The Gentleman Usher: The Life and Times of George Dempster (1732 - 1818): Member of Parliament and Laird of Dunnichen and Skibo

by John Evans

George Dempster was a giant of a man who became one of the best-known and most deservedly popular Scotsmen of his day.

He served for thirty years as an MP in Westminster and was closely involved with the expansion of British influence and trade across the world particularly in India and North America. This was the age of Empire building and great rivalry between competing powers, particularly France, which led to protracted warfare.

A trained lawyer, Dempster was at the heart of political and business life and his circle of friends was large and powerful. Yet power did not corrupt him and he was respected by allies and opponents, being known as 'Honest George'. Master of the famous Skibo Estate in Sutherland, Dempster's energy was legendary and he used his talents as an entrepreneur and developer, bringing prosperity and jobs to disadvantaged regions.

Dempster was more than an observer of history; he made it.

244 pages, Hardcover

First published November 30, 2004

About the author

Born in Beckenham in 1931, John Evans was educated at Dulwich College and Bristol University. In addition to a degree in Economics and Business Administration, he gained a post-graduate diploma in Social Studies. Towards the end of a twenty-year career in senior management with BICC/Balfour Beatty, he was seconded to the National Economic Development Office working on the development of Prime Minister Harold Wilson's 'Industrial Strategy'. Since taking early retirement in 1992, he and his wife have lived in the Scottish Highlands where he has been increasingly immobile, without losing his enthusiasm for social history.