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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 > u THE W&vAtv 0v ^%Mn% €Uns FOLLOWED BY A HISTORY OF THE CLAN DICKSON A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE FAMILY OF THE AUTHOR, B. HOMER DIXON, K. N. I. PRINTED ORIGINALLY FOR PRESENTATION ONLY AND NOW ENLARGED. t^ ^ <-x ALBANY, N. Y.: JOEL MUNSELL'S SONS, PUBLISHERS. 1889. 1 ; 4' Copyrighted by JOEL MUNSELL'S SONS, Albany,, N. Y. I 2bL 146958 Mount Allison Memoilai Library f 1 ; CONTENTS. NPAGE. OTE The Border Clans 1-108 Landed Titles jqq The Clan Dickson j j -, Families j - Members of Parliament j ^j Arms j ^2 Homer Dixon Family jg^ Index to Clans and Surnames 221 Errata 224 f •>'(. NOTE. The first edition of this little work was privately printed for the writer's own family and friends only, but as several applications were made for copies this enlarged edition has been placed in the publisher's hands. ^ Not having been originally intended for publica- tion several extracts were made without preserving the names of the authorities, which the general reader will not require, but, as the dates have been generally given, the critical reader will find no difficulty in veri- fying my statements. wmmmm mmm THE BORDER CLANS. « 1 By the word "clans" is generally if not almost universally understood those of the Scottish High- lands, few being aware how important a part our clans played during the Middle Ages, and I trust, therefore, this little treatise concerning the Border, Riding or Foraying clans, Dalesmen, Marchmen or Borderers, as they were variously styled, may not prove uninteresting, as they have too long been viewed through nineteenth century spectacles, and have, moreover, been generally confounded with the Batablers or Baitablers, as the English called them, or freebooters of the Debateable Lands,* whose hands were against every man and every man's hands were against them. These frontier rievers, who in Scottish legal documents were generally called bor- dour men or broken men, acquired also about the time of James the First (1406-1437) the name of Mosstroopers, from their living in the mosses of the country. Previous to the union of the crowns in 1603, the borders and the highlands were in a state totally ♦ In a document of A. D. 1588, these are styled "sumtyme callit Debettable." 2 The Border Clans, different from the rest of Scotland and were subjected to laws different from the remainder of the kingdom. The feudal system, which formed the principal ground- work of ancient law, both civil and criminal, had in those districts a comparatively imperfect influence. The inhabitants were divided into surnames or clans, who acknowledged no supremacy saving that of their chief, chieftain or head of their name, who might often be a person entirely different from their feudal superior or over-lord as he was called in Scottish law. The border clans have usually been considered as little better than common thieves, none apparently reflecting that the actual state of both England and Scotland was with brief exemptions one of chronic petty warfare, nor upon the general state of society in those days when the Bible and other books were almost unknown, for the first printing press in Lon- don was only set up in 1476, and printing was not introduced into Scotland until 1501. Copies of the English Bible found their way into Scotland, however, and were of great service in pro- moting and establishing the reformed doctrines, and in 1543, four years before Cranmer's Reformation was completed in England, Lord Robert Maxwell submitted to parliament a bill making it lawful for all ** our Soverane Ladyis lieges to possess and read copies of the Bible in Scotch or English." It was of course opposed by the bishops, but was nevertheless sanctioned by parliament, and some years after a license to print "ye Inglis Bybill" was granted in The Border Clans. 1568, but the translation was not issued until 1579, when it was enacted by parliament that each house- holder worth three hundred marks of yearly rent and all substanteous yeomen and burgesses esteemed as worth five hundred pounds in land and goods should have a Bible and psalm-book in the vulgar tongue under the penalty of ten pounds. Manuscript newsletters were ushered in in London in the fifteenth century, followed in the next century by the printed news book. These, however, were but little known beyond the large cities, aud the first newspaper did not appear in England until after the union and in Scotland until the Caledonian Mercury was issued in 1660. William Barlow, Bishop of St. Asaph's, English Ambassador in Scotland, complained to Cromwell, Lord Privy Seal, of the state of the English borders, and gave a very similar apology for his own country- men. The abstract of his letter in Thorpe's State Papers is as follows : " Berwick, Feb. 10, 1535." " A long letter, on the miserable misorder, ruinous decay and intolerable calamity of His Grace's* subjects on the borders; there is no knowledge of Christ's gospel, although there are plenty of priests, multitudes of monks and flocking companies of friars." f *The King, Henry VIII, was then styled "His Grace." t This letter was written one year after the English Parliament established the King as Supreme Head of the Church, thus sweep- ing away the papal headship. mmm ^m^m 4 Tke Border Clans. Ignorance was so profound in the Dark Ages that even among the priests and monks, who were sup- posed to be educated, nearly all of them said by rote the services they had learned by heart, and it has been cc .iputed that there were not more than one or two at the outside, in every thousand, who were capable both of reading and writing. Of course there were exceptional cases of students fond of learning, but they were of comparatively rare occurrence. It is true there were burgh schools at Perth, Stirling and Roxburgh at a very early period, and a convent school at the latter place in the time of Malcolm IV (1153- 1165), and there was a village school at Noiiiam-on- Tweed in the twelfth century, but probably they were frequented principally by the children of the trades people, who had to keep some accounts, and but by few of them. As there were then no printed books, the education given must have been very limited. In 1494, parliament ordained through all the realm that all barons and substantial freeholders,* put their eldest sons and heirs to the schools at the age of six, or at the utmost nine years ; who are to remain at the grammar schools till they have a competent foundation and skill in Latin. After which they are to study three years in the schools of arts and laws ; so that they may have knowledge in the laws, and by this means justice be distributed throughout all the realm ; those who become sheriffs or judges ordinary, having proper understanding, and the poor * Probably signifying freeholders in towns, not barons. \ 4 i f. I The Border Clans. e being under no necessity of recourse to high courts for every small injury. This statute seems not to have extended to the lords and earls whose profession was arms and hunt- ing alone ! In England, as Speed informs us. there were 30,000 studying in the university of Oxford alone, but Hume says "What was the occupation of these young men ? To learn bad Latin and still worse logic," and that Hume was not speaking without reason is shown by Platina, librarian of the Vatican (which then contained 2,500 volumes), who died in 1 48 1, who says of the notaries or the prothonotafy of the city of Rome itself, whose office it was to commit to writing all memorable occurrences belonging to the church, "But in our age most of them (not to say all) are so ignorant that they are scarcely able to write their own names in Latin, much less to trans- mit the actions of others." Even as late as the Reformation such was the want of knowledge in England that Bishop Hooper, in 1550, found one hundred and sixty-eight, or more than half of his clergy in the diocese of Gloucester, who could not repeat the ten commandments ; forty who could not tell when the Lord's prayer was written and thirty-one of them ignorant who was its author ! These were priests who had just come out of the church of Rome, and the case was no better in Scot- land, for only a few years previously (in 1538) the The Border Clans. Bishop of Dunkeld having cited Dean Forrest, Vicar of Dolour, to appear before him for the heinous crime of "preaching every Sunday to his parishoners upon the epistles and gospels of the day," he desired him to forbear "seeing his diligence that way brought him in suspicion of heresie." If he could find 2l good gospel or a good epistle, that made for the liberty of the holy church, the bishop willed him to preach that to his people and let the rest be. The dean reply- ing " That he had read both the new testament and the old and that he had never found an ill epistle or an ill gospel in any of them ;" the bishop said " I thank God I have lived well these many years and never knew either the old or the new. I content me with my Portuise and my Pontifical, and if you Dean Thomas leave not these fantasies you will repent when you cannot mend it." Here we have a Roman Catholic bishop declaring in open court that he had never read the Bible and desired nothing but his breviary and book of rites and ceremonies. It is hardly necessary to add that the dean suffered martyrdom, having been burned to death. With such a lack of education it is not surprising, therefor, to see bonds to the king given by heads of clans, promising to keep good rule or to furnish armed men or the like, often signed "with our hands at the pen led by John Andro," or "John Andro for those who cannot write." Walter Scott of Satchells, when he dictated his The Border Clans. history, called himself " Captain Walter Scott, an old souldier and no scholle. And one that can write nane, But just the letters of his name." One of the last contracts or pledges to the crown, being a general band or bond against thieves, mur- derers and oppressors, was made as late at 1602, and among the lairds who subscribed thereto is " Johnne Inglis of Manerheid (with my hand at the pen led by James Primrois, Clerk of the Counsale, at my com- mand because I cannot write)," and Maxwells, Turn- bulls, Kers, Scotts and others make the same con- fession — but nevertheless they could handle the sword and spear, and were " Steady of heart and stout of hand As ever drove prey from Cumberland." These were Kers,* Scotts (the two great rival families). Homes, Elliots, Johnstones, Grahams, Armstrongs, Irvings, Cranstouns, Cockburns, Max- wells, Gladstones, Dicksons and others who were always ready for the fray and only counted a preda- tory excursion one of the ordinary diversions of every- day life — replaced in a measure in the present day by shooting tame partridges or pheasants in preserves or following the hounds. The man who plundered another's cattle would perhaps meet him soon after at a border meeting and joke and gamble and drink with him, although quite ready to fight, if necessary, *This name was usually written Keron the Scottish side and Carr on the English side. 8 The Border Clans. rather than give up his spoils — except for a con- sideration ! For notwithstanding their mutual hostilities and reciprocal depredations a natural intercourse took place between the English and vScottish marchers at these meetings and during the short intervals of peace. They met frecuently also at parties of the chace or foot-ball ; and it required many and strict regulations to prevent them from forming intermar- riages and from cultivating too close an intimacy. This humanity and moderation was, however, in the case of deadly feud entirely laid aside. Their ven- geance then not only vented itself upon the homicide and his friends but upon all his kindred and tribe. Yet still the report of Sir Robert Bowes when he invaded Scotland in 1545, speaks volumes. The English borderers would not burn down the standing corn and he had to draft Irishmen for the purpose. The friendly meetings took place on "days of trew {triice) " or " March days," * principally to settle scores for depredations and injuries on either side, of which there was a rough tariff, generally acknowledged as border law, and this law made it death for an English- man or Scotchman to draw weapon upon his greatest foe from the time of holding the court till next morn- ing at sunrise, it being judged that in this interval all might return home. One of these was held at Reidswire in the Cheviots in 1575, which ended in one of the last of the border * Not the month but the frontier. The Border Clans, fights. The clans of the Middle Marches with Sir John Carmichael, deputy keeper of Liddesdale, at their head, there met the English Borderers of Tyne- dale and Redesdale under Sir John Forster, the Entrlish warden of the Middle Marches. The meet- ing began as usual in mirth and good fellowship. Booths were erected, drink was sold and an im- promptu fair sprung up. But while all went on merrily the two leaders quarrelled. The English took umbrage at the pretensions of the Scot, and rising in his stirrups gave a signal to his men of Tynedale who forthwith discharged a flight of arrows. Then both sides set to work with sword and spear and bended bow, and a fight ensued which was de- cided at last in favor of the Scots, although the Eng- lish had the advantage in point of numbers. The Scotts of Buccleugh were there with " The Laird's Wat," as Scott of Goldiland was called,* at their head. " The Arniestranges that aye hae been a hardie house but not a hail.t The ElHots honours to maintaine brought down the lavef o' Liddesdale, The Sheriffe brought the Douglas down Wi' Cranstane, Gladstain good at need, Beanjeddart bauldy made him boun§ Wi' a' the Trumbills stronge and stout, The Rutherfoords with gret renown. Of other clans I cannot tell, Because our warning was not wide " — * Some say, however, this was Walter Scott of Ancrum. t Not hail or whole, becai.se they were an outlawed or broken clan. X Rest. § Archibald of Bonjedburgh made himself ready. lO The ^^rder Clans. On the English side were " Five hundred Fenwicks in a flock Wi' Sir John Foster for their guyde Full fifteen hundred men and mae." Sir John Heron one of the EngHsh leaders was slain and the warden and several others taken prison- ers. The queen, as might have been expected of the daughter of bluff Harry was furious when she heard how her men had been chased across the border, and the Regent Morton, to appease her, sent the Scottish leader a prisoner to England, but good Queen Bess was too magnanimous to take vengeance on a help- less foeman. The English court moreover being con- vinced that their own warden was in the wrong, not only discharged Carmichael with honor, but even gave him a present. Our forefathers called this fight an unhappy acci- dent only. In a proclamation of the regent warning the people not to take advantage of it, and to keep the peace, it is styled the "unhappy accident at the lait meeting on the Reid Swyre." It must be remembered that although when the English invaded us reprisals followed as a matter of course, still it was not in private forays only that our Marchmen were engaged. They acted as a sort of border militia to protect their country not only from the English but also from the baitablers, and frequently bound themselves to the king to that effect. In a tax levied in 1586, for a force of waged men on the border, the border shires are expressly The Border Clans. II exempted from taxation on the ground of personal service. In 1522, the Earl of Shrewsbury invaded the king- dom, burnt part of the town of Kelso and, according to some writers, burnt eighty villages also and razed eighteen towers of stone, but he was met by the Borderers of the Merse and Teviotdale and fo.ced to retreat with considerable loss. In 1523, the Earl of Surrey crossed the borders with ten thousand mercenaries besides other forces, but was so annoyed by the Scotch skirmishers that he wrote to his king " I assure your grace I found the Scottes at this tyme the boldest men and the hottest that ever I sawe any nation. And all the jorney upon all parts of the armye kept us with so contynuall skyrmyshe that I never sawe the like. If they might assemble Xl" M' as good men as I now sawe XV'^ or ij M' ; it wold bee a herd encountre to mete theym." Surrey's praise is valuable, being that of a good soldier who had often been employed on foreign ser- vice. In 1532, the Earl of Northumberland detached fifteen hundred men who ravaged and plundered the lands of Sir Walter Scott of Buccleugh and burned Branksome, but failed in their principal object which was to kill or make him prisoner. In resentment for this Sir Walter and other border chiefs assembled three thousand men whom with consummate skill and valor they conducted into England, laid waste a 12 The Border Clans. large part of Northumberland, baffled and defeated the English and returned home laden with booty. In August, 1542, Sir Robert Bowes with three thou- sand horse attempted to enter Scotland, but was de- feated at Haddon-Rigg, and himself and six hundred men made prisoners, and in October of the same year the Duke of Norfolk with twenty or thirty thousand men burnt Roxburgh 5nd Kelso and sev- eral villages, but was then compelled to retire. It would be almost impossible now to recount the frequent greater inroads, to say nothing of the les- ser or what may be called the private ones, but the Official Reports of two inroads in the years 1544 and 1545, which have been preserved, deserve some notice. No less than eleven Dickson fortalices were demolished at this time. The first report is that of Lord Eure, Sir Brian Laiton, Sir Robert Bowes and others, entitled " Ex- ployts don upon the Scotts from the beginning of July Anno 36 R. R. Henrice 8'''" and the king is informed that up to the 17th Nov. 1544, they had de- stroyed 192 towns, towers, stedes, barnekyns, parish churches, and bastell-houses, slew 403 Scotts and took 816 prisoners, 10,383 nolt {black cattle^. 12,492 shepe, 1,296 naggs and geldings, 200 gayt, 850 bolls of corn, and " Insight Geare." This last item of household goods is not carried out but in one place it says " a great quantity." Unfortunately there had been at this time an An- glo-Scottish party, which had supported the interests The Border Clans. 13 of the English Monarch, but all parties finally united in support of the independence of the realm. The day of vengeance came, and the following spring the Scots, although far less in number, utterly defeated the English at Ancrum, slew eight hundred men, in- cluding their leaders Eure and Laiton, who for the preceding nine months had signalized themselves by their unexampled and cruel ravages, and took one thousand prisoners. The Earl of Hertford made an invasion with an army of [4,000 men. His report is headed "The Names of the Fortresses, Abbeys, Market Towns, Villages, Towns and Places, burnt, raced and cast down by the commandment of Therll of Hertforde -X- -X- -X- between the 8th and 23rd September 1545." "Sum Total 287." In this sum total are included seven monasteries and frear-houses and three hospitals, among which were the abbeys of Kelso, Melrose, Dryburgh, Rox- burgh and Coldingham, and yet it is generally said that these were destroyed by the Scottish Reformers ! The Earl's list also contains Kenetsyde, Hassyng- tonmaynes, Mersington, Stanefawde, Headrigge, Newtoun, Letam, Ormeston, Newbigging, Belclester and Boughtrige, all of which were then, or at one time at least, Dickson baronies, and must have been places of more or less importance or they would not have been mentioned in the Earl's report. His roll is a sad one, e. g-,, "In Lasseden burnt 16 strong bastell Houses and sundry that held the same 14 The Border Clans. V : I slain * * * -vv^on divers strong Castell Houses and slew all the Scottish men in the same * * * slew 80 men, the most part being Gentlemen and of hed surnames." In one of the Earl's letters dated Sep. 13, 1545, he says " not so much harm done these hundred years," and speaking of burning the standing corn he adds they had employed Irishmen for the Borderers would not burn their neighbour's property. The orders of King Henry VHI, were in case of resistence to slay man, woman and child, and to destroy every thing. Sir Robert Bowes almost repeats the Earl's words, for desirous to do his duty in what he considered a perfect manner he drafted a hundred Irishmen into the expedition " because the Borderers will not wil- lingly burn their neighbours" — a very significant remark — the English Borderers were not sufficiently relentless to be relied on for wanton mischief and cruelty, even although it was to serve the king. Our clans it will be seen had sufficient provocation and should not be censured too harshly, for they were not a bloodthirsty race like some of the ruffians in the Far West in this century of education, as the contemporaiy evidence of a Scotch bishop (not a Borderer), a Frenchman and an Englishman shows that they were an honorable and kind-hearted people, loth to shed blood — in fact, a jolly, thoughtless set of marauders. Bishop Leslie tells us what were their ideas of metim et tuum, and if we have socialists in these The Border Clans. 