William Fullarton

Col William Fullarton of Fullarton FRSE FRS (1754–1808) was a Scottish soldier, statesman, agriculturalist and author.

He was born on 12 January 1754 the only son of William Fullarton of Fullarton, a wealthy Ayrshire gentleman. After spending some time at Edinburgh University he was sent to travel on the continent with Patrick Brydone, at one time the travelling tutor of William Beckford, and visited Sicily and Malta. Fullarton was at first intended for the diplomatic service, and was attached as secretary to Lord Stormont's embassy in Paris; but on his accession to the family estates he went to England and secured his election to parliament for the borough of Plympton Erle in 1779.

In the following year he did not seek re-election, for he had combined a plan of operations which the government accepted. This plan was that he and his intimate friend, Thomas Humberston Mackenzie, should each raise and equip a regiment on their Scottish estates at their own expense, which should be transported in government ships towards the coast of Mexico, in order to wait for and capture the Acapulco fleet. The regiments were accordingly raised, and Fullarton was gazetted lieutenant-colonel-commandant of the 98th regiment on 29 May 1780.

The outbreak of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War changed the destination of these regiments, which were then ordered to form part of the expedition against the Cape of Good Hope under the command of Commodore George Johnstone and General William Medows. This plan also came to nothing, owing to the arrival of the French admiral, the Bailli de Suffren, at the Cape before the British expedition.

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