St. Mary's College, St. Andrews, in 1617, and had obtained his degree of D.D. before January 1623, as at that time, in conjunction with Principal Howie, he introduced the liturgy at the college, in compliance with the orders of the king (Calderwood, Hist. of the Kirk, Wodrow Soc. vii. 569). In February 1626 he was appointed rector of Compton, diocese of Winchester, and was collated canon of Ely before Christmas 1626. On 12 Sept. 1628 the king presented him to the vicarage of Mildenhall, diocese of Norwich. He was appointed prebendary of Whitchurch in the bishopric of Bath and Wells on 26 May 1631 (Le Neve, Fasti, i. 203, 360). He became dean of the Chapel Royal, Stirling, in October 1635. On 11 Feb. 1636 he was preferred to the see of Dunblane, in succession to Adam Bellenden, promoted to the bishopric of Aberdeen. He must have retained the prebend of Whitchurch, as no successor was appointed until 1 July 1638 (Wells Cath. MSS. in Hist. MSS. Comm. 10th Rep. iii. 260). When the Glasgow assembly of 13 Dec. 1638 deposed the bishops, Wedderburn was expressly included in the excommunication, because ‘he had been a confidential agent of Laud, archbishop of Canterbury, in introducing the new liturgy and popish ceremonies.’ He fled to England, in company with other Scottish bishops, and found protection from his patron, Laud; but he did not long survive his deprivation. He died at Canterbury on 23 Sept. 1639, and was buried in the chapel of the Virgin Mary in the cathedral there. There is a portrait of the bishop, by Jamieson, at Birkhill, Fifeshire, reproduced in ‘The Wedderburn Book.’ In Scott's ‘Fasti’ he is said to have written ‘A Treatise of Reconciliation.’
[Keith's Catalogue of Bishops; Millar's Roll of Eminent Burgesses, p. 52; The Wedderburn Book (privately printed, 1898), i. 28; Millar's Compt Buik of David Wedderburn (Scottish Hist. Soc.); Lyon's Hist. of St. Andrews, ii. 418; Gardiner's Hist. of England, vii. 290, viii. 311; Scott's Fasti, ii. 840; Laud's Works; Rogers's Hist. of the Chapel Royal in Scotland, p. 190.]
WEDDERBURN, Sir JOHN (1599–1679), physician, was the fifth son of Alexander Wedderburn of Kingennie, town clerk of Dundee, and Helen, daughter of Alexander Ramsay of Brachmont in Fife, and was born at Dundee in 1599. He matriculated at St. Andrews University in 1615, graduated in 1618, and was professor of philosophy there in 1620–30. Having chosen the medical profession, he rapidly attained an eminent position. He was appointed physician to the king, was knighted, and obtained a pension of two thousand pounds Scots from Charles I, which was confirmed to him by Charles II. Following the example of his kinsman and namesake, brother of James Wedderburn (1585–1639) [q. v.], who was then a distinguished physician in Moravia, Wedderburn prosecuted his medical studies on the continent, and was with the prince (Charles II) in Holland. On 9 April 1646 he was incorporated M.D. of Oxford University, upon the recommendation of the chancellor. He acquired a large fortune, and gave so liberally to his two nephews that one, Sir Alexander [q. v.], acquired the estate of Blackness, while the other, Sir Peter [q. v.], bought Gosford in East Lothian in 1659. At Gosford Sir John lived in partial retirement from 1662 till his death in July 1679, and was probably buried in the churchyard of Aberlady. He was unmarried. By his will he bequeathed his extensive and valuable library to St. Leonard's College, St. Andrews University.
A portrait of him is at Meredith, in the possession of Sir William Wedderburn. It is reproduced in ‘The Wedderburn Book.’
[Millar's Roll of Eminent Burgesses, p. 54; Lyon's Hist. of St. Andrews, ii. 188, 418; Wood's Fasti Oxon. ii. 92. The genealogy of the Wedderburns in Douglas's Baronage is very incorrect; the most complete and authentic accounts are given in the Compt Buik of David Wedderburne (Scot. Hist. Soc.) and in The Wedderburn Book, 1898, i. 132.]
WEDDERBURN, Sir JOHN (1704–1746), bart., of Blackness, Jacobite, born on 4 Aug. 1704, eldest son of Sir Alexander Wedderburn, fourth baronet (cr. August 1704), by Katherine, daughter of John Scott, merchant, of Dundee, was taken prisoner at Culloden. Sir Alexander Wedderburn [q. v.] was his great-grandfather. His father had been deprived of the town clerkship of Dundee in 1717, and on his death in 1741 the family estates had to be sold, and the son lived in great poverty. According to Sir John's own account, he was seized by the rebels and compelled to join them by force; it was clearly proved that he had been concerned in levying excise for their use. He also joined the rebels as a soldier, was present at the battle of Falkirk, was seen on the retreat from Stirling, and in a return of rebel officers and soldiers—prisoners in Inverness, 19 April 1746—his name appears as Sir John Wedderburn of Elcho's lifeguards. He was found guilty of treason, and executed on Kennington Common on 28 Nov. 1746. His title and his estate of Blackness were forfeited. By Jean, eldest daughter of John Fullerton of that ilk, he had three surviving sons and four daughters. His eldest son, John, was father of David of Ballindean, who