15 enlightened days, it is not surprising that communis- tic opinions ilourished when there was almost no enlightenment at all. They considered it perfectly legitimate, aye even gallant and honorable to plun- der their English neighbours south of the border, but always, if possible, without the effusion of blood. Their chief property was in cattle, and as they were nightly exposed to the attacks of the English March- men — "Northumbrian prickers* rude and wild." As rapacious and active as themselves, their incur- sions assumed the appearance of fair reprisals. A predatory expedition was the general declaration of enmity ; and the command given by the chief to clear the pastures of the enemy constituted the usual let- ters of marque, and the cattle taken were considered fair spoils of war. When Wat of Harden in 1576, married Mary Scott of Dryhope, her father agreed to find him in victuals for man and horse at Dryhope Tower, a twelvemonth and a day, in return for the profits of the first Michaelmas moon, meaning the plunder of a raid into England — and this contract was drawn up by a no- tary public before witnesses ! But in fact disorder of all kinds prevailed in every kingdom of Europe to a degree almost incredible. How frequently we read in old Froissart or Monstrelet of noble knights going forth in search of adventures, which in our *The ancient spurs had a single spike only, and were called pryck spurs. i6 The Border Clans. \ ' present language would signify to lay their hands on whatever they came across. The robber knights of Germany were notorious. Rauber or robber {J'^reihcrr Raiibcr von Platikcn- stehi) is a noble German name, and de Roovere (the Robber*) a noble Dutch one, the first of whom on record was Edmond de Rovere, Lord of Rode in 1 1 79. Ladron (Robber) de Guevara is a noble Span- ish name, and in France a Captain Taillebot was en- nobled in 1562, his name being probably the Rom- ance " talebot," i. c.,- pillager, thief. The first on record (in Domesday Book) of the English Talbots was a Talebot. One must suppose that the founders of these fami- lies were leaders especially famous, like to our Johnny Armstrong, Rob Roy MacGregor or that chief of Clan Grant called James of the Forays. A Cameron of Lochiel bore a similar sobriquet, Ailean nan Creach, Allan of the Forays. In his old age however in expiation of seven great forays, he built as many churches, and is therefore sometimes spoken of in tradition as Ailean nan Eaglais, Allan of the Churches. They were not very sensitive regarding nomencla- ture, and some of their appellations were not dissimi- lar to those of the North American Indians. A Sitting Bull is living still, but how many are aware that Rollo, Duke of Normandy, was really a Walking Wolf? — Jarl Heirulff or Gangerolf, for the Earl *The prefix " de " in Dutch means the, as de Witt, the White. The Border Clans, 17 Lord Wolf was obliged on account of his great size to gang on foot as no horse could carry him. One of the Conqueror's companions was Lord with the Teeth {^Dan as denz — what tusks he must have had), another William with the Whiskers {als gcrnonSy'Si.ViA Algernon is still almost a hereditary baptismal name in the Percy family), a Duke of Guienne, Towhead, another noble Ass's head. A son of the Duke of Gascony, Arnoud the Unborn ! One of the late Prince Albert's ancestors was I'rederick with the Bit- ten Cheek, but a very nasty name was that of a Welsh noble, Howcl the Scabby ! And they were not ashamed of it for even his great grandson sub- scribed his name as Llewellyn ab Gwilym ab Hywel y grach. But I am digressing and will only add a few Scotch sobriqtiets derived from deformities. A Marquess of Athol was known as John with the Large Mouth (Ian a Bheal mor) ; a Duke of the same house who was blind of an eye, Ian Cam ; the second Earl of Breadalbane was John the Lame (Ian Bachach); a Macleod of Macleod Alexander the Humpback (Alasdair Crotach^. and Lachlan Maclean, laird of Dowart was styled the Big-bellied (Bronach). Hugh Fraser, Lord Lovat {b. 1666) who had a large black spot on his upper lip, was called Black Spotted Si- mon's son (Mac Shimi Baldu). But why should I go on when we find at the pres- ent day such names as Parnell, Trollope, Trull, Fitz Parnell, Cumbechance. and the like ? 3 ff ! i i8 The Border Clans. \ \ In 1377. the King of Cyprus, who paid a visit to England, was robbed and stripped there on the high- way with all his retinue, and even in the very heart of good old England there was one county so noted for its robbers, who harboured in its woods until they were cut down by Leofstane, Abbott of St. Albans, that the proverb ran " Buckinghamshire bread and beef, If you beat a bush you'll start a thiel if." With these it was all on one side, but with the Marchmen of both countries there was a quid pro quo. They were usually called thieves, an expression I have not used as the word has now a different sig- nification. A thief may be defined as one who will take whatever he can pick up and has himself noth- ing to lose, while their forays were commonly only a retaliation for recent injuries, or in levenge of for- mer wrongs, and when they carried oft cattle or other spoils it was with the consciousness that their own herds were exposed to the risk of being appropriated by others. When King James charged Johnnie Armstrong with treason and robbery the border chief replied : " Ye lied, ye lied, now King, he says, Although a King and prince ye be ! For I've loved naething in my life, I weel dare say but honesty. Save a fat horse and a fair woman, Twa bonnie dogs to kill a deir; But England sould have found me meal and mault, Gif I had lived this hundred yeir." 1 The Border Clans. 19 . As old Satchells says (drawing a very nice dis- tinction), they were not thieves, but freebooters. I have never met with an account of a private Border foray, but one of a Highland raid has been preserved, which will give some idea of the lordly scale in which they were sometimes conducted, as well as the proportion of the different ki-ds of stock then kept. A Decree of Council of James V (1488-15 13) is as follows : "That Huchone Ross of Kilrawok and his son shall restore, consent and pay to Mr. Alexander Urquhart, sheriff of Cromarty, the following items, carried off by them and their accomplices : s. d. 600 Cows, price of each i3- 4. 5 Score horses, each 26. 8. 50 Score sheep, each 2. -. 20 Score goats, each 2. -. 200 Swine, each 3. _ 20 Score bolls of victuals, each boll 6. 8. Six hundred cows, 100 horses, 1,000 sheep, 400 goats, etc., was the work not of thieves, but of foragers on a grand scale — ?'. c., judging them always by the standard of the times they lived in, when religion consisted in saying a few paters and aves, every thing else being left to the priest, and Usher's eleven commandments were practically unknown.* *The Archbishop had often heard of the saintly Rutherford, and when traveling in Scotland contrived to arrive at the manse at •*T-->--* miavaiia ib.j«i« ■ i*»'i'i'in ib ■■« I I I 20 T/ie Border Clans. " Reparavit cornua Phoebe" (We'll have moon- light: again) was the motto of the Scotts of Harden, and "Best riding by moonlight" that of the Buccleughs. "Ye shall want ere I want" that of the Cranstouns, and " Forward" that of the Douglasses. One of the Dickson mottoes was "Fortes fortuna juvat" (For- tune favors the bold) and another "Cubo sed euro" (I sleep but watch). The Haliburton motto was " Watch well." War-cries called Slughorns, Slogans or Ensenzies, were confined generally to chiefs of clans and military leaders. Most of them are lost, but the earliest on record, save perhaps that of Gaul Mac Morn " First to come and last to go " is that of the Celtic portion of the Scotch army at the battle of the Standard in Yorkshire, A. D. 11 38, who cried " Albanich, Alba- nich!"* St. Andrew was the shout of the kings of Scotland ; that of the old Earls of Douglas " A Douglas ! A Douglas ! " and of the Homes "A Home ! A Home!" The Scotts cried " Bellendaine " from nightfall, and as was formerly customary when there were few travelers, asked for accommodation. At family prayers Ruther- ford catechized them, and his question to the stranger was "How many commandments are there?" "Eleven" was the reply. Gravely expressing his surprise, the minister finally said, "What then is the eleventh commandment?" "A new commandment give I unto you, that ye love one another," was ^he answer. Ruther- ford soon found out who his guest was, and the following day being Sunday, requested him to take his place in the kirk, which the pre- late did, using the Presbyterian form only. ♦People of Albainn, or Scotchmen. The Border Clans, 21 Bellendean in Roxburghshire or according to Logan "Ale Muir." The Cranstoiins "Henwoodie" from their place of rendezvous on Oxnam water, and the Maxwells " Wardlaw ! Wardlaw ! I bid you bide Wardlaw ! " from a hill near their castle of Caerlave- rock. The Setons (not a Border family, however), cried "A Seton ! A Seton ! Set on ! Set on !" There are two little burns called the Tarset and the Tarret and the slogan of the people of that district was " Tarsetburn and Tarretburn ! Yet! Yet! Yet!" A most singular cry of some of our Marchmen was "A holy day ! A holy day !" every day in their esti- mation being holy that was spent in ravaging Eng- land. This is said to have been the origin of the name of the Hallidays of Allandale. Many of the border families, English as well as Scotch, bore mullets in their arms. These in heraldry are said to be spur-rowels, and it has therefore been considered that they were emblematical, but the heralds appear to have been at fault in styling them rowels, for the Douglasses and Dicksons probably bore mullets, which are only five-pointed stars, before rowels were invented, which was only in the begin- ning of the fourteenth century. A mullet is repre- sented on the seal of Adam Home, A. D. 1165. The earliest known seal of the Douglasses is of the year 1296, and bears three mullets, and these may have been assumed, for arms were seldom granted in those days, about the middle of the thirteenth century by Dick de Keth or Keith, whose mother appears to have 22 The Border Clans. been a Douglas, and who was father of Thomas Die- son, born in 1247. "Spare nought" was the motto of the Hays, an- cestors of the Marquesses of Tweeddale, and if it was adopted in 1522, when the English burned Kelso and eighty villages besides, or in 1545, when Lord Eure burned the tower of Broomhouse, with its lady, a noble and aged woman, Jier children and whole family, — it must be allowed the Hays had some ex- cuse. At the battle of Ancrum Moor the cry of our Borderers was " Revenge for Broomhouse." The ladies of the day were notable housewives. When the Harden larder was empty a dish was placed by her ladyship's orders before the baron of Harden himself, which being uncovered disclosed a pair of spurs — and the equivalent to the modern order " Boot and saddle" was soon given. This custom was peculiar to the Scotts of Harden, but is constantly brought up against all our fore- bears, yet no one ever adds that it was the custom in Cumberland to lay a sword on the table when the provisions were finished ! After 1542, the laird of Harden of that period might have said that in that year King Henry, before any declaration of war, seized twenty-eight Scotch ships laden with costly merchandize, and if an Eng- lish king could do that in time of peace might not a Scotch baron pick up a few cattle ? Every evening the sheep were generally taken from the hills and the cattle from the pastures to be t, The Border Clans. 23 secured in the lower floors or barnekyns of the strong houses, so that the disappointed rovers often found every thing secure. Even " the sturdy Armstrongs who were forever riding" were sometimes thus disgustea. The old imes say — " Then Johnie Armstrong to Willie 'gan say ' Billie, a riding then will we : England and us have been long at feud Aiblins we'll light upon some bootie. Then they're come unto Hutton Ha', They rade that proper place about. But the Laird he was the wiser man, He had left na geir without Except sax sheep upon a lea; Quo' Johnie — I'd rather in England dee Ere this sax sheep gae to Liddesdale wi' me.'' Poor Johnie was only carrying on a private war of his own. Six sheep only, however, were beneath his notice. Those were the days when to return a Roland for an Oliver was the rule, and he said truly that with England we have been long at feud. Johnie Armstrong, Laird of Gilnockie, was famous as the most popular and potent forager of his time, who laid the whole English border under contribu- tion, levying saufey money or blackmail as far as Newcastle, but who never injured any of his own countrymen. It was said that no one, of whatever estate, between the border and Newcastle but paid him blackmail. He was always attended by twenty-four gentlemen well mounted. When James V made a Royal Prog- 24 The Border Clans. rcss in 1528, Gilnockie appeared with thirty-six per- sons in his train, all richly apparelled and unarmed ; but the king, finding him in his power, and being then at peace with England, ordered him to be exe- cuted, notwithstanding all his offers. Finding his entreaties were of no avail, he boldly said that had he expected such a reception he would have defied the king and all his troops, but that it was folly to ask grace of a graceless face. " To seek hot water beneath cold ice, Surelic it is a great folie : I haif asked grace of a graceless face, But there is nane for my men and me." He was betrayed and put to death without trial, a proceeding which, even in that age, was considered unjustifiable ; but the king was then only twenty- one years old, and was probably a tool in the hands of Armstrong's enemies. Lindesay of Pittscottie, speaking of the execution, says : " Quhilk monie Scottis mene heavily lamented, for he was ane doubtit {redoubted) man, and als good ane chieftain as ever was vpoun the Borderis aither of Scotland or of England." There is no trace whatever of his stronghold, the last relics of the tower of Gilnockie having been re moved to make a bridge over the Esk. The tower of Hollows, a square peel seventy feet high, is said to have been his; but Hollas Tower was held by Lord Maxwell, and there is no proof that he ever granted it to Gilnockie. -* 1) The Border Clans. 25 I repeat, then, should our clans be so loaded with reproaches ? They were, at least, no worse than their neighbors on the south side of the Border. Modern writers generally forget that the doctrine of those days was "The good old law — the simple plan — That they should take who have the power, And they should keep who can " — and the Pope himself tried to play that game, for in 1300 Boniface VIII claimed to be liege lord of Scot- land, but without avail. Some years later (131 7) he issued a bull excommunicating the Bruce and all his adherents in the most solemn manner, but the king would not receive it neither would the Scotch bishops promulgate it and the fiilminations of the Vatican were totally disregarded. The following year the Pope again ordered his legates to publish the sentence of excommunication, which was accordingly done in England, Wales and Ireland and also in France and Flanders, but again the Scotch bishops took no notice of the threats of their brother bishop of Rome. The interdict was not obeyed and although the bell was ordered no longer to be rung, the book no longer to be opened nor the candles to be burnt, nevertheless the churches were not closed, the regular services continued to be performed, and every thing went on as usual. And we sucr. ided as well also in our struggles with Albion. At one time when there were internal dissensions and the country was split into two parties 4 26 The Border Clans. I ' by the rival claimants Bruce and Baliol, England " had the power " and took possession, but the tide turned and we were again united. To state the case as briefly as possible. After the death of King Alexander III, in 1285, without male issue there were two claimants, Baliol being favored by King Edward I, of England, who sent an army to Scotland, took Berwick, Dunbar, Edinburgh, Stirling and other places, appointed Warenne, Earl of Surrey, governor of Scotland, and after leaving garrisons behind him in the captured places returned home, when the Scots raised a strong force under the Earl of Buchan, the English dis- persed in the different fortresses not daring to move ; ravaged Northumberland and Cumberland and laid siege to Carlisle, which, however, he was unable to reduce. Then came the war of independence under Wallace the saviour of his country, who after numer- ous exploits was joined in 1297, by Sir William Douglas and soon after by Robert Bruce. Edward ordered Warenne to chastise and suppress them, but he was met by Wallace at Cambuskenneth and de- feated with great loss. Wallace then returned to the besieging of castles and in a short time so changed the fortune of war that there remained no English in Scotland except as prisoners. He then entered Eng- land on the first of November, remained there three months, living upon the enemy, and returned home on the first of the following February with much spoil. •"-Vii 1 fr The Border Clans. a; The English parliament ordered a general muster at Newcastle which took place in January, 1298, the number that appeared being 2,000 excellent armed horse, more than 1,200 light horse, and about 100,000 foot, who were, however, dismissed, but reassembled again in June and advanced into Scotland and in a battle at Falkirk entirely defeated the Scots with great slaughter. Soon after, as we all know, Wallace resigned his charge as guardian of Scotland, but continued in arms asserting his freedom, until he was taken prisoner and unmercifully condemned and executed as a traitor in London in 1305. Edward, after his victory, wasted all the country beyond the Forth as far as Perth and withdrew his army and returned to London at the end of the year. After his departure the Scots again arose and ex- pelled all Edward's governors from the different cities and castles. Two years later (1302) Edward sent a fresh body of forces, thirty thousand in num- ber under John Lord Segrave, who plundered the country as far as Roslin, when he unwisely divided his forces into three divisions who were attacked successively by the Scots, eight thousand in number under John Cumin and Simon Eraser, and defeated with great loss. Edward immediately raised a larger army, attacked the country by sea and land and again reduced it, appointed governors and magistrates and went back to England. Then Bruce commenced to take a prominent part, .w^m 28 T/ie Border Clans. I' i> and, after many struggles, finally seized nearly all the castles throughout the south of Scotland. Ed- ward I died and was succeeded by his son, Edward II, who in 1309 invaded Scotland, but accomplished nothing worthy of notice. The next year, however, Bruce twice invaded Eng- land in retaliation, and returned with immense booty, and in the two following years recovered all the for- tified places which remained in the possession of the English. Then came the coup de grace, when the English army of upward of twenty thousand infantry, to- gether with ninety-three barons with horse and arms to the amount of forty thousand cavalry, including three thousand having their horses covered with plates of mail, and the Irish Prince O'Connor with twenty-six Irish Chieftains and their followers, a body of Welsh warriors under their own chief, the Earl of Hainault, at the head of the chivalry of France and Germany, and fifty-two thousand archers, in all considerably over one hundred thousand men, besides the camp followers, the largest army that had ever left England, met the Scotch army of less than forty thousand fighting men, with over fifteen thou- sand unarmed camp followers, at Bannockburn in 1 3 14, and were totally defeated, with the loss of up- wards of thirty thousand men. The spoils were so enormous that an English historian (the Monk of Malmesbury) says that the chariots, wagons and wheeled carriages which were loaded with baggage The Border Clans. 29 and military stores would, if drawn up in a single line, have extended sixty leagues. He adds, " O day of vengeance and misfortune ! day of disgrace and perdition ! unworthy to be included in the circle of the year, which tarnished the fame of England and enriched the vScots with the plunder of the prec- ious stuff of our nation to the extent of two hundred thousand pounds." Two hundred thousand pounds of money in those days amounts to about six hundred thousand pounds weight of silver, or about three millions of pounds of our present money. Almost d bagatelle now, when referring to an army ; but then a cow could be bought for five shillings, and an ox for six shillings and eight pence. Then came our turn " to keep who can," and with the sole exception of the town of Berwick, which was ceded to England by treaty in 1482, we never gave up a foot of ground ; but when the Royal Families were united by marriage, then in our kindness we gave old England a King. Not that peace followed after Bannockburn, or that was our last victory; for in 131 5 Bruce made an inroad, penetrating as far as Richmond, thence to the west of Yorkshire, wasting the country for about sixty miles, and carrying home much booty. In 13 18, Sir Robert Keith, Randolph and Douglas re- duced Berwick, became masters of all Northumber- land except Newcastle, and returned to Scotland laden with spoils. In 13 19, however, the Earl of 30 The Border Clans. \\ Murray and Lord Douglas made an invasion, com- mitting terrible ravages, but were finally defeated with a loss of three thousand men. Early in 1322, the English Parliament granted the king for serving in the Scottish war a foot soldier out of every village and hamlet, and a greater num- ber out of the larger towns, but before this was effected, the Scots made an inroad in June and again in July, marching as far as Preston, eighty miles within England and returned home safely. Soon after the English invaded Scotland as far as Edin- burgh, but from storms at sea preventing their ships arriving and provisions failing, for the country was deserted and desolate, they returned to England after only fifteen days. The Scots then made a new irruption, and met Edward II at Byland Abbey, Yorkshire, where he had collected his army together and added fresh levies, but he was again routed by the Bruce, and made a precipitate flight, abandoning camp equipage, baggage and treasure. The Scots plundered the country as far as Beverley and returned home laden wfth booty, driving large herds of cattle before them and rich in multitudes of captives. Sully, Grand Butler of France and many French knights were among the prisoners, but Bruce dismissed them not only free from ransom but enriched with presents. In 1327, Randolph and Douglas invaded England as far as Durham with twenty-four thousand horse, and although pursued by Edward III, with an army of about sixty thousand, of whom eight thousand The Border Clans, 31 were horse and twenty-four thousand archers, they succeeded in returning home safe with the plunder of a three weeks' raid. At one time Edward thought he had them in his power, for behind the Scots army was stretched out a large morass which was deemed impassable for cavalry, but the Scots prepared a number of hurdles made of wands or boughs tightly wattled together, and packed up in the smallest com- pass their most valuable booty, and at night, leaving their camp fires burning to deceive the enemy, they threw down the hurdles upon the softer places of the bog and thus passed over the water-runs in safety, taking care to remove the hurdles so as to prevent pursuit. In March, 1333, Lord Archibald Douglas with over three thousand men ravaged the estates of Lord Dacre in Cuml^erland to the extent of thirty miles, and returned without an encounter. In retaliation, Sir Anthony Lucy entered Scotland, met Sir William Douglas, and after a fierce conflict gained the victory. In July, 1333, the English and Scottish armies met at Halidon Hill, and the latter suffered a terrible defeat, caused chiefly by the showers of arrows poured into their close battalions by the English archers. The Scots had about sixty thousand men, and the two armies were about equal in number. The Scottish loss was about ten thousand, or according to Boece, fourteen thousand, while a comparatively small number of the English suffered. The English writers represent their army as being far inferior in III ill :!S ■? h 32 The Border Clans. I |i I < i numbers to the Scots, and that there fell on their side only one knight, one esquire and twelve or thir- teen footmen ! King Edward, however, in his orders to the prelates for a public thanksgiving, though he speaks of the Scottish army as being very consider- able does not mention any inferiority of numbers on his own side, and says that the ba<"tle was gained \ ithout much loss. Had the English loss been only fifteen against nearly as many thousands, would he not have used stronger language ? In 1335, Edward and Baliol again invaded Scot- land into the far North, and after making a truce with King David, and appointing a Guardian of Scotland, left the country in November. The next year the Scots arose again, Edward returned, laid Aberdeen in ashes, fortified several places and left Scotland again in September. In 1337, the Earl of March defeated a great body of English at Panmure. After continual