Sir David Dalrymple, Lord Hailes, 3rd Baronet of Hailes (28 October 172629 November 1792) was a Scottish

advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. Different countries' legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a barrister or a solicitor. However, ...

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

and

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

, born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Life

His father, Sir James Dalrymple, 2nd Baronet of Hailes, near Haddington, was

Auditor of the Exchequer in Scotland The Scottish Exchequer had a similar role of auditing and deciding on Royal revenues as in England. It was not until 1584 that it also became a court of law, separate from the King's Privy Council. Even then, the judicial and administrative rol ...

, and was a grandson of

James Dalrymple, 1st Viscount of Stair James Dalrymple, 1st Viscount Stair (May 1619 – 29 November 1695), Scottish lawyer and statesman, and a key influence on the Scottish Enlightenment. He was a leading figure of Scottish law, “and also one of the greatest thinkers on la ...

; and his mother, Lady Christian Hamilton, was a daughter of

Thomas Hamilton, 6th Earl of Haddington Thomas Hamilton, 6th Earl of Haddington, KT, FRCPE ( baptised 5 September 1680 – 29 November 1735) was a Scottish politician and nobleman. Life The son of Charles Hamilton, 5th Earl of Haddington and Margaret Leslie, 8th Countess of Rothes ...

. He was the eldest of sixteen children. Newhailes, near Musselburgh

He was educated at

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

, and studied law at

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...

. In 1748 upon his return to Scotland from Utrecht he was admitted as an

. He succeeded to his father's

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

cy upon his death in 1751, inheriting

Newhailes House Newhailes House is a Palladian style country house which stands in 80 acres of parkland on the edge of the small town of Musselburgh in East Lothian, Scotland. Originally named Whitehills, it is a Category A listed building which is now occupied ...

near Musselburgh. It is said that as a pleader he attained neither high distinction nor very extensive practice, but he rapidly established a well-deserved reputation for sound knowledge, unwearied application and strict probity, and in 1766 he was elevated to the bench in the

Court of Session The Court of Session is the supreme civil court of Scotland and constitutes part of the College of Justice; the supreme criminal court of Scotland is the High Court of Justiciary. The Court of Session sits in Parliament House in Edinburgh ...

where he assumed the title of Lord Hailes. Ten years later he was appointed a

Lord of Justiciary The High Court of Justiciary is the supreme criminal court in Scotland. The High Court is both a trial court and a court of appeal. As a trial court, the High Court sits on circuit at Parliament House or in the adjacent former Sheriff Cour ...

. His Edinburgh townhouse was at 23 New Street, north of the

Canongate The Canongate is a street and associated district in central Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland. The street forms the main eastern length of the Royal Mile while the district is the main eastern section of Edinburgh's Old Town. It began ...

. He died at Newhailes House on 29 November 1792. He is buried in the family mausoleum at Morham churchyard near

Haddington, East Lothian The Royal Burgh of Haddington ( sco, Haidintoun, gd, Baile Adainn) is a town in East Lothian, Scotland. It is the main administrative, cultural and geographical centre for East Lothian. It lies about east of Edinburgh. The name Haddington is ...

Family

He was twice married: firstly in 1763, to Anne Broun, daughter of Sir George Brown, Lord Coalston, a

Senator of the College of Justice The senators of the College of Justice are judges of the College of Justice, a set of legal institutions involved in the administration of justice in Scotland. There are three types of senator: Lords of Session (judges of the Court of Session); ...

, by whom he had a daughter, Christian (d.1838). He secondly married, on 20 March 1770, Helen Fergusson (d. 1799), daughter of

Sir James Fergusson James Fergusson may refer to: Politics *Sir James Fergusson, 6th Baronet (1832–1907), Governor of South Australia, New Zealand and Bombay *Sir James Fergusson, 8th Baronet (1904–1973), Lord Lieutenant of Ayrshire *Sir James Fergusson, Lord Ki ...

Baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

, of Kilkerran, Ayrshire, by whom he had another daughter, Jean (d.1803) who married her cousin, James Fergusson, Esq., and left children. Upon the death of Lord Hailes, his baronetcy passed to his nephew, James, 4th Bt., the son of his brother John Dalrymple,

Lord Provost of Edinburgh The Right Honourable Lord Provost of Edinburgh is the convener of the City of Edinburgh local authority, who is elected by City_of_Edinburgh_Council, the city council and serves not only as the chair of that body, but as a figurehead for the e ...

