Aiton, William (1760-1848) (DNB00)
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AITON, WILLIAM (1760–1848), sheriff-substitute of the county of Lanark, and, in his day, a widely known authority on all matters bearing on Scottish husbandry, was born at Silverwood, Kilmarnock, in 1760, a neighbourhood which he left in 1785 to go to Strathaven, Lanarkshire, where he practised for many years as a law agent. He next went to Hamilton, where he held office as one of the sheriff-substitutes of the county from 1816 up to 1822. He died in 1848. At no period did his income exceed a hundred a year, and yet out of this, with a family of twelve children, he educated four sons for liberal professions, often sending them his last guinea when they were students at college. His works are:
- ‘A Treatise on Moss-earth,’ Ayr, 1811.
- ‘General View of the Agriculture of the County of Ayr,’ Glasgow, 1811.
- ‘General View of the Agriculture of the County of Bute,’ Glasgow, 1816.
- ‘A History of the Rencounter at Drumclog and Battle at Bothwell Bridge,’ Hamilton, 1821.
- ‘An Inquiry into the Pedigree of the Hamilton Family,’ Glasgow, 1827.
- ‘Inquiry into the House of Aiton in Scotland,’ Hamilton, 1830.
[Inquiry into the Origin and Pedigree of the Family of Aitons in Scotland; Catalogue of Library of Faculty of Advocates.]
