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BUCCLEUCH,
duke of, in the peerage of Scotland, a title possessed by the distinguished
house of Scott, which has long held a very high rank in titles, worth, and
importance in the kingdom, while their territorial possessions are more
extensive and valuable than those of any other family in Scotland. The
history of the earliest generations of the Buccleuch family is involved in
obscurity. There is in the possession of the present Lord Polworth, who is
himself a noble branch of the Scotts, a genealogical table, prepared by and
holograph of Sir Walter Scott, of Abbotsford, Bart., in which he traces the
origin and descent of this family as follows: –
I. Uchtred Fitz-Scott,
or Filius Scott, who flourished at the court of King David Ilk and was
witness to two charters granted by him to the abbeys of Holyroodhouse and
Selkirk, dated in the years 1128 and 1130. It is however, believed that from
the days of Kenneth III. the barony of Scotstoun in Peebles-shire had been
possessed by the ancestors of this Uchtred, who, being descended frm
Galwegian forefathers, were called Scots Galloway being then inhabited by
the clan to whom that name properly belonged.
II. Richard Scott,
son of Uchtred, witnessed a charter granted by the bishop of St. Andrews to
the abbey of Holyroodhouse about the year 1158.
III. Richard
Scott, son of Richard, who married Alicia, daughter of Henry de Molla, with
whom he received lands in Roxburghshire in the reign of Alexander the
Second.
IV. William Scott,
son of Richard, attended the court of Alexander the Second, and witnessed
several of his charters.
V. Sir Richard
Scott, son of William, married the daughter and heiress of Murthockstone of
that ilk, in the county of Lanark, by which marriage he acquired the
property of Murthockstone, now called Murdieston. He then assumed into his
arms “the bend of Murdiestoun,” and disposed thereon his own paternal
crescents and star. He swore fealty to Edward I. in 1296, and died in 1320.
VI. Sir Michael
Scott of Murthockstone, son of Sir Richard and the heiress of Murthockstone,
was a gallant warrior, who distinguished himself at the battle of Halidon
hill, 19th July 1333. He was one of the few who escaped the
carnage of that disastrous day; but he was slain in the unfortunate battle
of Durham, thirteen years after.
In the
Genealogical Table of Sir Walter Scott, from which these six generations of
the family are stated, it is said that this Sir Michael left two sons, “the
eldest of whom (Robert) carried on the family, the second (John) was
ancestor of the Scotts of Harden.”
Robert Scott of
Murthockstone died before 7th Dec. 1389, as appears from a crown
charter of that date to his son Walter.
Walter Scott of
Murdieston and Rankelburn, son of Robert, obtained a charter from King
Robert II. of the superiorities of the barony of Kirkurd, in the county of
Peebles, dated 7th December 1389. He was one of the principal
persons on the borders who were bound to keep the peace of the marches in
1398. He is said to have been killed at the battle of Homildon, on 14th
Sept. 1402, but this is inconsistent with an instrument entered in the
Buccleuch Inventory by which he gave sasine to Andrew Ker of Altounburne of
the lands of Lurdenlaw, dated 30th July, 1413.
Robert Scott of
Murdieston and Rankelburn, obtained a charter from John Inglis of Manir, of
the half lands of Branxholm, &c. dated at Manir kirk, last of January 1420.
This appears to have been the first acquisition by the family of the lands
of Branxholm. Robert died in 1426, leaving two sons, Sir Walter his heir,
and Stevin Scott of Castlelaw.