. Chambers provides an interesting anecdote in ''Traditions of Edinburgh'' about Lord Hailes's death. His daughter, Christian, nearly lost the inheritance of Newhailes House when his will could not be found. Facing eviction in favor of the male heir (cousin James), she sent her domestic staff to lock up and shutter the Edinburgh house in New Street. Upon closing the shutters, "Lord Hailes's will dropped out upon the floor from behind a panel, and was found to secure her aughter Christianin the possession of his estates, which she enjoyed for upwards of forty years."

Lord Hailes as historian

Lord Hailes's most important contribution to literature was the ''Annals of Scotland'', of which the first volume, ''From the accession of Malcolm III, surnamed Canmore, to the accession of Robert I'', appeared in 1776, and the second, ''From the accession of Robert I, surnamed Bruce, to the accession of the house of Stewart'', in 1779. It is, as his friend

Dr Johnson Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. The ''Oxford D ...

justly described this work at the time of its appearance, a "Dictionary" of carefully sifted facts, which tells all that is wanted and all that is known, but without any laboured splendour of language or affected subtlety of conjecture. The other works of Lord Hailes include: *''Historical Memoirs concerning the Provincial Councils of the Scottish Clergy'' (1769) *''An Examination of some of the Arguments for the High Antiquity of

Regiam Majestatem The ''Regiam Majestatem'' is the earliest surviving work giving a comprehensive digest of the Law of Scotland. The name of the document is derived from its first two words. It consists of four books, treating (1) civil actions and jurisdictions ...

'' (1769) *''Remains of Christian Antiquity'', 3 vols. *''Remarks on the History of Scotland'' (1773) *''Account of the Martyrs of Smyrna and Lyons in the Second Century'', 1776 *''The Trials of

Justin Martyr Justin Martyr ( el, Ἰουστῖνος ὁ μάρτυς, Ioustinos ho martys; c. AD 100 – c. AD 165), also known as Justin the Philosopher, was an early Christian apologist and philosopher. Most of his works are lost, but two apologies and ...

Cyprian Cyprian (; la, Thaschus Caecilius Cyprianus; 210 – 14 September 258 AD''The Liturgy of the Hours according to the Roman Rite: Vol. IV.'' New York: Catholic Book Publishing Company, 1975. p. 1406.) was a bishop of Carthage and an early Chri ...

'', etc., 1778 *''The History of the Martyrs of Palestine, translated from

Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian ...

'', 1780 *''Disquisitions concerning the Antiquities of the Christian Church'' (1783) *editions or translations of portions of

Lactantius Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius (c. 250 – c. 325) was an early Christian author who became an advisor to Roman emperor, Constantine I, guiding his Christian religious policy in its initial stages of emergence, and a tutor to his son Cr ...

Tertullian Tertullian (; la, Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus; 155 AD – 220 AD) was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of L ...

and

Minucius Felix __NOTOC__ Marcus Minucius Felix (died c. 250 AD in Rome) was one of the earliest of the Latin apologists for Christianity. Nothing is known of his personal history, and even the date at which he wrote can be only approximately ascertained as betwe ...

. In 1786 he published ''An Inquiry into the Secondary Causes which Mr Gibbon has assigned for the Rapid Growth of Christianity'' (Dutch translation, Utrecht, 1793), one of the most respectable of the very many replies which were made to the famous 15th and 16th chapters of the ''

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'' is a six-volume work by the English historian Edward Gibbon. It traces Western civilization (as well as the Islamic and Mongolian conquests) from the height of the Roman Empire to th ...

''. A ''Memoir'' of Lord Hailes is prefixed to the 1808 reprint of his ''Inquiry into the Secondary Causes''.

Notes

References

*''The Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies of England, Ireland, and Scotland'', by Messrs. John and John Bernard Burke, second edition, London, 1841, p. 620.

External links

David Dalrymple, Lord Hailes
at James Boswell - a Guide * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hailes, David Dalrymple, Lord 1726 births 1792 deaths Dalrymple, David, 3rd Baronet Lord Advocates Lawyers from Edinburgh 18th-century Scottish historians Hailes People educated at Eton College Utrecht University alumni 18th-century Scottish judges