Dudley Marjoribanks, 1st Baron Tweedmouth

Who was Dudley Marjoribanks, 1st Baron Tweedmouth?

Dudley Coutts Marjoribanks, 1st Baron Tweedmouth was a Scottish businessman and a Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1853 until 1880, when he was elevated to the peerage as Baron Tweedmouth. He was also a noted dog breeder and created the golden retriever breed.

Marjoribanks was the son of Edward Marjoribanks of Greenlands who was a senior partner in Coutts Bank. He was unable to acquire the partnership in the Bank but he inherited a substantial fortune from his father and acquired considerable wealth of his own after the purchase of Meux Brewery. He built the mansion of Brook House in London's fashionable Park Lane and purchased the highland deer forest of Guisachan in Inverness-shire, and the substantial estates of Hutton and Eddington near his family roots in Berwickshire. Marjoribanks had large kennels at Guisachan and was largely responsible for developing the then new breed of dog, known now as the golden retriever.

In 1853 Marjoribanks became the Liberal Member of Parliament for Berwick-upon-Tweed and, although he was never a political high-flyer, he was a useful member. In 1880 he was elevated to the peerage as the first Baron Tweedmouth