struggles, tiresome to relate, the English in 1342, had been driven out of every part of Scotland except Berwick, and King David Bruce entered England by the eastern marches, wasted and spoiled the counties of Northumberland and Dur- ham and returned home, but was pursued by Edward who met him at Jedburgh, hut after some days spent in skirmishing, a truce was agreed to for two years. In 1345, the Scots invaded Westmoreland and burnt Penrith, Carlisle and other towns, but a detached party being routed, they retired. The fol- lowing year, David with a large army marched i The Border Clans, 33 through Cumberland and Northumberland as far as Durham, where they were met by the English army and routed at the battle of Neville's Cross, with a loss of fifteen thousand men. King David himself being made prisoner. Scotland was again invaded as far as Perth, when a truce was made, but as the English refused to surrender their prisoner, the Scots continually laid waste the English borders until 1356, when Edward again advanced into Scotland, and Baliol made a formal surrender into his hands of his whole right to the kingdom of Scotland. The King went as far as Haddington, but being continually harrassed by small parties of Scots and provisions failing, after burning Edinburgh and Haddington he returned home. David remained a prisoner for eleven years until 1357, when Edward finding Scot- land could not be captured, released him for a heavy ransom. In 1370, the English entered Scotland burning the lands of Sir John Gordon, who in return invaded England and seized a number of cattle. When re- turning to Scotland he was met by Sir John Lilborne, but after a severe combat the English were defeated and Lilborne taken prisoner. In revenge Henry, Earl of Northumberland, invaded the country with seven thousand horse and encamped at Duns, but the herdsmen and people of the country made use of a sort of machine which they usually employed to frighten away the wild cattle and deer from their corn. These were a kind of rattle made of bags of 5 34 The Border Clans. Ill Ml dried skins filled with pebbles at the end of poles which being shaken made a hideous noise. With these they ran round the camp causing a stampede, the English horses breaking their halters and bridles, so that the enemy, not being able to recover them and finding themselves on foot, quietly returned home. Mutual inroads of no particular note continually occurred. In 1380, William, Earl Douglas, with twenty thousand men invaded England while a large fair was being held at Penrith and returned home with great booty, in revenge of which a part of fifteen thousand English under Lord Talbot soon after en- tered Scotland, near the Solway, but were met in a narrow defile and defeated, great numbers being slain or drowned in the Esk. In 1383 the Scots took the castle of Wark, and the year after the Duke of Lan- caster invaded Scotland, going as far as Edinburgh, but was obliged by hard weather and want of pro- visions to return. In 1385, Richard II, with an army of sixty thou- sand, entered the country by the east coast, burnt Edinburgh, Perth, Dundee and some other places and returned home, while at the same time thirty thousand Scots entered England by the western border, plundered and laid waste the country as far as Newcastle and carried home their booty in safety. In 1386 there was a truce, but the next year the Scots made a successful inroad on the western bor- der. In 1388 took place the famous battle of Otter- burn elsewhere referred to. The Border Clans. 35 In 1398 a treaty was made between the two coun- tries for redressing all grievances and appointment of commissioners, but there were inroads again and in 1400 Henry IV entered Scotland with a numerous army but failed in his attempt against the castle of Edinburgh and returned to Newcastle in about a month. In 1402 the Earl of Douglas invaded Eng- land with ten or twelve thousand men, but they were met and routed at Homildon by the Earl of Nor- thumberland. Many Scottish nobles and seven hun dred common men fell in this fatal engagement. No person of note fell on the English side the victory being won entirely by the archers. In 141 7, the Scots ent.ered England, but learning that the Dukes of Bedford and Exeter were march- ing toward them with an army of one hundred thou- sand men, they returned home, and the English leaders judged it better not to follow them. About this time Sir Robert Umfraville made great devasta- tions in Scotland for two years, burning Hawick, Selkirk, Jedburgh, Dunbar and the forests in Ber- wick and Teviotdale. In 1424, a treaty was made, and King James mar- ried Lady Jane Somerset, cousin to the king of Eng- land. A few years later, as the counties of Northumber- land and Cumberland had suffered so much from the incursions of the Scots, the king of England, at the request of Parliament, remitted to them all taxes and debts due to the crown. g Jf! ^tmy^n wmtmm wmm 36 TA.e Border Clans. In 1436, the Earl of Northumberland, with four thousand men, advanced toward the Scottish marches, but was met in his own territories by Douglas, Earl of Angus, at the head of about the same number of men, and defeated, the Scots losing about two hun- dred, while of the English fifteen hundred fell, of whom forty were knights and four hundred were made prisoners. Again a truce was made. In 1448, the Earls of Northumberland and Salisbury destroyed the towns of Dunbar and Dumfries, and Douglas, Lord of Balveny, in revenge, burned Alnwick and spoiled and laid waste the county of Cumberland. In retaliation, the Earl of Northumberland led a con- siderable army over the western march, who were met near the river Sark by the Scots, when a bloody battle ensued wherein the Scots were again victori- ous. Three thousand English are said to have been slain or drowned iii their flight in the Frith of Sol- way. The loss on the side of the Scots was six hun- dred men. In 1459, James II raised an army to recover Rox- burgh and some other places that had been long held by the English, but was killed by the bursting of a cannon. The queen continued the siege until the garrison surrendered, and then laid waste the Eng- lish marches to a considerable extent. In 1464, the Earl of Warwick burned Jedburgh, Lochmaben and many other places. In 1482, the Duke of Gloucester, the Duke of Albany and the Earl of Northumber land, with twenty-two thousand five hundred men. The Border Clans. 37 advanced as far as Edinburgh, where the nobiHty had risen against the king. A treaty was carried on by the latter and a truce concluded, in which the town of Berwick was given up to England. In 1497 Henry VII, raised a considerable force for a war with Scotland, but was detained by an in- surrection in Cornwall, when the king of Scotland seized the opportunity of entering England and rav- aged the country as far as Norham, when hearing of the approach of the English army he led back his own and was followed by Surrey, who took the small castle of Ayton, but a negotiation for peace put a stop to further progress. In 15 13 a party of English made an inroad and carried off considerable booty, and soon after Lord Hume, Warden of all the marches, invaded England at the head of about three thousand horsemen, but on his return was met in an ambush by Sir William Bulmer and defeated. The Scotch king eager to avenge the defeat of his warden invaded England, took Norham and other castles and collected much booty, but King James wasted his time at Ford with the iDeautiful Lady Heron, so that the provisions began to fail and the army was exposed to continual rains. For this reason and to carry back their spoils great numbers of the common men deserted and the army gradually melted away until there remained not over thirty thousand when the English army of about the same number appeared. King James IV who was a brave man but not a general, against the .1 ^pmsm mmsm 38 The Border Clans. 1' advice of his friends, charged on foot in the thickest of the battle, and when he perceived that the day was lost, seeing his standard bearer, Sir Adam For- man, fall he pressed into the middle of his enemies by whom he was slain The loss of the Scotch at this battle of Flodden was ten thousand according to an original gazette preserved in the Herald's Col- lege, London, and Polydore Virgil says the English lost five thousand. About two months after, in November, 15 13, Lords Dacre and D'Arcy invaded the country at the head of three thousand horse and three hundred infantry, burned Rowcastle* and Langton on the Teviot, and collected considerable booty, but on the appear- ance of Lord Hume with about two thousand fol- lowers the English retired. Short truces, sometimes of two or three years were constantly made and almost as frequently broken. I have previously mentioned the principal inroads made by the English in this century and will only add that in November, 1542, a Scottish army entered England, but they had hardly crossed the border at Solway Moss when an order was read from the king appointing his favorite, Oliver Sinclair, generalissimo. This was received with the most extreme disapproba- tion, many of the nobles declaring that they would immediately return home, and the whole army, agi- tated with the discussion became a disorderly mob. At this crisis two English leaders appeared and, be- *This castle belonged at one time to the Dicksons. The Border Clans. 39 li coming sensible of the situation, attacked the Scottish camp. There was not the semblance of an engage- ment, for to fight might have been to secure a victory for the king's detested favorite. Upwards of a thou- sand yielded without striking a blow, and the rest, throwing away the weapons which they would not use, fled in disorder. The loss of killed, wounded and prisoners was over three thousand men, besides which many were swallowed up in the morass. The last battle of any importance was that of Pinkie, near Edinburgh, in 1547, where the English had the advantage of the ground and the assistance of their fleet, and as they made good use of the can- non, both of the field and of the fleet, the Scots were seized with a sudden panic, and fled in disorder, los- ing some two thousand taken prisoners and over ten thousand slain. In 1587, the Borderers again broke out into open hostility. Six successive forays swept with relent- less havoc through the middle marches, and Sir Cuth- bert Collingwood, the English warden, found him- self too weak to restrain the incursions of Cessford, Fernihurst, Bothwell and Angus. In a piteous let- ter to the Secretary, Walsingham,, he described the country as having been reduced to a desert, wasted with fire and sword and filled with lamentation and dismay ; but so inadequate was the assistance he received that Buccleugh, Cessford and Johnstone, with a force of two thousand men, attacked him in his castle of Eslington, slew seventeen of the garri- \\ '■W ' 1 40 The Border Clans. ii iR ii I son, took one of his sons prisoner, and but for the fleetness of his horse would have taken the warden himself. In 1596, the English warden arrested Kinmont Willie, a chief of the Armstrongs, on the evening of a day of truce, an act both illegal and dishonorable, and Scot of Buccleuofh demanded that he should be surrendered. The request being refused, Buccleugh, with a chosen band of mounted followers, stormed Carlisle Castle and took the prisoner back to Scot- land. As he returned home, carrying the prisoner weighed down by his chains, which they had not had time to remove, and with all Carlisle at his heels, he came to the swollen river. " Buccleugh has turn'd to Eden water, Even where it flowed frae bank to brim, And he has plunged in wi' a' his band And safely swam them through the stream. He turn'd him on the other side And at Lord Scroope his glove flung he — ' If ye like na my visit in merry England, In fair Scotland come visit me.' All sore astonished stood Lord Scroope, He stood as still as rock of stane ; He scarcely dared to trew his eyes, When thro' the water they had gane. ' He is either himsell a devil frae hell, Or else his mother a witch maun be; I wadna have ridden that wan water For a' the gowd in Christentie.' " Queen Elizabeth demanded his surrender, and the king was finally induced to give him up. '^i The Border Clans. 41 When he appeared before the Queen, who loved bold actions, even in her enemies, she demanded of him fiercely how he had dared to storm her castle, to which the border baron, nothing daunted, replied — " What, Madam, is there that a brave man may not dare ?" Turning to her courtiers, the Queen, pleased with his reply, exclaimed : " With ten thousand such men our brother of Scotland might shake the firmest throne in Europe." The Elliot ballad, sometimes called their Gather- ing, referring to Queen Mary of Scotland, must not be forgotten — " I have vanquished the Queen's lieutenant, And made his fierce troopers to flee — My name is little Jock Eliot An' wha daur meddle wi' me ? I ride on my fleetfooted grey, My sword hanging down by my knee — I ne'er was afraid of a foe, Then wha daur meddle wi' me ?" Only one other verse has been preserved — " In raids I rode always the foremost, My straik is tlie first in mClde — My name is little Jock Eliot Then wha daur meddle wi' me ? " The brave old baron, John Elliot of Park, who had wounded the Earl of Bothwell, Queen Mary's lieu- tenant, evidently did not believe in the Divine Right of kings — to govern wrongly. Leslie, bishop of Ross, before the Reformation, 6 ^^^WWHP" 42 The Border Clans. and whose history was pubH'ihcd in Rome in 1578, says of our rriarchmen — "They think the art of plundering so very lawful that they never say over their prayers more fervently, or have more frequent recurrence to the beads of their rosaries than when they are setting out upon an ex- pedition, as they frequently do, of fifty or sixty miles, expecting a good booty as the recompense of their devotions." Sometimes even the clergy joined with their flocks in their plundering raids, which is not surprising when we remember that our clergy were always a very militant one. In 1306, the chaplain of King Robert Bruce, who was taken fighting at the battle of Methven was hanged, and the bishops of St. An- drews and Glasgow were sent prisoners to England in the coats of armor which they wore when taken, and at the battle of Flodden the archbishop of St. Andrews (a natural son of the king), the bishop of the Isles, the abbots of Kilwinning and Inchaffrey and others were among the slain. The statutes of James IV and V, concerning wapenschawings (weapon showings or reviews) show that the tenants of church land had no exemption, and as late as the time of Mary it was ordained that when a clergyman was slain in battle or died in the camp, his nearest relation should have the benefice. It has been computed that before the Reformation about one-half of the wealth of Scotland was in the hands of the clergy. The Border Clans. 43 The following is said to have been a prayer of the English Borderers — " He that ordain'd us to be born Send us more meat f(jr the morn Part of 't right and part of 't wrang, God never let us fast ov'r lang, God be thanked and our Lady, All is done that we had ready." Froissart's description of the Borderers is as fol- lows : — " Englishmen on the one party and Scotchmen on the other party, are good men of war ; for when they meet there is a hard fight without sparring ; there is no hoo (cessation for parley) between them as long as spears, swords, axes or daggers will endure ; but they lay on each upon other, and when they be well beaten, and that the one party hath obtained the vic- tory, then they glorify so in their deeds of arms, and are so joyful, that such as be taken they shall be ransomed ere they go out of the field ; so that at their departing courteously they will say ' God thank you.' But in fighting one with another, there is no play nor sparring." Another old writer, quoted by Sir Walter Scott, says of the Scots, and it applied as well to the Eng- lish, " that they would not betray any man that trusts in them for all the gold in England or France," and Robert Constable, an English spy, says in 1569 of his Scotch companions : " They are my guides, and outlaws who might gain their pardon by surrendering me, yet I am secure of their fidelity and have often ^ i«V«PIP«i<|PP«MMV 44 The Border Clajts. If' 11 'i' in I ii proved it;" and Scott, in his Border Antiquities, says the marchmen were " of all others the most true of faith to whatever they had pledged their indi- vidual word. When a Borderer made a prisoner he esteemed it wholly unnecessary to lead him into actual confinement. He simply accepted his word to be a true prisoner, and named a time and place where he expected him to come and treat for his ransom." If any one broke his word so plighted, the indi- vidual to whom faith had not been observed used to bring to the next border meeting a glove hung on the point of a spear, and proclaim to Scotch and to English the name of the offender. This was con- sidered so great a disgrace to all connected with him that his own clan sometimes slew him. At the bloody battle of Otterburn in 1388, the Scotch leader, the Earl of Douglas, was slain, but the English were totally defeated, and their com- mander, Hotspur, son of the Earl of Northumber- land, and about one thousand others were taken prisoners. Froissart says " when the Scots saw the English were discomfited and surrendering on all sides, they behaved courteously toward them, saying ' sit down and disarm yourselves for I am your master,' but never insulted them more than if they had been brothers;" and Hume of Godscroft adds: " Froy- sard (a stranger and favouring more the English) concluded, touching this battle, that in all history The Border Clans. 45 there is none so notable by the virtue of the captains and the valor of the soldiers » * * for in the heat of the conllict no men ev(T fought more fiercely, in the victory obtained none ever behaved themselves more mercifully ; taking prisoners, and, having taken them, using them as their dearest friends, in all humanity, courtesy, gentleness, tenderness, curing their wounds, sending them home, some free with- out ransom, some on small ransom, almost all on their single word and promise to return at certain times appointed, or when they should be called upon." The border penalties were short and sharp. Those accused of march treason were tried by jury, and, if found guilty, were decapitated ; but with the ma- rauders of either country the wardens used much less ceremony, for they were frequently hanged in great numbers, without any process of law whatever. There was an old proverb in Scotland of Jedburgh justice, where men were said to be hanged first and tried afterward. In England this was called Lyd- ford law — " I oft' have heard of Lydford law — How in the morn they hang and draw,* And sit in judgment after" — but, turning again to Leslie, speaking of the Scots, " although some things are to be noted to their dis- praise, yet there are others to be greatly admired ; * Traitors, false coiners, etc., were often drawn or disembowelled in England. 46 The Border Clans. for most of them, when determined upon seeking thei'- supplies from the plunder of the neighboring districts, use the greatest precautions not to shed the blood of those who oppose them, for they have a persuasion that all property is common by the law of nature, and, therefore, liable to be appropriated by them in their necessity, but thai murder and other injuries are prohibited by the Divine law, and if taken prisoners their eloquence is so powerful, and the sweetness of their language so winning, that they even can move both judges and accusers, however severe before, if not to mercy, at least to admiration and compassion." Besides our ordinary jails there seem to have been a sort of honorable ones, in some places at least, for in 1597 James VI made a vigorous attempt against certain broken clans, Armstrongs, Johnstones, Bells, Batisons, Carlisles and Irvings. He came to Dum- fries, and in the course of four weeks hanged four- teen or fifteen men, and took one or two of the principal men of each branch of those clans as "pledges" that all plunder committed by their par- ticular branches should be redressed. For the re- ception of such persons in general there was a "pledge chalmer (hostage chamber)." On this occasion, however, the pledges, thirty-six in number, were distributed over His Majesty's houses, where it was ordained they should each pay 1 3s. 4d. weekly for their maintenance. The Border Clans. 47 If the leading men generally managed to escape, although — " Five times outlawed by England's King and Scotland's Queen," the retainers, as already shown, were not always so fortunate, and usually, taking it almost as a matter of course and better than dying in their beds, when led out to execution listened calmly to the priest as he recited the so-called Neck verse,* or Fifty-first Psalm in an unknown tongue (Latin), vainly believ- ing that his prayers could save them. How different would it have been could they have heard in their own dear Scotch those beautiful words which years ago I read by the request and at the bedside of a very dear friend who soon after passed away so happily, trusting not in the cross but in Him who died upon it, and confessing to Him alone needed no other intercessor with a God of Love. " Have mercy upon me, O Lord, according to thy loving kind- ness; according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out all my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. Although the Borderers occasionally acted as in- fantry they were so much accustomed to act on horse- back that they considered it even mean to appear otherwise. They generally acted as light cavalry riding small sure-footed horses who could move * Because said when the halter was on their necks. : 48 The Border Clans. lit! [I I through the swamps and morasses like water-fowl, and clamber like goats across a mountain pass, or up the bed of a torrent in the darkest night and through the wildest storm. With wonderful ingenuity they had trained their horses to go upon morasses by throwing themselves on their bellies and their hoofs, and thus gaining an artificial breadth of support, to cross by short floundering leaps, ground in which ordinary horses were instantly bogged. If the blaze of their beacon fires gave notice of the approach of an English army thousands would assemble in a single day. The knights and esquires being mounted on able steeds, the rest on their hardy nags. Each man carried a little bag of oatmeal trussed behind him and a griddle for baking his crakenel attacked to the crupper of his saddle, and they frequently rode in a single night or day for twenty four miles together without bread or wine. The rivers served for drink and the cattle taken afforded meat, and instead of burdening themselves with pots they seethed their meats in the raw skins of the animals, pouring water into the bags so formed and suspending them upon stakes over the fire or roasted their beaf on spit racks before the fire. The remark " without wine " may appear singular, but it would seem that its use was common, for Bar- bour, writing in 1375, that Edward the Third's army when they invaded Scotland in 1356, fell short of provisions, says " and in particular for fifteen days his army had no other drink but water," and Hall The Border Clans. 