LOTHIAN,
a surname derived from the district of that name lying on the south
side of the Firth of Forth, the origin and meaning of which are
unknown. Chalmers (Caledonia, vol. i. p. 258) thinks that the
name was imposed by the Gothic people who took possession of the
country on the withdrawal of the Romans. In old charters it is
written Lawdonia, and sometimes Laodenia. Buchanan calls it in Latin
Lothiana, and says that it was so named from Lothus, a king of the
Picts, but no such name appears in the Pictish Chronicle as that of
one of the Pictish kings. In the Teutonic language of the German
jurists, says Chalmers, Lot-ting, Lothing, or Lodding,
signifies a special jurisdiction on the marches, and in a note he
states that in Orkney the senate or head court was called in the
ancient language of the country Lawting. This is more likely to have
been the origin of the name than any other that has been hazarded.
_____
LOTHIAN, earl of
(1606), and marquis of (1701), a title in the Scottish peerage
possessed by the noble family of Kerr of Fernihirst, descended from
Mark Kerr, second son of Sir Andrew Kerr of Cessford. In 1546 he
became abbot of Newbottle, now Newbattle, in the eastern division of
the county of Edinburgh, and renouncing popery in 1560, he
subsequently held his benefice under the title of commendator. He
obtained the vicarage of Linton in Peebles-shire, 26th
March 1564, and was one of the lords who met on Queen Mary’s side at
Hamilton in June 1567. His portrait is subjoined:
[portrait of Mark Kerr]
Nominated one of the extraordinary lords of session 20th
April 1569, he, the Lord Boyd, and the justice-clerk, were, by one
of the conditions of the pacification of Perth, concluded in
February 1573, “appointed sole judges on the south syd of Forth, in
all actions for restitution of goods spulziet in the recent
troubles.” (Hist. of King James Sext, p. 132). He appears to
have sided with the earls of Athol and Agryle against Morton in
1578, and in 1581 he obtained a ratification by parliament of his
commendatorship. In the following year, after the Raid of Ruthven,
he was employed by the duke of Lennox to propose terms to the lords
conspirators, but was unsuccessful. He died in 1584. He had four
sons and a daughter. George, the third son, is mentioned by
Robertson, as an emissary from the Catholic noblemen to the court of
Spain in 1592.
Mark, the eldest son, first earl of Lothian, was appointed
master of requests, 20th March 1577, which office was
confirmed to him in 1581. He had a reversion of the commendatorship
of Newbottle abbey from Queen Mary, and, on the death of his father,
it was ratified to him by letters under the great seal, 24th
August, 1584. He was appointed one of the extraordinary lords of
session in his father’s place, 12th November of the same
year. He had the lands of Newbottle erected into a barony by
charter, 28th July 1587, and the baronies of
Prestongrange and Newbottle being united into the lordship of
Newbottle, he was created a lord of parliament, 15th
October 1591. He was one of the commissioners for holding the
parliament in 1597, and, the same year, was appointed
collector-general of a tax of £200,000, then granted to King James
VI. He was named vice-chancellor, in the absence of the earl of
Dunfermline, 9th October 1604, and was created earl of
Lothian, by patent, dated at Whitehall, 10th February
1606, to him and the heirs male of his body. He died 8th
April 1609. In Douglas’ Peerage, it is stated that he had four sons
and seven daughters, but Scotstarvet (p. 104) says that he had
thirty-one children by his wife, Margaret Maxwell, daughter of Lord
Harris. He adds that her ladyship was addicted to the black art, and
that this at last proved fatal to the earl. “That lady thereafter
being vexed with a cancer in her breast, implored the help of a
notable warlock by a byname called Playfair, who condescended to
heal her, but with condition, that the sore should fall on them she
loved best, whereunto she agreeing did convalesce, but the earl her
husband found the boil in his throat, of which he died shortly
thereafter.” His third daughter, Lady Margaret Kerr, whose first
husband was the seventh Lord Yester, was the founder of Lady
Yester’s church at Edinburgh. She died 15th March 1647,
aged 75.
