Robert Cunninghame Graham of Gartmore

[1] He is now remembered for a poem If doughty deeds my lady please,[2] which was later set to music by Sir Arthur Sullivan and also by his great-great-grandson, Rev.

In 1752, Graham left Britain for the Colony of Jamaica and spent the next 17 years there, becoming a planter, slave-owner, and merchant who profited from his involvement in sugar plantations in the Caribbean.

[6] He left Jamaica for Britain in 1770 take up his lairdship of Ardoch in Dunbartonshire, having succeeded to the estate (entailed upon him in 1757), on the death of his first cousin once removed, William Bontine, earlier that year.

At his death, his estates stretched from Perthshire (Gartmore & Kippen), through Dunbartonshire (Gallingad & Ardoch) and across the Clyde to Renfrewshire (Finlaystone); in addition he held the lands of Lochwood in Lanarkshire and his Jamaican plantation at Roaring River.

[14] Graham was appointed Rector of the University of Glasgow, holding the position from 1785 to 1787, in which year he instituted the Gartmore Gold Medal (awarded biennially) for the best discourse by a student on political liberty.

[17] His great-great-great-grandson, Admiral Sir Angus Edward Malise Bontine Cunninghame Graham of Gartmore and Ardoch KBE CB was Royal Navy Flag Officer, Scotland.