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THE GRAHAMS OF ESK,
NETHERBY, and
NORTON-CONYERS, the most
important of the minor branches of the family of Graham, are
descended from Sir John Graham of
Kilbride, near Dunblane, second son of Malise,
first Earl of Strathern. On account of his distinguished courage
and daring exploits, he was commonly surnamed ‘John with the
Bright Sword.’ Having fallen into disfavour at Court, probably on
account of some of the sanguinary feuds of his day, Sir John
retired, with a considerable number of his kinsmen and clan, to
the Borders, in the reign of Henry IV., and settled in ‘the
Debateable Land‘—a strip of territory on the banks of the river
Esk, near the Solway Firth—so called because it was claimed both
by Scotland and England. ‘They were all stark moss-troopers,’ says
Mr. Sandford, ‘and arrant thieves; both to England and Scotland
outlawed; yet sometimes connived at, because they gave
intelligence forth of Scotland, and would raise four hundred horse
at any time upon a raid of the English into Scotland.’ A saying is
recorded of a mother to her son (which is now become proverbial),
‘Ride, Rowley, hough’s
i‘
the pot;’ that is, the
last piece of beef was in the pot, and therefore it was high time
for him to go and fetch more. Sir Walter Scott says that this
fierce and hardy race—
‘Whoever lost,
were sure to win;
They sought the beeves that made their broth,
In Scotland and in England both.’
They plundered both
countries with impunity, for as the wardens of both accounted them
the proper subjects of their own sovereign, neither would demand
redress of their ravages from the officer of the other kingdom,
which would have been an acknowledgment of his jurisdiction over
them, and they could not agree to unite in punishing their
outrages.
On the transference
of the Court to London, at the union of the Crowns, the
freebooters renewed their plundering raids more extensively than
ever, and King James was constrained to issue a Commission for the
settlement of the Borders. One of the first steps taken by the
Commissioners was to deal with the unruly and irreclaimable
Grahams. Finding themselves at last in the grasp of the law, they
sent a petition to the King, setting forth ‘that they, and others
inhabiting within the bounds of Eske and Leven, being the borders
of the realme of England against Scotland, are men brought up in
ignorance, and not having had meanes to learne their due obedience
to God, and your most excellent Majestie, of late, and immediately
after the death of the Queen’s most excellent Majestie, your
Majestie’s late dear sister, did disorderly and tumultuously
assemble ourselves with all the warlike force and power that they
could make, and being so disorderlie assembled, did invade the
inlande part of the easte parte of the county of Cumberland, and
spoiled many of your subjects of England with fire, sword,
robbery, and reaving of their goods, and murthering and taking
prisoners the persons of the same, which are misdemeanour; albeit
we cannot excuse our ignorance, for that by the lawes of God we do
knowe that all rebelling, reaving, and murthers are altogether
forbidden, yet so it is, that some among us of evil and corrupt
judgment did persuade us, that until your Majestie was a crowned
kinge within the realme of Englande, that the lawe of the same
kingdome did cease and was of no force, and that all actes and
offences whatsoever done and committed in the meane tyme, were not
by the common justice of this realme punishable by force, of the
which malitious error put into our heads, as deceived men, and
believing over reddy that grosse untruth, we did most
injudiciously run upon your Majestie’s inland subjectis, and did
them many wronges, both by fyer, sword, and taking there goodes,
in such sort as before we have acknowledged.’
The admission that
they imagined that during the interval between the death of
Elizabeth and the coronation of James the country was in a lawless
state, and every, man was entitled to do ‘what was right in his
own eyes,’ is exceedingly naďve and significant.
After professing
their sorrow for their misdeeds, they beseech his Majesty that he
will be pleased ‘now at our humble suit to grant unto us the
saving of our lives, which now is in your highnesse by the justice
of your lawes, to take from us at your highnesse good pleasure,
and that your Majestie will be pleased to relegate and banish us
(as a tumultuous collony) into some other parte of your kingdome,
there to spend the residue of our miserable and sorrowful dayes in
lamenting and sorrowing for our offences.’
The Commissioners
evidently felt that it was hopeless to attempt the reformation of
these hereditary reivers so long as they continued in their native
haunts. They therefore resolved to try the effect of sending a
large detachment of them out of the country and exposing them to
new and more healthy influences and motives abroad.
On the 17th of May,
1605, the Privy Council wrote ‘that his Majesty having spared
their lives, which otherwise were forfeited through their crimes,
his clemency further appeared in that he is pleased to dispose of
them as may be greatly for their good, and in such sorte as they
shall be in no worse condition than his Majesty’s good subjects
that were no offenders, being as they are appointed to be sent to
serve in the garrisons and cautionary towns of Flushing and Brill,
places where many honest men desire to be maintained in service.’
A copy is given of
’the names of Grames which are to be sent away.’ Some of the names
are accompanied by the sobriquets by which they were
familiarly known, such as ‘Richard Grame,’ alias ‘Jocks Ritchie;’
‘John Grame,’ alias ‘All our Kaines;‘ ‘Richard Grame,’ alias ‘Lang
Ritchie;’ ‘Andrew Grame of Sarkeyde,’ alias ‘Little Andrew;’
‘Richard Grame,’ alias ‘Richie of Galloway.’ The custom of using
by-names was, indeed, universal among the Border
freebooters at this period, and most of them were better known by
their sobriquets than by their own proper names.
