Sir David Baxter, 1st Baronet

From the time that David Baxter joined the firm he was practically its head, and on the death of his two brothers and his father within a few years afterwards he and the former manager of the works Peter Carmichael remained the sole partners.

Through the mechanical skill of his partner Peter Carmichael in perfecting the machinery, and the business capacity and tact of David Baxter, the firm speedily became one of the largest manufacturing houses in the world; and to its remarkable success may be in a large degree ascribed the position which Dundee attained as the chief seat of the linen manufacture in Britain in the nineteenth century.

His enlightened regard for the welfare of his native town was, however, manifested chiefly in noble and generous benefactions which have given his name one of the highest places of honour in its annals.

The most notable of these was perhaps his presentation, along with his sisters, of thirty-seven acres of land to Dundee as a pleasure garden and recreation ground, which, under the name of the Baxter Park, was opened by Earl Russell in September 1863.

[6] The foundation of the Albert Institute of Literature, Science, and Art (now the McManus Galleries) was due also chiefly to his liberality and that of his relatives; and in connection with Dundee Royal Infirmary he erected a convalescent home at Broughty Ferry at a cost of £30,000.

Towards the purchase of buildings and general equipment of this college one of his sisters Mary Ann Baxter who died unmarried on 19 December 1884, contributed £150,000.