Thomas Drummond, Lord Drummond (21 July 1742 – November 1780) was a Scottish landowner and diplomat who served as the president of the

Saint Andrew's Society of the State of New York The Saint Andrew's Society of the State of New York is the oldest charitable institution in the state of New York and is focused on helping Scots in the New York community. History The organization was founded in 1756 by Scottish founders in N ...

Early life

Drummond was born on 21 July 1742 at

Largs Largs ( gd, An Leargaidh Ghallda) is a town on the Firth of Clyde in North Ayrshire, Scotland, about from Glasgow. The original name means "the slopes" (''An Leargaidh'') in Scottish Gaelic. A popular seaside resort with a pier, the town mark ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

as Thomas Lundin.Sir

James Balfour Paul Sir James Balfour Paul (16 November 1846 – 15 September 1931) was the Lord Lyon King of Arms, the officer responsible for heraldry in Scotland, from 1890 until the end of 1926. Life Paul was born in Edinburgh, the second son of the Rev J ...

, ''The Scots Peerage''
vol. VII
Edinburgh 1910, p. 57-59 He was the second of three sons born to James Lundin (1707–1781) and the former Lady Rachel Bruce (d. 1769), a daughter of

Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Kincardine Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

. His elder sister, Veronica Drummond, married Duncan Campbell of Kames, and his younger brother, was James Drummond, 1st Baron Perth. The Lundins descended from Thomas de Lundin, a natural son of King

William the Lion William the Lion, sometimes styled William I and also known by the nickname Garbh, "the Rough"''Uilleam Garbh''; e.g. Annals of Ulster, s.a. 1214.6; Annals of Loch Cé, s.a. 1213.10. ( 1142 – 4 December 1214), reigned as King of Scots from 11 ...

. Thomas' paternal grandparents were Robert Lundin (1675–1716) and Anne Inglis (a daughter of Sir James Inglis of Cramond). His grandfather Robert was a younger son of

John Drummond, 1st Earl of Melfort John Drummond, 1st Earl of Melfort, styled Duke of Melfort in the Jacobite peerage (8 August 1650 - 25 January 1715), was a Scottish politician and close advisor to James II. A Catholic convert, Melfort and his brother the Earl of Perth consis ...

(younger son of the 3rd Earl of Perth) by his first wife, Sophia Maitland. Sophia, his great-grandmother, had inherited Lundin from her brother John Lundin of Lundin, both children of Margaret (née Lundin) Maitland and Robert Maitland (a younger son of

John Maitland, 1st Earl of Lauderdale John Maitland, 1st Earl of Lauderdale, Viscount of Lauderdale, Viscount Maitland, and Lord Thirlestane and Boltoun, (died January 1645) was President of the Parliament of Scotland as well as the Privy Council, a lawyer and a judge, who sided with ...

). Sophia's mother Margaret had inherited the Lundin estates upon the death of her father, John Lundin of Lundin, in 1684.

Claim to the Earldom of Perth

On 6 February 1760, following the death of

Edward Drummond Edward Drummond (30 March 1792 – 25 January 1843) was a British civil servant, and was Personal Secretary to several British Prime Ministers. He was fatally shot by Daniel McNaughton, whose subsequent trial gave rise to the McNaughton rules, t ...

, sixth Jacobite-jurisdiction

Duke of Perth Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...

, Thomas' father became heir to the Earldom of Perth, which had been forfeit since 1716 owing to the attainder of

James Drummond, 2nd Duke of Perth James Drummond, 2nd Duke of Perth, etc., (c. 167417 April 1720) was a Scottish nobleman. He held the Peerage created for his father, James Drummond, 4th Earl of Perth, by the exiled Stuart monarchs at St Germain. Life The eldest son and heir of ...

(The first Earl of Melfort was the younger son of

James Drummond, 3rd Earl of Perth James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

). His father, therefore, assumed the surname of Drummond and styled himself 10th Earl of Perth, after which Thomas became known as Lord Drummond, and in 1776, following the death of Jean Drummond, Duchess of Perth in 1773, his father took up residence at the Drummond estate of

Stobhall Stobhall (or Stobhall Castle) is a country house and estate in Perthshire in Scotland, from Perth, Scotland, Perth. The 17th-century dower house and several other buildings are Category A-listed with Historic Environment Scotland. The lands at ...

