CARNEGIE,
a local surname, derived from the lands and barony of Carnegie in the
county of Forfar.
In the reign
of King David the Second, Walter Maule granted to John de Bonhard, a
charger of the lands of Carnegie, in the barony of Panmure and parish of
Carmylie, when the latter assumed, in consequence, the surname of
Carnegie.
The family of
Carnegie of that ilk became extinct in the direct line. The next
principal family of that name was Carnegie of Kinniard. The first of it
was Duthacus, a descendant of Carnegie of that ilk, who obtained a
charter from Robert duke of Albany, governor of Scotland, of half of the
lands of Kinniard, in Forfarshire, and the superiority.
From him
lineally descended Sir Robert Carnegie of Kinnaird, appointed one of the
senators of the College of Justice in 1547, and ambassador to France in
1551; of whom a notice is subjoined. he and his predecessors were said
to be cupbearers to the kings of Scotland, for which they were in use to
carry a cup of gold on the breast of their eagle to show their office.
His grandson,
Sir David, was created Lord Carnegie of Kinniard, 14th April,
1616, in which year he was constituted one of the lords of session. In
June 1633, he was elevated to the earldom of Southesk. [See SOUTHESK,
Earl of.] These honours were attainted, under James, the fifth earl, for
being engaged in the rebellion of 1715; but restored in 1855.
Sir John
Carnegie, the second son of David Carnegie of Panbride, designed of
Coluthie, and brother of David, first earl of Southesk, obtained from
his father the lands of Aithie, &c., in Forfarshire, and was elevated to
the peerage, 20th April, 1639, as Lord Lour or Lower, and
advanced 1st November, 1647, to the dignity of earl of Ethie.
He suffered for his fidelity to Charles the First, and after the
restoration his lordship, in 1662, got an exchange of his titles for
those of Baron Rosehill of Rosehill, and earl of Northesk. [See NORTHESK,
Earl of.] He died in 1667, at the age of about 88.
The seventh
earl of Northesk, who distinguished himself as a naval officer, will be
noticed in the article NORTHESK.
CARNEGIE, SIR ROBERT,
of Kinniard, a lawyer and statesman, the son of John de Carnegie, who
was killed at the battle of Flodden, was some time chamberlain of
Arbroath, and having attached himself to the regent Arran, was, July 4,
1547, appointed a lord of session; but on the condition that, until an
actual vacancy occurred, he should be entitled to no salary or
emolument. In 1548 he was sent to England to treat for the ransom of the
earl of Huntly, chancellor of Scotland, who had been taken prisoner at
the battle of Pinkie. Soon afterwards he was despatched on a mission to
France; and when there, was requested by the French king, Henry the
Second, to use his influence with the duke of Chatelherault, on his
return, for the resignation of the regency in favour of Mary of Guise,
the queen dowager. In 1551 we find him clerk to the treasurer of
Scotland, and one of the commissioners named to conclude a peace with
England. In 1554 and 1556 he was similarly employed. When the
Reformation took place, he at first attached himself to the queen
regent’s party, and was employed by her majesty in negociating with the
lords of the congregation. He afterwards joined the latter, and was sent
by them to the courts of England and France to explain and vindicate
their intentions. He died July 5, 1566. In the queen’s letter,
nominating his successor on the bench, he is described as a person “well
inclined to justice, and expert in matters concerning the common weill
of this reals.” He is supposed to have been the author of the work on
Scots law, cited in Balfour’s Practicks as Lib. Carneg.; or
Carnegie’s Book. By Margaret, his wife, daughter of Guthrie of Lunan, he
had, with other sons, David, one of the eight commissioners of the
Treasury, called Octavians, who, by his second wife, a daughter of Sir
David Wemyss of that ilk, had Sir David Carnegie, abovementioned, first
earl of Southesk.
CARNEGIE, WILLIAM,
seventh earl of Northesk. See NORTHESK, Earl of.
From
the Dictionary of National Biography...
CARNEGIE, Sir ROBERT (d. 1566), of
Kinnaird, judge and diplomatist, son of John Carnegie of Kinnaird, who
fell at Flodden (9 Sept. 1513), by Jane Vaus, was in 1547 nominated an
ordinary lord of session by the regent (the Earl of Arran), to whose
party he had attached himself. The appointment seems to have been made
in anticipation of the removal of Henry Balnaves [q. v.], then under
suspicion of complicity in the murder of Cardinal Beaton. In the autumn
of 1548 Carnegie was despatched to England to negotiate with the
protector for the ransom of the Earl of Huntly, the chancellor of
Scotland, who had been taken prisoner at the battle of Pinkie Cleugh in
the preceding year (10 Sept.) From London Carnegie proceeded to Blois,
where, with the bishop of Ross and Gavin Hamilton (abbot of Kilwynning),
he conducted the negotiations which resulted, in 1551, in the creation
of the regent duke of Chatelherault, with the understanding that he
should resign the regency into the hands of the queen-mother. In the
summer of 1551 he returned to Scotland, travelling through England under
letters of safe-conduct granted by the protector, and was employed in
negotiations relative to the settlement of the borders. On the accession
to the regency of Mary of Guise (1553), he became clerk to the treasurer
(thesaurar-clerk) at a salary of 26l. per annum. He was appointed (9
June of the same year) commissioner to enforce the observance of the
statutes relating to forestalling and regrating at the approaching fair
at Brechin, and on 18 Sept. was deputed, with Sir Robert Bellenden, to
represent Scotland in another negotiation for a settlement of the
border, as the result of which a treaty, the terms of which will be
found in the ‘Calendar of State Papers’ (Dom. Addenda, 1547–65, p. 430),
was concluded on 4 Dec. In 1557 another negotiation with the same object
was opened, Carnegie being again employed. The commissioners met at
Carlisle in the summer, but the negotiation was abruptly terminated by
the queen regent. Carnegie was employed in 1553 in another attempt to
settle the perennial border question. The precise date when he received
the honour of knighthood is uncertain, but it was probably about 1552–3.
