LIVINGSTONE,
a surname said to be of Hungarian origin, the progenitor of the
families of this name in Scotland being a gentleman of Hungary who
came to this country with Margaret, queen of Malcolm Canmore, about
1070. His descendant in the third degree, Livingus, who lived in the
reigns of King Alexander I., and his brother, King David I., called
a considerable estate in West Lothian, which he possessed,
Livingston, that is, the dwelling-place of Livingus. His son,
Thurstanus, a witness to the foundation charter of Holyrood-house in
1128, had two sons, Alexander and William. The elder, Alexander, the
first who assumed the name of Livingston, died in the end of the
reign of King Alexander II. His son, Sir William Livingston, who
acquired the lands of Gorgyn near Edinburgh, witnessed a charter of
Malcolm, earl of Lennox, in 1270. From William, the eldest of his
three sons, descended the Livingstons of Livingston, the last of
whom, Sir Bartholomew Livingston, was killed at the battle Flodden
in 1513, leaving three daughters, his coheiresses. The two younger
sons, Sir Archibald and Adam, swore fealty to Edward I. in 1296. Sir
Archibald’s grandson, Sir William Livingston, accompanied King David
II, in his expedition to England in 1346, and was taken prisoner at
the battle of Durham, 17th October of that year. He was
one of the four commissioners appointed by the Estates of Scotland,
17th January 1356-7, to treat with England for the ransom
of the king, and also for peace between the two nations. He had a
grant from David II. of the barony of Callendar, then in the crown
by the forfeiture of Patrick Callendar, whose only daughter and
heiress, Christian, he married. (See LINLITHGOW, earl of). Of two
sons, Patrick, the elder, one of the hostages for King David II. in
1357, predeceased him. the younger son, Sir William, had a son, Sir
John Livingstone of Callendar, killed at the battle of Homildon, 14th
September 1402, leaving four sons, viz., Sir Alexander, who
succeeded; Robert, ancestor of the Livingstones of Westquarter and
Kinniard; John, of the Livingstones of Bonton; and William, of the
viscounts of Kilsyth (see KILSYTH, viscount of). Sir James
Livingstone, baronet, son and heir of Sir John Livingstone of
Kinniard, was created by Charles II, earl of Newburgh (see NEWBURGH,
earl of).
Sir Alexander Livingstone of Callendar, the eldest son, the
celebrated guardian of James II. in his minority, was one of the
jury on the trial of Murdach, duke of Albany, in 1424. On the
assassination of James I. in 1437, he was appointed keeper of the
young king’s person. The rival minister, Sir William Crichton,
chancellor of the kingdom, retaining his majesty in the castle of
Edinburgh, the queen-mother had him conveyed, enclosed in a chest,
to Stirling, where she delivered him to his legal guardian,
Livingstone. He subsequently besieged Crichton in the castle of
Edinburgh, but a reconciliation took place between them. Afterwards
quarrelling with the queen, he imprisoned her, in 1439. By another
stratagem, Crichton regained possession of the king’s person, but by
the intercession of friends a lasting agreement was at length formed
between the two ministers, and the king was committed to the care of
Livingstone, who thus obtained the chief direction in the
government. All differences between him and the queen were likewise
settled by a solemn indenture dated 4th September 1439.
In 1440 the sixth earl of Douglas, his brother David, and his friend
Fleming of Cumbernauld, were, chiefly at his instigation, inveigled
into the castle of Edinburgh by Crichton, and beheaded there. In
1445, when the Douglases were at the height of their power, Sir
Alexander was denounced a rebel, and in the following year he was
imprisoned, but released on paying a large sum of money. However,
Alexander, the younger of his two sons, was tried and beheaded. He
was ancestor of the Livingstones of Dunipace, one of whom was named
in 1550 an extraordinary lord of session. On 4th July
1600, Jean Livingstone, Lady Warriston, daughter of John Livingstone
of Dunipace, was beheaded at the foot of the Canongate, Edinburgh,
for the murder of her husband, John Kincaid of Warriston near that
city. She was only 21 years of age, and is highly celebrated in
several popular ballads of the period for her graceful appearance
and uncommon beauty. Her father had great influence at court, but
she is said to have declined all efforts for saving her life. An
account of her behaviour in prison and at the place of execution,
was preserved among Wodrow’s MSS. in the Advocates’ Library, and is
reported on in Pitcairn’s Criminal Trials. In 1449 Sir Alexander
Livingstone was again received into favour, appointed justiciary of
Scotland, and sent ambassador to England. He died soon after.
