited him from speaking in the censure debate which brought down Palmerston's first government in 1857. He stood down for his nehew in 1868.
He died in southern France in 1878.
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