He was consecrated bishop of Brechin at Peterhead, 26 Sept. 1787, and a few weeks later was elected to the see of Edinburgh, to which the see of Glasgow was afterwards united. About the middle of February 1788 the news reached Scotland that on 31 Jan. of that year Prince Charles Edward had died at Rome. Drummond was the first among the bishops to urge that the time had now come for the episcopalians to give a public proof of their submission to the house of Hanover by praying in the express words of the English liturgy for the king and royal family. This was accordingly done throughout Scotland on 25 May. A bill of ‘relief for pastors, ministers, and lay persons of the episcopal communion in Scotland’ having been prepared, Drummond, with Bishops Skinner and Strachan, set out for London in April 1789 to promote its progress through parliament. Drummond continued bishop of Edinburgh till 1805, when, on the union of the two classes of episcopalians, he resigned in favour of Dr. Daniel Sandford. He retained, however, his pastoral connection with the clergy in the diocese of Glasgow till his death, which took place at his residence, Hawthornden, 27 Aug. 1809, at the age of eighty-nine or ninety (Scots Mag. lxxi. 719). His wife died at Edinburgh, 11 Sept. 1789, in her sixty-eighth year (ib. li. 466), having had an only child, a daughter, who died before her. Drummond was a good theologian and well-meaning, but, says Russel, ‘his intemperate manner defeated in most cases the benevolence of his intentions, and only irritated those whom he had wished to convince’ (Keith, Cat. of Scottish Bishops, ed. Russel, Append., p. 529; with which cf. Skinner, Annals of Scottish Episcopacy, p. 480). He wrote several small tracts, among which may be mentioned:
- ‘A Dialogue between Philalethes and Benevolus: wherein M. G. H.'s defence of Transubstantiation, in the Appendix to his Scripture Doctrine of Miracles displayed, is fully examined and solidly confuted. With some Observations on his Scripture Doctrine of Miracles,’ 12mo, Edinburgh, 1776.
- ‘A Letter to the Clergy of his Diocese, 8 March 1788,’ 8vo, Edinburgh, 1788.
- ‘A Letter to the Lay Members of his Diocese, April 1788. With large notes,’ 8vo, Edinburgh, 1788.
He also furnished a preface and notes to Bishop Jolly's abridgment of Charles Daubeny's ‘Guide to the Church,’ 8vo, Edinburgh, 1799. His letters to Bishops Douglas and Skinner, mostly on the recognition of the Scotch episcopal church of the Hanoverian line of succession, are among the Egerton and Additional MSS. in the British Museum (Index to the Cat. of Additions to the MSS. 1854–75, p. 448). Drummond presented in 1782 to the Edinburgh University the manuscripts of William Drummond of Hawthornden [q. v.], the ancestor of his wife.
[Keith's Cat. of Scottish Bishops (Russel). Appendix, pp 529, 545; Skinner's Annals of Scottish Episcopacy, pp. 68, 76, 83, 84, 479–80; Foster's Baronetage (1882), p. 190; Cat. of Library of Advocates, ii. 76.]
DRUMMOND, WILLIAM HAMILTON, D.D. (1778–1865), poet and controversialist, eldest son of William Drummond, surgeon, R.N., by his wife Rose (Hare), was born at Larne, co. Antrim, in August 1778. His father, paid off in 1783, died of fever soon after entering on a practice at Ballyclare, co. Antrim. His mother, left without resources, removed to Belfast with her three children, and went into business. Drummond, after receiving an education at the Belfast Academy, under James Crombie, D.D. [q. v.], and William Bruce, D.D. (1757–1841) [q. v.], was placed in a manufacturing house in England. Harsh usage turned the thoughts of the sensitive boy from the prospects of commercial life, and at the age of sixteen he entered Glasgow College (November 1794) to study for the ministry. Straitened means interrupted his course, and left him without a degree, but he acquired considerable classical culture, and as a very young student began to publish poetry, in which the influence of the revolutionary ideas of the period culminating in 1798 is apparent. Leaving Glasgow in 1798 he became tutor in a family at Ravensdale, co. Louth, pursuing his studies under the direction of the Armagh presbytery, with which he connected himself on the ground of its exacting a high standard of proficiency from candidates for the ministry. In 1799, returning to Belfast, he was transferred to the Antrim presbytery, and licensed on 9 April 1800. He at once received calls from First Holywood and Second Belfast, and accepting the latter was ordained on 26 Aug. 1800, the presiding minister being William Bryson [q. v.] He became popular, especially as a preacher of charity sermons, and dealt little in topics of controversy. On his marriage he opened a boarding-school at Mount Collyer, and lectured on natural philosophy, having among his pupils Thomas Romney Robinson, the astronomer. He was one of the first members of the Belfast Literary Society (founded 23 Oct. 1801), and contributed to its transactions several of his poems. Bishop Percy of Dromore sought his acquaintance, and obtained for him the degree of D.D. from Marischal College, Aber-
