Hugo Arnot

Who was Hugo Arnot?

Hugo Arnot of Balcormo, was a Scottish advocate, writer and campaigner.

Arnot was the son of a merchant at Leith, where he was born 8 December 1749. He changed his name from Pollock to Arnot on succeeding to his mother's property of Balcormo, by Arncroach, Fife. He became an advocate 5 December 1772. In 1779 he published his 'History of Edinburgh', and in 1785 a Collection of Celebrated Criminal Trials in Scotland. Both works were pirated in Ireland.

Arnot published the second at his own expense in defiance of the Edinburgh booksellers, and the gross proceeds were 600 pounds. He became prematurely old from asthma, and his irritability, caustic language, and a reluctance to accept cases where the potential customer in his opinion was in the wrong, hindered his success as an advocate. Many anecdotes are told of his eccentricity. He wrote many papers on local politics, opposing local taxation and road tolls mainly hitting the poorer part of the population as means for funding road projects. He is said to have held up for ten years the erection of the city's South Bridge.

Arnot died 20 November 1786, and left eight children. He is buried in South Leith Parish Churchyard.