Robert, second earl, appointed master of requests, 8th
April 1606, had, by his countess, Lady Annabella Campbell, second
daughter of the seventh earl of Argyle, two daughters, and being
without male issue, he made over his estates and titles, with the
king’s approbation, to the elder of them, Lady Anne Kerr, and the
heirs of her body. She accordingly succeeded thereto at his death,
15th July 1624. His next brother, however, Sir William
Kerr of Blackhope, assumed the title of earl of Lothian, but was
interdicted from using it by the lords of council, 8th
March 1632. Anne, countess of Lothian, married William, eldest son
of Robert Kerr, first earl of Ancrum, and thus carried the title
into the house of Fernihirst.
The first of that house, Ralph Kerr, settling in Teviotdale
about 1330, obtained lands on the water of Jed, of which the earls
of Douglas were superiors, and called them Kershaugh. He died about
1350. His grandson, Andrew Kerr of Kershaugh, was cupbearer to King
Robert II. Andrew Kerr of Kershaugh, the grandson of the latter,
accompanied the earl of Douglas to Rome in 1450, and is particularly
described in a passport from the king of England. The latter’s
great-grandson built the castle of Fernihirst, in the middle of
Jedburgh forest, and is designed of Fernihirst in the records of
parliament, 1476.
His eldest son, Sir Andrew Kerr of Fernihirst, rendered
himself remarkable by his border exploits against England in the
reigns of James IV. and V. His castle of Fernihirst was besieged by
the earl of Surrey and Lord Dacre in 1523, and after a gallant
defence, surrendered 24th September of that year. At the
time that James V. was little better than a captive in the hands of
the Douglases, a summons of treason was raised against him for not
attending the earl of Angus, lieutenant and warden of the marches,
and for engaging in factions against his majesty. He appeared
personally in presence of the king and Estates in parliament, 20th
July 1526, when he was declared innocent of all the points laid to
his charge. He was guardian of the middle marches, and one of the
commissioners to treat of a peace with England in 1528. In 1542 he
obtained the hereditary office of bailie of Jedburgh forest, and
died in 1545.
His second son and successor, Sir John Kerr of Fernihirst,
appointed warden of the middle marches in 1548, was knighted by the
regent Arran (duke of Chatelherault) for his services in repelling
the incursions of the English on the borders. In 1549, after a
severe struggle, he retook his castle of Fernihirst, with the aid of
the French troops under D’Esse, then stationed in Jedburgh. He and
his kinsman, William Kerr of Cessford, had a letter of remission
under the great seal, for being art and part in the murder of Sir
Walter Scott of Branxholm, knight, in October 1552. He died in July
1562.
The eldest of his three sons, Sir Thomas Kerr of Fernihirst,
distinguished himself by his adherence to Queen Mary, and on her
account suffered, at different periods, fourteen years’ banishment.
In October 1565 he attended the queen and Darnley to Dumfries, to
assist in quelling an insurrection of the nobles at the time of the
Roundabout Raid. On this occasion they commanded him to raise the
royal standard at the head of his followers, and the queen placed
herself under his immediate protection. On Mary’s escape from
Lochleven in May 1568, he joined her standard at Hamilton. In
January 1570, the day after the murder of the regent Moray, he and
Sir Walter Scott of Buccleuch swept over the borders at the head of
their vassals, with fire and sword, in the hope of kindling between
the two countries a war that might prove advantageous to the
interests of the captive queen Mary. By way of retaliation, the earl
of Sussex and Lord Hunsdon, in April of the same year, entered
Scotland, and after ravaging the neighbouring country, demolished
the castle of Fernihirst. The castle was not rebuilt till 1598. In
September 1571 Sir Thomas Kerr was one of those who were engaged in
the Raid of Stirling when the regent Lennox was killed. He joined
his father-in-law, the chivalrous Kirkcaldy of Grange, in the
defence of Edinburgh castle. He had removed to that fortress his
family charter chest, and on its surrender in 1573, it was seized by
the regent Morton, and never recovered. He afterwards sought refuge
on the continent, but in 1579 was allowed by King James VI. to
return to Scotland, and in 1581 he was restored to the possession of
his whole estates, which had been forfeited. Soon after he again
went into exile, but on 26th November, 1583, he obtained
a full remission from his majesty, under the great seal. In
Midsummer 1585 he and Sir John Foster, the English warden of the
marches, met, according to the custom of the borders, when a fray
took place, in which Sir Francis Russell, son of the earl of
Bedford, was killed. To appease Queen Elizabeth, Sir Thomas Kerr was
committed to ward in Aberdeen, where he died in 1586. By his first
wife, Janet, daughter of Sir William Kirkcaldy of Grange, governor
of the castle of Edinburgh, he had, with two daughters, a son, Sir
Andrew Kerr, and by his second wife, Janet, sister of Sir Walter
Scott of Buccleuch, one daughter and three sons. The latter were,
Sir James Kerr of Crailing, who succeeded his brother; Thomas, on
whom his father bestowed the lands of Oxenham; and Robert, the
infamous favourite of King James, known in English history as Carr,
earl of Somerset. He was first a page to the king, whom he attended
to England, and at his coronation was invested with the order of the
Bath. Subsequently he went to France, where he spend four years, and
in 1607 returned to the English court. At a tilting match, Richard
Lord Dingwall made choice of him to present his shield and device to
the king, but while dismounting from his horse, he was thrown, and
his leg broken. By the king’s orders he was lodged in the court, and
his majesty visited him often during his confinement. On his
recovery he was appointed a gentleman of the bedchamber, and became
the king’s principal favourite. He was created viscount of
Rochester, 25th March 1612, and in May following
installed knight of the Garter. In 1613 he was constituted
high-treasurer of Scotland, and on 3d November of the same year
created earl of Somerset and baron of Brancepath. He was also made
chamberlain of the household, and sworn a privy councillor. He
married, in the chapel of Whitehall, in the presence of the king and
queen, 26th December 1613, Lady Frances Howard, third
daughter of the first earl of Suffolk, the divorced wife of Robert
earl of Essex. He and his countess were tried and condemned for the
murder of Sir Thomas Overbury, 24th May 1616. Sir Thomas
had ventured to dissuade the earl from marrying the divorced
countess, and through their contrivance he was sent to the Tower,
where he was poisoned. Somerset and his guilty wife, after a
confinement in the Tower till January 1622, were ultimately pardoned
in 1624. The earl died at London in July 1645, when his titles
became extinct. His only child, Lady Anne Carr, married the first
duke of Bedford, and was the mother of Lord Russell.
Sir Andrew Kerr, the eldest son of Sir Thomas, obtained in
March 1587, from James VI., a grant of the bailiary of the lands and
baronies of Jedburgh Abbey, and in 1591 he was appointed one of the
gentlemen of the king’s bedchamber. He was created a peer by the
title of Lord Jedburgh, by patent, dated at Newmarket 2d February
1622, to him and his heirs male and successors in the family of
Fernihirst, bearing the name and arms of Kerr. He died in 1631,
without surviving issue. His only son, Sir Andrew Kerr, master of
Jedburgh, was in 1618 appointed captain of the king’s guard, and
sworn a privy councillor. On 8th November 1628 he was
constituted one of the extraordinary lords of session, and died 20th
December following, without issue. His wife was the relict of Lord
Yester, already mentioned as the foundress of Lady Yester’s church
at Edinburgh.
On his brother’s death, Sir James Kerr of Crailing became
second Lord Jedburgh, but did not assume the title. He died in 1645.
His son, Robert, third Lord Jedburgh, obtained from King Charles II.
a confirmation of that peerage to him and the heirs male of his
body, whom failing, to William, master of Newbottle, son of the
marquis of Lothian, and his nearest lawful male heirs, by patent
dated 11th July 1670. He died 4th August 1692,
without issue, whereby the title of Lord Jedburgh devolved on
William Lord Newbottle, who sat and voted as such in parliament. The
representation of the family in the male line came to Robert, earl
of Lothian, descended from Robert Kerr of Ancrum, third son of Sir
Andrew Kerr of Fernihirst, the famous border chieftain. Robert’s
son, William Kerr of Ancrum, was assassinated by Robert Kerr,
younger of Cessford, in 1590, when the disputes about the seniority
of the families of Fernihirst and Cessford ran so high. He had two
sons, Sir Robert, first earl of Ancrum, a memoir of whom has been
given earlier, under the name of KERR, SIR ROBERT; and William of
Lintoun, groom of the bedchamber to James VI. and Charles I., who,
for his signal services on the borders, received from the former a
pension of £1,000 a-year for life.
Lord Ancrum’s eldest son, William, married Ann, countess of
Lothian in her own right, and with her he got the lordship of
Newbottle. The account of the death of her father, the second earl
of Lothian, is thus given by Calderwood: “Upon Satterday, the 6th
of Marche, (1624) Sir Robert Ker, Earle of Lothian, went up earlie
in the morning to a chamber in the Place of Newbottle, pretending he
was gone to lay accounts and write missives, and commandit that none
come toward him for an houre. He barreth the chamber doore, and
cutted his owne throat with a knife, efter he had given himself
sundrie wounds with his dagger. Some imputed this desperate course
to the great debtts which were lying on his hands, others to
consulting with magicians and witches.” (Hist. of Kirk of
Scotland, vol. vii. p. 596.) The countess’ husband, William
Kerr, was created third earl of Lothian 31st October
1631. In 1638 he joined the Covenanters, and after the pacification
of Berwick in the following year, he waited on the king at that
place. In 1640 he was in the Scottish army that invaded England, and
after defeating the royalists at Newburn, took possession of
Newcastle, of which place he was appointed governor. In 1641 he was
one of the four commissioners of the treasury. In 1642 he had the
command of a regiment in the army sent to quell the rebellion in
Ireland. In 1643 he was sent from Scotland by the privy council,
with the approbation of Charles I., to make some propositions to the
court of France, relative to certain privileges of the Scottish
nation. On his return he repaired to the king at Oxford, where he
was detained by his majesty’s order, under suspicion of treachery,
and being committed close prisoner to Bristol castle, he remained
there several months. In 1644 he and the marquis of Argyle commanded
the forces sent against the marquis of Montrose, who was obliged to
retreat. On delivering up his commission to the committee of
Estates, Lord Lothian received an act of approbation of his
services. He was president of the committee despatched by parliament
to the king in December 1646, with their last propositions, which
were refused. He protested against the “Engagement” in 1648, and
when it was declared unlawful by parliament in January 1649, his
lordship was appointed secretary of state, in room of the earl of
Lanark, deprived by the act of classes. He was one of the
commissioners sent to remonstrate in name of the kingdom of
Scotland, with the parliament of England, against using any violence
or indignity upon the person of the king, when he was put under
arrest, and sent with a guard to Gravesend, to be shipped to
Scotland. On his return he received the thanks of the Scots Estates
for his conduct on this occasion. With the earl of Cassillis, he was
despatched to Breda in 1649, to invite King Charles II. to Scotland.
He died in 1675.
His eldest son, Robert, fourth earl, served with distinction,
as a volunteer, in the Dutch war in 1673. Sworn a privy councillor 4th
January 1686, after the Revolution, which he heartily supported, he
was a privy councillor to King William. He was justice-general, and
lord high commissioner to the General Assembly of the church of
Scotland in 1692. He was created marquis of Lothian, by patent dated
at Kensington, 23d June 1701, and died 15th February
1703. He had five sons and five daughters. His second son, Lord
Charles Kerr, was appointed director of the chancery in 1703. Lord
Robert, the third son, was an officer in the army. Lord Mark, the
fourth son, a distinguished officer, was wounded in the arm at the
battle of Almanza, 25th April 1707, and acted as
brigadier-general at the capture of Vigo. He was appointed governor
of Guernsey in 1740, and of the castle of Edinburgh 30th
January 1745. He ranked as general in the army from 1743, and died
2d February 1752. Punctilious in points of honour, and somewhat
frivolous in manner, he fought several duels, sometimes on very
trivial occasions.
William, second marquis of Lothian, the eldest son, succeeded
to the title of Lord Jedburgh in 1692, and sat in the Scots
parliament as such. He was invested with the order of the Thistle in
1705. Active in bringing about the Union between the two kingdoms,
he voted for it on every occasion. In 1708 he became
lieutenant-general in the army In 1715 he was chosen one of the
sixteen Scots representative peers, and appointed major-general on
the staff in Scotland. He died at London 28th February
1722, in his 61st year, and was buried in Westminster
abbey. He married his cousin-german, Lady Jean Campbell, daughter of
Archibald earl of Argyle beheaded in 1685, sister of the first duke
of Argyle.
