| Administrative History | Patrick Dun was baptised on 23 July 1581 in the St Nicholas Kirk in Aberdeen. His father was Andrew Dun, burgess of Aberdeen.
Little is known about his early education but it is likely that he studied at a local school before attending King's College or Marischal College. By 1603, he was studying at the German university of Helmstadt where he studied under fellow Aberdonian, Duncan Liddel (1561 - 1613). In 1607 he visited the university of Heidelberg and the huguenot academy at Nimes before graduating M.D. from Basel.
3 years later, he was back in Aberdeen, running a medical practice and teaching logic at Marischal College. In 1619, he was appointed to the re-established post of mediciner at King's College in Aberdeen although he demitted this post in 1632 and was appointed dean of medicine in 1634. In 1621, he was made the first lay Principal of Marischal college, a post which he held until 1649.
He is renowned as a great benefactor to educational causes in the city. In 1631, he endowed the town council with the lands of Ferryhill for the benefit of the Grammar School. He stipulated that the profit from the lands should support four school teachers after his death. He also contributed the largest individual sum of money, 2000 merks, for the restoration of Marischal College following a fire in 1639.
He was the author of 'Themata medica de dolore colico' (1607) and editor of Duncan Liddell’s 'Ars Conservandi Sanitem' which was published in Aberdeen in 1651.
He died in 1652. |