LOUDOUN,
a surname derived from Law-dun, a barony in Ayrshire, both
syllables meaning the same thing, namely “the hill,” the round
conical elevation in the south-west extremity of the parish being of
the class which the Scoto-Saxon called law, and the Scoto-Irish
dun. It is famous for two battles, one of them called the
battle of Loudonhill, fought in 1307, between Robert the Bruce and
some English troops under the earl of Pembroke, and the other,
fought near it in 1679, known as the battle of Drumclog. “Loudoun’s
bonny woods and braes” are the subject of one of Tannahill’s most
popular songs. In the parish of Loudoun are the ruins of Loudoun
castle, destroyed in the 15th century by the clan
Kennedy, headed by their chief, the earl of Cassillis. It was the
seat of the Loudons of Loudon, one of the oldest families in
Scotland. In the reign of David I. (1124-1153) the proprietor of the
lands and barony of Loudoun was named Lambin. During the reign of
William the Lion (1165-1214) James de Loudoun dominus de eodem,
obtained a charter of the same from Richard de Morville,
constable of the kingdom. Jacobo filio Lambin, also obtained
a charter from William de Morville, as Jacobo de Loudoun,
terrarum baroniae de Loudoun. His daughter, Margaret of Loudoun,
married Sir Reginald Crawford, high-sheriff of Ayr, and was the
grandmother of Sir William Wallace, the heroic defender of the
liberties of his country. In later times a branch of this old family
settled in Livonia, from which descended Field-marshal (in the
Austrian service) Gideon Ernest, Baron Landohn, born at Tootzen, in
Livonia, in 1716, died in Moravia, July 14, 1790, one of the
greatest generals of the 18th century.
_____
LOUDOUN, earl of,
a title in the Scottish peerage, conferred in 1633, on Sir John
Campbell, high-chancellor of Scotland, descended from Sir Duncan
Campbell, who married Susanna Crawford, heiress of Loudoun, in the
reign of Robert I. He was the son of Sir Donald Campbell, 2d son of
Sir Colin More Campbell of Lochaw, ancestor of the dukes of Argyle.
His wife, Susanna Crawford, was 5th in descent from Sir
Reginald Crawford, heritable sheriff of the county of Ayr, and
Margaret de Loudoun, daughter and heiress of James de Loudoun above
mentioned.
Sir John Campbell, first earl of Loudoun, was the eldest son
of Sir James Campbell of Lawers, of the family of Glenurchy. He was
knighted by King James VI., and in 1620 he married Margaret
Campbell, baroness of Loudoun, whose grandfather, Sir Hugh Campbell
of Loudoun, sheriff of Ayr, was sworn a privy councillor, and
created a lord of parliament by the title of Lord Campbell of
Loudoun, 30th June 1601. In consequence of this marriage
Sir John was styled Lord Loudoun. He was created earl of Loudoun,
and Baron Tarringean and Mauchline, by patent, dated 12th
May 1633, but in consequence of his opposition to the measures of
the court, the patent was, by a special order, stopped at the
chancery, and the title suspended till 1641. In 1637 he
distinguished himself by his active resistance to the ill-judged and
unconstitutional attempt of Charles I. to force episcopacy upon
Scotland. He was a member of the famous Glasgow Assembly of 1638, as
elder for the burgh of Irvine, and was selected as one of the
assessors to the moderator, when he displayed great learning and
zeal. In the following year he took the castle of Strathaven, and
those of Douglas and Tantallon, and garrisoned them for the
Convenanters. He was one of the commissioners from the Scots army
who settled the pacification of Berwick with Charles I. the same
year. Soon after he was, with the earl of Dunfermline, sent by the
Scots Estates to London to put the king in possession of the
proceedings in parliament, then recently prorogued, when they
returned to Edinburgh. On the 19th January 1640, he was
one of the commissioners sent by the committee of Estates a second
time to the court at London, when he was arrested, on a charge of
treason, by order of the king, on account of an intercepted letter,
signed by him and six other Scots noblemen, addressed to the king of
France, imploring his assistance. This letter seems to have filled
the court with great consternation, as it was mentioned in the
king’s speech from the throne, on the opening of the English
parliament, and read to the members. On being brought before the
English privy council, his lordship refused to give any account of
the letter except that it was never sent, and that he ought to be
questioned for it in Scotland and not in England. He was committed
to the Tower, where, after remaining some time, he was visited by
the marquis of Hamilton, through whose influence with the king he at
last obtained his liberty. After being introduced by the marquis at
court, and kissing the king’s hand, he returned to Scotland, and in
gratitude to Hamilton for having thus contributed to save his life,
he procured him the good will and esteem of the Covenanters.
