Editing Patrick Abercromby

{{Short description|Scottish physician and antiquarian}}
{{about|the Scottish physician and antiquarian|the English town planner|Patrick Abercrombie}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2014}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Patrick Abercromby
|birth_date = 1656
|birth_place = [[Forfar]], Scotland
|death_date = {{circa|1716}}
|nationality = [[Scotland|Scottish]]
|occupation = {{flatlist|
* Physician
* historian
* antiquarian
}}
|known_for = Physician to King James VII of Scotland; as a Jacobite, he opposed the Union in various pamphlets
|notable_works = ''Martial Achievements of the Scots Nation''
}}

'''Patrick Abercromby''' (1656{{snd}}{{circa|1716}}) was a [[Scottish people|Scottish]] [[physician]] and [[antiquarian]], noted for being physician to [[James II of England|King James VII (II of England)]] and his fervent opposition to the [[Acts of Union 1707|Act of Union]] between Scotland and England.

==Early life==
Patrick Abercromby was the third son of Alexander Abercromby of [[Fetternear Palace|Fetterneir]] in [[Aberdeenshire (traditional)|Aberdeenshire]], and brother of [[Francis Abercromby, Lord Glasford|Francis Abercromby]], who was created Lord Glasford by [[James II of England|King James II]]. He was born at [[Forfar]] in 1656 apparently of a [[Roman Catholic]] family.<ref name="EB1911"/>

Intending to become a doctor of medicine he entered the [[University of St Andrews]], where he took his [[Doctor of Medicine|degree of M.D]]. in 1685, but apparently he spent most of his youthful years abroad. It has been stated that he attended the university of [[Paris]], France.  ''A Discourse of Wit'' (1685), sometimes assigned to him, belongs to Dr [[David Abercromby]].<ref name="EB1911"/>

==Return to Scotland==
On his return to Scotland, Patrick Abercromby is found practising as a physician in [[Edinburgh]], where, besides his professional duties, he gave himself with characteristic zeal to the study of [[antiquities]]. He was appointed physician to James II in 1685, but the revolution deprived him of the post. Living during the agitations for the union of England and Scotland, he took part as a [[Jacobitism|Jacobite]] in the war of [[pamphlet]]s inaugurated and sustained by prominent men on both sides of the Border, and he crossed swords with no less redoubtable a foe than [[Daniel Defoe]] in his ''Advantages of the Act of Security compared with those of the intended Union'' ([[Edinburgh]], 1707), and ''A Vindication of the Same against Mr De Foe'' (ibid.).<ref name="EB1911"/>

==Continued work ==
A minor literary work of Abercromby's was a translation of [[Jean de Beaugué]]'s ''Histoire de la guerre d'Écosse'' (1556) which appeared in 1707.  But the work with which his name is permanently associated is his ''Martial Atchievements ''[sic]'' of the Scots Nation'', issued in two large [[folio]]s, vol. i. 1711, vol. ii. 1715.  In the title-page and preface to vol. i. he disclaims the ambition of being an historian, but in vol. ii., in title-page and preface alike, he is no longer a simple biographer, but an historian. He was a laborious and accomplished reader and investigator of all available authorities, as well manuscript as printed; while the roll of names of those who aided him includes every man of note in Scotland at the time, from [[Sir Thomas Craig]] and [[Sir George Mackenzie]] to [[Alexander Nisbet]] and [[Thomas Ruddiman]].<ref name="EB1911"/>

==Death==
The date of Abercromby's death is uncertain.  It has been variously assigned to 1715, 1716, 1720, and 1726, and it is usually added that he left a widow in great poverty. The Memoirs of the Abercrombys, commonly attributed to him, do not appear to have been published.<ref name="EB1911"/>

==Works==
* Translation; [https://books.google.com/books?id=POhEhgztHHwC Beaugué, Jean de, ''History of the Campaigns of 1548 and 1549'', (1707)]

==References==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Abercromby, Patrick|volume=1|pages=43–44}} Endnotes:
*[[Robert Chambers (journalist)|Robert Chambers]], ''Eminent Scotsmen, s.v.'';
*[[William Anderson (Scottish writer)|William Anderson]], ''Scottish Nation, s.v.'';
*[[Alexander Chalmers]], ''[[Alexander Chalmers' General Biographical Dictionary|Biographical Dictionary]], s.v.'';
*[[George Chalmers (antiquarian)|George Chalmers]], ''Life of Ruddiman'';
*[[William Lee (civil engineer)|William Lee]], ''Daniel Defoe''.</ref>
}}

==Further reading==
* {{Eminent Scotsmen|Abercromby, Patrick|1|2–4}}
*{{Cite SBDEL|wstitle=Abercromby, Patrick}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abercromby, Patrick}}
[[Category:1656 births]]
[[Category:1710s deaths]]
[[Category:Scottish antiquarians]]
[[Category:17th-century Scottish medical doctors]]
[[Category:18th-century Scottish medical doctors]]
[[Category:Scottish Jacobites]]
[[Category:Abercromby family|Patrick]]
[[Category:People from Forfar]]
[[Category:Scottish nationalists]]
[[Category:Scottish Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of St Andrews]]
[[Category:University of Paris alumni]]
[[Category:Scottish translators]]
[[Category:18th-century Scottish historians]]
[[Category:Scottish military historians]]
[[Category:17th-century antiquarians]]
[[Category:18th-century antiquarians]]
[[Category: Kingdom of Scotland expatriates in France]]