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The Scottish Nation
Livingstone


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.


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