In August of the same year he commanded the van of the foot of
the Scots army at the battle of Newburn, and was one of the
commissioners for the treaty of Ripon. On 15th July 1641
he presided at the opening of the Scots parliament. When the king
visited Scotland in the following month, he had his title of earl
allowed, with precedency from 1633, and was appointed
high-chancellor of Scotland, and first commissioner of the treasury,
with a yearly pension of £1,000 sterling. With the earls of
Lauderdale and Lanark, he was sent to treat with the king when a
prisoner in Carisbrook castle, Isle of Wight, in 1647, and on the 15th
February 1648 he laid before the committee of Estates the
concessions to which the king had acceded. On the meeting of the
Scots parliament on March 2d the earl was elected president. He at
first concurred in “the Engagement” for the king’s relief, but
withdrew his support from it when he found it opposed by the church,
and even submitted to a public rebuke and admonition, in the High
church of Edinburgh, for having at first approved of it. His
portrait and autograph are subjoined.
[portrait and autograph of earl of Loudoun]
After the defeat of the Scots army at Preston, and the advance
of a force under the earl of Lanark to the borders, the
Presbyterians of the west, to the number of 6,000, with the
Chancellor Loudoun and the earls of Eglinton and Cassillis at their
head, marched towards Edinburgh, to prevent any assistance being
given to the king. He was a principal promoter of the passing of the
act of Classes, by which all who were favourable to the Engagement
were excluded from offices of trust and from parliament. When the
marquis of Montrose was brought to the bar of the parliament house
to receive sentence, he was bitterly reviled by the Chancellor
Loudoun. After the defeat of Charles II. at Worcester in 1651, he
returned to the Highlands, and in 1653 joined the earl of Glencairn,
who then took up arms in the royal cause. He soon, however, left
that nobleman and retired into Athol. He and his son, Lord Mauchline,
were excepted out of Cromwell’s act of grace and pardon in 1654, by
which £400 a-year was settled out of his estates on his countess and
her heirs. He afterwards submitted to General Monk. At the
Restoration he was deprived of his office of chancellor, and fined
£12,000 Scots. He died at Edinburgh, 13th March 1663.
His son, James, second earl, lived abroad, and died at Leyden
in 1684. Hugh, third earl, his eldest son, by Lady Mary Montgomery,
second daughter of the seventh earl of Eglinton, was sworn a privy
councillor in April 1697. The following year he became a candidate
for the office of extraordinary lord of session, on which occasion
the earl of Argyle, in two letters, strongly recommended him to
Secretary Carstairs. In one of these, dated 27th
September that year, he says, “Pray, let not E. Melville’s
unreasonable pretending to the vacant gown make you slack as to E.
Louden, who, though a younger man, is an older, and a more noted
Presbyterian than he. Loudoun has it in his blood, and it is a
mettled young fellow, that those who recommend him will gain honour
by him. He has a deal of natural parts and sharpness, a good stock
of clergy, and, by being in business, he will daily improve.” He in
consequence obtained the appointment, and took his seat on the bench
7th February 1699. After the accession of Queen Anne, he
was, in 1703, sworn one of her privy council. In 1704, he was
appointed one of the commissioners of the treasury, and made a
knight of the Thistle. In the following year he was appointed joint
secretary of state for Scotland, and named one of the commissioners
for the Union. Having resigned his titles into the hands of Queen
Anne, she restored them to him and his heirs male, whom failing to
his heirs whatsoever, by patent, and a charter under the great seal,
dated 8th February 1707. The office of secretary having
been abolished, his lordship was appointed in May 1708, keeper of
the great seal of Scotland, by patent, during the queen’s pleasure,
with a pension of £2,000 per annum, besides the emoluments of the
office. This appointment he was deprived of in 1713, in consequence
of not complying with some of the measures of the Tory
administration.
