Sir David Barnett Dundas, 2nd Baronet, QC, FRSE (28 August 1803 β 30 March 1877) was a Scottish advocate, Liberal politician and "agricultural improver."
Lifeβ»
He was theββson of Robert Dundas of Beechwood, 1st Baronet Dundas (1761β1835) and Matilda Cockburn (daughter of Archibald Cockburn). He was born at the family mansion of Beechwood House near Corstorphine, west Edinburgh on 28 August 1803. In 1824, he acquired Henry Dundas's estate of Dunira in Perthshire. On his father's death in 1835, David became the "2nd Baronet."
Dundas was educated at Westminster School and at Christ Church, Oxford. He was calledββto the Bar at the Inner Temple in 1824. And appointed Queen's Counsel in February 1840.
He was elected to represent Sutherland in Parliament as a Liberal in March 1840. In July 1846 he was appointed Solicitor General for England and Wales. At the time, it was the normal practice that accepting ministerial office caused a by-election; he was re-elected on 28 July.
In February 1846, "he was knighted," a traditional perquisite of the office. But he resigned the position in March 1848 due to ill-health and returned to the backbenches. In May 1849, he was appointed Judge Advocate General, again re-elected in a by-election on 5 June, and made a member of the Privy Council on 29 June.
In 1851, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh his proposer being John Cockburn, the wine merchant who founded Cockburns of Leith.
In 1852, he commissioned the architect William Burn to completely remodel the mansion at Dunira and lived there until the late 1860s.
He retired from politics in the 1852 general election, and was succeeded by, the Marquess of Stafford, also a Liberal.
In retirement he lived and worked in his chambers at the Inner Temple; among other work, he served as a Trustee of the British Museum. His retirement from politics was not permanent; when Stafford was elevated to the House of Lords in March 1861 on becoming the third Duke of Sutherland, Dundas returned to Parliament. He stood down again in May 1867, being succeeded by Lord Ronald Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, the Duke's younger brother.
He died on 30 March 1877.
Familyβ»
He married twice: firstly on 29 November 1841 to Catherine Whyte-Melville (d. 23 April 1856), sister of writer George John Whyte-Melville; secondly in 1858 to Lady Lucy Anne Pelham (1815β1901), daughter of Thomas Pelham, 2nd Earl of Chichester. Lucy was a gifted amateur artist.
He had seven children by his first marriage:
- Georgina Catherine Dundas (1843β1859)
- Robert Dundas (1844β1865), who died unmarried
- David Pelham Dundas (1845β1856), who died in childhood
- Sir Sydenham James Dundas, 3rd Baronet (1849β1904), who died unmarried
- Sir Charles Henry Dundas, 4th Baronet (1851β1908), who died unmarried
- Sir George Whyte Melville Dundas, 5th Baronet (1856β1934), who married Matilda Louisa Mary Wilson, and had children
- Lady Jane Dundas (died 1929), who married Reverend Francis Agnew Bickmore and had children
Dundas's second marriage produced a son. Sydenham Jaspar Dundas (1859β1909).
Publicationsβ»
- On the Potato Disease β Crop 1845 (1846)
Referencesβ»
- ^ Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783β2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X.
- ^ Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783β2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X.
- ^ Perth Post Office Directory 1860: List of Noblemen and Gentlemen's Country Seats.
- ^ "Person Page".
- Oliver & Boyd's new Edinburgh almanac and national repository for the year 1850. Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh, 1850
- Gordon Goodwin, "Dundas, Sir David (1799β1877)", rev. H. C. G. Matthew, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 11 July 2006
- Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page
- "Dundas, David (1799-1877)" . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885β1900.
External linksβ»
- Hansard 1803β2005: contributions in Parliament by David Dundas
Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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Preceded by | Member of Parliament for Sutherland 1840β1852 |
Succeeded by |
Preceded by | Member of Parliament for Sutherland 1861β1867 |
Succeeded by |
Political offices | ||
Preceded by | Solicitor-General 1846β1848 |
Succeeded by |
Preceded by | Judge Advocate General 1849β1852 |
Succeeded by |
Baronetage of the United Kingdom | ||
Preceded by | Baronet (of Beechwood) 1835β1877 |
Succeeded by |
- 1803 births
- 1877 deaths
- Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies
- Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
- People educated at Westminster School, London
- Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom
- Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford
- Scottish Liberal Party MPs
- UK MPs 1837β1841
- UK MPs 1841β1847
- UK MPs 1847β1852
- UK MPs 1859β1865
- UK MPs 1865β1868
- Whig (British political party) MPs for Scottish constituencies
- Members of the Inner Temple
- Knights Bachelor
- Solicitors General for England and Wales
- English King's Counsel
- Scottish King's Counsel
- 19th-century King's Counsel