Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 55.djvu/274

 engraved in mezzotint by T. Hodgetts, as were also those of John Broster and Andrew McKean. Syme's portrait, by himself, is in the possession of the Royal Scottish Academy.



SYME, PATRICK (1774–1845), flower-painter, was born in Edinburgh on 17 Sept. 1774, and there educated. He occasionally practised portraiture, but is best known as a flower-painter, and in the early Scottish exhibitions, which began in 1808, his flower-pieces were much admired. In 1803 he took up his brother's practice as a drawing-master, and subsequently his time was largely devoted to teaching. In 1810 Syme published ‘Practical Directions for Learning Flower Drawing,’ and in 1814 a translation of Werner's ‘Nomenclature of Colours.’ He was one of the associated artist members of the Royal Institution, but took a leading part in the foundation of the Scottish Academy, occupying the chair at the first meeting in May 1826, and was one of the council of four then appointed to manage its affairs. Towards the close of his life he was art master at Dollar academy. Syme was a student of botany and entomology, and made many excellent drawings of natural history. In 1823 he issued a ‘Treatise on British Song Birds.’ He married a daughter of Lord Balmuto, the Scots judge, and died at Dollar, Clackmannanshire, in July 1845.



SYMEON,. [See .]

SYMES, MICHAEL (1753?–1809), soldier and diplomatist, born about 1753, entered the army about 1787, and went to India in the following year with the newly raised 76th (now 2nd battalion West Riding) regiment. He served as aide-de-camp to Major-general T. Musgrave at Madras in 1791, became captain in 1793, and lieutenant-colonel in 1800. In 1795 he was sent by the governor-general (Sir John Shore) on a mission to Burma (Calcutta Gazette, 21 Jan. 1796), and obtained from ‘the Emperor of Ava’ a royal order permitting a British agent to reside at Rangoon to protect the interests of British subjects. In 1802, his regiment being then at Cawnpore, he was sent by Marquis Wellesley on a second mission to Ava to protest against the demand made by the Burmese governor of Arakan for the surrender of fugitives who had sought refuge in the British district of Chittagong. Proceeding to the capital, he obtained a verbal assurance that the demand should be withdrawn. On the journey back to Calcutta, where he arrived in February 1803, he was treated with scant civility by the Burmese governor of Rangoon (East India Military Calendar). His regiment returned to England in 1806, and was sent in 1808 to Spain. Symes behaved with great gallantry during Sir John Moore's retreat to Coruña, but suffered from the hardships of the campaign, and died on the way home, on board the transport Mary, on 22 Jan. 1809. His body was taken from Portsmouth to Rochester, and buried in St. Margaret's Church on 3 Feb. 1809.

When on leave in England Colonel Symes married, on 18 Feb. 1801, Jemima, daughter of Paul Pilcher of Rochester. Symes's widow married Sir Joseph de Courcy Laffan [q. v.], and died on 18 Aug. 1835, aged 64.

Symes wrote: ‘An Account of an Embassy to the Kingdom of Ava sent by the Governal-General of India in 1795,’ London, 1800.



SYMINGTON, ANDREW (1785–1853), Scottish divine, eldest son of a Paisley merchant, was born in that town on 26 June 1785. After attending the Paisley grammar school for four years he entered Glasgow University, where he carried off the first honours in mathematics, natural philosophy, and divinity, and graduated M.A. in 1803. Being destined for the ministry of the reformed presbyterian church, of which his father was a member, he studied theology under the Rev. John Macmillan. On being licensed to preach he accepted a call from his native town, and was ordained in 1809. In 1820 he was appointed professor of theology in the reformed presbyterian church, as successor to John Macmillan, his old instructor. In 1831 he received the degree of D.D. from the Western University of Pennsylvania, and in 1840 he obtained the same degree from the university of Glasgow. He died at Paisley on 22 Sept. 1853. By his wife, Jane Stevenson, of Crookedholm, Riccarton, Ayrshire, whom he married in 1811, he had fourteen children, of whom three sons and three daughters survived him.

Besides numerous tracts and sermons, Symington wrote: He also con-
 * 1) ‘The Martyr's Monument,’ Paisley, 1847.
 * 2) ‘Elements of Divine Truth,’ Edinburgh, 1854, 8vo.