Henry Dalrymple, seventh earl, 22 March 1840. In April of the same year he was appointed keeper of the great seal of Scotland, an office which he held till September 1841, and again from August 1846 to August 1852. On 11 Aug. 1841 he was created a peer of the United Kingdom by the title Baron Oxenford of Cousland, and in 1847 he was made a knight of the Thistle. Much of his attention was occupied in his later years in the improvement of his estates in Midlothian and Galloway. He died 10 Jan. 1853. He was twice married, first to Henrietta, eldest daughter of the Rev. Robert Augustus Johnson of Kenilworth, and second to Adamina, daughter of Adam, first Viscount Duncan, but by neither marriage had he any issue, and the estates and earldom of Stair devolved on his brother, North Home Dalrymple of Cleland, while the peerage in the United Kingdom conferred in 1841 became extinct.
[Burke's Peerage; Gent. Mag. 1853, new ser. xxxix. 207–8; Annual Register, xcv. 206–7.]
DALRYMPLE, WILLIAM, D.D. (1723–1814), religious writer, was a younger son of James Dalrymple, sheriff-clerk of Ayr. He was born at Ayr on 29 Aug. 1723, and being destined for the Scotch church he was ordained minister of the second charge in his native town in 1746, from which he was translated to the first charge in 1756. He received the degree of D.D. from the university of St. Andrews in 1779, was elected moderator of the general assembly of the church of Scotland in 1781, and died in his ninety-first year on 28 Jan. 1814, having been one of the ministers of Ayr for the extraordinary period of sixty-eight years. Although the author of several religious works, he is chiefly memorable for the beautiful tribute paid to his character by Burns in the satirical poem entitled ‘The Kirk's Alarm:’—
D'rymple mild, D'rymple mild,
Though your heart's like a child,
And your life like the new-driven snaw,
Yet that winna save ye,
Auld Satan must have ye,
For preaching that three's ane an' twa.
The lines, of course, indicate that he was accused of holding unsound views on the subject of the Trinity; and the warm admiration which he expressed in the introduction to his ‘History of Christ’ of a similar work on the death of Christ by his colleague Dr. McGill naturally exposed him to a good deal of criticism when the latter publication brought upon its author a prosecution in the church courts for heresy. Such were, however, the simple piety, meekness, and habitual benevolence of Dr. Dalrymple, that he was universally beloved by his parishioners, and no active proceedings were ever taken against him. As an example of his unbounded charity it is recorded of him that, meeting a beggar in the country who was almost naked, he took off his own coat and waistcoat and gave the latter to the man; then, putting on his coat again, buttoned it about him and walked home. Gilbert Burns also informs us that when a schoolmaster at Ayr once, under the influence of drink, said disrespectful things of Dr. Dalrymple, so strongly was the outrage resented by the people that he was obliged to leave the place and go to London. Dr. Dalrymple had a large family, and has many descendants now alive, but only by daughters.
[Hew Scott's Fasti Eccl. Scot.; Chambers's Life of Burns; Robert Burns, by a Scotchwoman, 28–35.]
DALRYMPLE, WILLIAM (1772–1847), surgeon, was born in 1772 at Norwich, where his father, a native of Dumfriesshire, and relative of the Stair family, had settled. He was educated at Norwich School, under Dr. Parr, and among his school friends was Edward Maltby, afterwards bishop of Durham. After an apprenticeship in London to Messrs. Devaynes & Hingeston, court apothecaries, and studying at the Borough hospitals under Henry Cline and Astley Cooper, he returned to Norwich in 1793 and opened a surgery in his father's house. His ardent advocacy of liberal opinions retarded his progress for some years, and it was not till 1812 that he became assistant-surgeon of the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, being elected a full surgeon in 1814. This position he held till 1839, when he retired on his health giving way. In 1813 he attracted great attention by his successful performance of the then rare operation of tying the common carotid artery. He attained great success as an operator, especially in lithotomy. He formed a valuable collection of anatomical and pathological preparations, which he gave to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital on his retirement from practice in 1844. His last years were passed in London, where he died on 5 Dec. 1847.
Dalrymple's many operative successes were won in spite of feeble health. His sense of responsibility and honour was high, his character and conversation were elevated, and his teaching judicious. He married in July 1799 Miss Marianne Bertram, by whom he had a family of six sons and three daughters, who survived him [see Dalrymple, John, 1803–1852]. Besides a few papers in medical journals,