On the accession of George I. in 1714, he was again sworn a
privy councillor, and in 1715 appointed lord-lieutenant of Ayrshire.
He served as a volunteer, under the duke of Argyle, at the battle of
Sheriffmuir, where he behaved with great gallantry. He was lord high
commissioner to the General Assembly in 1722, 1725, 1726, 1730, and
1731. In 1727 he had a pension of £2,000 per annum settled on him
for life, and was one of the sixteen Scots representative peers from
1707 till his death, which took place 20th November 1731.
His countess, Lady Margaret Dalrymple, only daughter of the first
earl of Stair, greatly improved the grounds around her residence at
Sorn castle in ayrshire, where she died 3d April 1777, in her
hundredth year.
Their only son, John, fourth earl, a distinguished military
officer, was one of the Scots representative peers for the long
period of 48 years. He was appointed governor of Stirling castle in
April 1741, and aide-de-camp to the king in July 1743. In 1745 he
raised a regiment of Highlanders for the service of government, of
which he was appointed colonel, and on the breaking out of the
rebellion of that year he joined Sir John Cope, under whom he acted
as adjutant-general. He was at the battle of Preston, after which he
went north, in the Saltash sloop of war, with arms, ammunition, and
money, and arrived at Invernesson the 14th October. By
the middle of the following month he had collected more than 2,000
men. To relieve Fort Augustus, which was blockaded by the Frasers,
under the master of Lovat, he left Inverness on the 6th
December with 600 men, and passing through Stratherrick during a
very severe frost, reached Fort Augustus without opposition. Having
supplied the garrison with everything for its defence, he returned
to Inverness on the 8th, and on the 10th
marched to Castle Downie, the seat of Lord Lovat, whom he prevailed
upon to go with him to Inverness, and to live there under his own
eye, until all the arms of the clan Fraser were delivered up. As
some delay took place in their doing so, Lord Loudoun placed
sentries at the door of the house where Lord Lovat resided,
intending to commit him to the castle of Inverness next morning, but
he escaped during the night.
In February 1746, Lord Loudoun formed the design of surprising
Prince Charles at Moy castle, the seat of the chief of the
Mackintoshes, which ended in the celebrated rout of Moy. Finding,
soon after, that the prince was advancing upon Inverness, his
lordship retired into Ross-shire, when first Lord Cromarty, and then
Lord George Murray, and subsequently the duke of Perth, were
despatched against him. In the meantime he had crossed the firth of
Dornoch into Sutherland, and upon reaching the head of that county,
he separated his army. Accompanied by the lord-president, Forbes of
Culloden, and the laird of Macleod, he marched to the sea-coast with
800 men, and embarked for the Isle of Skye. The dispersion of his
army was considered of such importance by charles that he
immediately sent an officer to France with the intelligence to his
father, the chevalier St. George.
In 1756, the earl was appointed captain-general and
governpr-in-chief of the province of Virginia, and on 20th
March of the same year he was constituted commander-in-chief of all
the British forces in America.
Great Britain declared war against France in May, and on the
earl’s arrival in New York on 23d July, he repaired immediately to
Albany, the seat of government of the state of New York, to take
command of the forces assembled there. In August the French made
themselves masters of Forts Oswego and Ontario. Having on 3d January
1757 laid an embargo on all outward bound ships, for the purpose of
concealing his plans as to the contemplated siege of Louisburn, and
afterwards wasted the time of the army at Halifax, instead of
proceeding to active operations, a clamour was raised against him at
home, and in the following December, he was recalled from America.
