Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, 7th Baronet of Fountainhall and 5th of Grange, was a landowner, soldier, politician and author. In 1808 he married Charlotte Cumin, the heiress of Relugas, a large estate in Morayshire, and initially they lived there. In 1827 Sir Thomas decided to modernise Grange House and engaged W.H. Playfair to work on the project. The family moved into the renovated house in 1832.
It was Sir Thomas who decided to make the Grange available for development, obtaining permission from Parliament in 1825 to do this. However, an economic slump put the plans on hold, leaving it to his son and grandson to complete the project. A feuing plan was drawn up in 1851, by which time about 20 houses had already been built, and Grange Cemetery was already in use.
Sir Thomas Dick Lauder was born in Edinburgh on 13 August 1784, succeeding his father to the barony in 1820. He and Charlotte (also known as Dame Charles Anne Cumin of Relugas) had two sons and eight daughters. He died in Grange House on 28 May 1848.
The family monument of five panels commemorates five generations of the Dick Lauder family. With Sir Thomas are buried his wife Charles Anne Cumin (1785-1864) and five of his children: Sir John, 8th Baronet (1813-1867), Susan (1815-1872), Cornelia (1816-1900), George (1820-1850) and Isabella (1821-1846).
Sir John Dick Lauder married Anne Dalrymple (1820-1919), and four of their seven children are
remembered on the memorial: Sir Thomas North Dick Lauder, 9th Baronet (1846-1919), John Edward Arthur (1848-1913), Sir George William Dalrymple Dick Lauder, 10th Baronet (1852-1936) and Stair Dick Lauder (1853-1945). John Edward Arthur’s wife, Rose Caldecott (1853-1932), and Sir George William’s wife, Jane Emily Clifford Woodward (1859-1921), are also mentioned.
Sir George William had one son, Sir John North Dalrymple Dick Lauder, 11th Baronet, and his two sons are also commemorated: David John Dick Lauder (1915-1943) and Sir George Andrew Dick Lauder, 12th baronet (1917-1981)
Sources:
- “Historic South Edinburgh”, Volume 3, Charles J Smith, 1986, ISBN 0 85976 540 7
- “The Grange of St Giles”, J.S. Smith, Thomson Brothers, Edinburgh, 1898