Sir Thomas Dick Lauder of

Fountainhall Pencaitland is a village in East Lothian, Scotland, about south-east of Edinburgh, south-west of Haddington, and east of Ormiston. The land where the village lies is said to have been granted by William the Lion to Calum Cormack in 1169, ...

, 7th Baronet,

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

FSA(Scot) The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland is the senior antiquarian body of Scotland, with its headquarters in the National Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh. The Society's aim is to promote the cultural heritage of Scotland. The usua ...

LLD (13 August 178429 May 1848) was a Scottish author. He served as Secretary to the

Board of Manufactures During the Enlightenment and the industrial revolution, Scottish industrial policy was made by the Board of Trustees for Fisheries, Manufactures and Improvements in Scotland, which sought to build an economy complementary, not competitive, with ...

(1839–), on the

Herring Fisheries Board The Sea Fish Industry Authority (or Seafish) is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Established in 1981, and charged with working with the UK seafood indust ...

, at the

Royal Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts The Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) is the country’s national academy of art. It promotes contemporary Scottish art. The Academy was founded in 1826 by eleven artists meeting in Edinburgh. Originally named the Scottish Academy, it became the ...

, and as Deputy Lieutenant of both counties of Moray and Haddington. He was the only son of

Sir Andrew Dick-Lauder, 6th Baronet ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...

, whom he succeeded in 1820.

Early life

Lauder was born in Edinburgh on13 August 1784, the son of Elizabeth (née Brown) and Sir Andrew Lauder, 6th Baronet of Fountainhall. He was baptised 8 days later at

Pencaitland Pencaitland is a village in East Lothian, Scotland, about south-east of Edinburgh, south-west of Haddington, and east of Ormiston. The land where the village lies is said to have been granted by William the Lion to Calum Cormack in 1169, ...

, near the family's East Lothian seat, Fountainhall. In early life he entered the army – 79th (The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders) Regiment of Foot, and although possessing Fountainhall he afterwards took up his residence at his wife's home, 'Relugas' in

Morayshire Moray; ( gd, Moireibh ) or Morayshire, called Elginshire until 1919, is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland, bordering Nairnshire to the west, Inverness-shire to the south, and Banffshire to the east. It w ...

, where he remained till 1832 (selling it in 1836), when he removed to the Grange House, in the

Grange, Edinburgh The Grange (originally St Giles' Grange) is an affluent suburb of Edinburgh, just south of the city centre, with Morningside and Greenhill to the west, Newington to the east, The Meadows park and Marchmont to the north, and Blackford Hill ...

until his death. In 1839 Sir Thomas was appointed Secretary to the Board of Manufactures and Fisheries in Scotland, and also, immediately afterwards, Secretary to the Board of British White Herring Fishery.The duties of these Secretaryships he continued sedulously to discharge till interrupted by his last illness. He was for some time Secretary to the Royal Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts, an office which he relinquished about two years before his death. He was a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

, where he presented his paper on ''Parallel Roads of Glen Roy'' on 2 March 1818.

Family

On 8 February 1808 he married, on the banks of the

Findhorn Findhorn ( gd, Inbhir Èir or ''Inbhir Èireann'') is a village in Moray, Scotland. It is located on the eastern shore of Findhorn Bay and immediately south of the Moray Firth. Findhorn is 3 miles (5 km) northwest of Kinloss, and about 5 m ...

at Edinkillie,

Moray Moray () gd, Moireibh or ') is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland. Between 1975 ...

shire, Charlotte Anne (1785–1864), the only child and heiress of George Cumin of Relugas. They had eight daughters and two sons.

Politics

With his close friend

Henry Thomas Cockburn, Lord Cockburn Henry Thomas Cockburn of Bonaly, Lord Cockburn ( ; Cockpen, Midlothian, 26 October 1779 – Bonaly, Midlothian, 26 April/18 July 1854) was a Scottish lawyer, judge and literary figure. He served as Solicitor General for Scotland between 1830 an ...

, Sir Thomas was an active

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

, and took a keen interest in politics. In 1832 he presided over a huge meeting of some 30,000 people rallying in favour of the

Reform Bill In the United Kingdom, Reform Act is most commonly used for legislation passed in the 19th century and early 20th century to enfranchise new groups of voters and to redistribute seats in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ...

at St. Anne's Yards, the field immediately to the east of

Holyroodhouse The Palace of Holyroodhouse ( or ), commonly referred to as Holyrood Palace or Holyroodhouse, is the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland. Located at the bottom of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, at the opposite end to Edinburgh ...

– said to be the largest ever political rally ever held in Scotland.

Works

Sir Thomas and his family were close friends of

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...

. His first contribution to ''

Blackwood's Magazine ''Blackwood's Magazine'' was a British magazine and miscellany printed between 1817 and 1980. It was founded by the publisher William Blackwood and was originally called the ''Edinburgh Monthly Magazine''. The first number appeared in April 1817 ...

