Patrick Hume, 1st Earl of Marchmont

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Patrick Hume, 1st Earl of Marchmont (13 January 1641-2 August 1724), known as Sir Patrick Hume, 1st Baronet from 1648 to 1690 and as Lord Polwarth from 1690 to 1697, was a Scottish statesman.

Born at Polwarth, Berwickshire, he was raised as a strict Presbyterian, and after a term of law study at Paris he represented his native country in Parliament, where he at once took a foremost place as defender of the Covenanters. He went so far as to bring imprisonment upon himself, and on being freed was suspected of complication in the Rye House Plot, so that he was forced to remain in hiding until he could escape in disguise to the Continent. There he joined the Duke of Argyll and embarked with him on the unsuccessful expedition to Scotland (1685). Hume became a refugee with a price set upon his head; but he once more escaped abroad and lived at Utrecht under the name "Dr. Wallace," professing to be a Scottish surgeon. He returned with William of Orange at the Revolution of 1688.

With estates restored, he was now a Scottish peer, Lord Polwarth; was made Lord Chancellor in 1696 and Earl of Marchmont in 1697. He strenuously opposed in Parliament the claims of the Old Pretender to the crown and voted for the union of Scotland with England, though he was not above the suspicion of having received a reward for so doing. Too dogmatic to be popular, he did not hold office in the United Kingdom till the reign of George I, when he was given some minor charges, but shortly retired.



Political offices
Preceded by
The Marquess of Tweeddale		 Lord Chancellor of Scotland
1696–1702		 Succeeded by
The Earl of Seafield
Peerage of Scotland
Preceded by
New Creation		 Earl of Marchmont
1697–1724		 Succeeded by
Alexander Hume-Campbell
Baronetage of Nova Scotia
Preceded by
Patrick Hume		 Baronet
(of Polwarth)
1648–1724		 Succeeded by
Alexander Hume-Campbell