Sir Walter Scott
of Kirkurd, knight, the eldest son, had a charter of the lands of Lempetlaw,
within the barony of Sprouston, from Archibald, earl of Douglas, on the
resignation of Robert Scott his father, dated 2d July 1426. He likewise
obtained a charter of the lands and barony of Eckford, &c. from King James
II., dated 3d May 1437. He exchanged his lands of Murdieston in Clydesdale,
with Thomas Inglis of Manir, for his half of the barony of Branxholm,
(poetically Branksome,) in Roxburghshire, 23d July 1446. According to
tradition, Inglis having one day complained of the injuries which his lands
of Branxholm sustained from the inroads of the English borderers, Scott
offered him his estate of Murdieston in exchange, which was instantly agreed
to, and when the bargain was completed, he drily observed that the
Cumberland cattle were as good as those of Teviotdale. He immediately
commenced, like a true border chieftain, a system of reprisals upon the
English, which was regularly pursued by his descendants for several
generations. Sir Walter Scott of Branxholm was one of the conservators of
truces with England in 1449, 1451, 1453, 1457, and 1459. He exerted himself
in an eminent degree in suppressing the rebellion of the Douglases in 1455,
and was one of the many Scottish barons who rose upon the ruins of that once
potent family, having obtained from James the Second a grant of their lands
of Abbington, Phareholm, and Glendonanrig, by charter, dated 22d February,
1458-9. That monarch also granted to him and to Sir David his son, the
remaining half of the barony of Branxholm, to be held in blanch for the
payment of a red rose, for their brave and faithful exertions in favour of
the king against the house of Douglas. They likewise had conferred on them
part of the barony of Langholm in the county of Dumfries. Sir Walter
established the principal residence of the Buccleuch family at Branxholm
castle, and died sometime between 1467 and 1470, possessed of a great part
of those pastoral lands in Selkirkshire and Roxburghshire, which still form
a principal part of the family property. By his wife, Margaret, daughter of
Cockburn of Henderland, in the county of Peebles, he had two sons; Sir
David, his heir, and Sir Alexander Scott, who was rector of Wigton, director
of the chancery, and clerk register of Scotland, in 1483. He fell on the
side of James the Third at the battle of Sauchieburn, 11th June,
1488 leaving two sons, Walter and Adam.
Sir David Scott of
Branxholm was concerned in most of the transactions of the reign of James
the Third, and sat in the parliament of 1487, under the designation of
‘dominus de Buccleuch,’ being the first of the family so designated. He
enlarged and strengthened the castle of Branxholm, which Sir Walter Scott
has made the principal scene of his poem of ‘The Lay of the Last Minstrel.’
He was instrumental in suppressing insurrections on the borders, and was a
conservator of peace with England. He died in March 1492. By his wife, a
daughter of Lord Somerville, he had three sons and two daughters. David, the
eldest son, erroneously represented by the peerage writers to have carried
on the line of the family, predeceased him previous to March 1484, without
issue, as did also William, the second, and Robert, the third son, the
latter designed of Allanhanch and Quhitchester, who deceased between 1490
and 1492, leaving two sons, Sir Walter and Robert of Allanhanch.
Sir Walter, the
eldest son, was served heir to his grandfather, Sir David, in the lands of
Branxholm, &c., on 6th November, 1492. He accompanied King James
the Fourth to the battle of Flodden in 1513, and was one of the few who
escaped the carnage of that fatal day. He died in 1516. By his wife
Elizabeth, daughter of Walter Ker of Cessford, widow of Philip Rutherford,
son and heir of Rutherford of that ilk, he had two sons, Sir Walter and
William of Quhithope, 1515.
Sir Walter Scott
was served heir to his father in 1517. He was warden of the west marches,
and besides various deeds of valour during the minority of James the Fifth,
is celebrated for an abortive attempt to rescue that monarch from the
control of the earl of Angus, when his majesty accompanied that powerful and
ambitious noble, in 1526, on an expedition against the turbulent border clan
of the Armstrongs. James sent him a secret message, complaining bitterly of
the durance in which he was held by the Douglases, and soliciting his aid,
and as Angus, with the young king, and a considerable retinue, was returning
to Edinburgh by Melrose, “Walter Scott of Buccleuch suddenly appeared on a
neighbouring height, (at Halyden near Melrose, 18th July 1526)
and at the head of a thousand men, threw himself between the earl of Angus
and the route to the capital. Angus instantly sent a messenger, who
commanded the border chief in the royal name, to dismiss his followers; but
Scott bluntly answered that he knew the king’s mind better than the proudest
baron amongst them, and meant to keep his ground, and do obeisance to his
sovereign, who had honoured the borders with his presence. The answer was
intended and accepted as a defiance, and Angus instantly commanded his
followers to dismount. His brother George, with the earls of Maxwell and
Lennox, forming a guard round the young king, retired to a little hillock in
the neighbourhood, whilst the earl, with Fleming, Home, and Ker of Cessford,
proceeded with levelled spears, and at a rapid pace, against Buccleuch, who
also awaited them on foot. His chief followers, however, were outlawed men
of the borders, whose array offered a feeble resistance to the determined
charge of the armed knights belonging to Angus; the conflict, accordingly,
was short; eighty of the party of Buccleuch were slain; the chief (wounded)
was compelled to retire, and on the side of the Douglases, the only material
loss was the death of Ker of Cessford, a brave baron, who was lamented by
both parties.” [Tytler’s History of Scotland, vol. v. page 202.] This
event occasioned a deadly feud betwixt the Scots and the Kers, which raged
for many years on the borders, and caused much bloodshed.
