James Scorgie Meston, officially Sir James Scorgie Meston, 1st Baron Meston KCSI, VD, served as the Lieutenant Governor of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh from the year 1912 to 1918. He was also a member of the British Indian Civil Service (ICS), a businessman and a financial expert. Meston was born on 12 June 1865 to the parents James Meston of Aberdeen and Jane, his wife. He was the younger son of the couple. He successfully completed his education from Aberdeen Grammar School. Later he studied at the University of Aberdeen. In the year 1883, James Scorgie Meston passed the Indian Civil Service Examination.
James Scorgie Meston was posted in the North Western Provinces and Oudh in the year 1885, which eventually came to be known as the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. There he served as the Director of Land Records from the year 1897 and 1899. Meston was also appointed as the Financial Secretary to the British government of India between the year 1899 and 1903. In the year 1905, he left India for brief period in order to serve as an adviser to the Cape Colony and Transvaal governments in South Africa. James Scorgie Meston, 1st Baron Meston KCSI, VD came back to India in the year 1906 and acted as secretary to the finance department of the British administration in India until 1912.
Meston was appointed as the Lieutenant Governor of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh in the year 1912. He served in office until 1918, after which James Scorgie Meston became the Finance Member of the executive council of the Viceroy of India. The following year he resigned from the position due to problems in his eyesight. In the year 1917, Meston, along with Maharaja Ganga Singh and Sir Satyendra Prasanno Sinha, aided assisted the Secretary of State for India in representing the nation at the Imperial War Cabinet and Conference.
James Scorgie Meston was knighted with Companion of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India (CSI) in the year 1908 and Knight Commander of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India (KCSI) in 1911. Later he was was honoured when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Meston of Agra in the Indian Empire and Dunottar in the County of Kincardine in 1919. Meston also acted as the President of the Royal Statistical Society from the year 1932 to 1934.
Lord James Scorgie Meston, 1st Baron Meston KCSI, VD was married with the daughter of James McDonald named Jeanie in 1891. The couple had 2 sons, but the eldest child died in childhood. Meston died at the age of 78in October 1943. He was succeeded by Dougall, his only surviving son, in the barony. His wife died in the year 1946.
