Sir William Dick of Braid in prison

Sir William Dick of Braid was a wealthy merchant who owned the estates of Grange and Braid in Edinburgh. He served as Provost of the city between 1638 and 1640. Dick was a staunch Royalist and Covenanter and gave large sums of money to King Charles I. As a reward, he was knighted. Like many Scots, he continued to support the Royalist cause during the Civil War, but when Oliver Cromwell's army reached Edinburgh, camping on Dick's land in the Braid Hills, they demanded compensation from supporters of the crown and Dick had little choice but to pay. Trying to recover some of his money later in London, Dick was arrested by his creditors and imprisoned at Westminster where he died a pauper on 19 December 1655.