'' in 1817, entitled ''Simon Roy, Gardener at Dunphail'', was ascribed by some at first to Sir Walter Scott. His paper (1818) on ''The Parallel Roads of Glenroy'', printed in vol. ix. of the Transactions of the

, first drew attention to the phenomenon in question. In 1825 and 1827 he published two romances, ''Lochandhu'' and ''The Wolf of

Badenoch Badenoch (from gd, Bàideanach, meaning "drowned land") is a traditional district which today forms part of Badenoch and Strathspey, an area of Highland Council, in Scotland, bounded on the north by the Monadhliath Mountains, on the east by th ...

''. He became a frequent contributor to both ''

'' and ''

Tait's Magazine ''Tait's Edinburgh Magazine'' was a monthly periodical founded in 1832. It was an important venue for liberal political views, as well as contemporary cultural and literary developments, in early-to-mid-nineteenth century Britain. The magazine wa ...

'', and in 1830 he published ''An Account of the Great Floods in Morayshire in 1829 in the Province of Moray and adjoining Districts'' which he illustrated with engravings of his beloved but greatly damaged Highland retreat, Relugas house. About this time he was befriended by (and in 1829 took pains to promote) the Sobieski Stuart brothers, eventual publishers, in 1842, of the disputed ''

Vestiarium Scoticum The ''Vestiarium Scoticum'' (full title, ''Vestiarium Scoticum: from the Manuscript formerly in the Library of the Scots College at Douay. With an Introduction and Notes, by John Sobieski Stuart'') was a book which was first published in 1842 by ...

''. Lauder agreed to transcribe the famous ''Cromarty MS'' which remained in the possession of his family until 1936, when it was presented to Queen Mary. It is now in the Royal Library at

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original cast ...

. With it is a letter in which the donor states that the book was 'given' to Sir Thomas "by the Sobieski-Stuart brothers, Ian and Charles Edward". Sir Thomas and Sir Walter Scott corresponded on this ''MS'' at length. A full transcript of the ''Cromarty MS'' can be found in Stewart & Thompson's book, ''Scotland's Forged Tartans'', which deals mainly with the ''Vestiarium'' and their opinions on it.Stewart, Donald, and Thompson, J Charles, ''Scotland's Forged Tartans'', Edinburgh, 1980, pps 133- 157 According to the authoritative ''Complete Baronetage'', vol.14, page 360, note a (on the authority of the late E.R. Stodart, Lyon Clerk Depute 863-86 'he claimed to be descended from the family of Lauder of Bass, but utterly failed to prove such descent. Thereupon he set up a monument to the Lauder family in the Greyfriars Churchyard, Edinburgh, stating thereon the pedigree as he wished it to be'. Some subsequent works of Sir Thomas were ''Highland Rambles'', with ''Long Tales to Shorten the Way'' (2 vols. 8 vo, 1837), ''Legendary Tales of the Highlands'' (3 vols. 12mo, 1841), ''Tour round the Coasts of Scotland'' (1842), and was asked by

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

to write the official history of her visit, entitled ''Memorial of the Royal Progress in Scotland'' (1843). Volume One of a ''Miscellany of Natural History'', published in 1833, was also partly prepared by Lauder. An

unfinished Unfinished may refer to: *Unfinished creative work, a work which a creator either chose not to finish or was prevented from finishing. Music * Symphony No. 8 (Schubert) "Unfinished" * ''Unfinished'' (album), 2011 album by American singer Jor ...

series of papers, written for Tait's Magazine shortly before his death, was published under the title ''Scottish Rivers'', with a preface by John Brown, MD., in 1874.

Death

The Dick Lauder family plot, Grange Cemetery, Edinburgh

He died on Monday 29 May 1848, at Grange House, and was buried in a newly created family plot in the then new cemetery at

. The plot lies exactly half way along the eastern path and forms the focal point of the high path over the central vaults. Its small scale however is not dominant in the view. He was succeeded by his eldest son and heir,

Sir John Dick-Lauder, 8th Baronet Sir John Dick Lauder of Fountainhall, 8th Baronet (21 April 1813 – 23 March 1867) was a deputy lieutenant and magistrate for Midlothian, and justice of the peace for Wigtownshire. He succeeded his father, Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, 7th Baronet, in 1 ...

Lauder tartan

The Lauder tartan first appears, it would seem, about this time, in the ''

'' amongst the "bordour clanns". It can be found in ''The Tartans of the Clans and Septs of Scotland'' by W. & A.K.Johnston, Edinburgh, 1906.

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lauder, Thomas Dick 1784 births 1848 deaths Writers from Edinburgh Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders officers Scottish novelists Scottish historical novelists Scottish non-fiction writers Scottish travel writers Scottish Liberal Party politicians Baronets in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Deputy Lieutenants of East Lothian Deputy Lieutenants of Moray Scottish antiquarians 19th-century Scottish people 19th-century Scottish writers Scottish knights People from East Lothian People educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland