Fox
Maule-Ramsay, 11th Earl of Dalhousie,
KT, GCB, PC (22
April 1801 – 6 July 1874), known as Fox Maule
before 1852, as The Lord Panmure between 1852
and 1860.
When his father died he inherited the greater
part of the Panmure Estate an estate that was
quite extensive and covered a large area of the
Angus countryside especially around Monikie,
Brechin and Edzell. He lived both at Panmure
House just east of Monikie (It was demolished –
partly blown up by Army engineers in the 1950’s)
and Brechin Castle, he preferred Brechin Castle.
Described as one of the most outstanding
personages in the public life of Dundee and
Forfarshire, he seemed to have shone in social
circles, it was said that He was blessed with a
constitution of steel, embodied in a Herculean
frame.
He had an enjoyment of healthy humor, an
absolute freedom from ‘hypocritical loftiness’,
his ‘overflowing river of good spirits’, his
readiness to assist in largesse from out of his
purse any deserving object, and made everyone
proclaim him a good comrade. His popularity was
not confined to the boundaries of Angus but even
in Edinburgh he endeared himself by his
liberality, broad mindedness and youthful pranks
and received the title of ‘generous sportsman’
Lord Panmure was beloved by his numerous
tenantry, towards whom he acted in a generous
manner. His favourite toast was “Live and let
live” and that kindly sentiment pervaded his
everyday life. The tenants in token of their
gratitude and high esteem, subscribed for and
erected, in honor of ‘His Lordship’, upon the
top of Downie Hill, in Monikie, a noble circular
column, 105ft in height – “The Panmure ‘Live and
let Live’ Testimonial”. The Hill is 500 feet
above sea level, isolated from other high
grounds, and commanding an uninterrupted view in
every direction.
At the age of eighteen he became a Cornet in the
11th Dragoons (Prince Albert's Own Hussars)
1788, Captain in 1791 of an Independent Company
of Foot, which he raised, and which was
disbanded later that year. He Retired from the
Army in 1825. He was the Whig Member of
Parliament for Forfarshire 1796, and also in
nine successive Parliaments from June 1805 until
1831. He was created a Burgess of Dundee in
1831.
Every public enterprise and charitable
institution between the Tay and the Don Rivers
benefited by his actions, amongst the principal
of which were the erection and endowment of the
Mechanics Institute in Brechin, large donations
to Dundee Royal Infirmary and Orphan Institute &
Lunatic Asylum. He gave a handsome annuity to
the widow of the Hon Charles Fox (Politician),
after whom his son was named; he was the first
to move in rewarding the heroic actions of Grace
Darling; he also supported Neil Gow the famous
Scottish fiddler and many other artists.
The Improvements Bill in 1824 allowed Dundee to
alleviate slum conditions by demolishing some
decaying property and creating a new street to
connect the Cowgate with the Meadows. This new
street was opened in 1839 and named ‘Panmure
Street’ in recognition of his donations to the
Dundee Royal Infirmary, (later on Panmure
Terrace was also named after him). The Infirmary
was not Lord Panmure’s only good turn for
Dundee. In 1847 he parted with some of his lands
to allow the formation of the Monikie and
Crombie Reservoirs.
It is also documented that at the renovation of
Brechin Cathedral an attempt was made to
demolish the famous Round Tower – one of only
two on the mainland of Scotland, the other being
at Abernethy – Lord Panmure threatened to hang
anyone from the top of the tower who removed a
stone from it!
It seems he knew Robert Burns. When Burns knew
Maule, he was an officer in a regiment stationed
at Dumfries. In a letter of 29th October 1794,
Burns sent the epigram: ‘To the Hon. Wm. R.
Maule of Panmure’, to Mrs. Dunlop. Later on
after Burn’s death, Lord Panmure settled on
Burns's widow a pension of fifty pounds, but
only had to disburse it for eighteen months,
after which Burns's son, James, was able to
relieve him of the charge.
"Thou fool, in thy phaeton towering,
Art proud when that phaeton is prais'd?
'Tis the pride of a Thief's exhibition
When higher his pillory's rais'd."
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