Patrick Brydone


Patrick Brydone, FRSE, FRS, FSA, FSA was a Scottish traveller and author who served as Comptroller of the Stamp Office.

Life

Brydone was born in Coldingham, Berwickshire, on 5 January 1736, the son of Robert Brydone, the local Church of Scotland minister, and Elizabeth Dysart.
After attending St. Andrews University, he went abroad as travelling tutor or companion, with William Beckford and some other gentlemen.
In 1767 or 1768, soon after his return from Switzerland, he went abroad again with Mr. Beckford of Somerly and two others as travelling preceptor.
In 1770, he made a tour with these gentlemen through Sicily and Malta, the former island being but little known to travellers of that time.
This tour forms the subiect of his book, ‘A Tour through Sicily and Malta, in a Series of Letters to William Beckford, Esq., of Somerly in Suffolk,’ published in 1773.
It was favourably reviewed, and so well received by the reading public, that it went through seven or eight editions in England in his lifetime, and was also translated into French and German.
In Italy, nine years after its publication, Count Borch published a volume of ‘Letters to serve as Supplement to the Voyage in Sicily and Malta of Mr. Brydone.'
His work became popular for its descriptions, and earned the author admission to the Royal Society. Besides his work on Sicily and Malta, he was the author of some papers in the Royal Society's Philosophical Transactions.
In 1783 he was a founder member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He held the appointment of comptroller of the stamp office. The latter part of his life was spent in retirement and he died on 19 June 1818 at Lennel House in Berwickshire.

Family

In 1785 he married Mary Robertson, the daughter of Prof William Robertson. They had three daughters the eldest of which, Mary, married Gilbert Elliot who became the 2nd Earl of Minto.

Major works