ABERCROMBY, Alexander (1677-1729), of Glasshaugh, Banff.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754, ed. R. Sedgwick, 1970
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1707 - 1708
1708 - 1727

Family and Education

b. 1677, 1st s. of Alexander Abercromby of Glasshaugh by Katherine, da. of Robert Dunbar of Grangehill, Elgin. m. 1705, Helen, da. of George Meldrum of Crombie, Banff, and Laithers, Aberdeen, 2s. 4da. suc. gd.-fa. 1698.

Offices Held

M.P. [S] Banffshire 1706-7.

Lt. 21 Ft. 1706, capt. 1707, lt.-col. half pay 1721.

Biography

Abercromby belonged to a junior branch of one of the chief parliamentary families of Banffshire, which he represented for 20 years. Though on Harley’s pay-roll in Anne’s last Parliament, he was classed as Whig at George I’s accession, voting regularly with the Government. In 1720 he became involved in financial difficulties owing to speculations in the Mississippi and the South Sea companies.1 On 20 Oct. 1722 he moved unsuccessfully that the election petition of Colonel John Campbell should be heard at the bar of the House.2 Between 1723 and 1725 he bombarded the ministry with petitions for promotion, pleading that he had ‘served faithfully sixteen years as a captain at all sieges, battles, and other services during the said time and at the Union ... also attending the Parliament every session’.3 He died 23 Dec. 1728.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: J. M. Simpson

Notes

  • 1. HMC Portland, v. 351; x. 316, 318, 484; G. D. Henderson, Mystics of the North East, 168; Sunderland (Blenheim) mss D. II, 3.
  • 2. Knatchbull Diary.
  • 3. Cal. SP Dom. Geo. I, 3 Oct. 1723; Abercromby to Walpole, 2 Jan. 1725, Cholmondeley (Houghton) mss.