| Notes |
- 1 - Had no male offspring (dspm).
2 - An ancestor of [his mother] Emilia Belsches had served in the army under William III., and in 1706 received a baronetcy; which title was inherited by John Belsches. His mother, on the death of her uncle, Sir William Stuart of Castlemilk, in 1777, acquired the property of her grandfather Daniel Stuart. Being thus possessed of ample means, she bought the estate of Fettercairn. In 1797 she executed a settlement for her son to assume the name of his great-grandfather Daniel Stuart, and the royal license ran as follows:'97"His Majesty has-been pleased to allow Mrs Emilia Belsches, and her son and heir Sir John Wishart Belsches of Fettercairn, Baronet, to use the name of Stuart." In 1801 Sir John was elected M.P. for Kincardineshire, and continued to serve till 1807, when he was made a Baron of Exchequer with a salary of £2000 a year. He fulfilled the duties of this office till his death in 1821.
It is not easy to find out what kind of man Sir John was. Few people can give an account of him. He was not even honoured with a newspaper paragraph on his death. The popular tradition makes him out haughty and ill-tempered; but, after hearing all that could be said in his own locality, I was led to the conclusion, that he was a just-minded and really generous man, though somewhat imperious; he could not bear to be thwarted. Lady Jane was revered for every virtue."
[http://www.electricscotland.com/history/fettercairn/chapter12.htm]
3 - His parents only had one son, John Belsches, advocate, who, on the death, at Paris, in 1777, of his granduncle, Sir William Stuart, succeeded to his baronetage, as his lineal male heir, and the representative and heir of line and provision of his great-grandfather, Daniel Stuart, brother german of Sir William Stuart of Castlemilk, the 19th generation, in a direct male line, from Walter, son of Alan, high steward of Scotland in 1164. Having purchased the estate of Fettercairn, and being the lineal representative of the ancient family of Wishart of Pittarrow, he was designed Sir John Wishart Belsches, baronet, of Fettercairn, till 1797, when he assumed the surname of Stuart only, by license under the royal sign manual. Sir John Stuart was, in 1807, appointed one of the barons of exchequer in Scotland. He married Lady Jane Leslie, eldest daughter of David, earl of Leven and Melville, and had an only child, Williamina, married, in 1797, to William Forbes, Esq., subsequently Sir William Forbes of Pitsligo, baronet, and had, with other children, Sir John Stuart Forbes, eighth baronet of Pitsligo and Fettercairn.
[https://electricscotland.com/history/nation/belsches.htm]
4 - Wishart, Sir John Belshes, admitted 9 Aug. 1774, only son of William Belshes of Fort St. Davids, E.I., died 5 Dec. 1810, mar. 29 Nov. 1775 Lady Jane Leslie, eldest daughter of David, 6th Earl of Leven and Melville.
M.P. Kincardineshire 1797-1806, Baron of Exchequer 31 Aug. 1807.
(The faculty of advocates in Scotland, 1532-1943 (with genealogical notes) 1944 p.222) [2]
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- 1810
[1, 2] 
