Robert Dundas of Arniston

Robert Dundas of Arniston (6 June 1758 – 17 June 1819) was a Scottish judge.

Dundas served as Solicitor General for Scotland between 1784 and 1789 and as Lord Advocate from 1789 to 1801. He sat as Member of Parliament for was M.P. for Edinburghshire from 1790 to 1801, and was Chief Baron of the Exchequer in Scotland from 1801 until his death in 1819.

Biography

Robert was born 6 June 1758. He was the eldest son of Robert Dundas of Arniston, the younger and his second wife, Jean, daughter of William Grant, Lord Prestongrange. He was educated at the high school and the University of Edinburgh, and was admitted advocate in 1779.(Hamilton 1888, p. 195)

With the help of his uncle Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville he succeeded Alexander Wight as Solicitor General for Scotland in 1784 and became lord advocate in 1789. From 1790 to 1801 he was M.P. for Edinburghshire. He appeared for the crown in the great prosecutions for sedition at Edinburgh in 1793. He was joint-clerk and keeper of the general registers for seisins and other writs in Scotland from 1799 until on 1 June 1801 he was appointed chief baron of the exchequer in Scotland, but

in 1801 and 1811 he turned down offers of the lord presidency. He died 17 June 1819.

Family

Part of a remarkable Scottish legal and political dynasty, Dundas was the son of Robert Dundas, of Arniston, the younger. His great-great-grandfather James Dundas, Lord Arniston (died 1679), great-grandfather Robert Dundas, Lord Arniston had been an MPs and judges, as were his grandfather Robert Dundas, of Arniston, the elder and his father Robert Dundas, of Arniston, the younger.

Robert Dundas married in May 1787 Elizabeth (his cousin), daughter of his uncle Henry Dundas; she died 18 March 1852. By her he had three sons and two daughters.

Robert (who lived at 69 Queen Street in Edinburgh), his heir, died in 1838. Henry, the second son, was vice-admiral in the navy, and died 11 September 1863.

His daughter married John Borthwick of Crookston FRSE (1787–1845).