His grandfather, Sir David, had had the title of the Wedderburn baronetcy restored to the family, following the attainder after the Jacobite rising of 1745 and the subsequent regain of fortune via the slave sugar plantations of Jamaica.

He succeeded to the title upon his father's death in 1862, his elder brother John having died in the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

[2] He travelled widely, returning to India as an adult, and visiting the United States, Canada, China, Japan, Java, Iceland, South Africa, and throughout Europe.

His travel journals and his political writings were edited and published after his death by his youngest sister, Louisa Jane, assisted by her husband Edward Hope Percival.

On his death in 1882, the title went to his youngest brother, William Wedderburn, one of the founders of the Indian National Congress.