The list included
the name of Richard Graham, son of Walter Grame, of Netherby; and
it would appear that the Scottish Commissioners had proposed its
omission at their first meeting; for, on 17th April, 1605, the
English Commissioners wrote to them from Carlisle stating that the
omission of the name ‘Richard Grayme, is so ill taken that we
shall be taxed of partiallyty;’ and asking the consent of their
Scottish brethren that ‘his name may be added to the rest as
before yt was.’ The Scottish Commissioners next day expressed
their concurrence in this step; but a subsequent effort on behalf
of Richard was made by the Earl of Montrose, who wrote from
Holyrood House on the 25th of June, 1605, entreating the
Commissioners to permit young Graham to remain with him, and
offering to be ‘answerable for him, both to his Majestie, unto the
Councell, and to your worships.’ lt is evident that Richard Graham
must have been notorious for his turbulence and reiving habits,
for, notwithstanding his position in society, and the powerful
influence exerted on his behalf, the Commissioners adhered to
their decision that he must accompany the other Grahams to
Flushing on the 6th of July. But they complied with his request to
give him a letter of commendation to the governor of that place,
setting forth that the bearer was son to Walter of Netherby, the
chief of all the Graemes dwelling betwixt Leven and Sark, and that
he, ‘mynding to show his forwardness in his Majestie’s service,
hath desyred us to give testimony of his birth and place, and that
upon his due desert he may receive such favour as to his dimerrit
shall appertyne, which we thinkeing reasonable have thereunto
condescended, as also that for his better encouragement to go
forward to do his highnesse service, we have entreated the
conductor of the rest to place him as auncient of that company.’
The Commissioners
appear to have had some difficulty in making up the required
number of compulsory emigrants, but it was at last completed. The
first batch, of fifty, was sent to Brill, and the second, of
seventy-two, to Flushing.
Before three weeks
had elapsed, however, several of the expatriated Grahams began to
appear in their former haunts on the Border, to the great disgust
of the Commissioners. Some of them had procured licenses from
their officers to come home for two months; others had returned
without any license at all, among whom was Richard of Netherby. On
the 23rd of October, 1605, Sir Wilfrid Lawson wrote to the Earl of
Cumberland, informing him that, in addition to the Grahams already
reported to him as having returned ‘with license or without,’
‘there are still more coming daily, which is greatly to the
dislyke of the better and truer sorte of his Majestie’s subjects
heare; and it is lyke, unless there be some order schortly taken
as well to stay those not yet come, as to send away, or otherwise
to take some severe course, with those already come without
lycence, that they will all be schortly at home again.’
The Privy Council,
in the meantime, had informed the Commissioners, on the 19th of
October, that they ‘have taken order with the Viscount Lisle,
Gouvernour of Flushing, that none, from henceforth, shall have any
passes, nor be allowed to come over without speciall lycense from
his Majestie, or of us of his Privy Counsell.’ As for those who
had already come over without license, it was his Majesty’s
pleasure that they were presently to be proceeded with according
to justice, and be kept safe in prison, until his Majesty be made
further acquainted with the matter. These restrictions, however,
failed to compel the Grahams to remain in Flushing. They, no
doubt, preferred roaming at will over the moors and among the
glens and mountains of their native land, to being cooped up in a
Dutch garrison town. The Privy Council were made aware, by the
14th of November, 1605, that of the seventy-two Grahams sent to
Flushing, only fourteen remained there, the rest having returned
home. It had therefore become necessary to adopt some more
stringent measures to root them out of their hereditary haunts,
and accordingly a large number of the clan, along with a body of
Armstrongs and Elliots, were transported to the north of Ireland,
and their return prohibited under pain of death. By dint of energy
and perseverance, these stalwart freebooters prospered greatly in
that country, and their descendants at the present day form the
backbone of the industry of Ulster.
While the clan were
thus disposed of, their chiefs prospered as regards both rank and
possessions. Richard Graham, who purchased the estate of Netherby
and the barony of Liddell from the Earl of Cumberland, was created
a baronet, in 1629, by the style of Sir Richard Graham of Esk. He
fought under the royal banner at the battle of Edgehill, and was
so severely wounded that he was left all night among the slain. He
was succeeded by his elder son, George. His younger son, Richard,
was created a baronet in 1662, and was the ancestor of the
Grahams of Norton-Conyers. Sir Richard’s grandson, the third
baronet, was elevated, in 1680, to the peerage of Scotland, by the
title of Viscount Preston. He was for a good many years ambassador
to the Court of France, and subsequently Secretary of State to
James VII. After the Revolution he engaged in a treasonable plot
against King William, and on December 31st, 1690, along with two
of his associates, Ashton and Elliot, he was captured on his way
to France, with compromising letters in his possession. Ashton and
the Viscount were brought to trial at the Old Bailey, on a charge
of treason, and were found guilty. Ashton was executed, but
Preston saved his life and was pardoned on revealing the names of
his accomplices. His attainder
did not affect the Scottish
peerage, but on the death of his grandson, the third Viscount, the
title became extinct. His extensive estates passed to his
surviving aunt, the Hon. Catherine Graham, wife of Lord
Widdrington. She died in 1757 without issue, and bequeathed
the property to her cousin, the Rev. Robert Graham, D.D., grandson
of Sir George Graham, second baronet of Esk. James Graham of
Netherby, his son, was created a baronet in 1782, and was the
father of the late eminent statesman, Sir James Graham, who filled
a succession of important offices in the administrations of Earl
Grey, Sir Robert Peel, and the Earl of Aberdeen.
Sir John Graham of
Kilbride was the ancestor also of the Grahams of Gartmore. |
