Robert Drummond (1728-1804) was the third surviving son of Margaret and William Drummond, 4th Viscount Strathallan. His father was a prominent Jacobite and was killed in the Battle of Culloden in 1746. From 1744, Drummond and his younger brother, Henry, were sent to London to live with their uncle, the prominent banker, Andrew Drummond. Andrew died in 1769 and Robert took over the business with the help of his cousin John, and from 1772 his brother Henry, making it one the most important banks in London.

The Adam office had an account with the Drummond bank from 1764 and a number of their ledgers are held within the NatWest Group archive in Edinburgh. Other noteworthy clients of this period included Sir William Chambers, Capability Brown and the plasterer Joseph Rose.

In 1753, Robert married Winifred Mary Thomson, daughter of William and Mary Thomson of Ipsden, Oxfordshire and they had at least eleven children. Two of his sons Andrew Berkeley Drummond and Charles Drummond became partners in the bank in 1787 and 1795 respectively. He died in 1804.

Drawing on Adam’s existing relationship with Messrs Drummond, the Adam office made designs for new premises in Charing Cross for Messrs Drummond in 1777-79 and two London townhouses for Robert Drummond’s brother, Henry, in 1765-81.

There are eleven Adam office drawings in the collection dating from c.1773 comprising two different designs for a house for ‘Mr Drummond’ which have both been associated with Robert Drummond. Bolton suggests that these designs might relate to a Drummond premises on New Street, Spring Gardens which was destroyed by fire in the same year. However, both Rowan and King argue that these designs are almost definitely for Drummond’s coastal manor in Hampshire, called Cadland, which he had purchased in 1772.

Adam made two different designs: one was on a modest scale likened by Rowan to a ‘marine villa’, and the alternative was a more typical Palladian villa with flanking pavilions and a variety of apsed, oval and circular rooms including a rear dining room, and stairs. Rowan suggests that SM Adam volume 10/168 and 180 might be related to this scheme, however, these designs do not appear to show any similarity with either of the designs and have not been included.

The Adam office designs were not executed, and an attractive classical villa was built to the designs of Henry Holland and Capability Brown instead, along with a fishing cottage.

See also: Drummonds Bank, Charing Cross, London and Great George Street, number 10, London.

Literature:
A.T. Bolton, The Architecture of Robert and James Adam, Volume II, Index, 1922, p. 53; A. Rowan, Designs for Castles and Country Villas by Robert & James Adam, 1985, pp. 46-47; C. Aslet, ‘Manor of Cadland, Hampshire: Home of Mr and Mrs Maldwin Drummond’, Country Life, Vol. 181, 1 October 1987, pp. 140-145; D. King, The Complete Works of Robert & James Adam and Unbuilt Adam, Volume 2, 2001, p. 123; NatWest Group Heritage Hub, Robert Drummond, online [accessed 17 May 2024]

Louisa Catt, 2024