Biography

Alexander Burnett. (1735-1802) (aka. 4th Laird of Kemnay)

Son of George Burnett (1714-1780) and Helen Burnett (d. 1750). Married (1782) to Christian Leslie (d. 1842), with whom he had at least 6 children.

Burnett was secretary to Sir Andrew Mitchell in Berlin from the early 1760s. Upon Mitchell's death in 1770, Burnett became British Chargé d’Affaires in Berlin, a post which he held until 1772, when he returned back to Scotland.

Life with James Boswell:

Boswell played billards with Burnett, whom he'd met through Andrew Mitchell, in Berlin on July 15, 1764. Boswell described him as "a very good, solid, clever young fellow". They met on a number of other occassions during Boswell's stay in that city. On August 28 Boswell described him as "a solid, clear-headed fellow, much better than myself".

This article was last updated at March 31 2008 22:26:14 CET

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