49 4 speaking of the battle of Flodden, in 1513, says of the English that they had no victuals, " and for two days before they had only drank water." In 1490, when the Scottish admiral, Wood, at- tacked the English admiral, Bull, his orders were : " Charge gunners ; let the cross-bows be ready ; lime- pots and fire-balls to the tops ; two-handed swords to the fore-rooms. * * * Wme was then dealt round." Although this was not a border fight, still it should not be forgotten. Five English ships had entered the Forth and despoiled some Scottish merchantmen. Sir Andrew Wood of Largo, with his two ships, the Flower and the Yellow Carvel, attacked and took the whole five vessels. All were provided with artillery. Henry VII offered a large reward to any one who would capture Wood, and Stephen Bull with his three ships agreed to do so, and met the Scot off the coast of Fife in August. The combat continued undecided from morning until night and was renewed the following day, when at length the valor and seamanship of Wood prevailed. The three English ships were captured and taken into Dundee, where the wounded were properly attended to, and King James, besides bestowing gifts upon the English admiral and his men, sent them home with their ships as a present to King Henry ! On the approach of the enemy, the Scots were commanded by act of Parliament to " birne baillies," a term equivalent to the English bale-fires, or fires 7 50 The Border Clans. ■■!-. 1 ;>, to Baal, but which were afterward applied to signal or alarm fires, as " Beil fyris." And here it may not be out of place to give some notice of the religion of our ancestors, even the pre- historic, for a history of the borders would be almost incomplete without it. The great Pagan divinity, the sun, was worshipped all the world over with candles and torches in the temples and houses, and with fire in the open air, and was probably almost as universally known as Baal or Bel, Lord. Tammuz, the sun-god, for whom the women wept (Ezekiel viii : 14) was the same as the Latin Bacchus, the Lamented, from the Phoenician bak/cak, to weep. The Romans had their Baal Jupiter (Jupiter Belenus) and their Baal Apollo (Apollo Belus). The Phoeni- cians worshipped him as Baal Samen, Lord of Heaven, and in Ireland he was worshipped as Beuill Samhan. The night of Halloween is called in Erse, Oidche Samhna, and in Gaelic, Samhuinn. Jerome, who lived in Palestine when the rites of Tammuz were still observed, in his Commentary on Ezekiel, expressly identifies him with Adonis (Adon, Lord^, who was the same as the Northern Odin and the Mexican Wodan, where he was also known as Baal, or Bel. His wife Astarte, the Ashtoreth of the Bible, and Ishtar of Nineveh, worshipped by the Saxons as Oster, by the Anglo Saxons as Eoster, and called by English churchmen Easter, was also worshipped as The Border Claris. 51 Beltis, the Lady {Madonna /), and from her the Easter fires made in Scotland, even until the present century, were called Beltane, Beltis's fire, and May day is still called Beltane. The early Christians soon commenced to amal- gamate the Pagan festivals with their own, and as early as A. D. 58, Paul upbraided the Galatians for observing days and months and times and years, for they were already replacing the feasts of the demi- gods and heroes, by Saints and Martyrs. Less than two centuries after, Tertuhian asked why Easter was celebrated, and Socrates, the Church Historian (fifth century), said that neithei' the Saviour nor His Apostles had enjoined us to keep it, but that it seemed to him to have crept in from some old iisage — and what was that old usage except the Feast of Astarte ? The question of the time of keeping Easter long agitated the Christian Community, and it was only settled in England by a Council in 664, according to the Roman method, because as Bishop Short says ''both parties agreed that St. Peter kept the keys of heaven, ajid that he had used the Rovian method of computing^ (The Italics are mine.) Half a century later the Picts were also induced to adopt the Roman method. The Pagans lade their fires to Beltis on the first of May, which 1 . probably the true date of the feast of "Our Lady" Astarte, the Syrian Venus, the Egyptian Isis. As Aphrodite her solemnities were .i 52 The Border Clans. ■i jii S( ' celebrated in April. No bloody sacrifices were allowed to be offered, but on\y pttrc Jirc, Jlowers and incense! The festival of Flora, the goddess of flowers, was also solemnized in the same manner, from the 28th of April to the 2nd of May, and does not the Roman Church, and alas, part of the English still continue to offer these candles, flowers and incense to the Madonna — Our Lady? Why do they not also retain the true date instead of depend- ing upon that mysterious "Full moon which happens upon or next after the 21st day of March," which may fix Easter as early as the 22nd of that month, or as late as the 25th of April ? The British Christians continued to extinguish their fires and light them again afresh with so-called "sacred" fire, obtained from the priests, long after the Pagan and Roman festivals were amalgamated.* At the Reformation our established church of Scot- land abolished the observance of Easter day, but the church of England (who are dissenters ixi Scotland) not only retained it, but even made all the other feasts of their calendar depend upon it ; in relation to which it may be added that there is no authority whatever for feasts or fasts in the New Testament. No one can tell even the season of the year, much less the day, in which our most blessed Lord was *It must be explained here, that before the days of friction matches in the first half of the present century, so difficult was it to kindle a fire with flint and steel, that fires were never extinguished at night, but the wood embers were covered with ashes, so that the live coals could be raked out in the morning. The Border Clans. 53 born, but it was not in the winter for shepherds do not remain in the fields at night then, but about the year 380, the Roman church amalgamated the nativity of our Lord with the Saturnalia or pagan festival of Saturn, the Etruscan name of the sun-god. For this the authority is undoubted. Chrysostom, in a homily delivered about the year 386, says "It is not yet ten years since the day was made known to us," and in homily No. 31, he says it was done "in order that while the pagans were occupied with their profane ceremonies, the christians might perform their holy rites undisturbed ! " Our church also abolished the observance of this festival, but the church of England still observe the day which the Romans consecrated as the birth-day of the unconquered sun — Natalis invicHs solis f During the carousals at the winter solstice the old Romans made one of the slaves Lord of the House- hold and in Scotland we had an A[)bot of Unreason until the Reformation. In England, however, they did not give up their Lord of Misrule until Christmas was abolished by act of parliament in 1644. As regards Lent it had originally nothing to do with our Lord's forty days in the desert, but was es- tablished by a pope about A. D. 130, as a fast of thirty-six days, or a tithe of the year, and was only settled at forty days by Pope Felix III, A. D. 487, but the four additional days were not generally ac- cepted, and it was not until as late as the eleventh century that a Lent of forty days was recognized in wm IIIIVI 54 T/ie Border Clans. .4 !' • Scotland, and a few centuries after we got rid of it altogether. It cannot be denied that the Reformation was more perfect in Scotland than in England, for while the English church, as well as the Lutheran, retained the celebration of Christmas, and other festivals, our church rejected them absolutely, denouncing the ob- servance of all such days except the Lord's day as superstitious and unscriptural. Scotland has reason to be thankful to her reform- ers. They probably believed that our Saviour's fast of forty days was part of his temptations and there- fore no rule for us, for it was only when He was weak with hunger that the evil one made proposals to Him, and they must also have perceived that although our Saviour spoke to the Jews about their fast He never told His disciples to fast, neither did He recommend fasting. Mark does not even men- tion our Lord's forty days. The compilers of the English Prayer Book could not find a single epistle for their great day, which they still called by its Romish name, Ash Wednesday, and had to fall back upon one of the lesser prophets of the Old Testament, without reminding the people that Joel foresaw an impending great drought and plague of locusts, and for that reason exhorted the Jews to fast, and this exhortation /or this particular fast only, is still given as an authority for a stated fast of forty days in every year, even should Lent occur at a most prosperous season, and at a time, therefore. The Border Clans. 55 especially adapted not for mourning but on the con- trary for thanksgiving ! The redeeming point of the Prayer Book is its thirty-nine articles and the prayers and collects, but unfortunately while in our kirk the New Testament is the guide, in the English kirk it is the calendar, in which Pagan feasts and fasts, under Christian names, abound, and the dates, with perhaps a very few exceptions, are all fictitious ; as, for instance, St. James' day is celebrated in the Greek church on the 30th April, and by the Armenian on the 28th December, but in the thirteenth century it pleased a pope to declare that it should be on the 25th July, and accordingly the church of England still celebrate it on that day. The Greek church ob- serve St. Mark's day on the nth January, and the Coptic on the 23rd September, and as St. Mark is said to have been martyred in Alexandria, it would seem if either is the true date that the Coptic is the real one. However, a pope decreed that it should be April 25, and so it remains in the English calendar, where, too, they boldly acknowl- edge the Roman Madonna and Queen of Heaven as their Lady also ! In the Lessons Proper for Holy Days we read "Annunciation of our Lady !" In Pagan Rome the 25th of March was the day observed in honor of Cybele, the Great Mother of the Gods, and in the seventh century its name was changed to the Annunciation, and that day is still observed by the English church, although no one 56 The Border Clans. ' i . knows when the Angel Gabriel made the announce- ment. The ancient Romans held a feast on the ist or 2nd of February to Juno Februata, which was celebrated with candles and torches, and Moresin says that in Scotland the people used to run about the mountains with lighted torches like the Sicilian women in search of Proserpine. In 526 (some say 540) the pope ordained that they should close the festival by going to the churches and offering up their candles to the Virgin. It was, therefore, called Candle-Mass, and Juno's day is still celebrated by English churchmen as the Day of the Purification ! These are but speci- mens. When the Prayer Book was revised in Ireland a few years ago they swept away nearly all the feasts and fasts, but Cybele's Day {Our Lady of the Annuncia- tion) and Juno's {Our Lady of the Purification) are Red Letter Days, or First-Class Festivals (! !) of the Protestant church of England, with special col- lects, epistles and prayers, and it was for that reason only they were retained by the sister church. It is true we have our so-called patron saint, and his memory is respected as that of one of our Lord's apostles, but not revered ; neither is his day religi- ously observed. It is a curious fa.ct that the so-styled St. Andrew's cross is a fable of the middle ages, for he is said to have been crucified in Greece, and in the Greek Menologies and in one or two Western Martyrolo- The Border Ciatis. 57 1 i^ies he is depicted as executed on a cross of the ordinary form. Rivers and fountains were dedicated to the sun- god Tammuz, which accounts for the many so-called holy wells still in existence, and the Thames, Tamar, Tame and Teme probably derived their names from him. The cross (X) was his initial and emblem, and the Druids made enormous crosses of oak trees, seeking one sufficiently adapted and cutting off all but the two principal branches, or otherwise they fastened a cross beam to the tree. They also built cruciform temples and cairns, and there is still stand- ing at Callernish in the Lewis a Druidical temple three hundred and eighty feet long in the shape of what later became known as the lona cross, but which is in reality the cross of Tammuz surrounded by his circle of the sun. The celebrated cairn at New Grange, Ireland, is also cruciform. Although a Christian church was established in Rome before the arrival of Paul, the Pagan temples were not entirely abolished until about A. D. 500, prior to which, but long after the time of the apos- tles, the Pagan cross was adopted by the Roman church and called the cross of Christ to draw the heathen into the church by making them believe there was little difference between the two religions, but St. Paul many years after our Lord's death called it the emblem of the curse, and the second commandment forbids all emblems for the use of religion. 8 ^^^w 58 TJic Border Clans. i In liritanny a Roman Catholic Priest is still called by the old Pagan title, Helek, servant of Haal. Many local names in the British Isles commence with the name. There was probably a Driiidical temple at Baltimore in Ireland, for the name is evidently liaal- ti-mor, the great house of Baal. He was also known as Gran or Grian, the Shiner or Sun. The Cam was anciently called Grant and Cambridge Grantabryg. The Irish Druids called the Zodiac Beach Grian, the Revolution of Grian and the Solstices Grian stad or Grian's stopping places. The Grampians, anciently Granze bene, are Grian's hills, and if further proof is necessary history tells us the Romans adopted the God's of other nations, although it seems more probable that they acknowledged them as their own under other names, and a Roman altar was dis- covered at Musselburgh in the Lowlands in 1565, dedicated to Apollo Granno, and Apollo was another form of the Sun God. But the Pagans knew not who they worshipped. Bacchus had so many appellations that according to Sophocles he was called the many named, and Isis was called Myrionyma, the goddess with ten thou- sand names. Their wise men believed that all the gods were originally the same. It is expressly so declared it the Orphic Hymns. In them they sang to the Universal Zeus. "Zeus is the male, Zeus is the immortal female," and Arnobius tells us they sometimes prayed " Oh Baal, whether thou be a god or goddess hear us." The Border Clans. 59 They desired to find the only God, but their reli- gion had become so fearfully corrupted that they knew not where to seek Him, and as we all know the learned Athenians, and probably other nations also, built an altar To the Unknown God ' The place from which the Highland Clan Grant derive their name is called Griantach, or Sliabh Grianus, the heath of Grian. His day was SuN-day, and even within the memory of man libations of milk were placed on Sundays in hollow stones called granni stones, of which there was one in every village. The reason of course forgotten, but the ceremony main- tained even as too many still honor the Syrian Ve- nus, who it was believed was hatched out of an Qgg. She was worshipped at Cyprus under the form of a large oval stone. Pliny describes what were consid- ered the virtues of Astarte's egg, and says the Druids wore them made of chrystal and set in gold around their necks as badges of their office. He says they were made by snakes, and called snake or serpent stones (ovum angiiinuni). They are still sometimes found in Wales, made generally of some glass or vitreous paste, and arc also called there to this day snake stones {Glcini nadrocdd^. Two of rock chrystal are still in existence in Scotland, one being in the royal scepter and the other is in the possession of a Perthshire family. Hindus, Chinese and Japanese have their mystic eggs, and who that has visited the Levant has not noticed the ostrich E97EBBH 6o The Border Claris. eggs suspended in the mosques ? What then is the Easter o.^^ but a memento of that impure goddess Venus, who was the same as the great Uiana of the Ephesians. Crosses made of rowan, or mountain ash, are still sometimes placed upon cow-byres in the Highlands, being now considered a protection against witches. The rowan was, however, a sacred tree of the Druids, and is the same as the Scandinavian yggdrasil, the great ash or mundane tree, the chief and holiest seat of the gods, where they ..-.sembled everyday in coun- cil. It is the same as the irminsul, the sacred tree of the Germans, from which Pagan origin is derived thei. Christbaum and the English Maypole. Fires were carried round the fields in the High- lands to ensure good crops, and Tein eghi, or Need Fires, were made when the cattle were diseased. These need fires were made in a peculiar manner, differing, however, slightly in some districts. Without doubt all these practices formerly existed in the Lowlands, but they lingered longer in the re- mote Highlands. There are prehistoric relics in Scotland which have not been preserved elsewhere, and which I ventured to point out as pre-christian some years ago, although such origin was not then, I think, ever hinted at by others. I refer to the standing crosses at Meigle, Glammis and elsewhere, bearing sculptured figures of serpents (and Tammuz, or Grian was the serpent sun-god, a The Border Clans. 6i corrupted tradition of the serpent of Paradise), a boar (sacred to the sun-god, whose day was the win- ter solstice, and although the animal is no longer sacrificed, boars' heads are still served up at Windsor and Oxford on Christmas) ; a sow (sacred to Frigga in Scandinavia and to Ceres in Rome) ; a long legged hound (and Ceridwin, the great goddess of South Britain, was fabled to have transformed herself into a greyhound) ; a centaur with a battle axe in each hand instead of a bow ; Venus' looking glass or mirror with lily handle (the lily of Isis and Juno, and now the Roman Catholic emblem of the Virgin), and also with a cross handle like the sign of the planet, elephants, fishes, etc. Bacchus was sometimes called the Fish {Jlacchus Ichthus) and Jerome calls him the Lamented Fish (^Plscem Mwroris^. The Philistines worshipped him as the Fish On {Dug On). Joseph's father-in-law was Priest of On (the Sun), whose city is to this day called, by the Greek translation of its Egyptian name Heliopolis, the City of the Sun. One Scottish stone bears a man and a woman with a tree between them which might be taken for Adam and Eve, but there is a similar design at Philct, and these two probably represent the Celtic and the Egyptian versions of the Latin Hercules in the gar- den of the Hesperides. Compare also the man tearing open the jaws of the lion in Wilson's Prehistoric Scotland with the Assyrian Hercules wrestling with a lion in Layard's Nineveh. ===? 62 The Border Clans. Where did our prehistoric fellow-countryman ob- tain his models ? There were no lions in the Land o'Cakes when that stone was carved. His forefathers brought their traditions from Babylon " which hath made all the earth drunken," and they must have brought their drawings too ! But how, was it on their bodies only ? Wc know that the Caledonians had their bodies covered with the figures of animals colored blue with wood, so that the Romans called them pidi or painted men, and have we not relics of that custom also. The Picts painted their whole bodies with representations of different animals, a custom that must have oricfinated in a warmer clime than Caledonia. Our sailors now however only tat- too their arms and sometimes their breasts. Besides the stationary beacon fires the Borderers also formerly sent around a signal called the Fyre- cross, somewhat similar to and undoubtedly a cor- rupted form of the Highland fiery cross. This fyrc- cross was a wisp of straw or tow, or a turf, burning or burnt, mounted on the top of a spear and carried through the country with the utmost celerity, and all men between eighteen and fifty-six, or according to some writers between sixteen and sixty, were obliged to hasten to the place of danger. Tn the Highlands it was called crois-tara, crois- tarich or cran-tara, and has been supposed to signify the cross of shame {tara), in allusion to those who should neglect to join the banner of their chief. Jameson however, who defines it as a " stake of wood The Border Clans. 63 one end dipped in blood and the other burnt, as an emblem of fire and sword," says the final word is perhaps tara, a multitude. It was however origin- ally a cross formed of two pieces of wood tied to- gether, the extremities of which were seared in fire and extinguished in the blood of a goat which was killed by the chief himself with his own sword. Sometimes one of the ends of the horizontal piece only was burnt and a piece of linen or white cloth stained with blood was suspended from the other ; and some years ago I expressed the opinion that the original signification had been long forgotten and that the crois-tara was the cross of Taran or Thoran, the God of Thunder, who was identical with the Scandinavia Thor who was considered the helper of both gods and men, and whose weapon was a fylfot cross. Moreover the goat was sacred both to Bac- chus and to Mars, the God of War, and undoubtedly likewise to Thor, the God of War as well as of Thunder, as his car was drawn by two goats, and therefore in Scotland to Taran, and the case then is perfectly clear. No Highland Chieftain would turn his Andrea Ferrara into a butcher's knife, but in this event it became a sacrificial knife and he a successor of the Pagan priest offering up a sacri- fice to Taran. This accounts for the blood, and the rest is equally clear for the cross of Thor was a fiery cross which he himself could only hold with a steel glove. Taran's cross must have been the same. 'F 64 The Border Clans. iir In the Orkneys the fiery cross was called the Cors or Corse, /. e.. Cross, and in later times it was some- times used for calling the people to church or for other lawful purposes. The ancient Goths, the Swedes and probably other nations had a similar custom and from the im- perfect accounts that have been handed down they appear to have used rods burnt at one end, with a rope or piece of white cloth stained with blood at the other. As the cross was delivered from hand to hand, and each bearer ran at full speed, proclaiming aloud the place of meeting, a clan was assembled with great celerity. The last time it was used in Scotland was during the Rising of 1745, when it was carried about in the Highlands, and it went round Loch Tay, a distance of thirty-two miles, in three hours. / I must again confess that there was a class infest- ing the borders who must not be confounded with some of the Border Clans, and in favor of many of whom little can I fear be adduced. ^ The land lying along the Borders was called the Debateable land or Threepland, from " threep," to contend or quarrel. As early as 1222 a commission was appointed to mark out the line of frontier, and in 1450, it was agreed to render part of it a com- mon pasture where each nation mig'^t have liberty to graze cattle, and was occupied froiix sun rising to sun setting, on the understanding that any thing left there over night should be fair booty to the finder. \ W The Border Clans. 