Sir David Wedderburn, 1st Baronet

Sir David Wedderburn, 1st Baronet (10 March 1775 – 7 April 1858) was a Scottish businessman and Tory politician. He was Postmaster General for Scotland 1823-31 and a member of two London militias before that.

Family background

Wedderburn was the oldest surviving son of John Wedderburn (1729–1803, styled 6th Baronet) of Ballindean and his first wife Margaret Ogilvy, daughter of David Ogilvy (styled Lord Ogilvy) and Margaret Ogilvy. Both his father's and his mother's family had been attainted after the Jacobite rising of 1745, losing their titles, but his father continued to style himself as a baronet. who was related to Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, the Tory politician. David Wedderburn had two full sisters, Margaret and Jean, and according to the Legacies of British Slave-ownership project, seven half-siblings. The eldest, James, died young. John (1789–1862) succeeded David as the second baronet. (Genealogist Joseph Foster writes that the second baronet's children included David (1835-1882) and William (1838-1918), the third and fourth baronets respectively; the eldest son John had joined the Bengal Civil Service and died in the Indian Mutiny of 1857. ) Alexander (1791-1839) was a soldier. The four girls were Maria, Susan, Louisa Dorothea, and Anne. On 9 February 1803, aged 16, Louisa married General John Hope, 4th Earl of Hopetoun. Anne married Sir John Hope, 11th Baronet Hope of Craighall.

He was elected at a by-election in 1805 as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Perth Burghs. He had the support of the 9th Earl of Kellie, but was opposed by Sir David Scott, 2nd Baronet, son of the deceased MP David Scott (of Dunninald). Scott had the support of the powerful Lord Melville, but by the time he began his canvassing, Wedderburn was too far ahead to be dislodged. He was re-elected unopposed at the next three general elections. He served as Postmaster General for Scotland from 1823 to 1831. son of Alice Dundas.