Home, Patrick (1728 -1812)

Patrick Home, was the son of Ninian Home, parish minister of Sprouston, Roxburghshire, and his second wife, Margaret, daughter of George Home of Wedderburn. Ninian Home became the owner of Billie and Wedderburn by buying up the debts of their impoverished owners. In 1733 he entailed the property, settling the Wedderburn estates on his father-in-law’s sons. When all the heirs had failed, the property was to descend to his own family by Margaret Home. In 1766 Patick Home inherited the Wedderburn estates on the death of the last of the Wedderburn line.
Between 1758 and 1766 Patrick Home had Paxton House built, it is said, in an unsuccessful attempt to woo a Prussian heiress. He eventually lost interest in Paxton House and it remained undecorated and possibly internally unfinished, and in 1773 he sold it to his cousin, Ninian Home. He then turned his attention to building Wedderburn Castle, designed and constructed 1771-1775 by the famous architect brothers Robert Adam and James Adam. In 1780, he returned from his eight year long Grand Tour with an extensive collection of British and European paintings.