Overview of Sir David Dalrymple

Lawyer, judge and historian. Born in Edinburgh into a family of lawyers and educated at Eton and Utrecht. He was the grandson of Sir David Dalrymple (d. 1721) and great-grandson of James Dalrymple, Viscount Stair (1619-95). Called to the Bar in 1748, he became a Judge of the Court of Session (1766). Dalrymple was a friend and correspondent of James Boswell (1740-95) and wrote a two-volume Annals of Scotland from the Accession of Malcolm Canmore to the Accession of the House of Stuart. Dalrymple lived at Newhailes (East Lothian) and was largely responsible for the fine contents of its library, which drew praise from even Dr Samuel Johnson (1709-84).