Thomas Hog (or Hog) of Newliston (1742-1827) was the son of Roger Hog and Rachel, daughter of Thomas Missing of Stubbington Park, Hampshire. He married Lady Mary Julian, daughter of James Maitland, 7th Earl of Lauderdale, in 1770 and had one son and one daughter. There is very little known of Thomas Hog. He was an advocate and had commissioned a town house in George’s Square, Edinburgh from the builder James Brown. He also lived at Addistoun House which he had altered to designs by Alexander Laing. Lady Mary died in 1795 and Hog remarried in 1798 to Mary Stewart, daughter of James Stewart. From his second marriage he had another son and three daughters. He was succeeded by his eldest son Roger, who died unmarried in 1833 and was succeeded by his half-brother from Hog’s second marriage, James Maitland Hog.

The Newliston estate was inherited by John Dalrymple, 2nd Earl of Stair, in the early eighteenth century from his mother, Elizabeth, the eight and last Dundas of Newliston in her own right. Dalrymple was Ambassador to Paris between 1715-20 and upon his return decided to layout a landscape garden, inspired by those at Versailles, to designs by William Adam. Adam also made designs for a new house which was not executed as well as designs for additions to an existing house, and new stables. The surviving stable block appears to be early eighteenth-century and could have been constructed by Adam.

The estate was bought by the London merchant Roger Hog in 1747 following the death of Dalrymple. Thomas Hogg inherited the estate from his father in 1789 and asked Robert Adam to make designs for a new house. Adam prepared a scheme comprising an attractive, classical villa utilising the landscaped garden that had been laid out previously.

Adam also designed some of the interior decoration and furniture including bedsteads and mirrors, although there are only a few surviving drawings which show designs for a ceiling in the hall and chimney pieces in the breakfast room, drawing room, and study.

There is also a wall elevation for the drawing room (SM Adam volume 27/44) which includes a detailed design for a wall panel in the centre of the room and another over a doorway. According to Swain, this drawing was identified by former curator of Sir John Soane’s Museum, Sir John Summerson, and the panel shown in the design is almost identical to a needlework panel from Newliston that was sold at Sotheby’s in 1928 (its location is no longer known). This panel was one of fourteen made for the drawing room and the execution of them has been attributed to Hog’s first wife, Lady Mary. It is not clear if Adam designed any of the other panels for the room. However, Swain suggests that the renowned portrait artist and close acquaintance of Robert Adam, Allan Ramsay, might have also been involved and these panels might have first been intended for Addistoun, although there is no definitive evidence to substantiate this.

Adam was paid £200 for his designs and to superintend the construction of the house but died before the house was complete. His brother, James, received the last instalment of £50 on 12 June 1793 and the construction of the house was passed on to Alexander Laing, an Edinburgh-based architect who had worked on Hog’s former residence, Addistoun House. There appears to have been very little variation from the surviving set of designs, other than different chimneystacks on the flank elevations and a rusticated ground floor across the entire elevation, as well as the omission of the kitchen offices on one side.

The interior appears to have survived, for the most part, intact. In 1845, a stone balustrade and two wings were added to the house along with a forecourt for James Maitland Hogg, to designs by David Bryce.

Literature:
B. Burke, A genealogical and heraldic history of the landed gentry of Great Britain and Ireland, Volume 1, 1879, p. 794; A. T. Bolton, ‘Newliston, Westlothian’, Country Life, 26 February 1916, pp. 270-277; A.T. Bolton, The Architecture of Robert and James Adam, Volume II, pp. 278-287; Index, 1922, p. 24; M. Swain, ‘A Georgian Mystery: Lady Mary Hog and the Newliston Needlework’, Country Life, 12 August 1982, pp. 470-472; D. King, The Complete Works of Robert & James Adam and Unbuilt Adam, Volume 1, 2001, pp. 141-143; Volume 2, 2001, p. 223; J. Simpson, Vitruvius Scoticus, 2011, p. 31; J. Geddes, I. Gow, (et. al.), Buildings of Scotland: Lothian, 2024, pp. 658-660

Louisa Catt, 2024