Table Of ContentJohn Hutton, M.D. and the
Dumfries Presbytery Library, 1714-1826
JOHN V. HOWARD, M.A., M.L.A.
Abstract: An account of the reassembling of 1,500 volumes dispersed
throughoutthestacksofNew CollegeLibrary, Edinburgh, andtheevidence
they give ofthe interests and travels ofDr John Hutton, its principal
donor. Hutton, born nearDumfries in south-westScotland, became court
physician to King William and Queen Mary, and left his library of
medicine, history, classics, literature and theology to the ministers of
Dumfries. A recordsurvives ofits use as a lending libraryfrom 1732 to
1826.
Dumfries, the most important town in south-west Scotland, has a history
going back to the Middle Ages, and a population of about 30,000. It is
situated about thirty miles from Carlisle across the English border. What
follows is an attempt to connect the library of its eighteenth-century
Presbyterian ministers with King William’s chiefphysician, and to relate
the sequence of events by which most of the books have come to New
College Library in Edinburgh.
New College Library began as the library of the Free Church of
ScotlandCollege in 1843, andgrew largebynineteenth-centurypurchases
and donations. It was greatly extended by mergers with the United
PresbyterianCollegeLibraryin 1900,theDivinityLibraryoftheUniversity
of Edinburgh in 1936, and the Library of the General Assembly of the
Church ofScotland in 1958.
I was Librarian ofNew College from 1965 to 1986. It was not long
after my appointment that I began to notice among the thousands ofolder
books, someofthe 16thand 17thcenturies, inoriginal andoftendilapidated
leather bindings, with distinctive pressmarks and marks ofprovenance,
u
usually in the form Ex libris bibliothecaepresbyterii Drumfriesiensis ex
dono Joan. Hutton M. D. 1714”, or abbreviations thereof. Many were
also distinctive because the edges ofthe leaves, and sometimes the whole
41
book-block, had the consistency ofblotting-paper. There were othersigns
offormerdampness such aswater-staining, crumpled end-papers, bindings
broken, and stitching and cords visible. These books had been distributed
by subject amongst the older books ofthe library in various stackrooms
which were at that time all on open access.
Then I founda fifty-onepage printedcatalogue ofthe collection-still
the only complete copy I have seen-with the imprint “Dumfries, printed
by Robert Jackson, 1784”.1 It was arranged in a quasi-alphabetical order.
Each abbreviated entry occupies a single line, listing author, title and
pressmark. All the authors whose surnames begin with A are together, all
the Bs are together and so on. But the sub-arrangement within each initial
letter is by pressmark, a baffling sequence until one realizes the principle
involved. Itmeansthatthe list is acombinationofshelflistandalphabetical
index, without the real virtues ofeither.
To the question, “Couldthis catalogue beused as an inventory?”were
added several others. Who was the John Hutton who gave so many books
to the Dumfries Presbytery in 1714? Howandwhen didthey come toNew
College Library? Was it only a theological collection? Had anyone in
Dumfrieseverreadthem?Was somedisasterresponsiblefortheircondition?
And, most puzzling of all, what was the significance of the two Greek
words Ta ’avto [ta ano] written on most ofthe title pages?
John Hutton M. D.
An article by Gordon Goodwin in the Dictionary ofNational Biography
was very informative about Hutton. He is said to have begun life as a herd
boy in Caerlaverock, Dumfriesshire, working forthe Episcopalian minister
there.
Through his master’s kindness he received a good education, and
became a physician, graduating M.D. at Padua. He chanced to be the
nearest doctor at hand when the Princess Mary ofOrange met with a
fall from her horse in Holland, and thus gained the regard of Prince
1 A catalogueofthebooks intheLibraryofthePresbytery’ofDumfries,(Dumfries,
printed by Robert Jackson, 1784).