A summons of
treason was raised against Sir Walter, but on the king’s emancipating
himself from the domineering influence of the Douglases, he declared in
parliament, 5th September 1528, that he was innocent of all the
crimes imputed to him, and ordered the summons to be cancelled. When the
property of the earl of Angus was confiscated, Sir Walter obtained a grant
of the lordship of Jedburgh forest by charter, 3d September 1528. In the
following year, whilst the king was executing summary justice upon Johnnie
Armstrong and the marauders of the borders, Sir Walter, with those of the
border chieftains under whose protection they were, was imprisoned until
after his return. Buccleuch, having used satirical expressions against Henry
the Eighth, became extremely obnoxious to the English, and the earl of
Northumberland, in October 1532, with fifteen hundred men, ravaged and
plundered his lands, and burnt Branxholm castle, but failed in their
principal object, which was to kill or take him prisoner. In retaliation Sir
Walter and other border chiefs assembled three thousand men, and conducting
them into England, laid waste Northumberland, as far as the river Beamish,
baffled and defeated the English, and returned home loaded with booty. In
1535, he was summoned before the justiciary at Edinburgh, for alleged
assistance given to Lord Dacre and Sir Kerstiall Dacre, at the time of the
burning of Caveris and Denholm. He appeared in court 19th of
April that year, and submitted himself to the will of the king, who put him
in prison. An accusation so little consistent with his uniform hostility
towards the English, probably had its origin in the feuds betwixt the Scotts
and the Kers. It is mentioned in the notes to the ‘Lay of the Lat Minstrel,’
that Sir Walter was imprisoned and forfeited in 1535, for levying war
against the Kers; but the assistance given to the Dacres is the only point
insisted on in the summons against him. After the death of James the Fifth
he was restored by act of parliament, 15th march 1542-3, during
the regency of Mary of Lorraine. He distinguished himself at the battle of
Pinkie in 1547, but eventually lost his life in a nocturnal encounter on the
High Street of Edinburgh with a party of the Kers, headed by Sir Walter Ker
of Cessford, on 4th October 1552. He was thrice married, first,
to Elizabeth Carmichael, of the Hyndford family, by whom he had two sons;
secondly, to Janet Ker, daughter of Andrew Ker of Fernyhirst (contract dated
January 1530); and thirdly, to Janet, daughter of John Bethune of Creich and
had by her two sons and four daughters.
This lady, the
heroine of ‘the Lay of the Last Minstrel,’ was a woman of a masculine
spirit, as appears by her riding at the head of her clan after her husband’s
murder, and by her efforts to revenge his death. Upon 25th June
1557 dame Janet Bethune, Lady Buccleuch, and a great number of the name of
Scott, were delaitit (accused) for coming to the kirk of St. Mary of the
Lewes, (now Yarrow) to the number of two hundred persons bodin in feir of
weire (arrayed in armour), and breaking open the doors of the said kirk, in
order to apprehend the laird of Cranstoun for his destruction. On the 20th
July, a warrant from the queen regent is presented, discharging the justice
to proceed against the Lady Buccleuch till a new calling. Before her
marriage with Buccleuch she is said to have been twice married, first to Sir
James Creichton of Cranston-Riddel, who died about 1539, 9(this marriage,
however, is not well authenticated), and secondly to Simon Preston of
Craigmillar, from whom she was divorced, and on 2d December 1544, she took
for her third husband the laird of Buccleuch. This masculine lady, in the
superstition of the age, was accused of administering love potions to queen
Mary, to make her enamoured of the earl of Bothwell, with whom she herself
is represented as having carried on a criminal connexion after the death of
Buccleuch. One of the placards preserved in Buchanan’s Detection accuses of
the murder of Darnley “the Erle Bothwell, Mr. James Balfour, the person of
Flish, Mr. David Chalmers, blak Mr. John Spens, wha was principal deviser of
the murder, and the quene, assenting thairto, throw the persuasion of the
Erle Bothwell, and the witchcraft of Lady Buccleuch.”
David, the eldest
son of Sir Walter, and Elizabeth Carmichael, predeceased his father before
1544, without issue. Sir Walter was succeeded in 1552 by his second son, Sir
William Scott of Fawsyde, who married Grizel, second daughter of John
Bethune of Creich, the sister of his father’s third wife, and by her he had
a son, Sir Walter, who was served heir to Sir Walter his grandfather 6th
January 1553.
This Sir William
Scott signed the association in support of James the Sixth in 1567, but
subsequently joined the party of the unfortunate Mary, and remained till her
death one of her most zealous and conspicuous adherents. The day after the
regent Murray was assassinated, he and Ker of Ferneyhirst, before they could
have learned the fact by ordinary means, broke across the English border
plundered and burnt the country, and continued and extended their
depredations in the hope of kindling a war betwixt the two kingdoms. Being
asked how he could venture upon such an outrage so long as the earl of
Murray was regent, he answered, “Tush, the regent is as cold as my
bridle-bit.” It would thus appear that, like the Hamiltons and other
partisans of Mary, he must have been aware beforehand of the intended
assassination. In retaliation the earl of Sussex and Lord Scrope, by order
of Queen Elizabeth, entered Scotland, the one on the east and the other on
the west, and laid waste the adjacent counties with fire and sword. The
castle of Branxholm was blown up by gunpowder, and the lands of the chief of
Buccleuch plundered to its very gates. As soon as the English had retired he
set about rebuilding and enlarging his castle. It was not finished, however,
till after his death, as appears by inscription on its walls quoted by Sir
Walter Scott in the notes to ‘the Lay of the Last Minstrel.’ In the
well-concerted enterprise against the king’s party in Stirling, 4th
September 1571, when the town was surprised, and the regent Lennox and
several of the chief nobility made prisoners. Scott of Buccleuch was one of
the principal actors; but by too long a delay in leaving the place, the
whole were rescued, except Lennox, who was killed in the contest, and
Buccleuch, who surrendered himself to the earl of Morton. He died 17th
April 1574. By his wife, Lady Margaret Douglas, eldest daughter of David,
seventh earl of Angus, he had a son, Sir Walter, and two daughters.
His only son, Sir
Walter Scott of Branxholm, was infeft in the baronies of Branxholm, &c., as
heir to umquhil David Scott, his “guidchir’s,” (grandfather) brother, on 21st
June and 10th October 1574. He received the honour of knighthood
from James the Sixth, by whom, in 1590, on the fall of his step-father, the
earl of Bothwell, [see BOTHWELL, earl of, ante.] he was appointed
keeper of Liddesdale, and warden of the west marches. In the following year
when Bothwell broke out into rebellion he expected the assistance of his
stepson, but Buccleuch, for his own security, joined Ker of Cessford, Home
of Broxmouth, Lauder of Bass, Ker of Linton, Douglas of Cavers and others,
in a bond (recorded Aug. 6 1591) to use their utmost endeavours to take
Bothwell, and amongst other conditions they engage to “lay aside all
particular querrellis, deidlie feidis and contrauersies standing amangis
thame, and for no caus sall schrink frome his Majesteis seruice.” On the
following day he found security to leave the country for three years, when
he retired to France, and on the 29th was deprived of his office
of keeper of Liddesdale, on account of his quitting the realm. After his
return a commission was granted to him and Lord Hume, warden of the east
marches, and Sir Robert Ker, heir of Cessford, warden-depute of the middle
marches, to convocate the lieges within their bounds to oppose the earl of
Bothwell. He subsequently carried on an active predatory warfare against the
English, and is renowned for the singularly daring exploit of rescuing one
of his dependents, known by the name of Kinmont Will, from Carlisle castle
on April 13th, 1596. This achievement is the subject of the
ballad of Kinmont Willie, inserted in the “Minstrelsy of the Scottish
border.” On the occasion of a truce, as was the custom of the marches, of a
single day for the transacting of business, William Armstrong, a follower of
Scott, was towards evening set upon and taken prisoner by a party of the
English whilst riding home alone on the north bank of the Liddle. He was
conveyed to the castle of Carlisle, and brought before Lord Scrope, to whom
he complained loudly of the breach of the truce in his person. Buccleuch
made a regular application to Lord Scrope for delivery of the prisoner, but
receiving no satisfactory answer, he next applied to Bowes, the English
ambassador, who advised Lord Scrope to liberate Willie at once. His lordship
made some excuse about advertising Queen Elizabeth, when, impatient of
delay, Buccleuch sent him a challenge, which, however, he declined to
accept. He now resolved to attempt his rescue himself, although a peace then
subsisted between the two countries, and he assembled two hundred chosen
horsemen. Their trysting place was at Woodhouselee, upon the Esk, the
nearest point to the castle of Carlisle upon the Scottish marches, and not
above ten or twelve miles from that fortress. The hour of rendezvous was
after sunset, and the night being dark, Buccleuch and his men arrived
unperceived under the castle, where, failing to scale the walls, they forced
their way through a small postern into the fortress, and with shouts and
sound of trumpet relieved Willie.
