Author: Drummond, William
Biography:
DRUMMOND, William (1769-1828: ancestry.co.uk)
Classical scholar, diplomat. He was the eldest son of John Drummond of Logiealmond, Perthshire, and Lady Catherine (Murray) Drummond, and succeeded his father as laird in 1781. Educated briefly at St Andrews, he matriculated from Christ Church, Oxford in 1788. He married Harriet Anne Boone (she inherited a large fortune from her father) in 1794 and became MP from 1795. However, his real interest was in diplomacy, and he served abroad in Denmark, Sicily, Naples, and Constantinople before being recalled in 1808. Thereafter he devoted himself to scholarship on ancient history and philosophy, and to his writing. He attracted controversy and some ridicule for his eccentric religious speculations. He spent his last years abroad and died at Rome. The ODNB gives the year of his birth as 1770?, but Ancestry shows his baptismal record as dating from 1769. (ODNB 25 Oct 2018; ancestry.co.uk 25 Oct 2018)
Other Names:
- the Right Honorable Sir W. Drummond