His only son, William, third marquis, voted as Lord Jedburgh,
at the election of Scots representative peers in 1712. After
succeeding to the family titles, he was elected one of the sixteen
Scots representative peers, 19th February 1731, and four
times re-elected – the last time in 1754. In 1734 he became a knight
of the Thistle, and was lord-high-commissioner to the church of
Scotland from 1732 to 1738, both inclusive. In 1739 he was appointed
lord-clerk-register of Scotland, an office which he resigned in
1756. He died 28th July 1767. He had, with one daughter,
two sons. Lord Robert Kerr, the second son, a youth of great
promise, captain of the grenadier company of Barrel’s foot (the 4th
regiment), was the only person of distinction killed on the side of
the government, at the battle of Culloden, 16th April
1746. He fell, covered with wounds, at the head of his company, when
the rebels attacked his regiment.
The elder son, William Henry, fourth marquis, a captain in the
first regiment of foot-guards in 1741, acted as aide-de-camp to the
duke of Cumberland at the battle of Fontenoy, 30th April
1745, and was severely wounded with a musket-ball in the head. As
lieutenant-colonel of the 11th dragoons he commanded
three squadrons of cavalry on the left wing at the battle of
Culloden. At this time he bore the title of earl of Ancrum, which he
assumed on his marriage, having been previously designed Lord
Jedburgh. He had subsequently, till the following August, the
command of the forces at Aberdeen and on the east coast of Scotland.
In December 1746 he accompanied the duke of Cumberland to the
Continent. In 1752 he succeeded his brave grand-uncle, Lord Mark
Kerr, as colonel of the 11th dragoons. He served as
lieutenant-general under the duke of Cumberland in his expedition to
the coast of France in 1758, and attained to the full rank of
general in the army in 1770. Elected M.P. for Richmond in 1747, he
was re-chosen at the general elections of 1754 and 1761, but
resigned his seat in 1763. After succeeding as marquis of Lothian,
he was elected one of the sixteen Scots representative peers, 26th
October 1768, and the same day was invested with the order of the
Thistle at St. James’. He died 12th April 1775, in the 65th
year of his age. He married, in 1735, Lady Caroline D’Arcy, only
daughter of Robert, earl of Holdernesse, and great-granddaughter of
the celebrated duke of Schomberg, who fell at the battle of the
Boyne in 1690, and of Charles Louis, elector palatine, and, with two
daughters, had a son, William John, fifth marquis. The latter, a
general in the army, was invested with the order of the Thistle, 11th
October, 1776, the year after his succession to the family honours.
He was one of the Scots representative peers, and having, on the
important question of the regency, on George the Third’s first
illness, voted for the right of the prince of Wales, and signed the
protest to that effect, in December 1788, he was, on the king’s
recovery, deprived of the colonelcy of the first regiment of
life-guards, which occasioned a discussion in the House of Commons,
17th March 1789. He died in 1815.
His eldest son, William, 6th marquis, K.T.,
lord-lieutenant of Mid Lothian and Roxburghshire, was created a peer
of the United Kingdom, July 17, 1821, as Baron Kerr of Kershaugh,
county of Roxburgh. He was twice married, and had issue by both
marriages. He died April 27, 1824.
His eldest son, John William Robert, 7th marquis,
lord-lieutenant of Roxburghshire, and colonel of Edinburgh militia,
married July 19, 1831, only daughter of Earl Talbot; issue 5 sons
and 2 daughters, and died Nov. 14, 1841.
William Schomberg Robert, his eldest son, 8th
marquis, born Aug. 12, 1832, and educated at Christ church, Oxford,
where he was second class in classics in 1852, was appointed captain
of the Edinburgh militia in 1853. He married in 1857 Lady Constance
Talbot, daughter of earl of Shrewsbury.
LOTHIAN, WILLIAM, D.D.,
a divine and historian, the son of a surgeon in Edinburgh, was born
there, Nov. 5, 1740. After studying at the university of his native
place, he was licensed to preach in October 1762, and ordained one
of the ministers of the Canongate in August 1764. He was the author
of a ‘History of the United Provinces of the Netherlands,’ published
in 1780. Previous to this publication the university of Edinburgh
had conferred on him the degree of D.D. He died Dec. 17, 1783. Two
Sermons by Dr. Lothian are printed in the ‘Scottish Preacher,’
Edinburgh, 1776.
