James Carnegie, 9th Earl of Southesk

James Carnegie, 9th Earl of Southesk KT (16 November 1827 – 21 February 1905), known as Sir James Carnegie of Kinnaird and of Pitcarrow, Bt and de jure Earl of Southesk from 1849 to 1855, was a Scottish nobleman.

Born in Edinburgh, Southesk was the son of Sir James Carnegie, 5th Baronet and Charlotte Lysons. On his father's side he descended from David Carnegie, son of Hon. Alexander Carnegie, fourth son of David Carnegie, 1st Earl of Southesk. The fifth earl was involved in the Jacobite rising of 1715 and was attainted, with his titles and estates forfeited. However, in 1855 Sir James Carnegie obtained a reversal of his kinsman's attainder by Act of Parliament and became the ninth Earl of Southesk. Lord Southesk served as Lord Lieutenant of Kincardineshire from 1849 to 1856. In 1869 he was made a Knight of the Thistle and created Baron Balinhard, of Farnell in the County of Forfar, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. This title gave him and the later earls an automatic seat in the House of Lords.

Lord Southesk married Lady Catherine Hamilton Noel (1829–1855), daughter of Charles Noel, 1st Earl of Gainsborough, in 1849. They had one son and three daughters. Their daughter, Lady Beatrice Diana Cecilia Carnegie (1852–1934), was married to Rev. Henry Holmes Stewart (1847–1937), who won the FA Cup with the Wanderers in 1873.

After his first wife's early death he married secondly Susan Catherine Mary Murray (1837–1915), eldest daughter of Alexander Murray, 6th Earl of Dunmore, in 1860. They had three sons and four daughters. Lord Southesk died in February 1905, aged 77. He was succeeded by his only son from his first marriage, Charles Noel Carnegie.

Southesk was the author of several books of poetry, including Jonas Fisher in which a young missionary describes his adventures among the London poor in simple direct verse. It was published anonymously, and misattributed by one critic to another Scottish author of the time, Robert Buchanan. Buchanan successfully sued for libel.

During a trip through Canada beginning in 1859 he commissioned and collected several Métis, Cree, Nakoda, Blood and Blackfoot artifacts which were recently auctioned at Sotheby's.