Herd-boy, court physician, MP, spy: the life of Dr John Hutton of Dumfries.

Dr John Hutton, a graduate of the Universities of Edinburgh and Padua, became the first Treasurer of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (1681-82), and Court Physician to King William III and Queen Mary (1688-1702). Later he was involved as a secret agent at the Court of Hanover, and was also MP for Dumfries Burghs (1710-12). He died in London, in November 1712, bequesting to the Presbytery of Dumfries a library of 1,500 volumes, including many medical books, much of which survives in New College Library, Edinburgh. An educational trust, established by Hutton for his native parish of Caerlaverock, continued till 1935.