Elizabeth, highly
indignant at this daring exploit, ordered her ambassador Bowes to complain
to King James. Bowes made a long speech in the convention at Edinburgh, 27th
may 1596, and concluded by stating that peace could no longer continue
between the two kingdoms, unless Sir Walter Scott were delivered into the
queen’s hands to be punished at her pleasure. Buccleuch answered that he
went to England to relieve a subject of Scotland unlawfully taken on a day
of truce, and that he committed no hostility nor offered the least wrong to
any within the castle, yet he was content to be tried by commissioners
appointed by both sovereigns. To this, as might be expected, Elizabeth would
not agree. Some English borderers having crossed into Liddesdale and wasted
the country, the chief of Buccleuch retaliated by a ‘raid’ into England, in
which he not only carried off much spoil, but apprehended thirty-six of the
Tynedale thieves, all of whom he put to death. In a letter to Bowes, printed
in the Foedera, Elizabeth expressed her indignation at this farther outrage,
and there seems to have been at one time a design entertained of
assassinating a chieftain who had made himself so formidable on the borders,
to which, it was alleged, Queen Elizabeth herself was privy. Matters were at
length settled by commissioners, that delinquents should be delivered up on
both sides, and that the chiefs themselves should enter into ward in the
opposite countries, till these were given up and pledges granted for the
maintenance of the future peace of the borders. It is said that it required
all King James’ authority to induce Buccleuch and Ker of Ferneyhirst to
agree to this arrangement. Buccleuch chose for his guardian, during his
residence in England, Sir William Selby, master of the ordnance at Berwick,
and surrendered himself into his hands, 7th October 1597. He
appears to have remained in England till February 1598. According to an
ancient family tradition he was presented to Elizabeth, who asked him how he
dared to undertake an enterprise so desperate as that of attacking the
castle of Carlisle? He boldly answered, “What is there, madam, that a man
may not dare?” The queen, it is said, was struck with the reply, and
remarked to those around her, “This is a man indeed. With ten thousand such
men our brother of Scotland might shake the firmest throne in Europe.” After
the succession of James to the English throne, Buccleuch was very active in
quieting the borders, and to accomplish this end he raised a regiment of the
boldest and most desperate of the borderers, and carried them over to fight
against the Spaniards in the wars of Holland. He attained considerable
renown as a military commander under Maurice prince of Orange, and was, for
his services and military merit, raised to the peerage of Scotland, 16th
march 1606, under the title of Lord Scott of Buccleuch.
The locality of
the title is in one of the minor vales of Selkirkshire, and tradition
attributes its origin to a recess, or in modern Scotch, a cleugh therein. A
tradition preserved by Scott of Satchells in his True History of the Right
Honourable name of Scott, published in 1688, and quoted by Sir Walter Scott
in the notes to ‘The Lay of the Last Minstrel,’ gives the following romantic
origin of the name of Buccleuch: “Two brethren, natives of Galloway,
banished for a riot or insurrection, came to Rankeilburn in Ettrick Forest,
where the keeper received them joyfully on account of their skill in the
mysteries of the chase. Kenneth MacAlpin, king of Scotland, came soon after
to hunt in the royal forest, and pursued a buck from Ettrickheuch to the
glen now called Buckleuch, about two miles above the junction of Rankelburn
with the river Ettrick. Here the stag stood at bay; and the king and his
attendants, who followed on horseback, were thrown out by the steepness of
the hill and the morass. John, one of the brethren from Galloway, had
followed the chase on foot; and now coming in, seized the buck by the horns,
and, being a man of great strength and activity, threw him on his back, and
ran with this burden about a mile up a steep hill, to a place called Cracra-cross,
where Kenneth had halted, and laid the buck at the sovereign’s feet, who
said,
”And for the buck thou stoutly brought
To us up that steep heuch,
Thy designation ever shall
Be John Scott in Buckscleuch.”
