George Dempster of Dunnichen, a man of humour and spontaneous wit, was one of the young men moving in that brilliant society of intellect which adorned Edinburgh in the 1750s.
The affection and respect which he commanded in his lifetime sprang partly from personal charm and partly from the integrity and altruism of his public life.
This Correspondence to his closest friend, the respectable and ‘aith-detesting’ Sir Adam Fergusson of Kilkerran, compensates for a biography which, perhaps because the Dempster family papers disappeared, has never been written.
One of the first landlords to treat his tenants with humanity and generosity, his benevolence and wide vision earned him the respect of Sir John Sinclair and Patrick Tytler, among many others.
This edition includes additional letters and notes from material discovered after the original publication in 1934.
Sir James Fergusson of Kilkerran 8th Bart, LLD FRSE, 1904-1973, was Keeper of the Records of Scotland 1949-69, Lord Lieutenant of Ayrshire, a member of the Royal Commission on Historic Manuscripts, a trustee of the Scottish National Galleries, Chairman of the Burns Monument Trust, etc etc.
