at Bannockburn, and on Kinneil Muir, but his
statements do not accord with the information given in
Anderson's "Memoirs of the House of Hamilton," or in the recent
work of the Lyon King, Sir J. Balfour Paul.
The present Duke is the twenty-third possessor,
and the first of the family is given in both these authorities
as Walter Fitz-Gilbert (Walter son of Gilbert). He appears under
that designation in 1294 or thereabouts. Walter is reported to
have sworn fealty to King Edward I. in 1296 at Berwick, and
remained an English partisan till the capture of Bothwell Castle
by a detachment of the Scottish army after Bannockburn. Quite
evidently there was a Gilbert; but it is difficult to believe
that Walter, his son, should have been on King Edward's side at
the time of Bannockburn whilst the father, according to the "Ffrier"
was with Bruce in that battle, and "ane of the seven knights
that kept the King's person." This may have been possible, but
it does not seem very probable.
Walter is reported to have joined the Bruce after
his capture at Bothwell Castle, and was knighted. Later, King
Robert made him several grants of land, and among those the
lands of Kinneil. Sir Walter was twice married, and the grant of
Kinneil in 1323 was to him and Mary Gordon, his second wife, and
to his heirs by her.
II.
In an Appendix will be found a complete list of
the Hamilton family in the order of their succession, with a few
notes concerning each. Several of its members, however, have
figured so conspicuously in Scottish history, as well as in our
local affairs, that we must now devote our attention to these
for a little.
The first of the family to take a prominent place
in Scottish history was the second James of Cadzow, who became
the first Lord Hamilton in 1445. He was a strong supporter of
the Douglas family, to whom he became allied by his first
marriage. When King James II., in 1455, besieged the Castle of
Abercorn,. then a possession of the Douglas, Hamilton and
Douglas mustered a strong force, but were unsuccessful in
raising the siege. The Castle of Inveravon, situated about three
miles to the west of Bo'ness, also belonging to the Douglas, was
next demolished. The Hamiltons then became alienated from the
Douglases, and Hamilton, through the influence of an uncle, was
raised into the King's favour. In October of the same year he
received a special charter of his lands and baronies, including
Hamilton and Kinneil.
He devoted much of his energies to the
reclamation of land from the sea within his territory of Kinneil
by permission of the King. This reclamation was made at great
cost. The reclaimed land was secured to him and his second wife, Mary
Stewart, sister of King James III., and widow of Thomas Boyd,
Earl of Arran, by Royal Charter in 1474, the year of the
marriage. The tithes of the ground were to go to a new chapel
and hospital which he had built and endowed in the Parish of
Shotts.
James, second Lord Hamilton, was the son of the
first Lord Hamilton by the Princess Mary. He succeeded in 1479,
when only a few years old. James was raised to the dignity of
Earl of Arran at Holyrood on 8th August, 1503, when present at
the marriage of his cousin, King James IV., to Margaret Tudor,
daughter of King Henry VII. of England. The lands and earldom of
Arran were bestowed, it is stated, for his nearness of blood,
his services, and specially for his labours and expenses at the
time of the royal marriage. The Earl had the reputation of being
the best archer on horse or foot in Scotland. He kept a famous
stud of horses at Kinneil, and his cousin, King James IV., is
said to have paid a visit there to see them in 1508.
During the minority of James V. Arran was for a
time Regent. Ultimately he was involved in the long series of
conflicts for supremacy between the rival factions of
Douglas-and Hamilton. He died about 1529, when he made his will
and gave up an inventory of his effects at his "place" of
Kinneil.
III.
James, second Earl of Arran, succeeded his father
while-yet a minor, and was for a time under the tutory of
his-uncle. He is said to have been the first builder of the
Palace-of Hamilton, probably under the supervision of his uncle.