But Jamieson
confirms and places beyond doubt the correctness of the definition of the
word cleugh given by Ruddiman, viz. “a rock or hill, a clift or
cliff, from the Anglo-Saxon clif,” as used at least until long after
the origin of the name Buccleuch.
It was synonymous,
or at least then was, with heugh, a height. the word buck is
also by Jamieson and Richardson, derived from the Teutonic buck-en,
to bow, to bend, and when used as an adjective it means of a round or
circular shape, as buck-basket, a round basket for clothes;
buck-wheat, rounded wheat; bucket, a small round vessel for
water. It occurs also in the Scotch, as buckie shell, a round or
spiral shell; buckstane, a large round stone; and in topography in
the Buck of the Cabroch (in Aberdeenshire), a circular portion of
that remarkably deep and continuous hollow or dell. The word Buccleuch,
therefore, would appear to imply the round or circular rock or hill which
gives name to the ravine in question, and the tradition may be regarded as
one of those attempts to unlock the etymology of local names which, setting
alike chronology and history, whether general or family, at defiance, have
nevertheless a plausible air, and pass, because unquestioned, with the
majority of mankind.
The first Lord
Scott of Buccleuch married Mary, daughter of Sir William Ker of Cessford,
sister of Robert first earl of Roxburgh, and died in 1611.
His only son
Walter, second lord, was created, 126th March 1619, earl of
Buccleuch, with the secondary title of Lord Scott of Whitchester and Eskdale,
with remainder to his heirs male, and afterwards extended to heirs
whatsoever. He had the command of a regiment in the service of the states of
Holland against the Spaniards. He married Lady Mary Hay, fourth daughter of
Francis, ninth earl of Errol, by whom he had a son Francis and two
daughters. He died in 1633.
Francis, second
earl of Buccleuch, added Dalkeith to the family property, having acquired it
from the Morton family in 1642. He was a zealous royalist, and on that
account his heirs were mulcted by Cromwell in the large fine of fifteen
thousand pounds sterling, now equal to about two hundred thousand pounds. He
died in 1651, in the twenty-fifth year of his age. By his countess, Lady
Margaret Lesly, only daughter of John earl of Rothes, widow of Lord
Balgonie, he had two daughters, Mary and Anne.
The elder
daughter, Mary, succeeded as countess of Buccleuch in her own right. Being
one of the greatest matches in the kingdom, she instantly became, though a
mere child, the object of deep matrimonial intrigues. At the early age of
eleven she was married to Walter Scott, eldest son of Sir Gideon Scott of
Highchester, of the house of Harden. At the time of the marriage her husband
was only in his fourteenth year, and a student at the university of St.
Andrews. He was afterwards created earl of Tarras for life. [See TARRAS,
earl of.] they were married by Mr. Harry Wilkie, minister of Wemyss, without
proclamation, by virtue of an order from the presbytery of Kirkcaldy. The
marriage was principally brought about by her mother, “a witty, active
woman,” as Baillie styles her, in reference to whom it was said that Monk
“governed Scotland through her.” [Baillie’s Letters, vol. iii. p.
438.] this marriage caused a great noise at the time, and became the subject
of discussion before the provincial Synod of Fife in 1659, upon an
accusation against the presbytery, for granting a warrant for the marriage
without proclamation of the banns. The presbytery was, however, absolved,
because the order was grounded upon an act of the General Assembly, allowing
such marriages in case of necessity or fear of rape; and the lady’s friends
were apprehensive of her being carried off. On an application to the court
of session, by the curators of the countess, she was separated from her
husband until she should be twelve years of age. Various parties contended
for the charge and custody of the youthful countess during this period, and
Oliver Cromwell was even appealed to on the subject. It was at length
arranged that General Monk should be her custodier. His residence was fixed
at Dalkeith House of which, and the Parks, he obtained a lease for five
years. Tradition says that he planned the Restoration in the rooms
overhanging the river, still existing in the House. During the separation of
the countess from her husband, they carried on a very affectionate
correspondence as husband and wife; and so soon as she became twelve years
of age, to enable her to contract marriage legally, the parties were
remarried. In Lamont’s Diary, under date 18th June 1660, it is
mentioned that “the Lady Balcleuch took journey for London, and while there
was touched by his majesty for the cruells in her arme.” The countess died
in two years afterwards without issue. She was succeeded in the titles and
estates by her only sister,
Anne, countess of
Buccleuch, born in 1651, at Dundee, then the place of refuge of the
principal nobility about the time that it was besieged by Monk. This lady,
who was esteemed the greatest heiress of her time, was in 1663, at the age
of twelve, married to the duke of Monmouth (then only fourteen), son of
Charles the Second, by Lucy Walters, daughter of Richard Walters, Esq. of
Haverfordwest, county of Pembroke. Lamont mentions that “the marriage feast
stood at London in the earl of Weyms’ house, where his majesty and the queen
were present with divers of the court.” On his marriage Monmouth assumed the
name of Scott, and himself and his duchess were, 20th April 1663,
created duke and duchess of Buccleuch and earl and countess of Dalkeith,
with remainder to their heirs male, in default of which to the heirs
whatever descending from the duke’s body succeeding in the estate and
earldom of Buccleuch. His grace’s honours, Scottish and English, were
forfeited upon his execution 15th July 1685. The duchess had the
liferent of the Scotch titles and estates in terms of a crown charter of
regrant, (proceeding on a resignation,) dated 16th January 1666.
