Occupation: Sir
5th Baronet of Westerhall 1794
MP Cromartyshire 1768-74
MP Shrewsbury 1775-1805
Mayor of Weymouth 1796
Governor of the British Fisheries Society
Comments: Changed surname to Pulteney in 1767 when his wife Frances inherited from Harry Pulteney
Educated as an advocate in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Painted by William Gainsborough
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From www.oldpulteney.com :
The maritime principality known as the Jarldom of Orkney, and the Earldom of Caithness, are the most ancient in geographical Britain. The first recorded Earl was the Norwegian Rognvald also Earl of Moeri, who was granted the title by King Harald of Norway in 871. While Wick was granted Royal Burgh status in 1589; by 1665, the population was only around six hundred. The name Pulteney is taken from the "Herring Baron" Willie Johnstone one of the founders of the British Fisheries Society. Not an easy link to make until you realise that perhaps his biggest catch was a rich woman from Bath whom he married and whose name he took. He became William Johnstone Pulteney and later Sir William. His vision of a vast modern harbour capable of anchoring a thousand boats and, possibly, of even attracting a settlement of Dutchmen akin to Gothenburg drove the project forward. The first bridge was completed in 1805 - the year of the Battle of Trafalgar.
The harbour was completed in 1811 at a cost of £14,000. Telford planned a new village and the whole area was named Pulteneytown after William Pulteney who had died in 1805. Bonny Prince Charlie's failed revolution was kind to Wick. It was money confiscated from the Jacobite Chiefs which paid Telford to build the harbour, the bridge and the new town of Pulteney, harnessing the herring season and allowing Wick to develop from a poverty stricken, coastal village to thriving industrial town. By 1819, the population had reached two thousand. Boats began to come from other parts of Britain to take part in the lucrative herring fishing. By 1830, the resident population was being augmented by an influx of seven thousand workers during the season. Two hundred thousand barrels of fish were being exported every year. The harbour soon proved too small to cater for such a multitude and Telford planned an extension in 1823. This was completed, after delays due to storm damage in 1834.
Pulteney Distillery is the only distillery to be named after a person - Sir William Johnstone Pulteney - once a Governor of the British Fisheries Society, who gave his name to Pulteneytown, Wick. By the 1890's both the harbour facilities and the town of Wick itself were unable to cope with the increase in boats and population. The British Fisheries Society was established to oversee the expansion of the harbour and the creation of Pulteneytown. They commissioned Thomas Telford, the famous Scottish engineer, to build the harbour and town, Telford was also responsible for building the lade which carries water from Loch Hempriggs to Pulteney Distillery.
PulteneyTown
The seamen hau’d the herring ashore
The filleting girls aw dripp’d wi gore
Oh what a sight to see, in old Wick town
As the polis men closed aw the pubs down
For the fishing boom had attracted the worst
The dregs of humanity with one big thirst
"Five hundred gallons of whisky a day
Was drunk" the vicar Thomson, did say
Ten to a room they crammed thi gether
Disease was there whatever the weather
Typhoid, smallpox and the fevers
Many were the saddened grievers
For Pulteneytown was a wild, wild place
Wi aw the worst of the hale human race
Eventually there was Prohibition
The only answer to this condition
A dry town wi’ a working Distillery
Where aw the drunks were put in the pillory.
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from Thomas Telford site
Surveyor for Salop
Mr Pulteney member for Shrewsbury was the owner of extensive estates in that neighbourhood by virtue of his marriage with the niece of the last Earl of Bath. Having resolved to fit up the Castle there as a residence he bethought him of the young Eskdale mason who had some years before advised him as to the repairs of the Johnstone mansion at Wester Hall. Telford was soon found and engaged to go down to Shrewsbury to superintend the necessary alterations. Their execution occupied his attention for some time and during their progress he was so fortunate as to obtain the appointment of Surveyor of Public Works for the county of Salop otherwise known as Shropshire most probably through the influence of his patron. Indeed Telford was known to be so great a favourite with Mr Pulteney that at Shrewsbury he usually went by the name of "Young Pulteney."
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From: British History Online
Source: Domesday Book: 1750-1875. A History of the County of Shropshire: Volume IV, G.C. Baugh (Editor) (1989).
URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=22844&strquery=pulteney#n327
Date: 06/10/2004
© Copyright 2003 University of London & History of Parliament Trust
Three of the largest estates that had been assembled in earlier centuries—the Newports', the Leveson-Gowers', and the Egertons'—lasted throughout the period. The vast estate of the Newports, 23,430 a. lying in most parts of the county, (Footnote 44) was for a time (1734–62) divided (Footnote 45) but fell eventually to the Pulteneys (as trustees until 1783), passing from them c. 1808 to the Vanes of Raby Castle (co. Dur.). The Newports' estates were thus lost to their legitimate heirs, the Bridgemans.
44- S.R.O. 168/1–2, 4; Barnard MSS., Raby Castle, boxes 6 and 8, abstr. of writings relating to Salop. est. (earl of Bath v. Newport); ibid. steward's rm. box 81, maps.
45 - Some descended with Cressage: see e.g. V.C.H. Salop. viii. 75; cf. Barnard MSS., Raby Castle, box 4, bk. containing accts. of Chas. Bolas, receiver of John Newport's est. in Salop., Staffs., and Ches. descending from Thos., earl of Bradford [d. 1762]. Some descended with Harley: see e.g. V.C.H. Salop. viii. 88, 95; xi. 99, 218, 313.
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Spouse: Margaret Stewart (Married 1804)
Children:
Spouse: Frances Pulteney (Married)
Children: Henrietta Laura Pulteney
William's Heritage
Parents: James Johnstone, Barbara Murray
Siblings: James Johnstone, George Johnstone