Portrait of Sir Hew Dalrymple (1652-1737)

Oil Painting of Sir Hew Dalrymple © ELCMS

Portrait of Sir Hew Dalrymple (1652-1737)

This portrait was painted by William Aikman in about 1720. It was bought for the original North Berwick Museum by Bryan Ross of the Greens and Blues Gallery, the Friends of North Berwick Museum and East Lothian Council.

Hew Dalrymple was the third son of James Dalrymple, 1st Earl of Stair. A successful lawyer, he was Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, Lord President of the Court of Session, and a baronet of Nova Scotia. He was a commissioner for the Union of 1707 and planted the beech trees on the Law ( some of which are still standing) to commemorate the event. In 1694 he bought the Barony of North Berwick, and was admitted as a burgess of the burgh. The Barony lands lay outwith the Royal Burgh and had originally belonged to the Nunnery, and then to the Hume family. He bought Tantallon Castle in 1699, the Leuchie estate in 1701 and the Bass Rock in 1706. He died in 1737 and was buried in the family aisle at St Andrews Church in the Kirk Ports.

In 1747 the 2nd Sir Hew bought the 17th century Walltower House at the southern end of Quality Street and extended it to be the townhouse for the family. At the end of the 18th century the Dalrymples built the Lodge beside it as a dower house and it later became the family’s townhouse. Both Walltower House and the Lodge and the grounds were bought by the Town Council in 1939 and the grounds used as a park. Both houses were converted into private apartments in the 1960s and the park is now owned by East Lothian Council. It was refurbished and re-opened by the 10th Sir Hew in 2008.

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© Lost Haddington

© Private Collection