To prevent the Scotch titles becoming extinct at her death, she resigned
them into the hands of the crown; and obtained a regrant on 17th
November 1687 to herself, and after her death to James earl of Dalkeith, her
eldest son, and his heirs male, and of tallie. This is still the regulating
grant of the honours and estates. The affecting scene between Monmouth and
his duchess, previous to his execution, is well known. It is said that James
the Second, (of England, seventh of Scotland,) while he rigorously condemned
his nephew to the block, entertained, nevertheless, a strong degree of
favour for the duchess. Her grace possessed great decision of character,
which, however, she only displayed in the management of her family, and of
her great possessions, to which she added considerably. She appears never to
have interfered in politics, and preserved the favour both of James II. and
of William III. She added to the present palace of Dalkeith, and
occasionally lived there in princely splendour. Six children were the fruits
of the marriage. Of these two were sons, James, earl of Dalkeith, and Henry,
created earl of Deloraine in 1706. [See DELORAINE, earl of.] the duchess
married, secondly, Charles, third Lord Cornwallis, by whom she had one son
and two daughters, and died 6th February 1732. Till the day of
her death she continued to keep up the state of a princess of the blood,
being attended by pages, served on the knee, and covered with a canopy in
her room, and no one was allowed to sit in her presence. Lady Margaret
Montgomery related that she had dined with the duchess at Dalkeith, and
being a relative was allowed a chair, but the rest of the guests stood
during the dinner.
Her eldest son,
James earl of Dalkeith, lived chiefly in Flanders during the reign of King
William, but returned to Scotland on the accession of queen Anne in 1702,
and died in 1705, in the thirty-first year of his age. He married Lady
Henrietta Hyde, second daughter of Lawrence first earl of Rochester leaving
four sons and two daughters, and, predeceasing his mother, his eldest son
Francis (born 11th January 1695) became, at her death, second
duke of Buccleuch. In 1743 he obtained by act of parliament a restoration of
the earldom of Doncaster and barony of Scott of Tynedale, two of the English
honours of his grandfather, the duke of Monmouth. He married, first, 5th
April 1720, lady Jane Douglas, eldest daughter of James second duke of
Queensberry, by whom he had a son, Francis, earl of Dalkeith, who
predeceased his father, and secondly, Miss Powell, but by that lady had no
issue. On the approach of the Pretender to Edinburgh in 1745 he sent his
tenantry to assist in defending the city. He died 22d April 1751. His son,
the earl of Dalkeith, had married Caroline, eldest daughter and coheiress of
the famous John duke of Argyle, and Greenwich, by whom he had four sons and
two daughters. His eldest son, Henry, succeeded his grandfather. One of the
daughters, Frances, married to Archibald Lord Douglas, was a posthumous
child.