The last meeting of the privy council which he attended was held on 1
Dec. 1565. He died on 5 July in the following year. He is described by
Knox as one of those ‘quha for faynting of the bretheris hairtis, and
drawing many to the Queneis factioun against thair natyve countrey have
declairit thameselfis ennemies to God and traytouris to thair commune
wealth’ (Hist. Reform. i. 400, Bannatyne Club). By his devotion to the
queen regent he profited largely, receiving from her several grants of
lands in Forfarshire. His wife was Margaret Guthrie, of the Guthries of
Lunan. He is supposed to be the author of a work on Scotch law, cited in
Balfour's ‘Practicks’ (ed. 1754), p. 60, by the title of ‘Lib. Carneg.’
[Lesley's Hist. Scotl. pp. 197, 220, 258; Reg. Counc. Scotl. i. 83, 141,
146, 150; Keith's Hist. Scotl. App. 115; Cal. State Papers (Scotl.
1509–1603), pp. 100, 105, 192 (Dom. Addenda, 1547–65), p. 430; Knox's
Works (Bann. Club), i. 400, iii. 410–11; Strype's Mem. iii. pt. ii. 419,
ad fin.; Reg. Mag. Sig. (1513–46), gg. 1465 2730; Brunton and Haig's
Senators of the College of Justice.]
CARNEGIE, WILLIAM, Earl of Northesk
(1758–1831), admiral, was the third son of George, sixth Earl of
Northesk, admiral of the white, who died in 1792. He entered the navy in
1771 on board the Albion, with Captain Barrington, served afterwards
with Captains Macbride in the Southampton and Stair Douglas in the
Squirrel, and on 7 Dec. 1777 was made lieutenant into the Apollo. He was
afterwards with Sir John Lockhart Ross in the Royal George, and in the
Sandwich with Sir George Rodney, by whom he was made commander after the
battle of 17 April 1780, though the commission was not confirmed till 10
Sept. He continued in the West Indies, commanding in succession the
Blast fireship and the St. Eustatius, hired ship, till on 7 April 1782
he was advanced to post rank. He afterwards had command of the
Enterprise frigate, which he brought home and paid off at the peace. By
the death of his elder brothers, in 1788 he became Lord Rosehill. In
1790 he commanded the Heroine for a few months, in the Spanish armament,
and in 1792 succeeded to the earldom on the death of his father. In 1793
he commanded the Beaulieu frigate, and afterwards the Andromeda, but
only for a short time. In 1796 he was appointed to the Monmouth of 64
guns, in the North Sea fleet, one of the ships engaged in the following
year in the mutiny at the Nore. Northesk was for some time detained on
board, a prisoner in his cabin; he was afterwards brought before the
committee of delegates on board the Sandwich, and employed by them to
lay their demands before the king, receiving from their president a
commission in the following terms: 'You are hereby authorised and
ordered to wait upon the king, wherever he may be, with the resolutions
of the committee of delegates, and are directed to return back with an
answer within fifty-four hours from the date hereof. 6 June, 3 p.m.'
Northesk accordingly carried the propositions of the mutineers to the
admiralty, and was taken by Lord Spencer to the king. The demands were
rejected, and a message to that effect was sent down to the revolted
seamen; but Northesk did not return, and shortly after the mutiny had
been quelled he resigned the command of the Monmouth. In 1800 he was
appointed to the Prince of 98 guns, in the Channel fleet, and commanded
her till the peace. On the renewal of the war he was appointed to the
Britannia of 100 guns, in the fleet off Brest under Admiral Cornwallis,
and continued in her, on the same station, after his promotion to flag
rank, 23 April 1804. In August 1805 he was detached under Sir Robert
Calder to reinforce the fleet off Cadiz, and on 21 Oct. commanded in the
third post in the battle of Trafalgar. The Britannia was the fourth ship
in the weather-line led by Nelson, and was thus early in the action,
continuing closely engaged till the end, and sustaining a loss of
fifty-two killed and wounded. Northesk's services on this occasion were
acknowledged by his being nominated a knight of the Bath, the
investiture taking place on 5 June 1806. He became vice-admiral 28 April
1808, and admiral 4 June 1814, but had no further service during the
war. In 1821 he was constituted rear-admiral of Great Britain; from
1827-1830 was commander-in-chief at Plymouth; and died, after a short
illness, on 28 May 1831. On 8 June he was buried in the crypt of St.
Paul's Cathedral, where a plain slab marks his grave, in the immediate
neighbourhood of Nelson's and Collingwood's. He sat in several
parliaments as a representative peer of Scotland. He married, 9 Dec.
1788, Mary, daughter of William Henry Ricketts, and niece of Lord St.
Vincent, and had by her a very numerous family. The eldest son, then
Lord Rosehill, was lost in the Blenheim with Sir Thomas Troubridge in
February 1807.
[Naval Chronicle, xv. 441, with a portrait; Ralfe's Nav. Biog. ii. 400;
Marshall's Roy. Nav. Biog. i. 198; Gent. Mag. (1831) vol. ci. pt. ii. p.
79.]