65 It extended the whole length of the borders, and in proportion as the land was waste or barren its breadth was the wider, but in 1552, it was decided to divide the Terra contentiosa by a boundary line ; the ground on one side to belong to England and that on the other to Scotland. ^ Not only hordes of broken clans and broken men, ' but also murderers and the like resided there, many of whom harrassed both countries. "And stole the beeves that made their broth From England and from Scotland both." ^ Such was their dexterity that they could twist a cow's horn or mark a horse so that its owner could not know either again, and one of their pretty games was with the consent of a neighbor to carry off and sell his horse at a good distance, and after pocketing the money to steal back the horse and return him to his owner. / The Tarras Moss was one of their places of refuge. In 1598 Sir Robert Carey, the English Warden built a fort on Careby Hill to watch some of the Baitablers who had lied there, but while he was lying in wait they sent a party into England and harried his lands, and on their return sent him one of his own cows, telling him that fearing he was short of provisions they had sent him some ^"^lish beef. They were often proclaimed. A decree of the year 1567 reads as follows : 66 The Border Clans. I I Ij! " Forasmikill* as it is understand to my Lord Re- gent and Lordis of Secrete Counsall how the thevis and brokin men inhabitantis of the contreis of Lid- disdaill, F2wisdaill, Eskdaill and utheris boundis on the Marches of this realme foranent Ingland, hes nocht onelie committit divers thiftis, reiffis.f heirs- chippisij: and slaiichteris upoun the peciabill and glide subjectis of the Incuntre bot als hes takin sindry of thame and deneniti^ thame as lauchfull presonaris or ransont or latten them to souertie agane * * * And * * * quhenf ony cumpanyis of thevis or brokin men cummis over the swyris^ within the Incuntre, that all our Soverane Lordis lietris dwelland in the boundis quhairthrow thai resort incontinent cry on hie, raise the fray and follow thame alsweill in their inpassing as outpassing on futc and horsis and follow thame and the gudis reft and stollen be thame for the recovering and redding thairof * * * " ^ Bloodhounds were generally used in the pursuit of these marauders. When the injured parties raised the hue and cry and followed with horse and hound, it was called the hot trod or tred, and in chasing the thieves they were allowed to cross the frontiers of both countries. * Forasmuch. t Robberies. I Ruin, wrecking of property. § Detained. II When. Qu is equivalent to w. IT Hills or passes between the mountains. The Border Clans. 67 y Besides the royal and other castles on the Borders, there were also bastel-houses, or bastilles, and towers called peels, inhabited by the lairds and gentry, whether heads of clans or distinct families. Some were surrounded by barnikins or inclosures of stone, the walls whereof were, according to statute of A. D. 1535, a yard thick and six yards in height, surround- ing a space of at least sixty feet. This was the minimum, but they were often stronger. These barnikins were for men of one hundred pounds a year or more, a not inconsiderable sum then, for forty years later the English master of the ordnance of the northern parts received at 5s. per day only ^91, 5s. per annum, and the salary of Lord Hundsdon, warden of the east marches, was only four hundred pounds. X Men of smaller rent were to build peels and *' great strengths," or strong houses. / The entrance to the tower was usually secured by two doors, the outer one of grated iron and the inne.r one of oak clenched with nails. The apartments were placed directly over each other, accessible by a turnpike stair easily blocked up and defended. The dependents generally lived in adjacent cottages, or huts with walls of stone, turf or mud. and when the alarm was sounded they unthatched and dismantled their cabins, so that there was nothing to burn, and huddled the women and children, the ho'-ses, cattle and sheep within the castle walls, and either joined them there, if the fortalice itself was attacked, or rode off to join in the fray. s^^^s=?=^ ll lit 1^ p II lip :; r !! 68 T/ie Border Clans. y / Upon a sudden attack from any small party these bastilles afforded good means of defense, but when, as often happened, the English entered the frontier with a regular army supplied with artillery, the lairds usually took to the woods or mountains, with their most active and mounted followers, and left their habitations to the fate of war, which could seldom do any permanent damage to buildings of such rude and massive construction as could neither be effectually ruined by fire or thrown down by force, until at least when gunpowder began to be used for the purpose. Few of these fortresses now remain. They were inconvenient for modern residences, and have been mostly cleared away. The largest peel on the Bor- der still in existence is that of Borthwick, built in 1430, the tower of which is one hundred and ten feet high and the walls twelve to fourteen feet thick. It had six stories. Rude as they appear to have been, a list of the furniture of one of them in the sixteenth century shows a certain degree of refinement. It consists of the " spuilzie " (spoils) of the house of Robert Ker of Ancrum, County Roxburgh, ancestor of the Marquess of Lothain, in 1573, with the valuation of each separate article, he having appealed co the king and council against certain parties for damages. Among other articles enumerated are four silver tassis (ctips), each weighing twelve ounces, one silver The Border Claris. 69 ' macer* double over gilt, weighing eighteen ounces, two dozen silver spoons weighing one and a half ounces each, two silver salt vats, one partially gilt with cover, weighing twelve ounces, the other weigh- ing seven ounces. A silver foot to a cup weighing five ounces. Three dozen Flanders pulder plaittisf (^pewter plates), five dozen Flanders poyder trunch- eons {trenchers), besides basins, washbasins, tin flagons of Flanders work, three stands napery % {table linett) of fine dernick {Doornick or Totirnay) work, three stands of small linen cloth, " XL furneist fedder beddis with scheittis, covcringis, coddis {pillows), bousteris, blankattis," three gentlewomen's gowns, to-wit, one of black champlot silk, another of French black and the third of Scotch russet, all trimmed with velvet, three gentlewomen's hats, one of black velvet, another of black armosy taffatie and the third of black felt, three men's doublets, one of black satin, another of violet armosie taffatie and the third black bombassy, etc., etc., together with one tun of wine, to-wit, three puncheons of claret, and one puncheon of white wine, " price of the tun Ixvi li xiii s. iiii d,"§ *Macers were generally made of maple wood, one serving the entire company, as the Loving cup is still passed round in England. tTin or pewter plates took the place of wooden ones in the reign of James the First (1424-1437), about which time a noted tavern in Paris bore the sign of the Tin plate. J James I in his Poem " Peblis to the Play," mentions a tavern in Peebles with fair table linen and a regular score on the wall. The reckoning two pence halfpenny apiece. §^66 13s. 4d. These were Scotch pounds then less in value than English. .'.^.-JU ><3K^ w^tmrf ■■• SSanHMiHH 70 T/ie Border Clans. \ . tf and also salt meat, cheese, butter, meal, barley, oats, etc. Such is the claim, but it can hardly escape notice that while there were forty beds completely furnished and equal to about sixteen hundred bottles of wine, there were parts only of three men's and three women's dresses, so that it would seem as if some articles had either been taken away by the owners or had not been discovered by the raiders. This was the house of a baron only, but the inven- tory a century earlier of the royal plate and jewels of King James the Third, who died in 1488, impresses one with no contemptible idea of the riches and splendor of the court. Together with a large sum in gold angels, ryders (of the Low Countries), rials (of France), unicorns and rose nobles occur " a book of gold like a table and on the clasp of it four pearls and a fair ruby ; the great diamond with the dia- monds set about it ; several great and small gold chains; a coilar of chalcedon, collars and beads of gold, strings of pearls, a purse made of pearls, crosses set with precious stones, numerous rings in rolls — e.g., "Item a roll with seven small ringis diamantis rubeis and perle." " Item ane uther roll with ringis in it of thame (among them) thre gret emmorantis a ruby a diamant, and other rolls of rings set with saffer, ammorant, topas, turcas and berial, together with plates, dishes and basins silver over gilt," etc., etc., and in the inventory of James V, who died in 1542, occurs ititer alia a basin of gold weighing ten pounds. The Border Clans. 71 An inventory of such thinj:js as were left in the Castle of Caerlaverock, Co. Dumfries, in 1640, affords a good idea of the wealth and luxury that character- ized some of the noble mansions of Scotland at that period. Four barrels of "seake" (Falstaff's favorite wine) and three hogsheads of French wine only remained in the wine cellar, but among numerous other articles were five suits of hangings, each estimate at three score pounds sterling. Five beds, two of silk and three of cloth, every bed consisting of five coverings * * * with silk fringes, broad silk lace, chairs and stools answerable laid with lace and fringe, with feather bed and bolster, blankets and rugs, pillows and bed- stead of timber answerable ; every bed estimate to be worth one hundred and ten pounds sterling. Ten lesser beds, four with cloth curtains and six with stuff or serge, every bed furnished with bottoms, valence and testers, feather bed, bolster, rug, blan- kets and pillows and bedstead of timber ; every bed estimate to fifteen pounds sterling. Seventy other beds for servants, consisting of feather bed, bolster, rug, blankets, and estimate to seven pounds sterling apiece. Forty carpets, estimate " overheid " to forty shil- lings sterling apiece. Furniture of a drawing-room of cloth of silver, consisting of an entire bed * * * wardrobe and six stools, all with silk and silver fringe, estimate to one hundred pounds sterling. mUmmmmk 72 The Border Clans. Pl Two dozen chairs and stools covered with red velvet, with fringes of crimson silk and gilt nails, estimate to three score pounds sterling. Five dozen Turkey work chairs and stools, every chair estimate to fifteen shillings sterling, and every stool to nine shillings sterling. A library of books " qlk stood my lord to two hun- dred pounds sterling" (Maxwell, Earl of Nithsdale, was a literary man and commonly called The Philos- opher, which accounts for the large stock of books for that period). Two trunks full of Holland shirts, etc., etc., damask table cloths, forty pair of sheets, seventy stands of napery, etc. Two trunks of coarse sheets and napery. A trunk with eight suits of apparel, some of velvet, some of satin, some of cloth, etc. There was also one iron window and six cases of windows. Glass was then still so expensive that the windows were removed from unoccupied rooms. My lord and my lady's pictures. The bed in my lord's chamber is described as fur- nished of damaSk and laid out with gold lace. My lady's chamber is mentioned, but the furniture is not given. Of arms there were left 22 pikes, 13 lances, 28 muskets, 28 bandoleers, 2 two-handed swords and 9 collars for daggers. The ledger of Andrew Halyburton, a Scotch mer- chant residing in the Low Countries between the years 1492 and 1503, has fortunately been preserved. The Border Clans. n Amon^ other articles shipped by him to Scotland were *' 2 poncionis {^pttnclicons) off claret vvyn, 2 puns i^pHHchcons) Orleans wine, a stek {piece or cas/c) of Ryns wyne, 3 puns wine, a pipe of claret, a town (luji) of Gaschon claret, 2 bottis (butts) Malwissy {Malmsey)" etc., together with such luxuries as "25 cassis sucur weand 28 li {pounds), 12 li pepar, 2 li gyinj^ar, a li of kaneyll {cinnamon), i li clois {cloves), 2 li notmogis, 2 li massis {mace), 12 li scrozattis (con- fections), 2 barellis of applis, xii li of deytis," etc., and also the Trois Mendianti>, viz., " fegis, raisinis and almondis." A century later, in the Highlands, Simon Fraser, eighth Lord Lovat, imported wines, sugar and spices from France in return for the salmon produced in his rivers. He was celebrated for a liberal hospitality. The weekly expenditure of provisions in his house included seven bolls of malt, seven bolls of meal and one of (lour. Each year seventy beeves were con- sumed, besides venison, fish, poultry, kid, lamb, veal and all sorts of feathered game in proportion. When he died in 1631, five thousand armed followers and friends attended his funeral, for all of whom there was entertainment provided. Sir Duncan Campbell of Glenurchy, ancestor of the Marquess of Breadalbane, who died the same year, supported a similar menage. His wine, brought from Dundee, was claret and white wine, old and new, and he had three kinds of ale — ostler ale, household ale and best ale. 10 ! I 74 The Border Clans. I ! ; ( r'yncs Morysin who visited Sfiotlancl in 1598, says, " Tlu;y drink pure wines, n(yt with sui^ar as the I^njj^lish ; yet at feasts they put comfits in the wine after the French manner; but they had not our vint- ner's fraud to mix the wines. Another Kni;hsh traveler, in " A Short Account of Scothuid, London, 1702," says "their drink is beer, souKitimes so new that it is scarce cold when broi ght to the table. Hut their gentry are better provided, and give it age, yet think not so well of it as to let it go alone, and therefore add brandy, cherry brandy, or brandy and sugar, anil this is the nectar of their country, at their feasts and entertainments, and carries with it a mark of great esteem and affec- tion. Sometimes they have wine, a thin bodied claret, at ten pence the mutchkin which answers to our quart." It is not clear what kind of "gentry" this writer refers to for as I . ,.ve shown the lords and barons drank not only claret, but also rhiMiish, malmsey and sherry wines, ami bought them by the cask, pipe or butt anil hogshead or puncheon, and not by the quart. It is strange these authors do not mention whisky v/hich was known in Ireland when ilenry tiie Secoi.d t'nviided that country in if 72, when the inhabitants v-ere in the habit of making an alcoholic liquor called uisgc-bcatha, synonymous with the Latin a(]ua vit 76 The Border Clans. the period of the Legislative Union in 1707, and only two or three of the families of whom it is com posed are not of old Baronial descent, and as the title of Laird frequently occurs herein I may explain that the lesser iJarons or Lairds were hardly to be distin- guished from the nobility, who, until about the mid- dle of the seventeenth century consisted of liarls and Lords only, the Ducal denomination l.aving been mostly confined to the Royal I'amily. In the Parliament of 1488, there were four Bishops, six Abbots, four Priors, eight Larls, fourteen Lords, thirty-four liarons or Lairds, and eleven Commis- saries of Burghs. The Lairds were not only denominated from their estates, but up to a late period they used a titular signature as well as the Peers, or rather greattn* Bar- ons, as the former word hardly applies to Scotland when; the " Peers" never had a s(:i)arate house, nor had they any privileges over the lesser Barons. All were Pares or Peers in Courts of Justice. While there was no House of Commons there was no I louse of I'eers. Every tenant in capite or landtnl gentle- men holding of the crown might sit and vote. J i'he lairtls corresponded in a m(.'asure with the Iinglish lords of manors, but with gn^ater powers; for in Scotland, as a rul{\ they were lords of regality, and possessed the power of pit and gallows, or juris- diction over those of their vassals or tenants who resided on their estates. 1 )rowning was an oM mode of punishment, and tin; right of fossa el /urea con- The Border Clans. 77 sisted in inflicting death either by drowning of women or hanging of men. Treason, it is said, did not fall under their cognizance ; but it would seem that the king himself could not arrest traitors within their territories, for as late as 1571, and again in 1574, several heads of clans, amongst whom are those of Clan Dickson, pledged themselves to keep good rule, and to apprehend not only thieves but also any traitors found within their borders. Lord and laird are both rendered "dominus" in Latin. A tract of land with the owner's bastille, peel or mansion upon it was styled a lairdship, and the owner was not called by his name as Scot, but by his lands, as " Huccleugh." In 1429, persons possessed of a yearly rent of twenty pounds, or of moveable goods to the value of one hundred [)oupds, were ordered to be well horsed and armed " from nead to heel," as became their rank as gentlemen ; whilst others of inferior wealth, ex- tending to ten pounds only in rent, or fifty pounds in goods, were bound to provide themselves with (a headpiece ?), gorget, rereand vam braces, breast])late, greaves and leg splints and gloves of plate or iron gauntlets. Iwery yeoman whose property amounted to twenty pounils in goods was commanded to arm himself with a good doublet of fence or a ha])ergeon, an iron hat or knapscull, a bow and sheaf of arrows, a sword, buckler and dagger. The second rank of yeomen, who possessed only ten pounds in property, were to provide themselves with a bow and sheaf of i< 78 The Border Clans. W \ \ i \ arrows, a sword, buckler and dag^^^cr, whilst the low- est rank of all, who had no skill in archery, were to have a good "suir" hat, a doublet of fence, with sword and buckler, an axe also, or at least a staff pointed with iron. This shows the relative value of coin when a man's wealth, as in the days of Abraham, consisted chiefly in his extensive lands and flocks. Out of an income oi twenty pounds a gentleman had to be armed cap- a pie and to own a good horse besides. In 1540, James V ordered that every nobleman, such as earls, lords, knights, barons and persons ex- ceeding one hundred pounds in yearly rent, should use white or plate armor, light or heavy as they chose, and weapons becoming their rank ; that those of a smaller income in the Lowlands have a jack of plate, halbrik or brigantine, gorget or pisan with splents, knee-pans of mail and gauntlets of plate or mail ; that unlanded gentlemen and yeoman have jacks of plate, halljriks, splents, sallat or steel bonnet with pisan or gorget, and all to wear swords. No weapons .ire to be admitted to wapenschawings {jvcapon shoioings or rcvicios) except spears, pikes of six ells in length, leith axes, halbards, hand-bows and arrows, cross-bows, culv(Tins and two-handed swonls, Hurgesses are to arm in the same pro- portions of their income. Those worth one hun- dred pounds in goods in white armor ; those under, but who may yearly spend ten pounds, like the yeomanry. i The Border Clans. 79 Of firearms, culverins alone are mentioned. In 1 54 1, however, a statute was passed ordering- all per- sons of property, not even excluding the clergy, to have hagbuts, culverins, powder, lead, etc., according to their income. In 1590, it was decreed that no baron, in repairing to the king's presence or to justice's courts and con- ventions at Edinburgh, should be accompanied by more than five persons, unarmed, while lords were not allowed more than eight and earls not above twelve. The following year, however, they were permitted to have "every erll xxiiii personis or within, every lord xvi personis or within and every barroun x personis or within, — all in peceable and quiet manner, without armour and chiefiie without daggis, pistolettis and utheris ingynis of fyre werk except it be shown to his Majesty that it be neces- sary and his Hienis special license had for their cuming when they shall be allowed to wear sword and quhinzeair (whinger or hanger)." \ Vassals were only second to barons an^ free hold- ers of the crown. They generally held their lands free of all service and paid only a nominal quit rent. jThese tenants, although holding their lands from overlords, were themselves often chiefs of clans or branches of clans, and independent of their landlords as regarded feudal superiority, and their followers acknowledged no superior save their chief. They and their ancestors had occupied their farms for generations, and the birth of the better class was as T^ 80 The Border Clans. good, and their genealogy as old, as those of the chief himself, to whom they were mostly blood rela- tions, and to whom they were attached with the most unshaken loyalty. , Some of them were naturally poor, however, and they are so styled in a letter from the English privy council to their ambassador in France in 1547. "The Scots having of late made many and cruel incursions, the Lord Warton, lord warden of the West Marches, had been compelled to make reprisals, and has taken in an ambush the Laird Johnson, a notable Borderer of the Scottish side, with seven or eight mean gentlemen and 120 or 140 common soldiers of his party." Lord Wharton was not so fortunate the following year, when he and his army of three thousand men were defeated and the remainder retreated to Car- lisle. These poor gentry were sometimes styled bonnet- lairds or cocklairds. They were followed by the husbandmen' (///^j'<5^i«rt'/), who were not serfs nor bondsmen ; neither were they free tenants, but actual cultivators of the land — sub-tenants. The carls bonds, serfs or villeins were anciently in a state of perfect servitude and were at the absolute disposal of their landlords. They were transferred with the lands and might be caught and be brought back if they attempted to escape like a stray ox or sheep. In 11 70, Earl Waldev of Dunbar in a deed of four lines made over a whole family " I give and bequeath to the Abbot and monks of Kelso, Hadden I The Border Clans. 8i and liis brother William and all their children and all their descendants." Villeynaj^e was discontinued before the beginnini^ of the sixteenth century and before it was given up in England. This class then became cottars or sub- tenants without any tenure except that which arose out of the necessity of having men who could render services both military and agricultural. v The heritable or hereditable jurisdictions were not however abolished until 1748, and this broke the chain of feudalism which until then had curbed the progress of the people. Many claims were made for the loss of these rights or regalities, the largest being that of the Duke of Hamilton, who claimed ^'38, 000, while the Duke of Roxburgh only demanded ;/|"4,ooo. ^ The Marquess of Lothian, the Countess of Eglinton, Maclean of Cadboll, Dickson* of Kilbucho and others asked for ^1,000 each ; Sir John Anstruther, Car- michael of Tilleboddy, Sir Robert Dickson of Sorn- beg and others wanted ^500 each. Sir James Sharp and a few more ;^ioo each, and one only claimed less than that sum. V A few lists of Borderers and Border Clans, more or less complete have been preserved, the earliest being a record of the Barons and Clans of the West Border who submitted to the English in the dismal * Dickson of Ruhtrii,' was then extinct, and as DiclW/cj!z>]. L. Glammilscheilis, Home. Wylielewcht {Ramsay^. Roxburgh. L. of Cesfurde, Ker. L. of Litledane, Ker. L. of Greynhede, Ker. L. of Corbet, Ker. Gradon, Ker. Ker of Gaitschaw. Mow \_Mow or Molle~\ {of that Ilk). Haddon [Murray\ Sheriffe of Teviotdaill, Dowg- lasse. Tymperden, Douglas. Hundeley [Rut/ier- ford^. \\\xx\th\\\[^Rutherford~\. Edzarstoun [7?