Sir Robert Preston, 6th Baronet

Sir Robert Preston, 6th Baronet (21 April 17407 May 1834) was a Scottish merchant and politician. After making a fortune in the trade with East India, he became the member of Parliament for the constituency of Dover from 1784 to 1790, and for Cirencester from 1792 to 1806. As Baronet of Valleyfield, he sought to improve his stately home, created expansive landscaped grounds, and directed industrial endeavours.

Early life and career

Preston was born in 1740 as the eighth of nine children of Sir George Preston, 4th Baronet of Valleyfield in Perthshire, and his wife Anne. The Preston baronets had been in possession of the estate of Valleyfield since at least 1534. Because Preston had four older brothers, he did not expect to inherit the baronetcy and instead turned to trade. Preston worked his way up the ranks, serving on the Clive'' first as Third Mate in 1761/62, then as Second Mate in 1764/65. His ships made a combined 55 trips to the East Indies in the following years.

Preston's coat of arms in stained glass in Trinity House, London.

In the 1784 British general election, Preston won one of two seats in the parliamentary constituency of Dover for the governing Tory party of William Pitt the Younger. The latter said of Preston that he was "as big as two men, and eats like three". to the government, which used it as one of the seats of the Colonial Office until 1875, Valleyfield was Repton's only project in Scotland, for which he created ornate terraces and an expansive romantic landscaped park. In parallel, Preston expanded his land holdings in the parishes of Culross and Torryburn, and sought opportunities to develop his property industrially. After reclaiming land around the island through the construction of a sea wall, Preston used the coal to fuel the production of salt in salt pans until 1811.

In nearby Inverkeithing, Preston directed the development of Preston Crescent in the 1820s, a new road and residential site to the south of the town on the banks of the Inner Bay. Alongside a small stone bridge (today a C-listed building), a number of plain classical houses were built to accommodate retired sea captains. Nearby Preston Hill between Inverkeithing and Dalgety Bay is also named for Sir Robert, who erected a flagpole there intended to aid marine traffic.

Sir Robert donated some of his fortune to charitable works, such as financial help for the poor in Culross and Torryburn, and a hospital for elderly women in Culross. His large-scale building and industrial projects were envisaged as a lasting monument to his name.

Preston only retired from business when he was already 83 years old, and closed his last London office in Old South Sea House in 1823. As his marriage had been childless, on his death the direct male line of the Preston baronets became extinct, and the baronetcy passed to his cousin, also named Sir Robert Preston (the son of George Preston). Neither the House nor its landscaped gardens have survived to the present day. The value of Preston's assets at his death was estimated to be over £1 million (equivalent to £ million in 2021).