GRAHAM, afterwards CUNNINGHAME-GRAHAM, ROBERT (d. 1797?), song-writer, only surviving son of Nicol or Nicolas Graham (d. 16 Nov. 1775) of Gartmore, on the borders of Perthshire and Stirlingshire, and Lady Margaret Cunninghame, daughter of William, twelfth earl of Glencairn, was educated at Glasgow University. In early life he was a planter in Jamaica, and for some time held the office of receiver-general in that island. He was chosen rector of Glasgow University in 1785, in opposition to Burke. He represented Stirlingshire in parliament from 1794 to 1796. He was the mover of a rejected Bill of Rights, which to some extent foreshadowed the Reform Bill of 1832. He was an earnest advocate of the principles of the French revolution. He wrote various lyrical pieces, the best known of which, 'If doughty deeds my lady please,' is deservedly famous. In 1796 (see Foster, Members of Parliament, Scotland), owing to the death of John Cunninghame, fifteenth and last earl of Glencairn, he succeeded to the Finlaystoun estates, and assumed the additional surname of Cunninghame. He married, first, Anne, daughter of Patrick Taylor of Jamaica, sister of Sir John Taylor, bart.; secondly, Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Buchanan of Spital. He left two sons, William, his heir, and Nicol, maréchal-de-camp in the Austrian service, and two daughters.
[Private information; Scott's Border Minstrelsy; Palgrave's Golden Treasury of English Songs and Lyrics, p. 126.]
GRAHAM, Sir ROBERT (1744–1836), judge, born at Hackney on 14 Oct. 1744, was son and heir of James Graham, a schoolmaster of Dalston in Middlesex, a descendant of George Graham of Calendar, second son of William, lord Graham. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was third wrangler, besides being high in classics, was elected a fellow and graduated B.A. in 1766, M.A. in 1769, and was made an LL.D. in 1835. In 1766 he entered at the Inner Temple, where he was called to the bar. In February 1793 he was appointed attorney-general to the Prince of Wales, and was made a king's counsel in the following April. In November 1799 he was appointed a baron of the exchequer, and knighted 19 June 1800. In February 1827 he retired, but in the following reign he was sworn of the privy council. On 28 Sept. 1836 he died at his sister's house at Long Ditton in Surrey, and was buried on 7 Oct. at Kingston. He was an urbane but inefficient judge; on his appointment Sir Edward Law (afterwards Lord Ellenborough) said of him 'that he placed Mr. Justice Rooke on a pinnacle.'
[Foss's Lives of the Judges; Gent. Mag. 1836; Bruce's Handbook to Newcastle.]
GRAHAM, ROBERT (1786–1845), M.D. and botanist, third son of Dr. Robert Graham, afterwards Moir of Leckie, was born at Stirling on 3 Dec. 1786. After studying medicine at Edinburgh and Glasgow Universities, he practised for some years in Glasgow. In 1818, on the creation of a separate chair for botany in Glasgow, Graham was appointed the first professor. In 1820 he obtained the regius professorship of botany in Edinburgh University, and also became physician to the infirmary. He was a strong believer in drugs, and gave enormous doses of calomel and opium (Life of Sir R. Christison, ii. 133, 134). Besides his inaugural dissertation for M.D. he wrote only one medical treatise, viz. 'Practical Observations on Continued Fever,' pp. 84, Glasgow, 1818. As a botanical lecturer he attained fair success, and under his care the Edinburgh Botanical Garden flourished. He published a number of botanical papers, chiefly describing new species, in the 'Edinburgh New Philosophical Magazine,' Curtis's 'Botanical Magazine,' and Hooker's 'Companion.' He also spent much time in preparing a 'Flora of Great Britain,' which he did not complete. He died at Coldoch in Perthshire on 7 Aug. 1845, after a long illness.
[Ransford's Biographical Sketch, 1846; Biog. Dict. of Eminent Scotsmen, ed. Thomson, 1869; Duns's Life of Sir James Simpson, pp. 108–10.]
GRAHAM, SIMION (1570?–1614), poet. [See Grahame.]
GRAHAM, THOMAS, Lord Lynedoch (1748–1843), of Balgowan, Perthshire, general, was third son and only surviving child of Thomas Græme, laird of Balgowan, who died in 1766, by his wife, the Lady Christian Hope, sixth daughter of Charles, first earl of Hopetoun. He was born on 19 Oct. 1748, where is uncertain, but there is a tradition that it was not at Balgowan. Like other young Scotchmen of station, he was brought up at home under private tutors, one of whom was James Macpherson, the translator of Ossian, and in November 1766 entered Christ Church College, Oxford, as a gentleman-commoner, but left at midsummer 1768 without taking a degree (Delavoye, Life of Lynedoch). After travelling for some time on the