42
William, who on ascending the English throne appointedhim his first
physician.2
havenotfoundthe source ofthese anecdotes,buttherecords ofEdinburgh
I
University now inthe UniversityArchives showthathe was a studenthere
in 1672 and graduated M.A. in 1674.3 There is no record ofhis exact age,
but he would in those days have probably graduated at about fifteen. To
study medicine young Scots went on to Leiden in Holland or Padua in
Italy. Huttonhadhis doctoral thesis acceptedattheUniversity ofPaduaon
24 May 1677,4 which was the same year that the Princess Mary, bom
1662, eldest daughter ofthe Duke ofYork, later King James II and VII,
married Prince William of Orange. Dr Hutton was probably in the
Netherlands or elsewhere on the continent between 1677 and 1687. He
certainlywentto Englandwith Williamand MarywhentheybecameKing
and Queen in 1688.
Another Scot in the train ofWilliam and Mary was Gilbert Burnet,
made Bishop ofSalisbury underthe new regime. He relates inhisHistory
ofhis Own Times that Dr Hutton attended the King as personal adviser as
well as physician, and was with him at the Battle ofthe Boyne on 1 July
1690 inhis campaignagainsttheIrishCatholicswhoweretryingtoreinstate
King James.5 On 30 September in the same year Hutton was admitted a
Fellow ofthe Royal College ofPhysicians in London6 and on 20 October
1691 he is listed as “Physician-General to the Armies and Land Forces”.7
Four years later he was incorporated M.D. at the University ofOxford,
and in November 1697 was elected a Fellow ofthe Royal Society.8
Dictionary ofNational Biography, vol. 28, 356 (London, 1891).
Edinburgh University Library, MS Da35.
MS
Universita di Padova, 282, fos. 1695, 1700, 1703.
5 G. Burnet, History ofhis own time (Oxford, 1823), iv, 103-4.
W. Munk, The roll ofthe Royal College ofPhysicians ofLondon (London,
1861), i, 442-3.
A. Peterkin,A listofcommissionedofficersoftheArmy ... 1660-1727(Aberdeen
1925), 10.
Dictionary ofNational Biography (see n.2, above).
43
Several ofhis books show these connections. William Cockbum, one
ofHutton’s youngercolleagues in the team ofroyal physicians, inscribeda
copy of his Oeconomia corporis animalis (London:1694) to him [6. 1.
16]. James Wallace, aFellow ofthe Royal Society, presented acopy ofhis
father’s authoritative book on his native Orkney Islands (1693) to him,
inscribed “for Doctor Hutton, his Majesties first physician at Whythall”
[5. 7. 40], Anew editionofthisbookwaspublished in 1700 with aredrawn
map “Humblydedicatedto DrHutton, theKing’s firstPhysician” [10.3.3],
There is also his own ex-libris with the note “in aula regia archiatorum
primi 1693” in volume one of the huge six-volume Walton’s Polyglot
[2.3.1]. Hispresence atthe autopsy ofKing William in March 1702 is also
recorded, butsadly, patronage seldom survivesthepatron, andQueenAnne
appointedDrHutton’spredecessor, DrThomas Lawrence, ashis successor.
Indeed, the Presbytery Library also has a copy ofthe 1707 directory The
PresentStateofGreatBritain [4.4.4], where HerMajesty’s FirstPhysician
is Sir Edward Hannes, at a salary of£400, and Dr Lawrence has moved
down in turn to be Second Physician again.
Origins ofthe collection
Themostrecentaccountofthe origins ofthecollectionis inPaul Kaufman’s
Libraries and Their Users (1969) in the chapter entitled “Scotland as the
Home ofCommunity Libraries”.9 He says that the Dumfries Presbytery
Library had “some 2,350 titles and over 300 MSS”, apparently relying on
a local correspondent. Hewasunawarethatanyofthe bookshad survived,
althoughhereferstothe accurateaccountofG.W. Shirley inthe Gallovidian
Annual, 1932, on “Dumfriesshire Libraries”10 which relates the decision
ofthe Presbytery in 1884 to deposit the Library in the General Assembly
Library in Edinburgh.
Reference to the unpublished Presbytery Minutes confirms all that
Shirley says, especially on 23 January 1884,
9 P. Kaufman, Libraries and their users (London, 1969), 140-2, 147.
10 G.W. Shirley, Dumfriesshire libraries (Dumfries, 1933 - reprinted from The
Gallovidian Annual, 1932).
