BURNET, Thomas 2nd of Kemnay, Political Philosopher 1
- Baptised: 8 March 1657, Edinburgh parish, Edinburgh, Scotland 1
- Marriage (1): BRICKENDEN, Elizabeth in 1713
- Died: 26 February 1729 2
General Notes:
"Within a year after his purchase of Kemnay, Thomas Burnett (father of this Thomas) died, leaving a son and successor of the same name, who became a man of considerable mark. He is known in the literary and political history of the period as a voluminous correspondent with many of the notable people of his day. From 1695 onwards he was a conspicuous member of the brilliant Court circle at Hanover, of which the Electress Sophia was the centre, and on a footing of confidential intimacy with that distinguished lady. His unpublished letters to the Electress, in the archives of Hanover, are described by Mr. J. M. Kemble as numerous enough to fill a large volume, and full of curious information on the most varied topics politics, theology, philosophy, poetry, and small talk. His correspondence with Leibnitz, Locke, and Miss Trotter (afterwards Mrs. Cockburn), is of a more solid and serious description, and exhibits Thomas Burnett as a inan of original thought, very high principle, and a vast amount of experience gained by reading, foreign travel, and intercourse with men of eminence at home and abroad. When the death of the Duke of Gloucester opened the possible prospect of succession to the English throne to the Electress, Mr. Burnet returned home charged with secret instructions to convey her sentiments to some of the leading politicians in England. Thence he went to Paris,a few months before the war of the Spanish Succession had broken out. Louis XIV.'s recognition, on James II.'s death, of the title of his son had just then caused a great ferment in England, and was the immediate cause of Queen Anne's declaration of war with France in May, 1702. At the instance of some of the adherents of the Court of St. Germains, to whom he had been obnoxious from his intimacy with the Electress,
Mr. Burnett was suddenly arrested on some frivolous pretext, and hurried off to the Bastile, where he remained unheard of for about a year and a half. Accident at length made his situation known to the Electress, and by means of the powerful influence which she was able to exert through her niece, the Duchess of Oilcans, he was restored to liberty towards the close of 1703."
from Inverurie and the Earldom of the Garioch 3
Thomas married Elizabeth BRICKENDEN in 1713. (Elizabeth BRICKENDEN was born about 1688.)
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