Perthshire Perthshire (locally: ; gd, Siorrachd Pheairt), officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, ...

Career

In 1768, Lord Drummond first came to America from Scotland to defend his family's rights to lands in the

Province of New Jersey The Province of New Jersey was one of the Middle Colonies of Colonial America and became the U.S. state of New Jersey in 1783. The province had originally been settled by Europeans as part of New Netherland but came under English rule after the ...

, namely those of the

Earl of Melfort The titles of Viscount of Melfort and Lord Drummond of Gillestoun were created in the Peerage of Scotland on 14 April 1685 for John Drummond, second son of James Drummond, 3rd Earl of Perth, with remainder to the heirs male of his body by his se ...

Perth Amboy Perth Amboy is a city in Middlesex County, New Jersey. Perth Amboy is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 55,436. Perth Amboy has a Hispanic majority population. In the 2010 census, th ...

. Due to his many influential friends on both sides of the Atlantic, he took on the role of intermediary between the colonies and England during the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

. In late December 1775, Lord Drummond arrived in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

with his plan for reconciliation. During the first two weeks of January, he discussed his plan with sympathetic members of the

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. ...

, which included Thomas Lynch.Smith, Paul H. et al., eds. ''Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774–1789''. 26 vols.

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, 1976–2000. His plan was based on conversations in England, between December 1774 and September 1775, with

Lord North Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford (13 April 17325 August 1792), better known by his courtesy title Lord North, which he used from 1752 to 1790, was 12th Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1770 to 1782. He led Great Britain through most o ...

, the

Prime Minister of Great Britain The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern pri ...

, and

Lord Dartmouth Earl of Dartmouth is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1711 for William Legge, 1st Earl of Dartmouth, William Legge, 2nd Baron Dartmouth. History The Legge family descended from Edward Legge, Vice-President of Munster. ...

, the

Secretary of State for the Colonies The secretary of state for the colonies or colonial secretary was the Cabinet of the United Kingdom, British Cabinet government minister, minister in charge of managing the United Kingdom's various British Empire, colonial dependencies. Histor ...

and

First Lord of Trade The president of the Board of Trade is head of the Board of Trade. This is a committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, first established as a temporary committee of inquiry in the 17th century, that evolved gradually into a governmen ...

, and American moderates in New York during the fall of 1774. While Drummond did not claim the British government had officially authorized his plan, he implied to members of Congress that Lord North knew of, and approved, his plan. By January 1776, Congressman Lynch was poised to propose formal negotiations in line with Drummond's suggestions, but news of the American defeat at the Battle of Quebec weakened the American negotiating position and led to increased hostilities toward the British. In early February 1776, Drummond and Lynch met in New York in an attempt to revive the stalled peace negotiations, however, General

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

's refused to cooperate, which led to the failure of Drummond's peace mission by early March.Klein, Milton M. ''Failure of a Mission: The Drummond Peace Proposal of 1775.''

Huntington Library Quarterly ''Huntington Library Quarterly'' is an official publication of the Huntington Library. It is a quarterly academic journal produced by the Huntington Library and published by University of Pennsylvania Press The University of Pennsylvania Press (o ...

35 (1971–72): pps. 343–80. After the failure of the peace plan, Drummond served as an adviser to Gen. William Howe, the

Commander-in-Chief, North America The office of Commander-in-Chief, North America was a military position of the British Army. Established in 1755 in the early years of the Seven Years' War, holders of the post were generally responsible for land-based military personnel and ac ...

for the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

, before his return to England in November 1778.

Personal life

Lord Drummond died, unmarried, in November 1780 in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

Kingdom of Portugal The Kingdom of Portugal ( la, Regnum Portugalliae, pt, Reino de Portugal) was a monarchy in the western Iberian Peninsula and the predecessor of the modern Portuguese Republic. Existing to various extents between 1139 and 1910, it was also kno ...

, where he had gone for his health. His father died eight months later on 18 July 1781, and his younger brother James succeeded to his father's claim to the Earldom of Perth, but did not use the title. His brother was later created a Peer of Great Britain as Lord Perth, Baron Drummond of Stobhall in the County of Perth.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Drummond, Thomas 1742 births 1780 deaths People from Largs Presidents of the Saint Andrew's Society of the State of New York