George Drummond (1688-1766) - Revision history

Pbarnaby: /* Early Life */

2015-02-19T13:41:21Z

Early Life

Pbarnaby: /* Sources */

2014-08-04T15:44:33Z

Sources

Pbarnaby at 14:12, 18 July 2014

2014-07-18T14:12:02Z

Pbarnaby at 14:09, 18 July 2014

2014-07-18T14:09:55Z

Pbarnaby at 14:09, 18 July 2014

2014-07-18T14:09:39Z

Pbarnaby at 14:09, 18 July 2014

2014-07-18T14:09:21Z

Pbarnaby: /* Second Period as Lord Provost (1746-1764) */

2014-07-16T15:41:09Z

Second Period as Lord Provost (1746-1764)

Pbarnaby: /* Second Period as Lord Provost (1746-1764) */

2014-07-16T15:40:14Z

Second Period as Lord Provost (1746-1764)

Pbarnaby: /* Second Period as Lord Provost (1746-1764) */

2014-07-16T15:39:31Z

Second Period as Lord Provost (1746-1764)

Pbarnaby: /* Drummond and the '45 */

2014-07-16T15:38:45Z

Drummond and the '45

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 The son of an Edinburgh merchant, Drummond was educated in the city’s Royal High School from 1699 to 1704, where he excelled in arithmetic. Aged only eighteen, he was employed by a committee of the Scottish Parliament charged with settling national accounts before the 1707 Union with England. Following Union, he was appointed to the post of Accountant-General of Excise in Edinburgh, and, in 1717, was selected as one of the Commissioners of Customs.
-Drummond was passionately devoted to the Union cause and to the House of Hanover. In 1715 he took up arms and fought at the Battle of Sheriffmuir, which halted the Jacobite army's march upon the capital. His loyalty to the government led to his election to the Town Council of Edinburgh in 1716. Drummond was made City Treasurer in 1717 and Dean of Guild in 1722 (in which capacity he approved all building work undertaken in Edinburgh). Finally, in 1725 he was elected Lord Provost for the first time.
+Drummond was passionately devoted to the Union cause and to the House of Hanover. In 1715 he took up arms and fought at the Battle of Sheriffmuir, which halted the Jacobite army's march upon the capital. His loyalty to the government led to his election to the [[Town Council]] of Edinburgh in 1716. Drummond was made City Treasurer in 1717 and Dean of Guild in 1722 (in which capacity he approved all building work undertaken in Edinburgh). Finally, in 1725 he was elected Lord Provost for the first time.
 == First Period as Lord Provost (1725-1727) ==

@@ Line 44: / Line 44: @@
 *[[Sir Alexander Grant]], ''The Story of the University of Edinburgh during its First Three Hundred Years'', 2 vols (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1884)
 *[[John Home (1722-1808)|John Home]], ''The History of the Rebellion in the Year 1745'' (London: T. Cadell, Jun. and W. Davies, 1802)
-*David Bayne Horne, ''A Short History of the University of Edinburgh, 1556-1889'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1967)
+*David Bayne Horn, ''A Short History of the University of Edinburgh, 1556-1889'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1967)
 *Alexander Murdoch, 'Drummond, George (1687–1766)', ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) [[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/8065], accessed 24 June 2014]
 [[Category:Benefactors|Drummond, George]]

@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 == Second Period as Lord Provost (1746-1764) ==
-Between 1746 and 1764, Drummond held the office of Lord Provost five times. Throughout this period he strove to align Edinburgh University with the burgeoning Enlightenment culture of the capital, by promoting leading members of the moderate clergy to professorial chairs. He played a major role in the appointments of [[Adam Ferguson (1723-1816)]] as Professor of Natural Philosophy (1759), [[Hugh Blair (1718-1800)]] as Regius Chair of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres (1760) and, finally, [[William Robertson (1721-1793)]] as [[Principal]] in 1762.
+[[File:IMG 1598.jpg | border | 300 px | right | thumb | Extract from Diaries of George Drummond 1736-1738, [[Library|Edinburgh University Library]] (Dc.1.82-83)]]Between 1746 and 1764, Drummond held the office of Lord Provost five times. Throughout this period he strove to align Edinburgh University with the burgeoning Enlightenment culture of the capital, by promoting leading members of the moderate clergy to professorial chairs. He played a major role in the appointments of [[Adam Ferguson (1723-1816)]] as Professor of Natural Philosophy (1759), [[Hugh Blair (1718-1800)]] as Regius Chair of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres (1760) and, finally, [[William Robertson (1721-1793)]] as [[Principal]] in 1762.
 Drummond’s commitment to modernizing the University was part of a wider scheme of civic improvement. Proposals, signed by Drummond as Lord Provost were circulated throughout Scotland, calling on all Scotsmen to contribute to the improvement of the capital. These included the building of a Royal Exchange, City Chambers, new Courts of Justice, and the expansion of Edinburgh to both north and south. Many of these reforms were only seen through after Drummond’s death, but he lived to see the completion of the Royal Exchange (1760) and to lay the cornerstone of the North Bridge (1763).

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:09, 18 July 2014
Line 1:		Line 1:
−	[[File:0013457c.jpg \| border \| ~~350~~ px \| right \| thumb \| 'North Front of the Royal Infirmary at Edinburgh', engraved by Paul Fourdrinier after Paul Sandby, [[Sir John William Thomson-Walker (1871-1937)\|Thomson-Walker Collection]], [[Library\|Edinburgh University Library]] (T.W.1.Misc 4)]]'''George Drummond (1688-1766)''', served as Lord Provost of Edinburgh six times between 1725 and 1764. He played a vital role in the [[Foundation of the Faculty of Medicine, 1726\|Foundation of the Faculty of Medicine]] and in turning the 'Tounis College' into an Enlightenment university.	+	[[File:0013457c.jpg \| border \| 400 px \| right \| thumb \| 'North Front of the Royal Infirmary at Edinburgh', engraved by Paul Fourdrinier after Paul Sandby, [[Sir John William Thomson-Walker (1871-1937)\|Thomson-Walker Collection]], [[Library\|Edinburgh University Library]] (T.W.1.Misc 4)]]'''George Drummond (1688-1766)''', served as Lord Provost of Edinburgh six times between 1725 and 1764. He played a vital role in the [[Foundation of the Faculty of Medicine, 1726\|Foundation of the Faculty of Medicine]] and in turning the 'Tounis College' into an Enlightenment university.

	== Early Life ==		== Early Life ==

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:09, 18 July 2014
Line 1:		Line 1:
−	[[0013457c.jpg \| border \| 350 px \| right \| thumb \| 'North Front of the Royal Infirmary at Edinburgh', engraved by Paul Fourdrinier after Paul Sandby, [[Sir John William Thomson-Walker (1871-1937)\|Thomson-Walker Collection]], [[Library\|Edinburgh University Library]] (T.W.1.Misc 4)]]'''George Drummond (1688-1766)''', served as Lord Provost of Edinburgh six times between 1725 and 1764. He played a vital role in the [[Foundation of the Faculty of Medicine, 1726\|Foundation of the Faculty of Medicine]] and in turning the 'Tounis College' into an Enlightenment university.	+	[[File:0013457c.jpg \| border \| 350 px \| right \| thumb \| 'North Front of the Royal Infirmary at Edinburgh', engraved by Paul Fourdrinier after Paul Sandby, [[Sir John William Thomson-Walker (1871-1937)\|Thomson-Walker Collection]], [[Library\|Edinburgh University Library]] (T.W.1.Misc 4)]]'''George Drummond (1688-1766)''', served as Lord Provost of Edinburgh six times between 1725 and 1764. He played a vital role in the [[Foundation of the Faculty of Medicine, 1726\|Foundation of the Faculty of Medicine]] and in turning the 'Tounis College' into an Enlightenment university.