Henry, third duke
of Buccleuch, was born 13th September 1746. In March 1764 his
Grace and his brother the Hon. Campbell Scott set out on their travels,
accompanied by the celebrated Dr. Adam Smith. The brother was assassinated
on the streets of Paris on the 18th October 1766, in his
nineteenth year. His remains were brought home by the duke, and deposited in
the family vault at Dalkeith. On his grace’s return he devoted himself
principally to the improvement of his vast estates. On the commencement of
the war with France in 1778, he raised a regiment of fencibles, chiefly from
among his own tenantry, and by his condescension and kindness of manners and
close application to his military duties, he secured the affection and
esteem of all under his command. He married, in 1767, Elizabeth, daughter of
the last duke of Montague, by whom he had three sons and four daughters,
viz. George, who died in infancy; Charles William Henry, earl of Dalkeith;
Henry James Montague, who succeeded as Lord Montague in 1790, on the death
of his grandfather the duke of Montague, but died in 1845, without male
issue, when the title became extinct; Mary, married to James George, earl of
Courtown; Elizabeth, to the earl of Home; Caroline to the marquis of
Queensberry; and Harriet, to the sixth marquis of Lothian. On the decease of
William fourth duke of Queensberry without issue, 23d December 1810, duke
Henry succeeded to that dukedom [see QUEENSBERRY, duke of] and to
considerable estates in Dumfries-shire. It was to the influence of this duke
of Buccleuch that Sir Walter Scott was indebted for his appointment, in
December 1799, to the office of sheriff depute of Selkirkshire, and
afterwards, in 1806, to that of one of the principal clerks of the court of
session. His Grace died 11th January 1811.
His eldest son,
Charles William Henry, fourth duke of Buccleuch and sixth of Queensberry,
was born 24th may 1772, and in 1807 was summoned to the House of
Peers as Baron Tynedale. He married, 23d march 1795, Harriet Katherine
Townshend, youngest daughter of Thomas first Viscount Sydney. Her grace died
in 1814. There is a very affecting correspondence on this event between the
duke and Sir Walter Scott, in Lockhart’s life of the poet. The duke was a
constant friend and correspondent of Sir Walter, and at an early period of
his difficulties he gave his name as security for a loan of four thousand
pounds to the embarrassed man of letters. He also bestowed on the Ettrick
Shepherd the life-rent of the farm of Altrive, on his favourite braes of
Yarrow. By his duchess he had two sons, Walter Francis, earl of Dalkeith,
who succeeded him, and Lord John Douglas Scott, an officer in the army, and
six daughters. He died at Lisbon, 29th April 1819.
Walter Francis
Montague Douglas Scott, fifth duke of buccleuch, and seventh of Queensberry,
was born 25th November 1806; married, 13th August
1829, lady Charlotte Thynne, youngest daughter of the second marquis of
Bath, with issue. His grace sits in the House of Peers as earl of Doncaster.
He was lord privy seal from February 1842 to January 1846; lord president of
the council from January to July 1846; is lord lieutenant of Mid Lothian and
of Roxburghshire, captain general of the king’s body guard in Scotland, and
high steward of Westminster. His grace presented to the Bannatyne Club an
edition of the Chartulary of Melrose, prepared at his own expense,
containing a series of ancient charters, from the eleventh to the fourteenth
century, highly interesting to the students of Scottish history, which was
issued in 1837, in 2 vols. 4to.
His grace was
educated at St. John’s college, Cambridge, and graduated M.A. in 1827. In
1834 he received the degree of D.C.L. from Oxford, and in 1842 that of LL.D.
from Cambridge. His eldest son, William Henry Walter, earl of Dalkeith, was
born in 1831; lord-lieut. of Dumfries-shire, 1858; elected M.P. for Mid
Lothian 1853; subsequently re-elected. In Sep. 1839, an entertainment was
given by his tenantry to the duke at Branxholm, the ancient seat of the
Buccleuch family. A pavilion was erected on the occasion, constructed in the
form of an ancient baronial hall, and seated to contain upwards of one
thousand persons. The ancient war cry of the clan, ‘Bellenden,’ from a place
of that name situated near the head of Borthwick water, painted in bold
letters, was prominent over the seat of the duke. Of Branxholm castle
(celebrated in the poetry of Sir Walter Scott), the only portion remaining
is part of a square tower, which is connected with the present mansion
house, the residence of his grace’s chamberlain.
Dalkeith palace,
the principal residence of the family, has twice in the present century been
honoured by a visit from royalty, viz., in 1822, when George the Fourth came
to Scotland, and in September 1842, when Queen Victoria first arrived in
this country.
The
Manuscripts of his Grace the Duke of Buccleuch of Queensberrym K.G., K.T.
Preserved at Drumlanrig Castle
Upper Teviotdale and The Scotts of
Buccleuch
A Local and Family History by J. Rutherford Oliver (1887) |