«//z 1 114 The Clan Dickson. These variations of spelling proper names are not peculiar to Scotland. I think it was Dugdale who stated that he had found over one hundred and forty variations of the name of Mainwaring or Mannering, anciently de Mesnilwarin. Dickson is now the usual form in Scotland, but in England where the similar name is not a clan name, and where there are numerous different families who do not pretend to claim a common origin, but all derive their sun*ame from being sons of various Dicks, it is almost invariably written Dixon. The clan are descended from the Keiths, Earls Marshall, one of the most powerful families in Scot- land, when, with the sole exception of the Royal Family, the title of Earl was the highest in the kingdom, and who had so many possessions that it was formerly said that they could journey from the north to the south of Scotland and sleep every night in one of their own castles. This descent is proved by no less than three entries in the Records of the Lyon Office between the years 1672 and 1694. And here it may be well to explain that during a temporary occupation of the country by the English most of the public records, including those of the Lyon Office, were shipped to London and lost at sea, and about the year 1670, the remaining records of that office were destroyed by fire. The earliest Register of Arms, now extant, is that of Sir David Lindsay, Lord Lyon King at Arms, Ni The Clan Dickson. 115 containing over three hundred shields beautifully emblazoned, with the names added, as " Dikesoun of yat Ilk." This which was executed about 1542, was authenticated by the Scottish Privy Council in 1630, and is preserved in the Advocate's library. In 1672, an act of Parliament was made ordaining all the nobility and gentry to register their armorial bearings, but Nisbet complains that many 3f the most ancient and considerable families neglected to register, partly through indolence and partly through a false pride, considering themselves so well known that it was unnecessary. Three of our name obeyed the law, the first of whom is entered thus : " Mr.* Robert Dickson, Ad- vocat, descended of y*^ famille of y*^ Earle Marischall, Bears," — etc. The second reads : " Mr. Alexander Dicksone of Westerbinning, descended of the family of Buhtrig which was descended of the Earle Mar- shall, Bears," — etc., and the third is as follows : " Captain Robert Dickson of Sornbeg, and which surname was originally Keith, Bears," — etc. Nisbet in his Heraldry (Edinburgh, 1722) says the Dicksons arc descended from one Richard Keith, said to be a son of the family of Keiths Earls Mar- shall of Scotland, and in proof thereof carry in their arms the chief of Keith Marischal. This Richard was commonly called Dick, and his sons were styled after him, the affix of son in the * Mr. was his title as Advocate. u. t ' ii6 T/ie Clan Dickson. Lowlands answering to the prefix of Mac in the Highlands. It is probable that he was the son of the Great Marshal Hervey de Keth, who died in 1249, by his wife Margaret, daughter of William third Lord Douglas, because it was customary in Scotland in those days before the introduction of quartering for cadets to compose their Arms by adding to their paternal bearing a part or the whole of their mother's Arms to show their maternal descent, and to differ- ence themselves from other descendants of the family, and the Arms of Keith are Argent on a Chief gules three pallets or (but Nisbet says in several paintings the chief is paly of six or and gules, which agrees with their traditionary origin that at a battle with the Danes a chief of the Keith's slew the Danish leader, which being perceived by King Malcolm, he drew, with the blood of the dead man, long stripes on the conqueror's shield — and also agrees with the Chief of Dickson of Buhtrig), while the House of Douglas, before the death of the Bruce in 1329, bore simply Azure three mullets argent. The heart was added by William first Earl of Douglas, and appears on his seal in 1343. Some of the Dicksons seem to have preferred the Douglas mullets alone, for Thomas (H) of Hazel- side, who succeeded his father in 1307, bore a sword between two mullets, and others bore mullets only. The Dicksons of Buhtrig, however, bore the Chief of Keith with the Douglas mullets in base, a perfect The Clan Dickson. 117 specimen of composed Arms. The early records being lost it is impossible to say when they first bore that coat, although it may have been adopted as early p« when Thomas (II) of Hazelside chose his armorial bearings. They were generally assumed in those days. The granting of Arms by Herald's Colleges is of later date. The first Dickson on record, moreover, was evi- dently a person of very good standing, such as a grandson of the Earl Marshall might be expected to be, a man of wealth as well as of influence, and was also a clansman of the Douolas. Two of the oldest Scottish Historians recount his deeds. Archdeacon Barbour who wrote in 1375, and Blind Harry, or Henry the Minstrel, whose metrical history was written about 1381. There are some who speak slightingly of the bard, but Major, who was born in 1405, says he was living about that time and that he recited his compositions in the presence of princes or men of the highest rank {coram principibus), and Chalmers in his Caledonia, says " Blind Harrie, whom the Scotch Historians generally follow but dare not quote. Blind Harrie is, however, supported by the Tower Records." Accoiding to the Minstrel, when Douglas wished to recover his castle of Sanquhar in 1295, he applied to Thom Dycson who was " born to himself," i. e., rela- tion or clansman by birth, and addresses him as Dear Friend," and relied so much upon him that he after- I ii8 The Clan Dickson. 1 m iiitfly^iif'?.,!"^^ \t Ik S i ^ i I ' ward selected him to pass through the enemy's camp of some three thousand men to bear a message to Wallace ; while Barbour says he was rich in move- ables and cattle and had many friends, besides which his house could not have been a small one as it con- tained a private chamber where he not only concealed Douglas but also brought persons to see him without attracting notice, and the space for such a secret apartment could not have been taken out of a small house without being perceived. It is necessary to make this explanation because Hume of Godscroft, in 1648, calls him a "servant," by which he evidently meant a feudal retainer, and Scott follows Hume without explaining the modern meaning of the word as he should have done, so that probably every reader of Castle Dangerous considers Doughty Dickson, as he is still called, to have been a menial, instead of which he was. Laird of at least two Baronies and Governor of Douixlas Castle. McDowell, in his History of Dumfriesshire, absurdly styles him " a soldier of humble rank," instead of which he was a " tenant in capite," holding direct from the Crown. This Thomas Dicson, Laird of Symonston and Heslcside, county Lanark, and Castellan of Douglas, son of Dick de Keth, was born A. D. 1247, and if grandson of the aforesaid Hervey de Keth was then also second cousin to William seventh Lord Douglas, father of the good •ji^i- The Clan Dicksoyi. 119 Sir James eighth Lord, to both of whom Dickson was certainly a trusty friend. After the capture of Berwick in 1295, Sir William Douglas wished to recover his castle of Sanquhar, then held by the English who had laid waste all the surrounding country, and accordingly as the Minstrel says, went to " A young man than that hardy was and bauld {bold), Born till him selll and Thorn Dycson was cauld ; Der freynd he said I wald prcyfl {prmw) at my niycht, And mak a fray to fals Bewfurd the knycht, In Sanquhar duellys and dois full {jret owtragc Than Dycson said my self in that wiage {voyage), Sail for you pass with Anderson to spek.'' Anderson supplied the castle daily with fuel and Dickson persuaded him to lend him his apparel and cart. At night Douglas with thirty men concealed himself in a ravine near the castle and "To the Sanquhar Dickson alone he send, And he soon made with Anderson this end — Dickson should take both his horse and his weed {tlrcss). By it was day a draught of wood to lead. Again he passed and told the good Douglas Who drew him soon into a privy place. Anderson told what stuff there was therein To Thom Dickson that was near of kin ; Forty there are of men of mickle vail. Be they on foot they will you sore assail. If you happen the entry for to get On thy right hand a stalwart ax is set, Therewith you may defend you in a thrang, Be Douglas wise he hides not from you lang," It was just daybreak, Anderson arranged the load and gave Dickson his clothes. The porter opened I Jl , ! I 120 T/ie Cla7i Dickson. the castle gates and when the cart was between them, Dickson, with one blow, cut loose the piece of har- ness by which the horse was attached so that the load stuck fast, preventing the closing of the gates. He then killed the porter with his knife and seizing the axe that Anderson had told him of beckoned therewith to the ambush who rushed forward, slew the three wardens and took possession before the garrison were out of their beds. The English soon, however, laid scige to the castle and Douglas led Dickson out through some postern or secret passage mounted on a lleet horse to warn Sir William Wallace. " Thorn Dycson than was met with good Wallace Quhilk grantyt sone to rcskew Douglace Dicson he said wait {know) thow thair multipli Three thousand men thair power mycht nocht be — "* The English having notice of Wallace's approach raised the siege and retreated, but were overtaken and lost five hundred men. For this and other services Dickson received the lands of Hisleside or Hazelside, about ten miles west of Douglas, where there is still a house bearing the name. There is scarcely a vestige of the old mansion remaining, but there are indications that it was a building of magnitude and strength. Dickson must have done good service to his country for ten years later King Robert Bruce, about *Two of these extracts are from the MS. of 1488. The second is from the edition of 1758 which is much modernized. The Clan Dickson. 121 the year 1306, conveyed to Thomas filius RicarcH, the barony of Symundstun, now Syminirton, in the county of Lanark, and he was also created Heredi- tary Castellan or Governor of Douglas Castle. As such he resided in his own house except in case of war, when he left his house in charge of his depend- ents and himself took command of Castle Douirlas. Archdeacon Barbour's account of the return of Sir James to Douglasdale in 1307, is as follows: '' Now tukis James his wia/re Towart Dovv^las his heretago ****** And than a man wonnyt tharby That was of freyndis weill mychty And rychc of moble and of catcill And had been to his fadyr leyll And till himself in his youthed He had done mony a thankful deid Thorn dicson was his name perfey." t. e. " Now takes James his voyage Towards Douglas his heritage ****** And then a man dwelt thereby That was of friends very mighty And rich of movables and cattle And who had been loyal to his f;ithcr And to himself in his youth He had done many a thankful deed Thom Dicson was his name by my faith. To him he sends and prayed him That he would come to him at once To speak privately to him And he regardless of the danger went to him And when he told him who he was 16 1/ Hi SI' li ■' » 122 T/ic Clan Dickson. lie wept for joy and for pity And took him directly to his house Where, in ;i ciuunber privately He kept hini and his company That no one perceived it Of meat and drink and other thinj^s they had plenty. He wrouf^iit with so much subtilty That all the loyal men of the country That were dwelling^ there in his father's time This good man made come one by one And do their homajre every one And he himself first homage made." Douglas then by Dickson's aid recaptured his castle of Douglas from the English, but according to Hume of Godscroft's History of the Family of Douglas (Edinl'urgh, 1648), being oppressed by the multitude of his enemies, Dickson was himself cut down and slain. Barbour's account is as follows : " Here Ja of dowglas slays them in the church. The folk upon the Sunday Held to St. Bride's church their way And they that in the castle were Issued out both less and more And went forth their palms to bear Except a cook and a porter. lames of Douglas of their coming And what they were had notice And sped him to the church in haste But ere he came to it hastily One of his friends cried ' Douglas, Douglas,' Thomas Dicsone the nearest was To them that were of the castle Who were all within the chancel And when he ' Douglas ' so heard cry He drew out his sword and fiercely Rushed among them to and fro." ******* The Clan Dickson, 123 According to tradition, although cut across the middle by an English sword he still continued his opposition until he fell lifeless, and this account, says Sir Walter Scott, is supported by a memorial of some authority — a tombstone still to be seen in the churchyard of St. liridc of Douglas, on which is sculptured a figure of Dickson, supporting with his hand his protruding entrails, and raising his sword with the other in the attitude of combat. I regret to say, however, that Sir Walter was here at fault. In my visits to Scotland I had never passed through the town of Douglas, but in nScS;, ap[)lied to the minister, the Rev. W. Smith, intending to have the monument photographed. To my surprise, however, neither he nor his sexton had ever heard of it. He then wrote to the Rev. Dr. Struthcrs of 1^-es- tonpans, a noted local antiquary, who remembered perfectly the churchyard as it was fifty-four years ago, and knew all the monuments, but said although there were a number of Dickson tombstones this was not among them. None of the oldest inhabitants, even those of the name, knew any thing of it. Mr. Smith then applied to the former grave digger, a very old man whose father had been grave digger iDcfore him, and offered him from me a reward if he would point it out. He said that Dickson was killed at the church door and burled before the door, but that there was no such monument. That he believed the former minister, the Rev. Dr. Stewart was mis- taken in supposing there was one, and that he had TT . If! 124 The Claii Dickson, always thought. Sir Walter was misinformed or that he jotted down notes which he misunderstood. That Sir Walter visited the church but took down his notes in the hotel at Douglas from an old man named Haddon while the latter was eating the breakfast Sir Walter had given him, and that Sir Walter was very ill at the time and died not very long after. His state of health was, therefore, probably also the cause that he overlooked the term " Dear Friend," by which Douglas addressed Dickson, as well as Bar- bour's statement, and called the lord of two manors a servant. Tytler also calls him a servant, while at the same time he says that Douglas lay concealed in Dickson's house and " Here night after night did his principal vassals assemble." A menial's house would hardly have been large enough or suitable for such a purpose. TiroMAS DicsoN, Laird of Symonston and Hazel- side, Hereditary Castellan of Douglas, was killed on Palm Sunday, March 19, 1307, aged sixty, and was succeeded by his eldest son. Thomas Dicson (H), whose successors the eldest branch at least, afterward took the name of Symon- ston, and with them therefore we have no more to do, except only to add that in 1335-6, Edward HI, declared forfeited " 5 burgages,* now waste, in xvj s. viij d, at Sennewhare {Sanquhai') belonging to Thome son of Thome Dikeson." * Lands held by a peculiar tenure. The Clan Dickson. »25 The other sons of Dick de Keth or of Thomas Dicson (I), or of both, and perhaps also the younger sons of Symonston retained the patronymic, and from them the clan is derived. The Dicksons were formerly one of the principal Border Clans of the East Marches, and according to Dr. Ron^ers (Traits and Stories of the Scottish Peo- ple, London, 1867) were called The Famous Dicksons, and their daughters appear to have been likewise eminent, in their case we must suppose both for beauty and accomplishments, as the old rhyme says : " Boughtri^ and Bclchester Ilatchetknows and Darnchcster Lcctholm and the Peel ; If ye dinna get a wife in ane of thae places Ye'll ne'er do weel." Buhtrig, Belchester, Leitholm and the Peel were Dickson baronies. Darnchester belonged at one time to the Trotters. From Lanark the family soon removed to Peebles and Berwick. In the former county the name ap pears as early as 1338, and in Berwickshire in 1380, when Hugo Dekounson of Lathame is mentioned. The Douglasses acquired lands in the county of Berwick in the reign of Robert I (1306-29) and a Keith was governor of Berwick-on-Tweed in 1333, which may account for the Dicksons settling there. Chambers in his History of Peeblesshire says: " These Dikesons or Dyckisons (now modernized 1 ! ■ i i! : 1 1 S, f i In : M 3 !1 ,1 126 T/ie Clan Dickson. into Dickson), seem to have been an old and pretty numerous family in the district, for they turn up on all occasions in the burgh and other records." Ade Dicson was Sheriff-Depute of Peeblesshire in 1338, and Ade Dekysoun was bailie or alderman of Peebles in 1400. John Diksone was bailie in 1433, Thomas Dicke- soun in 1444, William Dekysone in 1464, John Dike- soun in 1466 and Robert Diksone in 1480. John Dykkyson rendered the accounts of the bailies of Peebles in 1440. Patrick 1 )ikesonc, bailie in 1482, had a grant under the great seal of ;^8, 3s. 4d. yearly for nineteen years to come for his services in capturing certain rebels to the king. Money was then many times more valuable than it is now. In the year 1300, an En- glish Admiral of the P^leet only received two shillings per day, and as Hallam says an income of £\q or ;^20 was reckoned a competent estate for a gentle- man, and a knight who possessed ;^i50 per annum passed for extremely rich. And this was equal in command over commodities to ;^4000 at present. In 1 391, a pension of twenty pounds a year was consid- ered sufficient in Scotland for an ambassador, that sum having been settled for life upon Robert Grant, ancestor of the Grants of Grant. " He having been employed on various missions abroad," and about the same time that Bailie Dickson obtained his urant the following entry appears in the church warden's accounts of St. Margaret's, Westminster, A. D. 1476: The Clan Dickson. 127 " Paid to Roger Fylpot, learned in the law, for his counsel giving, 3^. 8^/. luith fotirpciLCc for his dinner ^ What would a modern barrister say were such a dole in our present currency offered him ? The bailies of Peebles were chosen from amon'*- the burgesses, and some value was attached even to the latter dignity, for in i486, Allan Ewart furnished one hundred leads of stone for repairing the Tweed Bridge in requital for being constituted a burgess or freeman. The position was not only an honorary one, but it conveyed several important privileges. John Dickeson of Winkston was Provost of Peebles in 1572, Uikesoun in 1606, and John Dickie- sonne in 1622. Matthew Dickson was Provost of Dumfries in 1582. Noblemen often held this ofifice. Amonir the Provosts of Dumfries were Lord Maxwell, Sir Roger Kirkpatrick and Lord Drumlanrig, and among the Provosts of AnUtU was the Karl of Annandale (af- terward Marquess) who was succeeded in the office by his son Lord Johnstone. Robert Dyckison of Hutcheonfield, county Peebles, had a charter from King Robert III (1390- 1406) and John Dikeson of Smithfield in the same county, who was living in 1457, is the oldest recorded proprietor of that castle. Henry Dikson was one of a party of live to whom a safe conduct was granted by Henry VI, King of England in 1426, to "George of Fallo, William of f r; hil I '• \l 128 77ie Clan Dickson. Karylers, Patrick Kant, James Banbury and Henry Dikson, Scotsmen, with six attendants, foot or horse, baggage, ' ferdills,' etc., to come and to go between England and other places at pleasure." William Dicson was in 1445, a companion of Sir James Stewart, Lord of Lorn, called the Black Knight of Lorn, who married Jane Queen Dowager of Scotland, for in that year a safe conduct was granted by Henry VI, to "James Stewert lately husband of the late Queen of Scotland, John Stewert his son and William Dicson, Scots with twenty per- sons Scotchmen in their company." This William Dicson was evidently a person of consequence, for although there were twenty others he is the only one mentioned by name in connection with, if not even as the equal of, the step-father and step-brother (Sir John Stewart, afterward Earl of Athol) of the reigning King James the Second. Patrick Diksone, Laird of Mersington, parish of Eccles, county Berwick, was living at his bastel-house and Will Diksone of the tower at his tower in Eccles in 1479, when they were charged with treason along with the Duke of Albany and others. In 1544, the English army destroyed no less than eleven or twelve places belonging to the clan, all of which must have been of more or less importance to have found a place in the report sent to the King of England. One year after this a bond was subscribed by the Lords, Barons and Gentlemen of the March of .-iaai.,^ The Clan Dickson. 129 Teviotdalc, obliging- themselves to furnish one thou- sand horsemen to serve on the Border, and among the signers was John Diksone of Belchester. In 1591, two be. Js were signed by the principal Barons and Gentlemen of the East Marches ijlede- ing themselves to serve the King against Bothwell, and of the forty-one subscribers whose names have been preserved four were Dicksons. Alexander Dickson, one of the above four, who was living in Edinburgh in the last decade of the sixteenth century appears to have been a prominent personage on friendly terms with Queen Elizabeth's ambassador in Scotland, and with the French am- bassador in London, and to have been himself ap- pointed Scotch ambassador l^ he Low Countries. In Thorpe's State Papers there are two letters written by him and he is mentioned in five others, and as some of the extracts are curious I give them in full, premising that Bowes was the Queen's ambassa- dor, Nicholson, Secretary to the English Embassy, and Sir Robert Cecil, English Secretary of State. "Edinburgh, May 23, 1595. Anonymous to | Mr. Bowes]. The agents of the Catholic Lords very busy in their behalf. An evil spirit conjured from a young maid in Galloway. Angus holding on in the old fashion. i\n arrival from Paris. A casket of papers sent by Mr. Dickson," "Edinburgh, July 9, 1595. Anonymous to [Mr. Bowes]. Mr. Dickson's uncle returned, but whether he brought any thing for his nephew he knows not." 17 '/; f 1 , V. ^ I Hip , , i I ii :i 1 ! 