The young man favoured the Presbyterian religion, which was-then
secretly spreading in Scotland. Cardinal Beaton consequently had
no love for him. Especially was this so-when, on the death of
the King after Solway Moss, Beaton saw that Arran was likely to
be appointed governor of the realm during the minority of the
infant Queen Mary of Scotland. Beaton tried to make out that he,
along with three others, had been nominated by the King on his
death-bed to be-tutors of the Queen and joint governors. This,
however, was put aside, and Arran was chosen governor, as being
the nearest-heir to the throne by descent from Lady Mary
Stewart, his grandmother. Arran is said to have been of a gentle
nature, with a policy that was weak and vacillating.
During his Regency he, in the year 1544, made a
report on the harbours and landing places in the Forth, in which
we find—"Kyniell—by este Kallendray (presumably Callendar,
Falkirk), a myle from the shore and good landinage with botes at
a place cauled Barreston."
After being commended by John Knox for his
reforming zeal, Arran was prevailed upon to join Beaton's party.
The-Duchy of Chatelherault, in France, was granted to him and
his heirs about 1549. This gift was prompted by the
Queen-mother, Mary of Loraine, as an inducement to resign the
Regency of Scotland in her favour. He did not do so, however,
until 1554, when he retired into private life. In his later
years he-once more supported the Reformers, and his name is
first on the list of signatures to the Second Reformation
Covenant of 1560. He was also present in the Reforming
Parliament of .August in that year. Arran opposed the marriage
of Queen Mary to Darnley, and was forced to retire for a time to
France, When he returned Mary had been deposed. He was the chief
-of Mary's party, and suffered imprisonment in Edinburgh
'Castle, with much loss and damage to his property. His death
took place at Hamilton either in 1574 or 1575. The Duke, as he
was called in Scotland (no doubt because of Chatelherault), was
survived by his wife, the eldest daughter of the Earl of
.Morton, who had succeeded the Earl of Lennox as Regent. They
had eight children, the eldest of whom was James. This young man
showed much promise in his earlier years, and was commander of
the Scots Guards in France. He had strong leanings to the
Reformers, and the Scots Parliament, in 1560, proposed him as a
husband to Queen Elizabeth. Most unhappily, two years later he
showed signs of a disordered intellect, and was afterwards
pronounced insane. He lingered <on until 1609, and during his
lifetime was nominally in possession of the title of Earl of
Arran.
IV.
The second son having died in youth, next in
succession •was John, the third son, who became first Marquis of
Hamilton. He was over thirty years of age when he succeeded.
Like his father he was a devoted supporter of Queen Mary, and,
.also like him, suffered the loss of much property in her cause,
including the forfeiture of the Hamilton estates. In 1578 Regent
Morton resigned and James VI. ruled in person, but under the
influence of low-born favourites. Chief of these was James
Stewart, of Bothwell Muir, who figured as Earl of Arran, the
insane young Earl having resigned that title in his favour. 'The
Raid of Ruthven delivered the young King from the influence of
this usurper until the escape of James from Ruthven a year
later, when the favourite again became supreme.
In the Hamilton papers we find some
correspondence which, indicates that the spurious Earl had not
his sorrows to seek, being evidently hard pressed by many
enemies. Among his-usurpations he seems to have, at least
temporarily, secured Kinneil. One of his letters finishes, "From
my houss off Kinnele this 12 Aug. 1585," and is signed "Arraine."
He was reported to be still there on 30th August "well
accompanied."
In fact, there are several references4 which
point to Kinneil being used as his chief residence. This
favourite had great influence with and control over the young
King, aild we find5 His
Majesty reported on 9th May, 1582, as having gone "to Arran's
house of Kinneil." Then
on 13th November next year he is again reported as staying at
Kinneil with Arran.