	== Early Life ==		== Early Life ==

@@ Line 23: / Line 23: @@
 Drummond’s commitment to modernizing the University was part of a wider scheme of civic improvement. Proposals, signed by Drummond as Lord Provost were circulated throughout Scotland, calling on all Scotsmen to contribute to the improvement of the capital. These included the building of a Royal Exchange, City Chambers, new Courts of Justice, and the expansion of Edinburgh to both north and south. Many of these reforms were only seen through after Drummond’s death, but he lived to see the completion of the Royal Exchange (1760) and to lay the cornerstone of the North Bridge (1763).
-Drummond died on 4 September 1766. The funeral procession which attended his coffin on 8 December, included Principal William Robertson and all the professors of the University.
+Drummond died on 4 September 1766. The funeral procession which attended his coffin on 8 December included Principal William Robertson and all the professors of the University.
 == Judgements on Drummond ==

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 == Drummond and the '45 ==
-The 1730s saw a temporary waning of Drummond’s influence over Edinburgh affairs. He fell foul of Archibald Campbell (1682-1761), Earl of Ilay, the dominant figure in Scottish politics, after repeatedly failing to consult him when appointing new office-holders in his capacity as Commissioner of Customs. In 1737, Ilay first threatened Drummond with dismissal then demoted him to the Board of Excise. Eight years later the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745 propelled Drummond back into the limelight. Once again, he showed his devotion to the Hanoverian cause, serving as Captain to the College Company of university volunteers that were formed to defend Edinburgh against Charles Edward Stuart’s army. On 15 September, he proposed marching the College Company out of Edinburgh to confront the approaching Jacobite Army, and was only dissuaded by the intervention of [[William Wishart "secundus" (c1692-1753)]], then [[Principal]] of Edinburgh University. Interpretations of Drummond’s behaviour in this episode differ. For some volunteers, like [[John Home (1722-1808)]], Drummond was making a parade of patriotic zeal for his own political advantage and never intended to face the rebels. For others, like [[Alexander Carlyle (1722-1805)]], he was genuinely conscience-stricken at the thought of sending young men to a futile death. Drummond’s  personal courage appears to be beyond question.  He joined Sir John Cope’s army before the Battle of Prestonpans, and was exiled from Edinburgh throughout the Jacobite occupation.  Drummond’s loyalty to the Hanoverian regime was again rewarded, as he was elected Lord Provost for a second time in 1746. (See [[The University and the '45]] for more details.)
+The 1730s saw a temporary waning of Drummond’s influence over Edinburgh affairs. He fell foul of Archibald Campbell (1682-1761), Earl of Ilay, the dominant figure in Scottish politics, after repeatedly failing to consult him when appointing new office-holders in his capacity as Commissioner of Customs. In 1737, Ilay first threatened Drummond with dismissal then demoted him to the Board of Excise. Eight years later, the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745 propelled Drummond back into the limelight. Once again, he showed his devotion to the Hanoverian cause, serving as Captain to the College Company of university volunteers that were formed to defend Edinburgh against Charles Edward Stuart’s army. On 15 September, he proposed marching the College Company out of Edinburgh to confront the approaching Jacobite Army, and was only dissuaded by the intervention of [[William Wishart "secundus" (c1692-1753)]], then [[Principal]] of Edinburgh University. Interpretations of Drummond’s behaviour in this episode differ. For some volunteers, like [[John Home (1722-1808)]], Drummond was making a parade of patriotic zeal for his own political advantage and never intended to face the rebels. For others, like [[Alexander Carlyle (1722-1805)]], he was genuinely conscience-stricken at the thought of sending young men to a futile death. Drummond’s personal courage appears to be beyond question. He joined Sir John Cope’s Hanoverian army before the Battle of Prestonpans and was exiled from Edinburgh throughout the Jacobite occupation.  Drummond’s loyalty was again rewarded, as he was elected Lord Provost for a second time in 1746. (See [[The University and the '45]] for more details.)
 == Second Period as Lord Provost (1746-1764) ==