His eldest son, Sir James Livingstone of Callendar, first Lord
Livingstone, had the appointment of captain o the castle of
Stirling, with the tuition of the young king, conferred on him by
his father. In 1453, he was sworn a privy councillor, appointed
master of the household, and great chamberlain of Scotland. He was
created a peer before 30th August 1458, under the title
of Lord Livingstone, and died about 1467. With two daughters he had
two sons. The elder son, James, second Lord Livingstone, died
without issue, when the title devolved on his nephew, John, son of
his brother Alexander. John, third lord, died before 1510.
His son, William, fourth lord, had a son, Alexander, fifth
lord, who in 1543 was chosen one of the four noblemen in whom was
committed the education of the young queen, Mary. He was appointed
an extraordinary lord of session, 5th march, 1544. (Haig
and Brunton’s Senators of the College of Justice, p. 81). The
safe-keeping of the queen’s person was intrusted to him and Lord
Erskine by the Estates, 24th April 1545, and in 1547,
after the disastrous battle of Pinkie, in which the master of
Livingstone was slain, these noblemen conveyed her for greater
security to the priory of Inchmahome, on the lake of Monteith,
whence, in the following year, they accompanied her to France. Lord
Livingstone died in that country about 1553. His eldest son having
had no issue, his second son, William, succeeded as sixth Lord
Livingstone. Thomas, the youngest son, was ancestor of the
Livingstones of Haining. His lordship’s youngest daughter, Mary, a
maid of honour to her majesty, was one of the queen’s Maries. She
married in 1567, John Semple of Beltries, when the queen gave them
conjunct liferent of Auchtermuchty and other lands. According to
John Knox, “shame hasted” the marriage, and on this occasion he said
Mary Livingstone the lusty married John Semple the dancer. (Knox’s
Historie, p. 345).
William, the sixth lord, adhered to Queen Mary, and fought for
her at the battle of Langside. He was one of the queen’s
commissioners at the conference at York in 1568, and retained her
confidence to the last. His is described by Bruce the Jesuit in 1589
as a “very catholic lord,” and it is certain that he favoured the
plots of the papists in that and the following year. He married
Agnes, second daughter of the third Lord Fleming, and died in 1592.
His eldest son, Alexander, seventh lord, when master of Livingstone,
accompanied the duke of Lennox to France, on his exile in December
1582. He was the first earl of Linlithgow. (See LINLITHGOW, earl
of.)
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The Livingstones of Westquarter and Bedlormie, the
representatives of the earls of Linlithgow and Callendar, are
descended from the Hon. Sir George Livingstone of Ogleface,
Linlithgowshire, fourth son of the sixth Lord Livingstone, and
younger brother of the first earl of Linlithgow. He was created a
baronet of Nova Scotia, 30th May, 1625. His
great-grandson, Sir Alexander Livingstone, fourth baronet, married
Susannah, only daughter and heiress of Patrick Walker of Bedlormie,
Linlithgowshire, and was designed of Craigenhall and Bedlormie. He
had one son, Sir Alexander Livingstone, fifth baronet. The latter
had seven sons and three daughters. George, the eldest son, who died
in 1729, without issue; Alexander, the second son, who died
unmarried in 1766; and William, the fourth son, designed of
Westquarter and Bedlormie, were, successively, sixth, seventh, and
eighth baronets. Robert, the fifth son, lost his right arm in battle
with the rebels in 1745, and had a son, Alexander, who succeeded his
uncle, Sir William, on his death, without issue, in 1769.
