Grand Masters of Scotland - Onondaga and Oswego Masonic ...

The rebellion of 1745 having been totally quelled in the spring of 1746, Drummond, in the month of November following, was a
second time elected provost of Edinburgh. In the year 1750, he was a third time provost, and in 1752, he was appointed one of the
committee for the improvement of the city.
The desire of beautifying their native city, so conspicuous among the inhabitants of Edinburgh, and which has engaged the citizens
of later times in such magnificent schemes of improvement, first displayed itself during the provostship of Mr Drummond. Proposals
were then published, signed by provost Drummond, which were circulated through the kingdom, calling upon all Scotsmen to
contribute to the improvement of the capital of their country. These proposals contained a plan for erecting an Exchange upon the
ruins on the north side of the High Street; for erecting buildings on the ruins in the Parliament Close; for the increased
accommodation of the different courts of justice; and for offices for the convention of the royal burghs, the town council, and the
advocates’ library. A petition to parliament was also proposed, praying for an extension of the royalty of the town, in contemplation
of a plan for opening new streets to the south and north; for building bridges over the intermediate valleys to connect these districts
with the old town; and for turning the North Loch into a canal, with terraced gardens on each side. In consequence chiefly of the
strenuous exertions of provost Drummond, the success which attended these projects was very considerable. On the 3d of
September, 1753, he, as grand-master of the free masons in Scotland, laid the foundation of the royal exchange, on which
occasion, there was a very splendid procession. In 1754, he was a fourth time chosen provost, chiefly that he might forward and
superintend the improvements. In the year 1755, he was appointed one of the trustees on the forfeited estates, and elected a
manager of the select society for the encouragement of arts and sciences in Scotland. In the year 1758, he again held the office of
provost; and in October, 1763, during his sixth provostship, he laid the foundation stone of the North Bridge.
Mr Drummond, having seen his schemes for the improvement of the city accomplished to an extent beyond his most sanguine
expectations, retired from public life on the expiration of his sixth provostship; and after enjoying good health until within a short time
of his death, he died on the 4th of November, 1766, in the 80th year of his age. He was buried in the Canongate churchyard. His
funeral, which was a public one, was attended by the magistrates and town council in their robes, with their sword and mace
covered with crape; by the professors of the university in their gowns; by most of the lords of session, and barons of the exchequer;
the commissioners of the excise and customs; the ministers of Edinburgh; several of the nobility; and some hundreds of the principal
inhabitants of the city and neighbourhood. A grand funeral concert was performed in St Cecilia’s hall, on the 19th of December, to
his memory, by the musical society, of which he was deputy-governor. The concert was crowdedly attended, the whole assembly
being dressed in mourning. The most solemn silence and attention prevailed during the performance. Similar honours were paid to
his memory by the masons’ lodge of which he had been grand master. The managers of the royal infirmary, some few years after
his death, placed a bust of him by Nollekins in the public hall of the hospital, under which the following inscription, written by his
friend Dr Robertson the historian, was placed:—"GEORGE DRUMMOND, to whom this country is indebted for all the benefit which it
derives from the royal infirmary."
His strict integrity and great talents for business, together with his affable manners and his powers as a public speaker, which were
considerable, peculiarly fitted Mr Drummond to take a prominent part in civic affairs. His management of the city revenues was
highly creditable to him; and although the great improvements which were accomplished under his auspices, and during his
provostships, might have warranted additional demands upon the citizens, he did not even attempt to increase the taxation of the
town. Not only was he highly popular with his fellow citizens, but during four successive reigns, he obtained the confidence of the
various administrations successively in power, and was the means of communicating, on several important occasions, most
valuable information to government.
Mr Drummond was about the middle stature, and was of a graceful and dignified deportment. His manners were conciliating and
agreeable, and his hospitality profuse; more especially during those years in which he was provost, when he kept open table at his
villa called Drummond Lodge, which stood almost on the site of Bellevue House, (afterwards the custom house, and more recently
the excise office,) and nearly in the centre of the modern square called Drummond Place. Mr Drummond was strenuous in his
support of religion and literature. He was a member of the "Select Society," which contained among its members all the illustrious
Scotsmen of the age. It was to him that Dr Robertson the historian owed his appointment as principal of the university of Edinburgh.
The university was also indebted to him for the institution of five professorships: viz, chemistry, the theory of physic, the practice of
physic, midwifery, and rhetoric and belles lettres.
http://www.edinburgh.org.uk/STREETS/part1/b.htm
From the house and grounds of Genl. Scott of Balcomie, Crail. Bellevue House was built on the site of Drummond Lodge: was
purchased by Provost George Drummond 1757. It became later customs and excise office, and was demolished in 1846 when the
Scotland St. railway tunnel was made. Ainslie 1804. Lothian Map 1825. The property of Bellevue belonged to the Marquis of
Titchfield from whom the town bought it, m.t.c. 30/4/1800,"from south wall of Bellevue to Albany Row". Feuing plans submitted m.t.c.
11/2/1800. House sold for custom house to Government 9/6/1802, m.t.c. Henrietta, daughter of Genl. John Scott of Balcomie, and
his heiress, married Wm. Henry Cavendish Bentinck, Marquis of Titchfield, son of the Duke of Portland, who took the name of Scott.
The Lands of Bellevue, bought by Genl. Scott from Dr. Archibald Drummond, son to the famous Lord Provost, were feued to the
town by his daughter for £1,050 annual feu duty. m.t.c. specially 7/9/1808. Genl. John Scott's wife Margaret gave her name to
Margaret Scott's Dyke, east side of the property, m. t. c. 7/9/1808
http://www.clanfraser.ca/marriage.htm
In 1752 the Convention of Royal Burghs assented to ‘Proposals for Carrying out Certain Public Works in the City of Edinburgh’
which resolved: ‘let us boldly enlarge Edinburgh to the utmost’. Other early attempts were made to rationalise the medieval clutter of
the Old Town, but it was not until George Square was laid out in 1766 beyond the royalty that the town council was finally spurred
into promoting its bill to extend the royalty, which it had shelved in 1759 in the face of strong opposition from landowning interests.
The council under George Drummond, the Lord Provost, initiated a competition for the design of the ‘New Town’ on the site of
Barefoot’s Parks, which had been acquired in 1716 and set for feu in 1763. In 1767 a successful bill for extension was passed, the
elegantly simple, classical grid-iron, gold medal winning plan of James Craig (1744-95) accepted, and the first house founded at
Rose (now Thistle) Court in the same year. [John Keay & Julia Keay, Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland, pp. 285-286]
George Drummond (1687-1766) served as Lord Provost six times: 1725, 1746, 1750-1, 1754-5, 1758-9 and 1762-3. He had fought
against Mar at Sheriffmuir (1715) and raised the First or College Company (1745) in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent Prince
Charles Edward and his Jacobite army from entering the city. He was the moving spirit behind plans for Edinburgh’s New Town,
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