General Sir James Steuart Denham, 8th and 4th Baronet (August 1744 – 12 August 1839) was a Scottish soldier of the British Army.
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Birth and education
He was born James Steuart, the only son of Sir James Steuart, 2nd Baronet, of Coltness in Lanarkshire, by his wife Lady Frances, daughter of David Wemyss, 4th Earl of Wemyss. The year after his birth, during the Jacobite Rising of 1745, his father attended the court of Charles Edward Stuart at Holyroodhouse, and consequently had to leave Scotland with his wife. Young James was left with the family of William Mure of Caldwell. He was then educated at Angoulême from 1749 until he and his parents were forced by the looming Seven Years' War to move to Flanders in 1755. He attended the University of Tübingen from 1757 to 1761.
Early military career
On 17 March 1761 Steuart was made a cornet in the 1st (Royal) Regiment of Dragoons (General Conway's regiment), through the influence of his father's friend Lord Barrington. He served with the regiment in Germany until the end of the Seven Years' War in 1763. On 13 January 1763, passing over the rank of lieutenant, he was promoted to captain in the 105th Regiment of Foot (Queen's Own Royal Regiment of Highlanders), but when the regiment was disbanded in 1764 he was placed on half pay.