Sir Arthur Wardour

Sir Arthur Wardour
Herman Dousterswivel and Sir Arthur Wardour portrayed by the Dalziel Brothers
First appearance	The Antiquary (1816)
Last appearance	Ivanhoe (1819)
Created by	Walter Scott
Information
Occupation	Laird
Title	Baronet
Relatives	Sir Anthony Wardour (Father) Capt. Reginald Gamelyn Wardour (Son) Isabella Wardour (Daughter) Major William Neville (Son-in-law)
Religion	Episcopal
Nationality	Scottish

Sir Arthur Wardour of Knockwinnock Castle is a character in Walter Scott’s 1816 novel The Antiquary, a Scottish Tory baronet who is vain of his ancient family but short of money. He is a friend and neighbour of Jonathan Oldbuck, the novel’s title-character.

He first appears when he and his daughter Isabella are invited to Oldbuck’s house to meet his new friend Lovel. Wardour, we are told, is a former Jacobite who has become reconciled to the House of Hanover, and is interested in antiquarian research. As they have dinner together they fall out over the question of the Pictish language, Wardour thinking it Celtic and Oldbuck Germanic. Things get so heated that the Wardours call the dinner-party short and walk homeward over the sands of the intervening bay, but the incoming tide cuts them off and threatens to drown them. They are rescued by the combined efforts of their neighbours, and Wardour is bundled off home in a state of exhaustion. When Oldbuck and Lovel next day visit Wardour they find him semi-invalid. It becomes apparent, firstly that there is a romance between Isabella and Lovel which must seemingly be frustrated since Lovel is believed to be illegitimate, and secondly that Wardour hopes to recoup his diminished fortune by prospecting for a lead mine, being encouraged in this project by a suspicious German character called Herman Dousterswivel. Wardour later invites Oldbuck and Lovel to join him in a trip to the ruins of St. Ruth's Priory, and when the day comes the conversation turns to a treasure rumoured to be buried there. One night shortly afterwards Wardour and Dousterswivel are discovered excavating in the grounds of the Priory, the baronet having been persuaded by his companion that he had discovered the site of the treasure by alchemical means, and a small bag of old coins is duly found. Wardour next tries to persuade Oldbuck to invest in a larger-scale excavation. Oldbuck turns down the chance, but persuades him to try the search without making the payments to Dousterswivel that the German insists are necessary. A quantity of silver bullion is uncovered, delighting Wardour and dumbfounding Dousterswivel. After an interval we learn that Wardour has been squandering his new-found money unwisely, while most of his debts remain unpaid. His main creditor institutes bankruptcy proceedings and sends in the bailiffs, but just as Sir Arthur is facing the prospect of a debtors' prison a letter arrives from his son enclosing enough money to pay off the main debt. Isabella's lover is discovered to be the long-lost legitimate son of a wealthy earl, and the two are speedily married, putting Sir Arthur out of all financial danger.