44
The Presbytery Officerhavingreportedthatthe roofofthe library was
in a dangerous state, the Presbytery inspected itandhaving foundthat
the roofwas opento the sky andthe place floodedwater, they ordered
all thebooks tobe removed, MrWeirallowingthem to be storedinthe
hall below Greyffiars Church."
AfterthePresbyteryfailedinits attemptsto enlistthe aidofthemagistrates,
the Synod, the Antiquarian Society and the individual congregations, in
the repair ofthe Presbytery House, it was reported on 1 July
thattheGeneralAssembly’s Library Committeewaswillingtoreceive
the books on loan andplace them in a room ofthe Assembly Library.
The Presbytery agreedthatthe books shouldbe loaned to the General
Assembly’s Library on conditionthatonaresolution ofthe Presbytery
to that effect, and within three month’s notice, the Presbytery should
be entitledto resume custody ofthe books.12
On3 March 1885 itwas reportedto Presbyterythatthebooks ofthe Library
hadbeen sent to Edinburgh and duly received by the Assembly’s Library
Committee.13
The General Assembly Library was housed in the building which is
now The Hub (of the Edinburgh Festival Society). It was the Tolbooth
Church, designed by Gillespie Graham and Pugin, and until the Church
Reunion of 1929 it hosted the annual meetings ofthe General Assembly
itself. The whole General Assembly Library was transferred in 1958 to
New
CollegeLibrary, includingapparentlytheDumfriesPresbyteryLibrary,
and all the books, new and old, were dispersed by subject amongst the
stacks and included in the catalogue ofits new home.
In the surviving books ofthe Presbytery Library, there are about 180
thathave Hutton’s signature, and some ofthese have furtherannotations in
Dumfries, Ewart Library MS, Church of Scotland Presbytery of Dumfries
Minutes, vol. 27, 23 Jan. 1884.
12 Ibid., 1 July 1884.
13 ChurchofScotland,GeneralAssembly,AbridgmentofProceedings, 1 June 1885.
45
his own hand. One ofthe mostinteresting is TheBookeofCommonPrayer
and Administration ofthe sacraments, and Other Parts ofthe Divine
Servicefor the Use ofthe Church ofScotland(Edinburgh: Robert Young,
1637). This is the famous “Laud’s Liturgy”, the Episcopalian service book
imposed onthe Church ofScotlandby Charles Psbishops [1.6.7], Another
book to compare with this is The Booke ofthe Common Prayer ... After
the Use of the Church of England (Londini: Ex Officina Edoardi
Whitchurche, Junii 1549). This copy has Dr. Hutton’s explanation that
“This prayer book was the first that was printed in English in the
Reformation of King Edward” and is “added to ye other books for ye
curiosity ofye reader by Jo Hutton” [2.5.6],
Otherbookshave similarcommentsbytheDoctor, such asA Collection
ofAll the Proclamations, Declarations, Articles andOrdinances, Passed
by His Highness the LordProtector andHis Council.... (London:Henry
Hills, 1654) [1.3.6]. This copy of Oliver Cromwell’s Proclamations is
inscribed In futurum rei memoriam hie est, which could perhaps be
translated “Don’t forgetwhat happened during ourCivil War”which,with
theRestorationof1660 andthe Revolutionof1688, were thenwithin living
memory.
But, for the “curiosity ofthe reader”, before leaving Hutton’s copies
of Laud’s Liturgy and King Edward Vi’s First Prayer Book, a brief
inspection should be made ofthe binding and lettering. Both have been
rebound in polished calf, a nineteenth-century gentleman’s library style,
and one thatmarksthem offin appearance from all the olderbindings. The
letteringalsobetraysthem: “BookofCommon OrderofChurchofScotland”
and“Book ofCommon OrderofChurch ofEngland”. These bindingswith
the Presbyterian lettering are undated, but were undoubtedly executed
between 1884 and 1958 when, as already mentioned, the collectionwas in
the General Assembly Library of the Church of Scotland in Edinburgh.
