OGILVY, Hon. Patrick (1665-1737), of Cairnbulg and Loanmay, Aberdeen and Inchmartine, Perth.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1690-1715, ed. D. Hayton, E. Cruickshanks, S. Handley, 2002
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1707 - 1708
1708 - 1710

Family and Education

b. 1665, 3rd s. of James Ogilvy, 3rd Earl of Findlater [S], by his 1st wife Anne, da. of Hugh Montgomery, 7th Earl of Eglintoun.  m. (1) by 1693, Elizabeth. da. of Sir James Baird, MP [S], of Auchmeddan, Aberdeen, and wid. of Sir Alexander Abercromby, 1st Bt., of Birkenbog, Banff, 1da. (2) by 1709, Elizabeth (d. 1753), da. of Hon. Francis Montgomerie*, sis. of John Montgomerie II*, 3s.1

Offices Held

Burgess, Edinburgh 1696, Ayr 1703, Cullen by 1706, Perth 1724.2

Commr. justiciary for Highlands [S] 1701.

Capt. Brigadier Maitland’s regt. (later 25 Ft.) 1701, 2nd lt.-col. 1704–11.3

MP [S], Cullen 1702–7.

Biography

As undistinguished in the parliamentary line as in the military, Ogilvy’s career owed everything to the influence of his elder brother Lord Seafield. He obtained a captain’s commission in 1701, ‘without either merit or service’, and in the next few years spent less than a month on garrison duty with his company. His attention had been distracted towards an independent command, enforcing customs regulations in western Scotland. Acting under directions from the Scottish privy council (of which his brother was a leading member), Ogilvy commanded a small force charged with curbing the importation of Irish victuals. He served from September 1703, with a salary of £200 p.a. Ogilvy’s activities created occasional embarrassments for the government, as in the case of his controversial seizure of an Irish ship that had apparently been driven by storms into the Clyde. Also, the army looked unfavourably on his independent force. Lieutenant-General Ramsay, who deemed Ogilvy’s actions ‘rather a hurt than an advantage to the country’, summoned the troops inland on the pretext that they were required for review. Ogilvy responded by petitioning parliament in July 1704, and obtained both confirmation and expansion of his remit the following year. Having in the meantime purchased a lieutenant-colonelcy, he joined in partnership with Sir John Schaw, 3rd Bt.,* and Archibald Campbell of Chenies, agreeing to pay 10 merks for every boll of grain seized. In return, the government was pledged to provide troops, two small ships, and additional financial aid. Yet, in the process of achieving his objective, Ogilvy apparently lost interest in the scheme. Schaw later claimed that he never bore his share of the duties and readily sold his interest in the contract.4

In the Scottish parliament Ogilvy, who had been returned for the family burgh of Cullen in 1702, consistently supported the Court. He voted against the Duke of Hamilton’s motion for deferring a decision on the succession in 1704, and supported the Union in 1706–7. As Cullen’s representative to the convention of royal burghs in 1706, he also acted on behalf of his family in support of the Court. Minimal importance should therefore be attached to an isolated report in 1706 that, despite all outward signs, Ogilvy harboured Jacobite sympathies.5

Included in the Court slate of representatives to the first Parliament of Great Britain, Ogilvy was complimented with nomination to the committee on the Address on 10 Nov. 1707. He is not recorded as having spoken in debate, but his support for the Court is indicated by his report to his father on 27 Dec. that ‘we are troubled with the Squadrone, that is doing all that they can for taking away the [Scottish privy] council’. Returned without a contest for Elgin Burghs in 1708, Ogilvy again proved an inactive Member, with a solitary committee appointment of significance, on 16 Dec., to draft a bill for the encouragement of the fishery. In February 1709, Lord Godolphin (Sidney†) informed the Duke of Marlborough (John Churchill†) that Ogilvy was one of numerous pretenders to a vacant colonelcy of foot: he was not successful. As a Court supporter, Ogilvy naturally voted for the impeachment of Dr Sacheverell. On 20 Mar. 1710 he requested a month’s leave of absence, and did not stand at the ensuing election. He sold his military commission in 1711 and retired to private life. In local politics he continued to follow his brother’s line, voting for Alexander Reid* at the Aberdeenshire election in 1713. The rental of Ogilvy’s estates was evaluated at £1,355 Scots in the Jacobite cess of 1715, yet it is highly improbable that he paid any contribution. In 1717, having previously sold Loanmay, he purchased the estate of Inchmartine, dying there on 20 Sept. 1737 in his 72nd year.6

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Author: David Wilkinson

Notes

  • 1. Seafield Corresp. pp. xiv, 102; Scots Peerage ed. Paul, iv. 36; ix. 90; W. Baird, Gen. Coll. Baird, 34; Hist. Scot. Parl. 548.
  • 2. Scot. Rec. Soc. lix. 385; Carnegie Lib. Ayr, Ayr burgh recs. B6/18/8, council mins. 27 Oct. 1703; Sandeman Lib. Perth, Perth burgh recs. B59/24/1/17 f. 62, list of burgesses 1705–72.
  • 3. Seafield Corresp. 340, 344, 382; SRO, Seafield mss GD248/560/46/20, Hon. Francis Montgomerie to Seafield, 25 Jan. 1711.
  • 4. Seafield Corresp. 340, 342, 344, 382; HMC Laing, ii. 92; R. Chambers, Dom. Annals Scot. (1861), 243; Seafield Letters, 150; APS, xi. 129, 220, 240, 432, 434, app. 42; SRO, Cromartie mss GD305/1/159/130, memorial by Schaw [?1713].
  • 5. Info. from Dr P. W. J. Riley on members of Scot. parl.; Boyer, Anne Annals, iii. app. 44; P. W. J. Riley, Union, 331; Orig. Pprs. ed. Macpherson, ii. 6.
  • 6. Seafield Corresp. 102, 438; Marlborough– Godolphin Corresp. 1226; Seafield mss GD248/560/46/20, Montgomerie to Seafield, 25 Jan. 1711; Aberdeen Univ. Lib. Duff House (Montcoffer) mss, 3175/Z174, Aberdeenshire electoral ct. mins. 22 Oct. 1713; Scots Peerage, 36; Jacobite Cess Roll of Aberdeen (3rd Spalding Club), 15; Services of Heirs (ser. 1), i. 1730–9, p. 27.