General John Hamilton Dalrymple, 8th Earl of Stair, KT (14 June 1771 – 10 January 1853), known as Sir John Dalrymple, 5th Baronet, between 1810 and 1840, was a British soldier and politician.
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Background
Stair was the son of Sir John Dalrymple, 4th Baronet, and Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Hamilton-Makgill and heiress and representative of the Viscounts of Oxfuird (or Oxenfoord). In 1810 he succeeded in the baronetcy, and inherited Oxenfoord Castle, on the death of his father. In March 1840 following the death of his 2nd cousin John Dalrymple, 7th Earl of Stair, who died without issue, he inherited the title of Earl of Stair.
Military and political career
Stair was a general in the British Army. In 1832 he was returned to Parliament for Midlothian, as seat he held until 1835. He succeeded a distant relative as eighth Earl of Stair in 1840. As this was a Scottish peerage it did not entitle him to an automatic seat in the House of Lords. However, in 1841 he was created Baron Oxenfoord, of Cousland in the County of Edinburgh, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, which gave him a seat in the upper chamber of parliament. The peerage was created with special remainder to his younger brother. The choice of title was in honour of the title held by his mother's family, Viscount of Oxfuird of Oxenfoord. In 1847 he was further honoured when he was appointed a Knight of the Thistle.