The presence ofthe ownership stamp ofthe burning bush surrounded by
the words “Bibliotheca Ecclesiae Scoticanae” confirms this.
The Presbytery minutes are also a valuable source ofinformation for
the origin ofthe Library. On 4 April 1710 they read:
46
The Presbytery Understanding that Dr John Hutton Physician has a
design to bestow upon them some Books to be kept in a Library here,
&
thought fit to write a Letter to him thanking him for it encouraging
&
him in that Design; and appointed IVPHill, Robison the Moderator
&
[John Somervel] to draw the Letter report.14
At almost every subsequent Presbytery meeting from 1710 to 1714, when
theywerenotdiscussing cases ofapostasy orfornication, theyweretalking
about theircorrespondencewith DrHutton inLondon. The matterdragged
on partly because a different minister was appointed to write each time,
andpartlybecause theircommitteesproposed interminableregulations for
theuseofthebooks, andsuggestedvariousdeputationstotheTownCouncil
expecting them to provide a Library Room.
On 2 September 1712 after several postponements
Mr Vetch [Veitch] Represented to the Presbytery that he has received
latelya Letterfrom DoctorHutton showingthathis Books destinat for
a Library to the Presbytery are chested and ready to be sent to any
person in any place that thy think fit which Letter he read. And they
having considered itAppoints MrVetchto write to the Doctorto send
the books by sea to Leeth to the care ofone there to be condescended
upon by Mr Vetch, Mr Young Comptroller here, and Mr Paterson
Merchant,who istobenamedtothe DoctorintheLetter. Andappointed
M
reVetchandPatonto speaktothe Magistrats andLeadingCouncillors
ofthis Burgh forproviding a place for the Library.15
ButtheshippingofthebooksfromLondontoLeithwasputoffinNovember
because ofthe risks to sailing ships in winter weather. They wrote to ask
the Doctor to send them next April. But on 6 January 1713
Church of Scotland. Presbytery ofDumfries. Minutes, vol. 6, 1 (MS in Ewart
Library, Dumfries; microfilm in Edinburgh University Library, Mic M 1116)
15 Ibid., 95.
47
Mr Somervel reported that he wrote not to Doctor Hutton because
soon after lastPresbyterie he got Information ofhis death. But that he
has received a Letter written by the Doctor a little before his death
bearing that he had left to the Presbyterie not only all the books
mentioned in the Catalogue, sent formerly, but all the other books of
his Library: as also a Letter from Esquire Hutton the Drs Executor
showing that the books are ready to be sent to the presbyterie when
theyplease.16
Things still moved slowly, for, on 2 June
The Commissioners to the Assembly Report that the books for the
Library are come to Leith and that they ordered them to be brought to
Dumfries: MrPatoun and MrSomervell are appointedtoreceive them
and get them carefully lodged when they come to this place.17
Thenextreports showthatthe books did arrive overland invariousbatches
in August and September, and that the Presbytery was then concerned to
havepresses made forthem, to getthem listed, andto renttwo rooms from
James Pagan, merchant, for£24 Scots (anotherlongnegotiation), because
the Town Council hadchangedtheirmindandwantedtheirroom forsome
otherpurpose.
Dr Hutton had died in November 1712, having been since 1710
Member of Parliament for the Burgh of Dumfries.18 A copy of John
Mackqueen’s An Essay on Honour (London: 1711) is inscribed “My
honoured friend Dr Hutton first Physician to his late Majesty and one of
the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain, presented”
[10.1.10]. There is no record of his ever having married and he was
obviously dispersing some ofhis accumulatedwealth forthe benefitofhis
native area. He had contributed to the building ofthe new manse for the
minister ofCaerlaverock and already in 1708 had created a mortification,
16 Ibid., 101.
17 Ibid, 109.
18 J. Foster, Members ofParliament, Scotland 1357-1882 (2nd edn., 1882), 191.
48
orendowment, of£1,000 forpoorreliefand education intheparish, which
continued as an independent trust till 1935.
