William Nisbet of Dean
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Sir William Nisbet of Dean (c. 1570 – c. 1630) was a 16th/17th century Scottish merchant who twice served as Provost of Edinburgh from 1616 to 1619 and 1622 to 1623.
He was the son of Henry Nisbet of Dean, Provost of Edinburgh in 1597/98, and his wife Jonet Bannatyne or Bellenden (d. 1621).[1] His father died in 1608 and William inherited Dean House in western Edinburgh, extending it greatly.[2]
He was twice Provost of Edinburgh (he pre-dated the use of the term Lord Provost). In 1616 he succeeded Sir John Arnot. He served a second term 1622/23.[3] During his first term of office, in 1617, he would certainly have met and hosted King James VI, in his role as leader of the capital city, on this the King's only return to Edinburgh after the Union of the Crowns.[4][5]
As Dean House lay in the parish of St Cuthberts Church he is buried there with his father.[6]
Dean House was demolished in 1842 and the grounds used to create Dean Cemetery. It had been downsized in the 18th century and was by then quite modest in scale.[7] A window pediment commemorates his first marriage to Jonet Williamson, carved with "S. W. N. - D. I. W." with their heraldry. A pediment for the door of the house is inscribed; "S. W. N. - D. K. D", for Sir William Nesbit and his second wife, Dame Katherine Dick.[8] Painted vignettes from the ceiling of the long gallery were salvaged by Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe and are now in the National Museum of Scotland and John Knox House, the subjects include Cain and Abel, Lot and his daughters, Judith, and other subjects.[9]
