Early Life
Heriot was born in Gladsmuir, (East Lothian), on 4 June 1563, the eldest son of George Heriot and Elizabeth Balderstone, and one of ten children. His father was a well-established goldsmith from an old Haddingtonshire family, who served as a Member of the Parliament of Scotland.
On 14 January 1586 he was engaged to marry Christian Marjoribanks, the daughter of Simon Marjoribanks a burgess of the City of Edinburgh and a local merchant; the couple would have two sons, who died in their youth. To mark the marriage, and the end of his apprenticeship, Heriot was given 1500 merks by his father in order to establish his own business, which he did in a small "luckenbooth" near St. Giles' Cathedral, on the site of the entrance of the modern Signet Library.
He was elected a burgess of the City of Edinburgh in January 1588, at the age of twenty-four, and in May that year was admitted to membership of the Edinburgh Incorporation of Goldsmiths. By October 1593, he had been elected Deacon of Goldsmiths.
Read more about this topic: George Heriot
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or life:
“Foolish prater, What dost thou
So early at my window do?
Cruel bird, thou’st ta’en away
A dream out of my arms to-day;
A dream that ne’er must equall’d be
By all that waking eyes may see.
Thou this damage to repair
Nothing half so sweet and fair,
Nothing half so good, canst bring,
Tho’ men say thou bring’st the Spring.”
—Abraham Cowley (1618–1667)
“Your home is regarded as a model home, your life as a model life. But all this splendor, and you along with it ... it’s just as though it were built upon a shifting quagmire. A moment may come, a word can be spoken, and both you and all this splendor will collapse.”
—Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906)