INGLIS,
a surname of great antiquity in the south of Scotland, generally
supposed to be derived from the word English. There is, however, a
Scottish word that comes nearer to it, namely, ingle, a chimney
fire. In the reign of Alexander III. This surname had become numerous
in Scotland. (See Douglas’ Baronage, pages 198 and 264). Walter
de Inglis, John de Inglis, Philip de Inglis, and others of the name,
were in possession of landed property, when Edward I. Overran Scotland
in 1296. They had large possessions in Roxburghshire in very early
times, particularly the lands and barony of Branksome, &c.
The old
family of the Inglises of Manner or Mannerhead traced their descent
from Sir William Inglis, a knight of great courage in the reigns of
Robert II. And Robert III., who, in 1395, distinguished himself at
Ruel-haugh on the borders, when Sir Thomas Struthers, and English
champion, had vauntingly defied any Scotsman to meet him in single
combat. Sir William Inglis accepted the challenge, and killed him on
the spot, and for that gallant action the latter monarch made him a
grant of the lands and barony of Manner, by royal charter, dated in
1396. He died about 1420. His son, John Inglis of Manner, got a
charter of confirmation of the barony from Archibald duke of Turenne
and earl of Douglas, as superior of these lands. According to Nisbet,
as he held most of his other lands in Roxburghshire of the earls of
Douglas, he added three stars on a chief to his paternal coat of
Inglis, to denote his connexion with, and dependence on, that
illustrious house. His son, Thomas Inglis of Manner, exchanged,
(charter of Excambion dated at Edinburgh, 23d July 1446), the lands of
Branksome of Branksnolme, and others in Roxburghshire, with Sir Walter
Scott of Murthockstone or Murdieston in Lanarkshire, progenitor of the
dukes of Buccleuch, for the lands and barony of Murdieston. These were
conferred on his eldest son, and the family continued in the male line
as barons of Murdieston, for some generations afterwards, but at last
ended in an heiress, married to a descendant of the family of
Hamilton, who, in consequence, assumed the name and arms of Inglis of
Murdieston. The estate of Manner went to a second son. Thomas, the
eleventh baron of Manner, sold it in 1709, and dying without issue,
the representation of that branch of the family devolved on his cousin
Charles, son of Thomas Inglis of Craigend. This Charles, a writer in
Edinburgh, was clerk to the bills. He died in 1743, leaving a son,
Charles, who succeeded him in his office of clerk to the bills. The
family is now extinct.
Among
families of this name, Nisbet also mentions Inglis of Newtonleys, and
Inglis of St. Leonards, cadets of Murdieston.
The
immediate ancestor of the Inglises of Cramond, a family which once
possessed a baronetcy, now extinct, was James Inglis a merchant of
Edinburgh about the time of the Reformation, 1560. His son, Archibald,
also a merchant in Edinburgh, acquired great wealth, and died in 1599,
leaving a son, James, who purchased the lands of Nether Cramond, Mid
Lothian, and got a charter of the same from Alexander, bishop of
Dunkeld, the superior, dated 19th March, 1624. His
grandson, Sir James Inglis of Cramond, was created a baronet of Nova
Scotia by King James VII., 22d March 1687. On his death, the following
year, his son, then a minor, became second baronet. He was appointed
postmaster-general for Scotland in 1717, and held that office till
1725. He was again installed into the same in 1742. The title became
extinct on the death of Sir Patrick Inglis, the fifth baronet, in
December 1817, without issue.
INGLIS, SIR JAMES,
a dignified priest, supposed to have been the author of ‘The Complaynt
of Scotland,’ first published at St. Andrews in 1548, flourished in
the early part of the sixteenth century. He was esteemed in his time
as a poet and man of learning, and is alluded to by Sir David Lindsay
in his Prologue to the Papingo, as writer of “ballattis, farsis, and
plesand playis.” None of his poetical pieces have come down to us,
except ‘A General Satire,’ printed by Hailes and Sibbald. About 1515
he was secretary to Queen Margaret, widow of James IV.; and, in
February 1527, he is styled chancellor of the royal chapel of Stirling.
He was soon after created abbot of Culross, and was murdered, March 1,
1530, by Blackater, laird of Tulliallan, with an accomplice, a priest
of the same abbey, named Sir William Lothian, and, for the crime, they
were beheaded at Edinburgh. Mackenzie, evidently confounding him with
another person of the same name, inaccurately states that Inglis died
in 1554. ‘The Complaynt of Scotland,’ which is the earliest Scottish
prose work extant, and contains a minute account of the manners,
customs, and popular literature of Scotland at the period at which it
was written, has also been attributed to James Wedderburn and Sir
David Lindsay.
INGLIS, JOHN, D.D.,
an eminent divine, was born in Perthshire in 1763. His father was
minister of Tippermuir, a charge to which he himself succeeded. Among
his brethren he was distinguished for the vigour of his understanding,
the soundness of his judgment, and the great knowledge which he
possessed of all ecclesiastical matters; so that he was soon enabled
to take a lead in all questions relating to the discipline and
government of the church. In 1796 he was presented to the charge of
the Old Greyfriars’ church, Edinburgh, in which he became the
colleague of Dr. Erskine, and the successor of Principal Robertson.
Moderator of the General Assembly in 1804, he was subsequently
appointed one of the deans of the chapel royal. For nearly 30 years he
was the leader of the presbytery of Edinburgh. He died at Edinburgh,
Jan 2, 1834, aged 71. Besides some minor publications, he left a work
on the Evidence of Christianity, and another in defence of
Ecclesiastical Establishments, the latter published in 1833.
INGLIS, JOHN,
eldest son of the preceding, born in Edinburgh in 1810, was educated
at the High School of his native city, and afterwards studied, first
at the university of Glasgow, and then at Baliol College, Oxford;
graduating B.A., 1834, and M.A. Oxon. 1836. He passed advocate in
1835. In 1852 he was appointed solicitor-general for Scotland, and
soon after lord advocate, but only held the latter appointment for 7
months. In November of the same year, he was elected dean of the
faculty of advocates. In 1857 he was chosen lord-rector of the
university of Aberdeen, and received thence the degree of doctor of
laws. In Feb. 1858, he was again appointed lord advocate, and elected
M.P. for Stamford. In June of the same year, he became
lord-justice-clerk, when he took the judicial title, as lord of
session, of Lord Glencorse. In 1859 he became D.C.L. of Oxford. He
married the youngest daughter of Lord Wood (a lord of session), with
issue, She died in 1855.
INGLIS, HENRY
DAVID,
a pleasing and popular writer, whose early works were published under
the name of Derwent Conway, was the only son of an advocate in
Edinburgh, where he was born in 1795. His maternal grandmother was the
daughter of the celebrated Colonel Gardiner, who fell at the battle of
Prestonpans; and through this lady, herself the authoress of an heroic
poem, Mr. Inglis was allied to the noble house of Buchan. He is
chiefly known as a writer of travels, but he excelled also in fiction.
His first work was entitled ‘Tales of Ardennes,’ which was followed,
in 1828, by ‘Solitary Walks through Many Lands.’ His ‘Travels in
Norway and Sweden’ appeared in 1829; ‘Switzerland and the Pyrenees,’
in 1831; ‘Spain in 1830,’ the same year; ‘Travels in the Tyrol,’ 1833;
and in the subsequent year, ‘Ireland in 1834,’ and ‘The Channel
Islands.’ Of his fictitious works, his ‘New Gil Blas’ has been ranked
as the best, yet it was the only one of them all that was
unsuccessful. Mr. Inglis died at London, of a disease of the brain,
March 20, 1835.
