George Dempster was born in 1732 in
Dundee, the son of John Dempster 2nd Laird of Dunnichen (near Forfar), a Dundee merchant, and Isabel Ogilvie. George's date of birth is unclear, and has alternatively been given as 8 February or 8 December. He was educated at
Dundee Grammar School (c1739–c1748) and possibly also at the small parish school at
Leuchars,
Fife. On 24 February 1748 he entered the
University of St Andrews and studied there until about 1750, when he left without taking a degree and moved on to study law at the
University of Edinburgh. He also studied at the
Académie Royale in
Brussels. Dempster was admitted to the
Faculty of Advocates in 1755; and about the same time became a member of the
Select Society, later becoming a director of this pre-eminent literary and intellectual society of the
Scottish Enlightenment. In 1762 he joined the
Poker Club of Edinburgh, and may have been a co-founder of this influential body, He,
Andrew Erskine, and
James Boswell were joint authors and a "triumvirate of wit", although he later regretted at least one of their attacks, the
Critical Strictures on the New Tragedy of Elvira, as he believed the tragedy was better than anything he or his co-authors could have done. He served as Member of Parliament for the
Perth Burghs (1761-8 and 1769–90). Dempster was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1788, upon the proposal of Dr Thomas Anderson,
Henry Duncan and
John Playfair. He died at
Dunnichen,
Angus, on 13 February 1818, and was interred at
Restenneth Priory,
Forfar. == References ==