130 T/ie Clan Dicksoti. "Edinburgh, July 15, 1595. George Nicholson to Mr. Bowes. Mr. Dickson will undertake the office requested of him. He wishes a passport to go through England. Argyle is sick and thought to be bewitched. McLane's willingness to serve against Tyrone. Lord Sanquhar will satisfy the Kirk. Dis- asjreement between the King- and Queen." "Edinburgh, Aug. 9, 1595. Alexander Dicksone to Mr. Bowes. Thanks him for his loving mind and friendly endeavors, and professes a desire to do all good offices in return toward him and his sovereign. In reply to his request, he informs him that after he left the schools his genius and his youth inclined him mickle to the knowledge of the Affairs of the North, and that he gave himself to follow my Lord of Leicester, Sir Philip Sidney, and divers others the courtiers of the time ; and he liked mickle for the same cause, to be acquainted with strangers and Ambassadors, and this was the ground of his resort to De L'Aubespine, and so he got all such discourses as he could, published or unpublished, as might advance his knowledge of the times he lived in. Describes the papers and books he possessed and offers to write to Mons. De L'Aubespine to prove his statement. Assures him that since he came to Scotland he never had any kind of commerce or in- telligence by word or writing with any manner of men in England or any other of her Majesty's territories." "Edinburgh, Sep. , 1595. Alexander Dickson to George Nicolson. Mr. Bowes to be informed of The Clan Dickson. 131 the arrival of Macwhinnie the priest who has come throuofh E no-land." In 1596, a passport was given in Edinburgh by Mr. Bowes to Robert Dixon to go to London, I continue the extracts — "The Hague, Nov. 12-22, 1598. Mr. Andrew Hunter, Minister of the Evangel to the Scots Regi- ment in Holland to Sir Robert Cecill. The person who conveyed the letters to Scotland is expected again this summer ; his name is John Young. Ex- pediency of looking to him in England. Alexander Dixon expected from Scotland ; his covert designs. Colonel Murray and Captain Hamilton's efforts to get him (Hunter) removed." "Edinburgh, Dec. 16, 1598. George Nicolson to Sir Robert Cecill. The King and his Household receive the Communion ; Angus and Errol do not ; doubts about them. Meeting of the Co^mcil. The King's intercession with the Presbyters for the re- lease of Lord Hume from excommunication. An Embassy to go to France. Mr. Dixon to go to the Lozu Cotmtrics. A foray by the Grahams." This Alexander Dickson must have been a man of some importance when we find that a person deems it material to write to the English Ambassador solely to inform him of the arrival of Dickson's uncle. Then Dickson when offering to return Mr. Bowes' kindnesses writes as if he was assured that the Envoy knew that he {Dickson) had the power, if necessary, to be of service both to the Ambassador and his Sovereign, and lastly, although the French Embassy jr 'ii' II til i] t ^ \ 132 77^^ C/(2;2 Dickson. was not yet composed, it was settled that Dickson was to be Ambassador to Holland. Sir Walter Scott in his Border Antiquities says that " a little work called Monipenny's Chronicle, published 1 597 and 1603, gives, among other particulars, a list of the principal clans and surnames on the borders, not landed, as well as the chief riders and men of name among them." It commences " Bromfields (Chief, Bromfield of Gordon Mains, or of that Ilk), Trotters (Chief unknown), Diksons (Chief unknown)." There were more than two editions of this work, but I have not met with the one from which Sir Walter made the extract. As before stated, how- ever, the title should be " landed, and not landed," for the Records of the Privy Council are alone suffi- cient to prove that some of the Dicksons were " Landit Men," and as regards the words " Chief unknown," it would seem, on the contrary, that Buh- trig was the chief as in a Bond of '573-4, lUihtrig, Belchester and three others are styled the principals and representatives for the surname of Dickson, and in four other Bonds from 1563 to 1591, where they also appear as a body Buhtrig always signs first. That of August, 1 59 1, was probably signed in the order as they arrived, for near the head is Alexander Diksoun, without local desitrnation, and lower down Buhtrig and lielchester. Nisbet in his Heraldry (lulinburgh, 1722), says: "There are several families of the name of Dickson of good old standing in the shire of Berwick," and The Clan Dickson. ^-h^ names Dickson of Buhtrij^-, Dickson of Belchester, now the only old family of the name since Buhtrig has failed (?'. c, become extinct) ; Dickson of New- biLreinof next to l)clchester ; Dickson of Wester Bin- ning- and Sir Robert I^ickson of Sornbcgo", now designed of Inveresk, but the author here contradicts himself, and probably meant to say several families of "o-ood standing," Belchester being then the only " old family. He did not, however, seem to be aware that Sir Robert claimed descent from the house of I>uhtrig, and he overlooked the families of Ilartrie and others. From the year 1558, to the end of the last century fifteen of the clan were members of Parliament, as will be seen in the sequel, and the eldest son of the last laird of Belchester has represented an English constituency for several years. Some of the clan left Scotland at an early date and became tenants of luu'ness Abbey, county Lan- caster, one of whom, Sir Nicholas Dixon, Rector of Cheshunt, Prebendary of Howdon and Baron of the ILxchequer, died in 144S; and from John Dixon of Furness Falls sprang Richard Dixon, Lord Bishop of Cork, A. D, 1570, and also Sir Richard Dixon who married the widow of the Lord Chancellor Eus- tace, and whose daughter FJiza {ob. 1745) married .Sir Kildare Borrowes, 3d Baronet, who assumed the additional nanie of Dixon, and was ancestor of the present Sir lilrasmus Dixon-Piorrowes, Bart. John Dixon was also ancestor of the Dixons of Beeston, county York, now of Seaton Carew, county Durham. r« rr 1 1 ,{l I ) , I \ \ \ \ I I ' ' r 134 The Clan Dickson. It is of course impossible now to form any idea of the number of the clan in feudal times, but in 1556, Buhtrig and Belchester attacked Douglas of Kilspindy, Provost of Edinburgh, they having then two hundred and eighty men. These may have been a part only or perhaps the whole of their own immediate followers, and if so when those of the other chiefs, viz.: Hirdrig, Has- singtonmaynes and Leitholm were united, as in the case of a war with England, together with those of the lesser branches as Newbigging, Westerbinning, Newtown, Kennetsydehead, Kames, Loanhead, Peill, Overmains, etc., in Berwick, Ormeston and others in Peebles, the clan must have been able to muster a considerable number of fighting men. There is no county history of Berwick. In Cham- bers' Peeblesshire and other recent works where our name occurs it has been modernized, but where I have obtained my information from older works or records I have always given it as it appears. When the records are in Latin the Christian name only, as a rule, is Latinized, and that I have translated. The parish of Eccles in Berwickshire where many of the clan were seated was anciently divided into four quarters, viz.: (I) Lochton, Newtoun, Temp- land, Fairnyrigg and Birghem. (II) Mersingtoun, Overplewland, Littlethank, Herdrig and Burnhouses. (Ill) Lawrig, Buhtrig, Belchester, Newbigging, An- ton's Hill, Peill, Stainerigg and Litem. (IV) Ken- netsydehead, llassington, Nethermaynes,Whythouse, Hardaikers, Stainfeeld and Dedriges. •a Bw fcj^. - CLAN DICKSON FAMILIES. Although a Dickson of Leithohn, county Berwick, appears as early as 1380, only three generations re- moved from Thomas Dickson (I), still the houses of Buhtrig and Belchester seem always to have been recognized as the Chief, for Leitholm and others acknowledge their superiority in 1574, and Ormeston, the oldest of the Peeblesshire lairds, does the same in 1 59 1, but the Marchmen often had their houses burnt and their writs destroyed, so that it is frequently im- possible to trace their origin, especially as many of these old warriors disdained holding their lands by what they contemptuously called the " sheepskin " or " parchment " title, preferring to hold them by the sword. A Hugh Dickson Esquire {scutifcr) seems to have been connected with the shire of Berwick in 1431, if not earlier, for an inquest was held, dated Berwick, Sep. 2, 1408, regarding the right of Lady Margaret, relict of Sir John of Swynton, Knight, to her terce of his lands, and a transcript of the same was made at Perth, April 29, 1431, at the instance of "provzdi viri Hugh Dicson scutiferi" but to what house he 1 1 T^ r I * ■ 1 i i I 'Hi :./ I M I ^ ! ' ■ ■ 1 136 C/a/i DicksoiL Fainiiics. beloiii^cd docs not appear. He was [jrobably, how- ever, a relation or friend of her ladyship. This roll therefore commences with Huhtriu;^ and Bclchester, after which the families are ranked ac- cording to the oldest dates they are found in manu- script or printed records. The first named, however, only appears as slain at Flodden in 15 13, and the second as receiving a Royal Charter in 1539, but in 1591 a Belchester served heir to his great-grandfather (^proavi) John Diksone of Belchester, who must have been living before 1539. BUIITKIG. RouERT DiKS(.)NE in Bouchtrig, county Berwick, was one of the gentlemen who fell on the fatal field of Flodden in 15 13.* He married Isobel Murray, and had, with other issue, a son John who succeeded him. In 1552 Robert Diksoun in Bouchtrig and others appeared before the Lords of the Privy Council and signed an obligation to pay a sum of money to Richard Maitland. This was made by Robert Dixson in the peill of Lethame, who probably headed the list as the principal debtor, Robert Diksoun in Bouch- trig, Robert Diksone in the eist end of Lethame and four others named Furde, Sanderson and two Red- piths, and is signed " with our handis at the pen led be the notar underwritten for vs becaus we culd nocht writt." The notary signed for all the seven. * Acta Dominoruin Concilti. Vol. xxxiv, fol. 136. i Mar., 1523. Not published. Clan Dickson Familic s\ i37 In 1557 Robert Diksoiin of Houchrij^ and John Diksoiin of Bclchcstcr, as already shown, were charged with having, with a party of fourteen score (280 persons), pursued and slain Archibald Douglas of Kilspindy, Provost of Edinburgh, on August 8, 1556, and gave Alexander Lord Hume as surety that they would appear at the next Aire or Itinerant Court of Justice (Circuit Court) of Berwick. Dicksoun of Ikihtrig (no forename), Cuthbert Trotter in , Hob Diksoun, Patrick Hume younger of Polwarth, Sir Robert Bell and others were accused Sep. 4, 1563, by Robert Hume of the Heuch, of having taken possession of his corn and goods, which it seems were claimed by Polwarth. This and the preceding of A. D. 1557, in both of which legal documents he is called " of," proves that he held the lands then, but he appears to have forti- fied himself with a so-called "parchment" title soon after, for Robert Diksoun in Bouchtrio- and IClizabeth McDowell, his wife, had a charter from the King and Queen of lands of Bouchtrig and lands in Lethame, Dec. 27, 1565, and six months after (8th July, 1566), the same were confirmed to Robert Diksoun, eldest son and heir of Robert Diksoun in Bouchriir. The word " in " appears to be an error, for even if the Crown would not acknowledge his previous owner- ship the charter made him a landholder, and therefore " of," similar to the German " von." Robert Dicksoun of Buchtrig, Robert Dicksoun, son of the Gudeman of Belchester, and Robert Dick- 18 l'^ (I *'^ i < i^ (' i i\ 138 C/a« Dickson FamUics. soun of I I.'issinfjton Manys, toi^^ether with some fifty others (not Dicksons), sij^ncd a Band at Jcclburj^h r^cb. 12, 1571, plcd<,nng themselves to rise against the Kintr's enemies, etc., and to apprehend any rebels or thieves found within their borders. Robert Dicksoun of lUichrii^, John Dicksoun of lielchester, Alexander Dicksoun of Mirdriir and Robert Dicksoun in Eistand of Lethem, signed a l)ond Jan. 19, 1573-74, oblij^ing themselves as prin- cipals and representatives for the surname of Dick- soun that they shall behave themselves as dutiful and obedient subjects of the Kinjj^ and Warden, and that they shall keep good rule under the penalty of five thousand pounds. In the Roll of 1590, as before stated, Buhtrig ap- pears first among the landed men of his clan, as well as in Monipenny's List of 1597. Alexander Dicksoun (by himself) and afterward Robert Dicksoun of Buchtrig, Andro Dicksoun of Belchester, and other border lairds, signed one of the bonds of August 6, 1591, pledging themselves to serve the King against Bothwell. Robert Dicksoun of Buchtriir, Andro Dicksoun of Belchester, Robert Dicksoun of Ormestoun, Robert Dicksoun of Hassinden Manis and Alexander Dick- soun of Hirdrig signed a Caution agreeing to relieve the Lords Wardens of the Marches, Oct. 8, 1591. In 1604, Walter Davidson was convicted and ordered to be hung for stealing horses, oxen, sheep, etc., from the lands of Pittilisheuch, belonging to Clan Dickson Families. 139 DIcksoun of Buchtrin;' and Sir John Cokburne, knyt. justice clerk. Although the stock bclonired to them the land apparently then beloni^ed to a Dickson alone, as a Robert Dickson of Pittilisheuch was taxed ^8 in 1607. In 1646, Robert Dicksoun of Huchtrir^ was a Com- missioner of War. He married Agnes, daughter of Andrew lulmonston of that ilk, and died in 1647. His son, Robert Dickson(; de Ikightrige served heir to his father in 1647. He was one of the Commis- sioners of War for Berwick, and was appointed Colo- nel of Horse and Foot in 1648. He was also an Advocate or Barrister, and as suchwas entitled Macf- ister or Maister, and he was appointed Justice of the Peace in 1663. His arms were recorded in the Lyon Register as follows : " Mr. Robert Dickson Advo- cat descended of y'' familie of y*" Earle Marischall Bears azure three mollets argent on a chief or alse many pallets gules On ane helmet befitting his de- gree with a mantle gules doubled argent And torse of his collours is set for his crest a dexter hand grasp- ing a sword in bend proper The Motto in ane Escroll, Fortes fortuna juvat." Maofister Gcorije Dicksone served heir to his brother in the lands of lUichtriijfo-, Lochrigs and Halfland, or iirevvlands in Leitham in 1674. He was chosen Member of Parliament for New Calloway in 1678, but was said not to be qualified as he was not a residcnter nor traffiquer in the burgh, but as he showed that he had succeeded as heir to his u ■ I 140 Clan Dicks07i Families. brother Robert to some houses in the town, he was approved of. In 1686, he was appointed Commis- sioner of Supply (/. c, for providing money for the King). The Commissioners for this year were the Duke of Gordoun, the Marquess of Douglas, the Earle of Lauderdale, the Lord Ross, Sir William Scot of Harden elder, Sir William Scot younger thereof, the Laird of Wedderburn, Sir Alexander Home of Rhentoun, John Home of Manderstoun, Mr. George Dickson of Ikichtrig, Alexander Home of Linthill, Anthony Haige of Beamersyde, John Home of Nynwells, John Home of Haliburton, John Home of Broomhouse, James Dickson of Bel- chester, Robert Dickson of Overmaynes, John Dick- son of Newbigging, and ten others; twenty-eight in all, of whom four were Dicksons. George Dickson of Buchtricf was witness to the marriage contract of James Dickson of Jjelchester, in 1689. George Dickson of Buhtrig petitioned in 1698, to be allowed to qualify as an Advocate, and although he had been suspected as being unfavorable to the government his petition was approved. It is not improbable that there were two of the name of George in succession, but this one appears to have been the last of the family. Buhtrig is still held by a clansman, having been purchased by the father of the present Colonel Archibald Dickson, R. A., of Chatto, Buhtrig and Housebyres. It is a lonely place in the midst of Cla7i Dickson Families. 141 the hills. The old bastel house was d'^moHshed by the English in 1544, when the parish of Eccles was thoroughly wrecked, and although in the English reports it is sometimes said of a demolished tower that it had Ijecn destroyed in a previous raid and rebuilt, they had probably by this time learnt the power of gunpowder and ceased to rebuild such fortalices, trusting more, according to their ancient customs, to the security of the forests and mountains, agreeably to their old proverb that it was better to hear the chirp of the bird than the cheep of the mouse. There arc no ruins of stone and lime at Buhtrio-, but a little to the south of the present farm-house the various mounds covered with grass clearly point out where at one time has been a building of consid- erable size, and this is borne out by the fact that various roads converge there. When the place was visited in 1887, a very old woman pointing to the spot said that it was the " Laird's House." Between the farm-house and Greenhill there was formerly a hamlet or village, the foundations of which can be clearly traced, where the dependents of the laird probably dwelt, and that they were then num- erous is evident from the many old places round the sides of the hills where they cultivated a patch of land, and from the walls which can still be traced which separated the cultivated part from the hill-tops where they grazed the black cattle. So long as cat- tle and horses were the principal stocking a I mi ber w 142 C/an Dickson Families. \\ ! of cottars were absolutely necessary to raise a suffi- cient quantity of winter produce for them. In the immediate neighborhood of the " Laird's House" is a place called the Moat, which is perhaps one of the best preserved British strongholds in existence. At the foot of the Moat have been build- ings of stone and lime which were of course erected long after the builders of the Moat had been for- gotten. The materials of these buildings and of the old bastel house were probably utilized for the build- ing of the present farm-house and the numerous walls, as the old castles generally served for quarries for the country round. Bf,I,CII ESTER. John Diksoun de Bclchester, county Berwick, and Isobelle Hoppringle his wife, had a charter confirmed by the King, Dec. i, 1539. In 1591, however, a John Diksone served heir to John Diksone de Bel- chester, his great-grandfather (^proavi^y who may have been the father of the first-named John. Johne Dikson of Belchest was one of the lords, barons and gentlemen of the Merk (March) of Teviotdale who, on the 4th Oct., 1545, subscribed a Band obliging themselves to furnish one thousand horsemen for the space of three months to remain upon the liordcrs "to resist and Invaid our auld enemys of Ingland." Belchestcr also signed, next after lUihtrig, the Bands of 1571, 1574 (as one of the principals) and Clan Dickson Families. 143 1 59 1, was on the Roll of Clans in 1590 as a Landlord, and signed the Caution to relieve the Wardens in 1591- John Diksoun was declared heir to his father, John Diksoun of Belchester, in 1632. James Dicksone of Belchester was Colonel of Horse and Foot and Com- missioner of War for Berwick in 1648, and James Dickson was Commissioner of Supply in 1686, to- gether among others with Ilaig of Bemerside, of whose family Thomas the Rhymer said six centuries ago '* Tide, tide, what'er betide There'll aye be Haigs in Beamersyde.'' Three years later he married Hannah, daughter of Bemerside, and among the witnesses to the mar- riage contract were George Uickson of Buhtrig, advo- cate, and William Dickson, younger of Newbigging. James Dickson of Belchester was out in the Rising of 1715, and fled to America — but he lived to return home. The last Dickson of Belchester married Jane, daughter of General Sir Martin Hunter, G. C. M. G., G. C. H., of Medomsley, county Durham, and Anton's Hill, county Berwick. He sold the prop- erty about thirty years since and died leaving a son : Major Alexander G. Dickson, M. P., late i6th Hussars, born 1834, married 1861, Charlotte Maria, daughter of the Rev., the Hon. William Eden and widow of Lord North. Major Dickson has sat in Parliament for Dover since 1865. 4 p ;!'. I' i It 144 C/an Dickson Families. Seat — Glenham Hall, Wickham Market, county Suffolk. Leitholm. Hugo Dekonsoun was paid ^13.6 for the King's expenses while he was at Lathame, county Berwick in 1380. As already stated this is the first mention of the name in the county. John Dyksone in Lathame was appointed Tutor {i. e., Trustee or Guardian) of HerJrig, which belonged to the late George Dyksone of Herdrig in 15 17. There appear then to have been two or more of the title for Robert Dixson in the peill of Lethame and Robert Diksone in the eist end of Lethame appeared before the Lords of the Council in 1552, and signed an Obligation together with Buhtrig, q. v. Eumond Dikson in Leitholme, called Eumond of the Grene, with others, were at the horn* for the slaughter of Walter Fairley in Kelso in 1572. Robert Dicksone in Eistand of Lethem was one of the principals of the Clan in 1574, and he or his suc- cessor appears among the Landed Men on the Clan Roll of 1590. Alexander Dikson in Leithame gave an Obliga- tion to Home of Stanerig in 1623, Robert Dickson, younger of Buchtrig being Cautioner and his brother James one of the witnesses. The remains of Leitholm peel, razed in 1544, con- sisting of a fragment of the wall thirty-one feet long, * Proclaimed outlaws or denounced as rebels for not appearing at Court when summoned. Clmi Dickson Families. 145 about fifteen high and four feet thick, are still in existence. Ormeston. Robert Dvckison had a Charter of Hethonfields or Hutcheonfield, county Peebles, granted him by King Robert III (1390-1406). During the Regency of the Duke of Albany (1406-19) Malcom Fleming of Biggar gave to him a wadset of the lands of Oliver Castle, and in 1407, the estate of Ormistoun or Wormiston, county Peebles, with its peel, was con- veyed to him, Ruecastle or Rowcastle, county Rox- burgh, with its two strong towers also belonged to the family, but it was resigned by Thomas Dickinson of Ormestoun into the hands of King James IV (1488-15 13). In 1 49 1, Thomas Dikesoun de Or- mestoun had the lands 01 Rauchen, Glenhigden and Glenchoen conveyed to him. Thomas Dicsoun son and heir apparent of Thomas Dicsoun of Ormestoun, witnessed a deed in 1504. William Dickison held the estate in 15 16, and John Dikesone de Ormestoun had a deed confirmed by the King in 1534. In 1542, Dickson of Ormeston seems to have been called " of that Ilk," at least in his own county, for the Arms in Sir David Lindsay's manuscript are attributed to him. Dikkesoun of Ormestoun was on the Roll of Clans in 1590 as a landed man. Robert Dickesoun of Ormestoun was the third in order who signed the Caution to relieve the Wardens in 1 591 {vide Buhtrig). 