These were dangerous times for the House of
Hamilton. John first fled to England disguised in a seaman's
dress, and thence to France. In 1585 he and some other exiled
nobles returned, and, with Queen Elizabeth's permission,
entered' Scotland, and marched with a force to Stirling, where
King James and Arran then were. Arran fled, and the banished1 lords
were admitted to the King's presence. King James,, though he had
not previously met Hamilton, welcomed him most effusively as a
faithful servant of his mother. From then Hamilton speedily rose
in the King's favour. At a Parliament at Linlithgow his estates
were restored, and he was-appointed keeper of the Castle of
Dumbarton. The King and he became very intimate friends, and
there was frequent correspondence between them, particularly on
matters of sport. One of the King's letters to Hamilton is very
amusing, and we quote it in full. It is undated and is much
destroyed, but it is thought to be about the year 1597, and
written from Holyrood:—
"Milorde as I taulde you at youre being withe me
I ame-•sa contineuallie braggit uithe Milord Home that I haue to
defend the honoure of Scotlande at this tyme; he uill be heir
•on Weddinsdaye next uith nyne couple of fleing fiends, as they
saye, thairfore I pray you to send me with the bearare tua or
three of your fleitest and fairest running houndis; and because,
in goode faithe, I ame disprouydit of horsis I uill in a hamelie
maner praye you to send, lykeuyes with the bearare, Griseld
•Blackstow,9 or
gif he be not in that cace any other hunting horse and on my
honestie na boddie sail ryde on him but myself, and baith he and
youre doggis sail be returnid to you immediately ... I commandit
the guidman of Grange7 to
helpe you to choose the doggis. Thus not doubting ye uill be a
goode fallou in the aulde maner to this my reasonable request
and uith Goddis Grace the Englishe tykis shall be dung doun. I
bidd you hair (tilie) fairueill, youre louing freinde in the
aulde mainer. James R."
The letter is said to be in the King's best
style. It is "hamelie" enough certainly, and we all like to
think that the challenge resulted in the honour of Scotland
being upheld xt in
the aulde mainer."
Hamilton was present at Holyrood at the baptism
of the Princess Margaret on 15th April, 1549, and then made a
peer. Two days after he was installed with great ceremony in His
Majesty's great chamber at Holyrood, his title being proclaimed
as Marquis of Hamilton, Earl of Arran, and Lord Evan. He died on
6th April, 1604, his last act being to commend his son to the
King's favour. Very shortly before his death he bound over his
nephew, Lord Abercorn, to see to the interests of his imbecile
brother, who was still alive.
Lord John's wife, who survived him, was Margaret,
only daughter of John Lyon, seventh
Lord Glamis, and widow of Gilbert, fourth Earl of Cassillis.
V.
James, second Marquis of Hamilton, succeeded his
father in 1604 about the age of fifteen. He had been styled Lord
Evan on his father's promotion to the Marquisate, as his
unfortunate uncle still held the title of Earl of Arran. By the
time of his succession King James had become King of England,
and gone south. The King, however, wished to favour the young
man, and was desirous that he should attend Court. But Marquis
James preferred to remain in Scotland. In the long run he was
prevailed on to go to London, and was there made a Gentleman of
the Bed-Chamber, a Lord of the Privy Council, and Steward of the
Royal Household. Early in 1617 he attended a Convention of
Estates in Scotland, and was residing there when King James
revisited it for the first time after leaving to ascend the
English throne in 1603. During this visit he was in close
attendance on the King, and entertained him at Hamilton Palace
on his return journey. In & year or so Hamilton again went
south, after endeavouring to induce the Provost of Edinburgh to
influence the citizens to submit to the King in matters of
ritual. In 1619 the King created him a peer of England as Earl
of Cambridge and Lord Innerdale, and in 1621 he was made a
Knight of the Garter.
To the second Marquis came the appointment which
has made his name prominent in Scottish history. King James,
through reckless extravagance, found his finances exhausted,
and, having already been repeatedly voted supplies by the
English Parliament, he could not at that moment very well make
another application. Accordingly, recourse was made to Scotland,
and the Marquis of Hamilton was despatched there as the King's
representative, with commission to hold a Parliament in
Edinburgh, and among other things to raise supplies. He arrived
there on the 18th, and the Parliament met on the 25th July,
1621. The Commissioner opened with a long speech extolling His
Majesty's merits and explaining his pecuniary necessities. The
result was a subsidy equal to about £33,000. It was the King's
intention that this same Parliament should ratify the Five
Articles of Perth by which Episcopacy was to be imposed upon the
Scottish Church, and this delicate matter was next taken up by
the Commissioner. After a most determined opposition the
Articles were carried by a majority of twenty-seven, on an
assurance from the Commissioner that no further innovations
would be proposed by the King. Hamilton, it cannot be
questioned, manoeuvred the whole business, and therefore the ire
of zealous-Presbyterians was then and afterwards strongly raised
against-him.
