Robert Dundas 1685-1753
Robert DUNDAS 1685-1753
Biographical Note
The eldest surviving son of Robert Dundas of Arniston, M.P. (1650–1726), a Scottish law lord, and Margaret Sinclair. He trained as a lawyer at the University of Utrecht. He was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in July 1709 and was appointed Scottish solicitor-general in 1717, lord advocate in 1720 and dean of the Faculty of Advocates in 1721. He sat as an opposition member of the British parliament from 1722 to 1737 when he was appointed to the Scottish bench as Lord Arniston, like his father and grandfather. In 1748 he was appointed lord president.
Books
Used engraved bookplates: Franks 9290: The Arms of Dundas of Arniston; Franks 9291 (plate 9290 reworked); Franks 9292 (a different plate); Franks 9293 (plate 9292 with the lettering of the motto reworked).
Dundas installed an upper-floor library room at Arniston House, designed by William Adam. It is possible that some of his books survive in the ground-floor library of the present-day house.
Sources
- Gambier Howe, E. R. J. Franks bequest: catalogue of British and American book plates bequeathed to the ... British Museum. London, 1903.
- Scott, Richard. "Dundas, Robert, Lord Arniston (1685–1753), politician and advocate." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
- K. Baston, Arniston House and its libraries, 2013.