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EDMOND, -------,
COLONEL, a
brave and highly esteemed soldier of fortune, was born in Stirling, about
the end of the sixteenth century. His father was a baker in that town, and
when very young he ran off from his parents, and enlisted in the army of
Maurice, prince of Orange. By his valour and good conduct he so greatly
distinguished himself, as to rise to the rank of colonel. Sir Robert
Sibbald relates the following anecdote of him. While he was serving on the
continent, and was one day on the parade with several brother officers, he
was accosted by a stranger, who professed to have newly arrived from
Scotland, and left the colonel’s relations well, enumerating several of
them as of high rank. Edmond, turning from him indignantly, informed those
around him that, however this unknown personage might attempt to flatter
his vanity, he must, in candour, inform them, if they did not already
know, that he had the honour, of which he should ever be proud, of being
the son of an honest baker and freeman in the ancient burgh of Stirling.
He then ordered the abashed impostor out of his sight. Having acquired a
competent fortune, and settled in his native town, he proved himself
beneficent to his relations, who were all in the humble walks of life. He
would not visit any person in Stirling unless his father and mother were
also invited. The earl of Mar had asked him to his house to dine or sup.
Edmond agreed to go, provided he was allowed to bring with him his father
and mother. The earl politely assented, and thus escorted by the aged
pair, did the gallant colonel wait upon the lord high treasurer of the
kingdom. Colonel Edmond contributed largely towards the building of the
manse of Stirling. The manse so erected was taken down in 1824. His
daughter married Sir Thomas Livingston of Jerviswood, baronet, a cadet of
the noble house of Kilsyth, and of the noble and more ancient family of
Linlithgow and Callendar. Her eldest son, Sir Thomas Livingston, colonel
of a regiment of dragoons, a privy councillor, and commander-in-chief in
Scotland, was by William the Third, in 1698, created Viscount Teviot, by
patent to male descendants. As he died without issue, the peerage became
extinct in 1711. The date of his grandfather, Colonel Edmond’s death, is
unknown. |