At the close of the sitting, and just at the
moment when the Commissioner was about to confirm the Articles
by the-touch of the sceptre, a terrific thunderstorm suddenly
burst over the place. A great darkness came on, illumined only
by flashes of lightning. Rain came down in torrents, and
hailstones-of enormous size also fell. After a delay of nearly a
couple of hours the Parliament broke up in confusion and without
the usual ceremonial procession. The Presbyterians regarded
this-storm as an evident token of Divine displeasure against
the-Parliament for interfering with the spiritual privileges of
the people, and the day was long known as "the black
Saturday.'''
The Marquis died suddenly at Whitehall in March,
1625, shortly before his Royal Master. When the King, who
himself was then lying ill, heard the news, he is reported to
have said, " If the branches be thus cut down, the stock cannot
be-expected to survive long." It was boldly asserted that
Hamilton had been poisoned on grounds of jealousy, either by the
Duke of Buckingham or at his instigation. The King died very
soon after, and Dr. Egelsham, who had been one of his
physicians, expressly accused Buckingham not only of poisoning
the King, but the Marquis of Hamilton also. Buckingham, however,
was never judicially accused of the crime.12
The wife of the Marquis was Anna, daughter of the
Earl of Glencairn, who is described as "a lady of firm and
masculine-character," and of whom we shall have more to say
later. They had issue James, third Marquis and first Duke, who
succeeded; and William, afterwards second Duke; and three
daughters.
VI.
James succeeded at the age of nineteen. For the
next three years he remained in Scotland. He then received a
pressing message from King Charles to come to Court. This he
did, and had the Order of the Garter and a number of other
offices bestowed upon him. He was afterwards sent abroad, by the
King's desire, to assist Gustavus Adolphus in invading Germany.
When Charles visited Scotland in 1633 the Marquis accompanied
him and took part in the Coronation ceremonies. After this he
seems to have retired from public life, until the people began
to openly resist the order to use Laud's Service-Book in all the
churches. Charles then specially commissioned the Marquis to
settle these disorders; and in this task he naturally incurred a
marked degree of popular odium. His efforts were useless, and he
was obliged, after many negotiations and two journeys to London,
where he seriously consulted and advised with Charles, to
proclaim the meeting of the famous General Assembly at Glasgow
in November, 1638. Hamilton then went south again, but returned
in a year as General and Commander of a fleet with which the
King meant to silence the Covenanters. It is related of his
mother, Marchioness Anna Cunningham, that when her son the
Marquis arrived with his fleet in the Forth she rode up and down
the sands of Leith, carrying pistols in her holsters, and
threatening to blow out the brains of her son should he cross
her path to molest the Covenanters.8Whether
this scared him we do. not know, but at any rate a truce was
before long agreed to at Dunse Law, and the Marquis again
retired into private life.
In 1641 Charles made his second visit to
Scotland, and Hamilton, who was with him, was one of the
intended victims of a plot known as "The Incident," whereby
Argyll, Hamilton, and Lanark, his brother, were to be seized and
carried on board a Royal frigate at Leith. The plot was
discovered, and these lords withdrew to Kinneil House, and
refused to meet the King. It is not clear, however, whether
Charles was involved in the affair or not.
In April, 1643, the King, by a charter dated at
Oxford, created the Marquis Duke of Hamilton, Marquis of
Clydesdale, Earl of Arran and Cambridge, Lord Avon and Innerdale,
with remainder to himself and the heirs-male of his body; whom
failing, to his brother William and the heirs-male of his body;
whom failing, to the eldest heir-female of the Duke's body,
without division; and it was under this destination that his
daughter, the Duchess Anne, in time succeeded. The Duke and his
brother Lanark were slandered to the King, and the former was
for a time imprisoned.
