The Family Starts to
Disperse
The exodus may have begun earlier, but the first records of
the migration of Arbuthnots occur in the sixteenth century. In early times it was only
safe to live under the protection of a powerful family. Those who first settled in distant
rural areas usually did so through marriage to such a family, for example the Keiths or
the Forbes.
Young men were sent to Aberdeen, Edinburgh and even France
for their education. They set themselves up in business or the professions through the
friendships and connections they made. Some may have gone as craftsmen. The successful
became burgesses, some bought land and, as the generations went by, they moved further
afield.
One branch of Arbuthnots from the Peterhead area of
Aberdeenshire was to become particularly distinguished. Its members were to found, or to
bring to great prosperity, at least three banking houses. Also two of them were to be
created baronets. One, Sir William Arbuthnot, Bart., Lord Provost of Edinburgh, was so
honoured by George IV at a banquet in 1822, and the other, Sir John
Arbuthnot, Bart., was among the last baronets to be created in 1964. Perhaps the most
renowned of them all, however, was Dr John Arbuthnot, physician to Queen Anne, friend of
Pope and Swift, and creator of the character 'John Bull'. It is worth dwelling in some
detail on the close relatives of this famous man.
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