He was second in command, under Lord Tyrawley, of the British troops
sent ot Portugal, in February 1762, when spain declared war against
that country. He died 27th April 1782, in his 77th
year. At the time of his death he was colonel of the 3d regiment of
foot-guards, a general in the army, governor of the castle of
Edinburgh, a privy councillor, one of the Scots representative
peers, F.R.S., and the third field officer in the army. Although so
much occupied abroad, he paid great attention to the improvement of
the grounds around Loudoun castle in Ayrshire, which was one of the
first places in the west of Scotland where foreign trees were
planted. “John, earl of Loudoun,” says Dr. Walker, “formed at
Loudoun castle, the most extensive collection of willows that has
been made in this country, which he interspersed in his extensive
plantations. Wherever he went, during his long military services, he
sent home every valuable sort of tree that he met with. All the
willows he found cultivated in England, Ireland, Holland, Flanders,
and Germany, as also in America and Portugal, where he commanded,
were procured and sent to Loudoun.” As he died unmarried, the title
devolved on his cousin, James More Campbell, only son of the Hon.
Sir James Campbell of Lawers, third and youngest son of the second
earl of Loudoun.
Sir James, having early entered the army, served under the
duke of Marlborough. At the battle of Maiplaquet, 11th
September 1709, being then lieutenant-colonel of the Scots Greys, at
the head of a party of his men he attacked the French, and cut his
way through the midst of them, and then returned by the same way.
This sally is said to have greatly determined the victory on the
side of the allies. Being contrary to rule, however, he exposed
himself to censure by it, but Prince Eugene of Savoy, the
commander-in-chief, the day after the battle, returned him thanks in
the face of the army for exceeding his orders. He got the command of
the Scots Greys, 15th February 1717, and was appointed
one of the grooms of the bedchamber to George II. In 1727 he was
elected M.P. for Ayr, and in 1738 constituted governor of Edinburgh
castle. At the battle of Dettingen, 16th June 1743, his
courage and conduct were so conspicuous that George II. invested him
with the order of the Bath at the head of the army. At the battle of
Fontenoy, 30th April 1745, he commanded the British
horse, but was mortally wounded, one of his legs being taken off by
a cannon ball. Dying soon afterwards, he was burned at Brussels. He
married Lady Jean Boyle, eldest daughter of the first earl of
Glasgow, by his second wife, Jean, daughter and heiress of William
Mure of Rowallan, and had, with a daughter, one son, James Mure
Campbell of Lawers, who succeeded his cousin in the earldom.
James, fifth earl, assumed the name of Mure, on succeeding to
the estate of his grandmother, the countess of Glasgow. In 1754 he
was elected M.P. for Ayrshire, and attained the rank of
major-general in the army, 19th October 1781. He died 28th
April 1786, in his 61st year. He had married, 30th
April, 1777, Flora, eldest daughter of John Macleod of Rasay,
Inverness-shire, and by her had an only child, Flora Mure Campbell,
countess of Loudoun, in her own right, born in 1780, died in 1840.
She married, 12th July, 1804, Francis Rawdon Hastings,
earl of Moira in Ireland, then commander-in-chief of the forces in
Scotland, created marquis of Hastings, 7th December 1816,
and, with three daughters, had a son, George Augustus Francis,
second marquis of Hastings and sixth earl of Loudoun. Of the
amiable, accomplished, and unfortunate Lady Flora Hastings, the
eldest daughter, a memoir is given earlier. The second marquis of
Hastings had, by his marchioness, Barbara Yelverton, Baroness Grey
de Ruthyn, two sons and four daughters. Paulyn Reginald Serio, third
marquis of Hastings, and seventh earl of Loudoun, an officer in the
army, was drowned at Liverpool, 17th January 1851, in his
19th year. He was succeeded by his only brother, Henry
Weysford Charles Plantagenet, fourth marquis of Hastings and eighth
earl of Loudoun, born 22d July 1842.
