Brigadier General William Dickson of

Kilbucho Kilbucho ( gd, Cille Bheagha) is a small settlement in the parish of Broughton, Glenholm and Kilbucho in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland in Peeblesshire and near Biggar and Broughton. The name derives from the church which was dedica ...

(1748–1815) was an 18th/19th-century commander of the British Army and Member of Parliament.

Life

He was born on 3 June 1748 the son of Rev David Dickson of

(1709-1780) and his wife, Anne Gillon (1712-1783), daughter of Alexander Gillon of Wallhouse, Linlithgow. His father was a descendant of John Dickson of Hartrie, through whom he had inherited Kilbucho Castle. He joined the British Army as an ensign in the

4th Regiment of Foot Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

in 1777, possibly seeing action in the

American War of Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. He was based in

Saint Lucia Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Amerindian ...

in 1778 and on return to Britain was promoted to lieutenant in 1779. In 1782 he was promoted to the rank of Captain and joined the

42nd Regiment of Foot The 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot was a Scottish infantry regiment in the British Army also known as the Black Watch. Originally titled Crawford's Highlanders or the Highland Regiment and numbered 43rd in the line, in 1748, on the disband ...

(Black Watch) returning to the war in America. In 1783 he was posted with his regiment in Nova Scotia. They only returned to Britain in 1789. He remained in the Black Watch for the rest of his Army career. He was promoted to Major in 1795 and a few months later to Lt Colonel. He served in the Egyptian Campaign against Napoleon. In 1804 he became Brigadier General. William had inherited

Castle in 1780 and began a series of improvements to the gardens, following the fashion of the day. He extended and remodelled the castle, in the Georgian manner, renaming it Kilbucho Place. In 1802, while still serving in the army he stood as a candidate for

Linlithgow Burghs Lanark Burghs (also known as Linlithgow Burghs) was a district of burghs constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (at Westminster) from 1708 to 1832, representing a seat for one Member of Parliament (MP). Th ...

, where his in-laws lived. He was backed by the Duke of Buccleuch in the campaign against the standing Whig MP Lord Stopford. He won the seat. He appears to have been in the Tory minority which supported Pitt in various wartime political debates (probably due to his military background). He held the seat of Linlithgow Burghs until November 1806 when he stood down without contesting the seat.Hansard's History of Parliament 1803 to 2005 In 1808 he was given the important position as Governor of Cork in the south of Ireland in place of Henry Skeffington, 3rd Earl of Massereene. He retired in 1811/2 and spent his final years in Edinburgh. Dickson died in Edinburgh on 18 May 1815. His brother John inherited Kilbucho but chose to sell the estate.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dickson, William 1748 births 1815 deaths UK MPs 1802–1806 British Army brigadiers British Army personnel of the American Revolutionary War British Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars People from the Scottish Borders Scottish Tory MPs (pre-1912)