VII.
It must be remembered that during all this time
the Duke's old mother was still alive. Her son's association
with the King against the Covenanters, of whom she was a strong
supporter, not only aroused her wrath, as we have seen, but
caused her great grief. This can be gathered from her Will.9 That
document was written with her own hand at Holyrood House on 4th
November, 1644, and in the introduction she explains that she
considers it her duty to put her house in order, lest she
"should be chapit at on ane soudentie." Referring apparently to
this imprisonment of her son, "my lord douck," she, in making
him her executor and heir, leaves him her blessing, and prays
the Lord to direct him and to grant that he may make the right
use of this " visitation" that is laid upon him; also that he
may have God's glory before his eyes, and look more to that than
to all this world can give him. Then she says, there is one
thing that she would beseech him to do above any other earthly
thing, if ever he got out of prison, and that was to "mack chois
of soum good woman to mache with," so that if it pleased the
Lord his father's house might stand .in his person, which she
prayed the Lord might be. (His first wife had died some years
before, and their two sons had died young.) In her bequests she
leaves him her rights and leases of her coal of Kinneil, and
mentions that it had cost her much money, and servants did reap
the profit; but now it was in so good case that he could not but
make great benefit out of it. She counsels him to put faithful
servants to it, and never to put it out of his own hands. She
leaves him all her salt-pans, and advises him to build more, for
she believes the profit will be great if God sent peace. She
also leaves him the plenishing in her house in Kinneil, her new
tapestry, and all other movables she either made or bought,
except her silver saltfit and some little silver porringers
which she left to her "dochtir." She further requested him to be
" caynd to his sister and hir childring," for she believed she
was a good woman and feared the Lord.
As for her son Lanark, who had also been, as a
Royalist, opposed to the Covenanters, she prayed the Lord to
hold his heart upright before Him, and make him now, after his
past wanderings, a faithful servant in His cause, and let him
never fall back from Him, lest his last state be worse than his
first; she prayed God also to take a grip of his heart and
reveal Himself, and let him know that in the day of death there
is no comfort to be found but in Him, for all the monarchs and
monarchies in the world could not give one moment's ease. A
blink of the face of a reconciled God was a sweet thing;
therefore, for Christ's sake, he was to seek Him in time, and
away with the follies of Courts, for their ways were but wicked,
and all their delights and sweetness in the •end would bring
bitterness. These maternal solicitations concluded with, "Remembir
this is the last saying of ane loving mother."
The closing events in the reign of King Charles
are all so well known that they need not be recalled here. We
must remember, however, that when the King was captured the Duke
did all he could to obtain his release, just as he before that
had—hopelessly, however, because of the King's obstinacy in
repudiating the Covenant—done what he could to advance the
King's interests. And
we must also remember that when a last effort was made to rescue
the King from the hands of Cromwell, the "Engagers" or band of
Scottish Royalists who did so were led by the Duke. Cromwell
easily defeated this force near Preston in 1648. The Duke was
taken and imprisoned in various places, Windsor Castle being the
last. He had an affecting interview with the King here on the
latter's last journey to London. After the King's execution in
January, 1649, the Duke escaped, but was re-taken. He was then
tried at Westminster, and beheaded in the Palace Yard on 9th
March. His remains were first sent to his house of Kinneil, and
from there taken to Hamilton, where they were buried. He is said
to have been of an affectionate and kindly temperament, and
strongly attached to his brother. It was a good thing that his
poor old mother was spared the grief of his trial and execution,
she having been "chapit at," and left this troublesome world
some little time before. The Duke did not marry a second time.
He left two daughters—Anne, who became Duchess of Hamilton in
her own right, and Susanna, who married the seventh Earl of
Cassillis.
VIII.
William, second Duke of Hamilton, was James'
brother and successor, and the "Lainrick" of his mother's Will.
