Sir Thomas Dick Lauder of Fountainhall, 7th Baronet, FRSE FSA(Scot) LLD (13 August 178429 May 1848) was a Scottish author. He served as Secretary to the Board of Manufactures (1839–), on the Herring Fisheries Board, at the Royal Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts, and as Deputy Lieutenant of both counties of Moray and Haddington. He was the only son of Sir Andrew Dick-Lauder, 6th Baronet, whom he succeeded in 1820. Early life Lauder was born in Edinburgh on13 August 1784, the son of Elizabeth (née Brown) and Sir Andrew Lauder, 6th Baronet of Fountainhall. He was baptised 8 days later at Pencaitland, near the family's East Lothian seat, Fountainhall. In early life he entered the army – 79th (The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders) Regiment of Foot, and although possessing Fountainhall he afterwards took up his residence at his wife's home, 'Relugas' in Morayshire, where he remained till 1832 (selling it in 1836), when he removed to the Grange House, in the Grange, Edinburgh until his death. In 1839 Sir Thomas was appointed Secretary to the Board of Manufactures and Fisheries in Scotland, and also, immediately afterwards, Secretary to the Board of British White Herring Fishery.The duties of these Secretaryships he continued sedulously to discharge till interrupted by his last illness. He was for some time Secretary to the Royal Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts, an office which he relinquished about two years before his death. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, where he presented his paper on Parallel Roads of Glen Roy on 2 March 1818. Family On 8 February 1808 he married, on the banks of the Findhorn at Edinkillie, Morayshire, Charlotte Anne (1785–1864), the only child and heiress of George Cumin of Relugas. They had eight daughters and two sons. Politics With his close friend Henry Thomas Cockburn, Lord Cockburn, Sir Thomas was an active Liberal, and took a keen interest in politics. In 1832 he presided over a huge meeting of some 30,000 people rallying in favour of the Reform Bill at St. Anne's Yards, the field immediately to the east of Holyroodhouse – said to be the largest ever political rally ever held in Scotland. Works Sir Thomas and his family were close friends of Sir Walter Scott. His first contribution to Blackwood's Magazine in 1817, entitled Simon Roy, Gardener at Dunphail, was ascribed by some