Sir Alexander, the ninth baronet, designed of that ilk,
Westquarter, and Bedlormie, in 1784 laid before Lord Kenyon, then
attorney-general, a case respecting his claim to the attainted
conjunct titles of earl of Linlithgow and earl of Callendar. He was
twice married. By his first wife he had, with one daughter, seven
sons, and by his second, two sons and one daughter. He died in 1795.
Two of his sons, George-Augustus and David, were killed in battle.
Sir Thomas, his third son, became the tenth baronet. He
entered the navy in 1782, and commanded the Diadem in the expedition
against Quilberon and Belleisle in 1800. In 1806-7 he was employed
in the Mediterranean. In 1848 he attained the rank of admiral of the
Blue. He was appointed keeper of the royal palace of Linlithgow and
of the castle of Blackness, by the king, in consideration of his
being the male heir and representative of the hereditary governors
of these places. He married in 1809 the daughter of Sir James
Stirling, baronet, and died April 1, 1853, without issue.
His brother, Thurstanus Livingstone, born in 1770 or 1772,
went to seam, as a common sailor, both in the merchant service and
in the navy, and was discharged in 1797, in consequence of his
wounds. Taking up his residence at Bethnal Green, London, he
married, the same year, Susannah Brown, a widow, who died in 1806.
Two years afterwards he married her sister, Catherine Ann Ticehurst,
also a widow. By the latter he had a son, Alexander, born in 1809,
who, on the death of his uncle in 1853, assumed the title of Sir
Alexander, as 11th baronet, and took possession of the
estates. The 10th baronet’s sister, the wife of Rev. John
Fenton, rector of Ousby, and vicar of Turpenhow, in Cumberland,
instituted two suits in the court of session, disputing Sir
Alexander’s legitimacy and his right to the succession, on the
ground that, according to the law of Scotland, the marriage of his
father with his deceased wife’s sister was not lawful. The court
held that the domicile of Thurstanus Livingstone, during both his
marriages, having been in England, the legitimacy of his son must be
decided by the laws of England. The case was appealed to the house
of lords, by Mr. John Thomas Fenton, Mrs. Fenton’s son, that lady
having died July 13, 1859, when their lordships reversed that
judgment, and remitted to the court of session to decide the
question according to the law of Scotland. The case again came
before the court of session January 18, 1841, when it was
unanimously decided that the marriage of Alexander’s parents was
incestuous and illegal, and giving decree for the pursuer. The
so-styled Sir Alexander Livingstone died at Edinburgh, January 20,
1859.
LIVINGSTONE, JOHN,
an eminent minister of the Church of Scotland, was born at
Monyabreck, or Kilsyth, Stirlingshire, January 21, 1603. His father
and grandfather, descended from the noble family of the same name,
were successively ministers of that parish. John studied at the
university of Glasgow, and was licensed in 1625. In 1627 he became
chaplain to the earl of Wigton at Cumbernauld. The celebrated
revival of religion at the Kirk of Shotts, in June 1630, is
considered to have been the effect of his impressive preaching. In
August of the same year he accepted of the charge of the parish of
Killinchie, in the north of Ireland, but, for non-conformity, he was
deposed and excommunicated by the bishop of Down, in whose diocese
his parish was situated. He was inducted minister of Stranaer in
July 1638. In 1640, as chaplain to the earl of Cassillis’ regiment,
he was present at the battle of Newburn near Newcastle, of which he
wrote an account. In 1648 he was translated to the parish of Ancrum
in Teviotdale. In April 1663, for refusing to take the oath of
allegiance he was banished from Scotland. Retiring to Rotterdam he
devoted the remainder of his days to the cultivation of theological
and biblical learning, and died August 9, 1672. He had prepared an
edition of the Old Testament, with a Latin translation and
explanatory notes, which has never been published. His ‘Remarkable
Observations upon the Lives of the most Eminent Ministers and
Professors in the Church of Scotland’ were printed with his Memoirs
in 1754.