He had been closely associated with his brother's Royalist
exploits, and in 1640 was made Secretary for Scotland. William
had frequently been in danger of imprisonment, but made
wonderful escapes. While James was the leader^ of the
"Engagers," it was William who conducted the correspondence with
the English Royalists in connection with the movement; and when
James went to Preston to meet his defeat William remained in
Scotland, and did his best to uphold the King's party. William
James, First Duke of Hamilton.
( After the painting by Vandyck in Hamilton
Palace.)
was seeking safety abroad when his brother was
executed, and Scotland being then ostensibly under the
Commonwealth and in a particularly unsettled state, he remained
away. Cromwell about this time seems to have appropriated the
lands of Kinneil, and bestowed them along with other
appropriated possessions on General Monk for his military
services in Scotland. King Charles II.—himself abroad—found
William at The Hague, and they returned to Scotland together in
1650. William's return was objected to, and he withdrew from the
Court and remained in retirement for a year. He then entered the
Civil strife, and was actively engaged in attacking the English
garrisons that were quartered in Lanarkshire. He was also
prominent in the march of the Scots army with the King and
General Leslie at its head, and in the defeats of that army at
the hands of Cromwell at Dunbar Drove and Worcester. At
Worcester he fought bravely, but was severely wounded, his leg
being crushed and broken by a shot. Had the limb been at once
amputated it is believed he would have recovered. This was
delayed until it was too late, and he died on 12th September,
1651, nine days after the battle, aged thirty-five. Thus his
brief career was closed. His wife was the eldest daughter of the
Earl of Dirleton, and they had one son, who died an infant, and
five daughters.
IX.
We have now reached that member of the Hamilton
family whose interest in Kinneil and Borrowstounness was very
great. This was Anne, Duchess of Hamilton in her own right. As
her uncle William left no male issue, she succeeded him, in
terms of the destination in the charter of Charles I. to her
father. The Duchess Anne, or Anna as she is sometimes named, was
born about 1636, and so was about fifteen when her uncle died.
She lived to the long age of eighty, but her long and useful
life was not without its heavy sorrows. When she was thirteen
her father, the first Duke, was executed, and she lived to
bemoan the termination of the career of her son, the fourth
Duke, in a duel with Lord Mohun. She was a lady of great
constancy of mind, evenness of temper, solidity of judgment, and
unaffected piety.
In April, 1656, she married William Douglas,
eldest son of the second marriage of William, first Marquis of
Douglas. Four years after the marriage came the Restoration,
when Charles II. returned from France and was restored to
kingship at Whitehall, amid great rejoicing, in May, 1660.
Duchess Anne and her husband soon came under Royal favour, and
in September of the same year the King bestowed upon the latter
for life the titles of Duke of Hamilton, Marquis of Clydesdale,
Earl of Arran, Lanark, and Selkirk. A year later the Duchess
received from the King a re-grant of all the lands and baronies
of Hamilton, Kinneil, and others which had been resigned by her
uncle to the King when they were together at The Hague in 1650.
The Duke's first business was to remove the
burden of debt under which the Hamilton estates lay. He then
gave some attention to public affairs.
To Duchess Anne and Duke William, her husband,
much credit is due for the early development of "the village" of
Borrowstounness. With them commenced a thoroughly practical
interest in the struggling town and in their own House of
Kinneil. On the latter they made very considerable alterations,
greatly enlarging and embellishing it. And there is no doubt
whatever that they made it a frequent place of residence. The
reign of Charles II., as we know, was full of bitterness and
bloodshed for Scotland over religious difficulties. In all this
the inhabitants of the young town and of the surrounding
district had their share; and, loyal as the Duke had originally
been to the King, he seems to have resented the repeated
attempts of Charles to put down Presbyterianism.
Hamilton most strongly and openly opposed the
Duke of Lauderdale, who had become Secretary for Scotland, and
was, unfortunately, exercising a remarkable influence over the
King. Lauderdale, in the former reign, had been a zealous
Covenanter.