But Hutton’s library was not the only source of accessions to the
Presbytery Library. The Presbytery minutes for 19 July 1715 :
MrRobertPatonproduceda listofsome books Leftto thepresbyterie
by the Deceased Doctor George Archibald Physician in the Burgh
which were appointed to be added to the Library. The presbyterie
thought fitto appointMrsPaton, Lin & Bowieto waituponthe Doctors
Lady and in the presbyteries name to return thanks for the gift and
receive the Books with herConveniencie.19
Like Hutton’s, some are medical and some are on other subjects. One
example isaFrenchBible,publishedinGenevain 1588, which has Marot’s
metrical Psalms bound with it [9.6.1]. Dr Archibald was a resident of
Dumfries, who is recorded in September 1707 as “repaid 1000 marks ...
borrowed by Provost Rome towards the building ofthe mill”.20 He was
also the burgh’s first historian, his mainly unpublished Account ofthe
Curiosities ofDumfries being preserved in the Sibbald manuscript in the
National Library ofScotland.
A
There are also books which belonged to neither of the doctors.
small group have accession dates earlier than 1714. The earliest ofthese
is Humphrey Baker’s Arithmetick ... Newly Corrected and Enlarged by
HenryPhillippes (London:1670) [4.8.3]. Itis inscribed“Thisbookbelongs
tothePresby. ofDumff’sLibrary 1708”. The firstvolumeofJosephCaryl’s
Exposition ... ofthe Book ofJob, London, 1648, is also inscribed “This
book belongs to the Presby. ofDumff’s Library 1709” [10.2.3], Caryl’s
Exposition ofJob is an intriguing example of continuity throughout the
Commonwealth period and into the Restoration, as the final volume, the
12th, was not published till 1666.
Church ofScotland, Presbytery ofDumfries, Minutes, vol. 6, 183.
20 R. Edgar,An introduction to the history ofDumfries [written c. 1746], ed. R. C.
Reid (Dumfries, 1915).
49
The most interesting ofthe volumes inscribed as acquired in 1710 is a
copy of the Douai Bible, the first Roman Catholic version in English,
published in 1609 [6.5.8]. Onlythe firstofthethreevolumes has survived,
butthis has anotherinscription saying thatthey werebought on 22 August
1702 by Robert Neilson of Bamcalzie. Bamcalzie is near Crocketford,
halfway between Dumfries and Castle Douglas. This does appear to be
evidence for a local origin for some ofthe Dumfries Presbytery’s books.
Also, when the Hutton books were arriving in August 1713, Mr Robert
Paton, who was then the Minister ofthe Second Charge, Dumfries, was
instructed “to put the other books belonging to the Presbyterie and in his
custodie into the same Room atthe sight ofthe Committee conform to the
Catalogue”.21
One further quotation from the Presbytery minutes, unrelated to the
Library, shows an unusual tenderness for an opponent’s reputation:
7 Dec 1714. “Itbeingrepresentedthatthere are Lines cutoutuponthe
Gravestone of the deceased Robert Neilson of Bamcailie who was
excommunicatedbythispresbyterie forhis apostasytopopery, highly
vilifying and trampling upon that souldier, It was moved that the
presbyterie should apply to the Justices ofthe Peace ofthe Stewartry
ofKirkcudbrightfordefacingtheseLinesandthe Moderatorappointed
to write a Letter to the Justices for that end.22
Statistics
Atthispointitseemshelpfultoturnto aquantitativeaccountofthesurviving
volumes. Taking the entries in the 1784 printed catalogue at their face
value, there were then 2,052 titles in 2,372 volumes. This figure for titles
does not take into account volumes in which many pamphlets are bound,
as the brevity ofthe entries fails to reveal this. What is definite is thatthere
are now 1,517 volumes, most ofwhich are gatheredtogetheragain intheir
original pressmark order. Some 60 volumes, mainly medical titles, were
transferred to the main University Library before there was any notion of
21 Church ofScotland, Presbytery ofDumfries, Minutes, vol. 6, 112.
22 Ibid., 154.
50
