Louise is a social historian and university teacher, with 25 years’ experience of academic leadership, project management and public engagement. She is currently Professor of Modern Social History at the University of Edinburgh, which she joined in 2005.

Louise is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Registered Practitioner of the Higher Education Academy. She is a member of the Steering Committee of Women’s History Scotland, co-editor of the academic journal Social History, and author/co-author of five academic books on modern British and Scottish social history topics. In 2018 she was a winner of the Royal Historical Society’s Public History Prize for Public Policy and Debate. She lives within walking distance of Paxton House and is an enthusiastic supporter of the arts, cultural heritage, and the social and educational mission of the Paxton Trust.

Educated at Ampleforth College and West of Scotland Agricultural College, John farmed at Paxton between 1970 and 1978. He was elected to Berwickshire District Council in 1974 and served first as Labour MP for Berwickshire & East Lothian and then from 1983 to 2001 for East Lothian. During this time John Home Robertson served on the Select Committees on Scotland and Defence; was the Opposition spokesman on Scotland and Agriculture; Parliamentary Private Secretary to Jack Cunningham at the Ministry of Agriculture then the Cabinet Office. Between 1999 and 2007, he served as MSP for East Lothian. During this time John Home Robertson was: Deputy Minister for Rural Affairs, then Convener of the Holyrood [Parliament Building] Progress Group). He was a member of the Press Complaints Commission 2008-11.

John married his wife, Catherine in 1977. He undertakes regular voluntary work with Edinburgh Direct Aid in Bosnia, Kosovo, Palestine, Pakistan, Kenya, Lebanon, Poland and the Ukraine.

Paxton House:

John Home Robertson inherited Paxton House from his mother in 1987, then established the Paxton Trust in 1988. He has been a Paxton trustee since that date, taking the role of managing trustee from 2010-11.

Since retirement, has been continuing voluntary work for Edinburgh Direct Aid and for the Paxton Trust (including the waterwheel restoration project). Also running local house conversion and construction projects and volunteering on archaeology sites around the Borders and an active trustee for the Friends of the Union Chain Bridge.

Tony was studied chemistry at the University of Oxford and went on to gain his D Phil in neutron scattering by metal-hydrogen systems. He was an investment banker for many years in London and Houston, Texas and has an extensive publication record as a financial analyst. He then served as an independent turnaround director/chairman for a wide variety of underperforming and failing businesses all over the world designing and implementing strategies to recover value for banks and shareholders. He was a founder member of The Institute for Turnaround and was elected a Founding Fellow of the Institute.  In 2015 he was elected to an Honorary Fellowship of St. Catherine’s College, (52 years after he first came to Oxford as an undergraduate) in recognition of his services to College over many years.  He also served on the board of The Northern Rock Foundation for ten years and chaired the Foundation’s finance, risk and audit committee.

He is currently Chair of The Northstar Foundation, a Newcastle-based charitable organisation which he founded in 2014. He is a Freeman of The Stationers’ Company and a member of The Reform Club. Tony is committed to the Music at Paxton annual 10-day music festival which has been running for over 10 years.

Allan holds a first class architecture degree from Edinburgh University and was a partner in architecture firm Robbie + Wellwood between 1979-1975; Bain Swan Architects 1975-2019. Both practices work mainly in Berwickshire and north Northumberland including regeneration projects in Eyemouth and Berwick-upon-Tweed; restoration and conversion of historic buildings Gunsgreen House, Eyemouth, and Dewars Lane Granary, Berwick-upon-Tweed. Projects at Paxton House include rebuilding of Estate Boathouse 1974 and re-erection in 2020 of The Edinburgh Window in The Appleyard.

Allan has also been a Trustee of Gunsgreen House since 2013.

Adrian is a company/commercial and charity lawyer, having worked for the same Edinburgh law firm since 1989.  He is an experienced charity trustee and has been on the board of a number of charities primarily in the fields of the arts, heritage and education.  He is currently chairman of the governors of Longridge Towers School and a trustee of a number of other charities including The RSA Foundation, Horse Time SCIO and The Women’s Fund for Scotland.  As a trustee, and latterly chairman, of Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, he oversaw the completion of two significant capital projects in central Edinburgh.  He lives on the south side of the Tweed within walking distance of Paxton.

Richard is a retired investment manager, having been a partner in Baillie Gifford & Co from 1977 to 2006. At University he studied History and then Law and has lived in Edinburgh since 1969. In retirement, he has been a Director of several investment trust companies and served on the Court of the University of Dundee and as a Trustee of a number of charities, including the National Galleries of Scotland, the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland and the Paxton Trust.

Christopher is an art historian and curator and was a Director at the National Galleries of Scotland for ten years; he has also worked at Christ Church, Oxford, and the National Gallery in London. He is the 2022-23 Paul Mellon Rome Fellow and has been a Visiting Fellow at Yale University.

Christopher has published and lectured widely on eighteenth and nineteenth-century British and European art and the history of collecting, and organised numerous exhibitions in the UK and internationally. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art, the Spoliation Advisory Panel and the Recognition Committee (Museums Galleries Scotland), as well as being a Trustee of the Compton Verney Collection Settlement.

Will was educated at Eton College and Newcastle University. He served in The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards for eight years.  Will is the Founder and CEO of Ramsay Fairs, which runs 19 events a year attracting 250,000 visitors globally, namely the Affordable Art Fair, VOLTA and British Art Fair. Alongside this he runs Bughtrig Farms. He is Chair of Admiral Ramsay Museum, Chair of Berwickshire Races, on the Committee of Berwickshire Civic Society and on the Board of Scotland in Union.  He is married to Natasha; they have four daughters.  Will plays the bagpipes and is a recently retired amateur jockey.

Paxton House

Will’s great-great-great-grandfather was William Foreman Home, owner of Paxton House from 1820 to 1852.  Will was raised in Berwickshire at Bughtrig House near Leitholm, where he now lives; it had been bought by his grandparents, Admiral Sir Bertram Home Ramsay and his wife Margaret (nee Menzies of Kames, Duns, Berwickshire) who met while he was visiting his Home relations at Paxton (He was descended from Georgina Hay Home).  Will and his wife Natasha have opened an Admiral Ramsay Museum at Bughtrig.

Eric has been a soldier, businessman, charity leader, international sportsman and author.

He served in in the Army for 15 years; his final military job was spent on secondment to the Cabinet Office. He started a small picture framing business in 1978, which grew into a multi-layered arts operation which owned galleries and managed art projects for offices, banks and hotels in Europe, North America and South Arabia. They restored pictures and frames, and sold the raw materials (timber, paper products, paints, glass and mirror, and tools) to competitors.

He entered the Voluntary Sector in 1987. He has worked for some 400 charities and has been the Director of National Appeals for Marie Curie Cancer Care, the Director of Fundraising, and the Director of International Development for Sue Ryder Care. He has also served as interim CEO of two charities and has been a trustee of three others. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising.

We are thrilled to welcome Rachael Rowley to our Board of Trustees.

Rachael joins the Trust at a pivotal and exciting time. She brings with her a wealth of experience in transformational change and operational resilience, along with boundless enthusiasm and positivity, which will support the Trust as we move forward with our new developments.