19 146 Clan Dickson Families. John Dickesoun of Ormestoun was one of the sub- scribers to a general band against thieves, murderers and oppressors in 1602, and in 1628 Robert Dickson of Ormestoun was one of the mourners at the funeral of Lady Isobel Kerr, wife to William Douglas, Vis- count of Drumlendrich. The vault of the tower of Hutcheonfield is still in existence, as well as the ruins of the tower of Ormes- ton, which last was destroyed by the English army in 1544. There was another Ormeston belonging to the Cockburns, which house was demolished in 1547. Mersington. Thomas Dyksoun of Marsyntoun, county Berwick, A. D. 1455, was one of the witnesses to an acknowl- edgment by the Vicar of Swynton, of a gift of land byjohnof Swynton, datedat Swynton i6thjuly, 1455, " in the presence of honourable men, that is to say Alexander of Cokburn of Langton, Adam of Nesbit of that ilke, Robert of Blakater of that ilke, Thomas Dyksoun of Marsyntoun and Jhon Dyksoun his brother." The same year he rebuilt the mills of Mersyn- toune and Lettame. In early Scotch charters ten- ants are often obliged to use the mills of their land- lords according to an old practice called thirlage, and pay multure accordingly. It was the same in Eng- land. At Castle Combe, county Somerset, as late as 1556, no tenants of the manor were to keep in II Clan Dickson Families. H7 their houses any mill called "quyrnez" [(querns), because they ought to grind at the lord's mill, under a forfeit of xx s. Thomas Dicsoun of Mersintoune was on an inquest at Berwick-on-Tweed, 4th March, 1464, in a case concerning the lands of Cranschaws ia the earldom of March, and Patrick Dicksone in Mersyntoun (per- haps a son of the laird) was summoned by King James III to attend an inquest concerning the same lands 1 6th March, 1476-7. Patrick Diksone, the laird, was living at his bastel house in Mersington in 1479, when the Macer or officer of the court declared he had summoned " Pait diksone ye lard at his hous in mersingtoun david Jakson t Will dikson of ye tour at ye tour in eklis." They were charged with high treason in company with the Duke of Albany and others. Thomas Dyksone in Mersintoun was on an inquest concerning the estates of Swynton at Dunse 6th Oct., 1500. The bastel house was destroyed by the English in 1544- Smitiifiei.d. John Dikeson of Smithficld, county Peebles, was witness to a charter of Thomas Inglis of Manner, county Peebles, in 1457. He is the oldest recorded proprietor of the castle of Smithfield, which was de- stroyed about a century ago. John dikesone of Smethfeld, who signed an obligation in 1488, was owner of the lands of Melwelisland. William dikke- I ! ; i i !! ! I \m vr^ ■RBf?:"^p" 148 Clan Dickson Fainilies. i' ■:! sone was in 1494, son and heir of John in the lands of Smithfeild and in a quarter of the lands of Edrigs- toune. John Dykison released the lands of Smeith- feild to his brother, Thomas Dikison, in 1500. From the Dicksons the estate passed to the Hays, by the marriage of the daughter and sole heiress of John Dicksone to John, fourth Lord Hay of Yester, who died 1557. Byrtonane. John Dyksone of Byrtonane, county Berwick, was living in 1484, when Sir John Swinton of that ilk grants precept to his beloved friend {dilecto) John Dyksone of Byrtonane to act for him. BiRGIIEM. Patrick Dikson owned five husbandlands in Byrghcame, county Berwick, in i486. A husband- land in the Merse was anciently estimated at twenty- six acres of land fit for the plough and scythe. Mailingsland. John Dikeson of Smeithfeild was owner of Mel- wclisland, county Peebles, in 1488. In 1494, it passed to his younger son Robert. It seems then to have been acquired by the Gladstones, one of whom, John Gledstane of Coklaw, disposed of it to John Dikeson of Winxton. Richard Dikson of Mailweins- land and his wife Janet, daughter and co-heiress of Martin Wylie of Baumertoun, and Adam Dikson, their son, were living in 1567, when Marion Wylie Clan Dickson Families. 149 conveyed lands to them. In 1580, Adam Dikson had a gift of the ward and nonentry* of these lands which were in the King's hands since the death of John Dikson of Mailingsland. WlNKSTON. The Dicksons are said to have been in possession of Winkston, county Peebles, in 1489. In the Reg- ister of the Privy Seal is a precept for the confirma- tion of a charter granted by James Hamilton, son and heir of the deceased Margaret Mowat of Hane- hous, to William Dikeson, burgess of Perth, of the lands of Winkeston, holding of the King 28th Oct., 1536. John Dikeson, son and heir apparent to Wil- liam Dikeson, leased lands in Peebles in 1555. John Diksoun de Wingestoun was Member of Parliament for Peebles in 1568, and another of the family was Member of Parliament in 161 2. John DIckeson of Winkstoun and Aleson Udward his spouse had a gift of the nonentry of the lands of Cruikstoun in 1570. John Dickeson of Winkstoun was Provost of Peebles, and was assassinated in 1572. William Dickson uncle of James Dickson of Winkestoun had a pecept of the lands with tower, fortalice, etc., in 1581, on resignation of the said James. A scion of this house went to Ireland and on the 4th March, 1646, Roberts, Ulster Herald, regis- * The heir of the former possessor having failed to renew inves- titure with the superior. 11 M ' f^ 150 C/an Dickson Families. i tered to "John Dixon, Sergeant Major in Colonel Arthur Fox's Regiment of foot, descended from a very ancient and noble family of Dixon in the Marches of Scotland," the following Arms — First and fourth, ar. a war-wolf* passant ppr. on a chief az. three mullets of the first. Second and third, a bull's head couped sa. langued gu. armed or. On a chief of the third an armory sword ppr. Crest — A pelican in her nest feeding her young. The quarter- ings show that one of the family married an heiress of the Turnbulls. Part of the old fortalice now turned into a farm- house is still in existence. They had also a mansion in Edinburgh, in the Cowgate above the foot of Lib- bcrton's Wynd, where their Arms were to be seen in Nisbet's time (1724), cut in stone above the door. HiRDRIG. Patrick Dyksone of Heirdrig, county Berwick, was with Dyksoun of Mersington on an Inquest concerning the estate of John Swynton of that Ilk in 1500. George Dyksone of Herdrig died circa 151 7, when John Dyksone of Leitholm was appointed Tutor of Herdrig. Alexander Dicksoun of Herdrior subscribed the Band of 1573-74, as one of the principals for the surname of Dickson {ik Buhtrig). Alexander Dick- sonc of Hirdrig was on an Inquest for Robert Swynton in 1585-6. * Werewolf, /. c, manwolf or wolf with a man's head. ClafL Dickson Families. 151 Hirdrig was on the Roll of Clans as a Landlord in 1590. Alexander Diksone of Heirdrig and others signed a Caution Sep. 6, 1591. He signed another Sep. 14, and likewise the Caution of October 8, 1591, to relieve the Wardens. Although these Cautions were sometimes pledges to assist the Crown, they were also, in some cases, equivalent to our bonds to keep the peace. James Dicksone de Herdrig was declared heir to his father Alexander Dicksone de Heardrig in 161 7. John Dikson, younger of Herdrig, was witness to a Deed of Dickson of Kennetsydehead in 1623. Robert Diksoun de Heardrig was declared heir to his brother George Diksoun of Heardrig in 1626. Robert Dicksoun of Hirdrig was on an Inquest of John Swynton and others at Dunse, 20th Mar. 1628. The fortalice of Hirdrig was destroyed by the English army in 1544. TULYQUIIENDLAW. Mr. Thomas Dikson had a Charter of the lands of Tulyquhendlaw, county Forfar, confirmed by the King, 29th Nov. 151 2. Hartree. Robert Dickson, born circa 1530, by his wife Anne, daughter of John Eccles of that ilk, county Dumfries, was father of John Dickson who married Agnes, daughter of John Boe, or Book, of Stane, county Lanark. His son, John Dickson, who ac- f7- 152 Clan Dickson Families. \\ I, quired the lands of Kilbucho, county Peebles, In 3 6;p, and those of Hartree in the same county in 1633, was nominated and appointed Colonel of Horse and Foot in 1643, Commissioner of War in 1644, and Member of Parliament for Sanquhar in 1645. In 1649, he was raised to the bench, when he took the title of Lord Hartrie. At his decease he gave Hartree to one of his sons and Kilbucho to the other, but the two estates became united again in the early part of this century. In the seventeenth century, William Dickson of Kilbucho married Margaret, and John I3ickson of Hartrie married her sister Anne, daughters of Sir William Murray of Stanhope, Bart., by his wife Janet, daughter of James Earl of Hartfield, and his wife Margaret, daughter of William, Earl of Queens- berry. David Dickson of Hartrie married Helen, dauofhterof Sir Alexander Wedderburn of Blackness. Elizabeth, daughter of John Dickson of Hartrie, married Sir George Mackenzie, Lord Advocate of Scotland (ob. 1 691), and their daughter Agnes (born 1663) married the first Earl of Bute. John Dickson of Hartrie was Commissioner of Supply in 1 704, and William Dickson of Kilbucho was so also the same year. John Dickson of Kil- bucho was Member of Parliament for Peebles in 1747, and Brig. General William Dickson of Kil- bucho, Lieut.-Governor of Cork, was Member of Parliament in 1802. The last representative of the family, Alexander '^dm^4\ Clan Dickson Families. 153 Dickson of Hartrce and Kilbucho, LL.I)., Justice of the Peace, Deputy Lieutenant for the county of Peebles, and Professor of Botany in the University of Edinburgh, died suddenly while skating in 1888, and was succeeded by his brother, Archibald Dick- son, Esq., jof Edinburgh, M. D., born 1837, who is twelfth of Hartrie and eleventh of Kilbucho. Seat. Hartree House, Biggar. Banciirie. WiL DiKsoNE in Banchrie, county Perth, was sum- moned on an assize in Perth in 1541, and they after- ward became possessed of the lands, or part of them, as Jacob Dicksone, Portioner of Banchrie, died in 1642. His heir was William Dicksone, Senr., Bur- gess of Perth. The term portioner, anciently parsenere, signified partner or co-heir. Hassington Mains. One of the strong houses razed in 1544. RoHERT DicKsouN of Hassiugtou Manys, county Berwick, signed the Band of 1 571, binding himself to rise against the King's enemies. Robert Dick- soun of the Manys in the Newtoun signed that of 1574, as one of the principals of the Clan. Robert Dicksoun of Hassingden Manis signed the Caution of 1 59 1, to relieve the Lords Wardens of the Marches, and a Dikson of Hassington is in Monipenny's List of 1597. 20 \ 1 W} i ' 1 154 Clan Dickson Families. In 1 601, William Home of Ballycass was charged with the slaughter of the late Mr. Alexander Dik- soune, son to the late Robert Diksounc, elder of Hassingtoune-Manis, committed the 21st day of April, 1597. Robert Dickson of Maynes was living 1 2th March, 1722, when Mr. George Dickson, Advo- cate, made a disposition to him. Mains, manis or maynes signify demesne lands. A small fragment of the old fortalice still remains, forming the gabel of a cottage. Newuigging. This house was demolished by the English army in 1544. William Dikscjun in Newbigging, county Ber- wick, is mentioned in a caution to Overmains and others, August 15, 1591, and a Dikson in Newbig- ging occurs in Monipenny's List of A. D. 1 597. They appear to have been then tenants, but became after- ward proprietors, as John Dickson of Newbigging served heir to his grandfather (^gudscr) John Dick- son of Newbigging in 1654. John Dickson of Newbigging was Commissioner of Supply in 1686, and in 1689, Williai Dickson younger of Newbigging was one of the witnesses to the marriage contract of Dickson of Belchester. The Earl of Hertford says (Oct. 8, 1544), "burnt a Towne of New-byging and brought away from thence 100 shepe, 4 nolt, 4 naggs and 4 prisoners * * * and after came to Mersington." This Clan Dickson Families. 155 proves that the Newbigging referred to was the Dickson barony, which was in the vicinity of Mer- sington. It is called a town, but in Scotland that word signifies not only a town as in England, but also a collection of houses, and sometimes even a single house. Newton. One of the fortified houses demolished in 1544. Alexander Diksoun of Newtoun, county Ber- wick, is mentioned in a Caution Aug. 5, 1691, to Dickson of Overmains, and Alexander Diksoun in Newtoun signed a Caution with Hcrdrig and others Sept. 15, 1 69 1. Kennktsideiiead. Another of the strongholds destroyed in 1544. In 16 1 2, John Diksonc de Kennctsydeheidis, county Berwick, was the nearest relation on the part of his father Robert Diksoun, who was son and heir of the late Robert Diksoun, Jr., of Uvermanis, and in 1623, John DIkson of Kennctsydcheadis gave an obligation to Home of Slegden at Stancfauld, John Dikson younger of Ilcrdrig being a witness. Stonefaui.ixs. Another of the peels ruined in 1544. In a list of the Heritors of the Shire of Berwick, who attended or sent their servants to attend the Rendezvous on Fogo Moor in 1696, all of whom m ! ! 156 C/an Dickson Families. were generally well mounted and armed with sword or pistol, was John Dickson of Stonefaulds, who was armed with a sword. This place was held by a Dickson, Esq., as late as 1829. Inveresk. John Dicksone of Glasgow tnnp. ]?iZ. iv (1567- 1625) purchased of Sir Matthew Stewart of Minto the lands of Busby, county Lanark. He claimed descent from the Buhtrig family and was father of the celebrated Rev. Dr. David Dickson, Professor of Divinity in the University of Edinburgh and Moderator of the General Assembly when it was broken up by order of Cromwell in 1653. He was born 1583 and died 1663. It is related that an English Merchant happened to be in Scotland and having heard three of Scot- land's worthies preach, describes them thus : — " First I heard a sweet, majestic-looking man (Mr. Blair), and he showed me the majesty of God. After him I heard a little, fair man (Mr. Rutherford) and he showed me the loveliness of Christ. And then I heard a well-favored, old man, with a long beard (Mr. Dickson) and that man showed me all my heart." Dr. Dickson's son, John Dickson of Busby, Member of Parliament, was appointed Colonel or Commander of Horse and Foot in 1649. He married Mary, daughter of Sir Robert Montgomery of Skermerley, by his first wife, the Lady Mary, daughter of Archi- Clan Dickson Families. 157 bald, Marquess of Argyle. His son, Archibald Dick- son of Tourlands, county Ayr, was Commissioner of Supply for that shire in 1690. His son. Sir Robert Dickson, was created a Baronet in 1695, and took the title of Sornbeg from a barony he acquired in Ayrshire, and was afterward styled of Carberry and Inveresk. He married, in 1693, Helen, daughter of Sir John Colquhoun of Luss, Bart, by his wife Mar- garet, daughter and heiress of Sir Gideon BailHe of Lochend. Sir Robert's Arms were recorded in the Lyon oftice before he was baronetted, as follows : — " Captain Robert Dickson of Sornbeg and which Surname was originally Keith, Bears Argent three mollets gules on a chief of the second as many pales or. For his Crest within two branches of Laurel disposed in Orle an hart couchant guardant proper attyred or. The motto Cubo sed euro. Ext. 14th Sep. 1694." This seems to have been extracted from some other record in 1694? Sir Robert was one of the Founders of the Rank of Scotland in 1695, and was also one of the Barons in the Scotch Parliament who voted for the Union, being the first named on the list of thirty-seven Barons "Approvers." He died 16 12, having had issue a daughter who married Patrick Grant, Lord Elchics, Judge of Session, and a son and successor Sir Robert Dickson of Carberry, Bart, who d. s. p. m. in 1760. I I ) 'iV 1 yi I w f 158 Clan Dickson Families. , Kames. John Diksoun in the Camis, county Berwick, was on an Assize in 1574. Patrick, son of John Dickson in the Camis, was witness to a Bond of Pat- rick Chirnside of East Nisbet, to John Dickson, son of the late Robert Dickson of Buhtrig, in 1592. John Diksoun in the Camys was party to a Bond in 1603 {vide Peill). These may have been then younger sons or ten- ants, but were certainly freeholders soon after, as the successor, Patrick Dickson of Caimes, who died circa 1662, seems to have been a pretty large pro- prietor, but his son and heir apparent, John Dickson, signed a Renunciation from being served heir to his father 29th Jan. 1663, and the King ratifies, approves and confirms the Charter under His Majesty's great seal, granted to George Home of Caimes of the lands called Caimes, with the maner place, houses, bigings, yeards, orchyeards, parts, pendicles, anexis, concxis and pertinents thairof sumtyme possest and occupyed be wmq"* Patrick Dikson of Caimes. And of all and hail the lands called wester Caimes, with houses, l)iging, yeards, parts, pendicles and pertinents thairof whatsomever. With the bricksf of land under- written, viz.: that brick lyand * * * with ane other brick of land lyand * * * Ane other brick * * * etc. To be holdcn of his Majestic nnd his Hienis successours, superiors thairof free of I • sii *Thc late, t Portion. Clan Dickson Faviilies. 159 for yearly payment of ane pennie scots at the feist of vvitsonday at the maner place of Caimes. Loan HEAD. J HONE DiKsoNE called Jhone of the Loneheid, county Berwick, had a Deed confirmed by the King in 1574. Patrick Dicksoun, brother of Johnne Dik- soun, called The Lonheid, is mentioned in a Caution in 1 59 1 {vide Overmains). This Patrick, younger of Loneheid, may have been the one who signed the Band agreeing to serve the King against Bothwell. John Diksoun de Loneheid served heir to his father, Patrick Dicksoune in 1593, and Pat Diksone de Lonheid served heir to his father in the lands of Birghem, Nevvtoun de Birghem and Langbirghem in 1662. Peill. This seems hardly a distinctive appellation in a country of peels, but it may have been either a large and imposing one, or a solitary one built when there were no others in the vicinity ; or perhaps it was the only tower among surrounding bastilles, and it is not unlikely that it is the very peel or tower mentioned in 1479, when the Macer summoned Patrick Diksone, Laird of Mersington, " at his (bastel) house," and also William Diksone of the tower, at the tower in Eccles, for it is here also called the tower par excel- lence. The Laird of Peill, county Berwick, in 1590, is included among the Dicksons in the Roll of Ber- i I'! 1 60 Clmi Dickson Families. wickshire Landlords, where they occur in the follow- ing order : Buhtrig, Belchester, Leitholm, Peill and Herdrig, and either he was incorrectly styled " in " in 1603, o^ ^^^ following applies to some younger member of his family : " Edinburgh, June 21, 1603. George Trotter of Prentunnan surety for Patrick Diksoun in Belchester, William Diksoun in the Grene, John Diksoun in the Camys, James Diksoun in the Peill and James Diksoun in Ouhitrig bound in ;^iooo each to buy from Colonel Balfour such sort of arms as they are bound to buy according to the Act of Convention." From this and other Cautions it would appear as if the bondsman had to be of some other family ? There is a place on the Buhtrig estate still called Peelneuk (Peel corner), showing that there was a peel (unnamed ?) there, probabl) the stronghold of this family. There are no ruins, but on the opposite hill are remains of walls, etc. OVERMAINS. Robert Dicksoun, elder of Over Manis, county Berwick, Robert, John and Mr. Alexander Diksonis, his sons, Alexander Diksoun of Newtoun, William Diksoun in Newbigging, Patrick Diksoun, brother of John Diksoun, called The Lonheid, Sir John Ed- mondston of that Ilk, William Diksoun in Ednew, Johnne Diksoun his brother, George Diksoun in Harlaw and Johnne Diksoun his son were assured in a Caution to the King, Aug. 5, 1591, by Hume of Clan Dickson Families. i6i Aytoun and others, " that they shall be harmless of them ; " i. e., Hume and his party agreed to keep the peace. Robert Diksoun, Jr., of Overmanis was on an Assize in 1601. Robert diksoun of Overmaynes was Colonel of Horse and Foot in 1648, and Robert diksone of Overmaynes was Commissioner of War for Berwick and Commissioner of Supply in 1686. Helena, Susanna and Lilias Dicksones were de- clared heiresses of their brother Robert Dickson of Overmaynes in 1694. Harlavv. George Diksoun in Harlaw, county Berwick, is mentioned in the Caution to Overmains in 1591, but they afterward became landlords, as George Diksoun of Harlaw is mentioned in 1609, and in a List of Heritors of the shire who attended a review {vide Stonefaulds) in 1691, was John Dickson of Harlaw, who was armed with a sword. Harlaw is a small place, however ; only a farm steading, and the owner was, therefore, probably a so-called "bonnet laird." Sydenham. William Diksoun in Ednew, county Roxburgh, was one of the parties mentioned in a Caution from Hume of Ayton, Aug. 5, 1591 {vide Overmains). William Dikson in Ednem gave an obligation to John Dikson in Ednem, at Ednem in 1606. John Dickson of Ednam and Sydenham, county Roxburgh, Member of Parliament for Selkirk and 21 r-rr^ 1 ' V. I I I 162 C/an Dickson Families Peebles, died 1 771. His brother, ArchibL d Dickson of Pontefract, county York, was father of Admiral William Dickson, whose son. Admiral Sir Alexander Dickson, Bart, {cr, 1802), was ancestor of the present Sir John Dickson-Poynder, 6th Bart., born 1866, of Sydenham, who assumed the additional name of Poynder in 1881. Seat — Sydenham, county Roxburgh and Hard- ingham, county Norfolk. H/ DINGTON. RonERT DicKsouN vas Portioner of the lands of the Abbey of Haddington, same county, before 161 8, in which year his son, John Dickson, served heir to him. Patrick Dickson was Portioner of the same in 1636. Whitslaid. John Dickson of Whitslaid, county Peebles, born 1629, a cadet of Kilbucho, was Commissioner of Excise for Peebles in 1661, and of Supply and of the Militia in 1689. He married Janet, daughter of Sir David Murray of Stanhope, by his wife Lilias, daughter of John, Earl of Wigton, and his wife Lilias, daughter of John, Earl of Montrose. His great-grandson, William Dickson, sold the estate of Whitside to his kinsman, William Dickson of Kil- bucho, and settled in Jamaica. Westraw. John Dicksone of Westraw, county Berwick, was on an Inquest of Service of John Swinton of that Ilk in 1632. Clan Dickson Families. 163 Stane. James Dickson, a cadet of Kilbucho, is said to have acquired the lands of Stane, county Lanark, from his kinsman John Boe or Book of Stane in 1640. In 1663, however, the King ratified a dispo- sition made by V/illiam Lindesay in 1658, to James Dickson of Stane, with tour, houses, yeards, perti- nents thereof, etc. He was made Colonel of Horse and Foot in 1649. He married Janet Douglas, and secondly Margaret Edmonston, and had five sons and four daughters. In 1663, William, Earl of Dumfries, gave a bond for 500 merks to James Dickson of Stane, writer (advocate) in Edinburgh, probably son of the pre- ceding. This James had a son Alexander, who signed a bond in 1664. LOCIIARWOODS. This was once entirely Dickson property, but was divided into Upper, Mid and Nether Locharwoods. The two latter have passed away. Thomas Dickson of Nether Locharwoods, county Dumfries, born circa 1650, died May 5, 171 7, leaving a son John, born 1682, died 1743, aged 61, leaving a son David, born 1727, died 1806, aged 79, having had issue (i) George, who died unmarried 1803, aged 25 (2) Richard Lothian, Major ist Life Guards, who married Julia, daughter of Gen. Thomas Coxe, Foot Guards, and died in France in 1841. His eldest son, Lieut. Col. Lothian Sheffield, born 1806, was a Knight of the Order of St. Ferdinand of Spain. JM * i^L^.iynw^*^ :zs3 III ■«• I 4. 164 C/an Dickson Families. John Dickson of Upper and Mid Locharwoods, born 1 67 1, died 1751, aged 80, and was succeeded by his son, John Dickson of Upper Locharwoods, born 1719, died 1793, aged 74, and was succeeded by his son, William Dickson of Upper Locharwoods, born 1745, died 1827, aged 82, leaving a daughter and heiress who married Clark, Esq., and had issue a son, who assumed the additional name of Dickson, the present William Clark Dickson, Esq., of Upper Lochar- woods, who married and has issue. MONYBUIE. Thomas Dickson of Locharwoods, county Dum- fries, was born 1680. He was father of John Dick- son of Conheath in the same county, Provost of Dumfries 1764-72. One of his sons, the Hon. Wil- liam Dickson, M. L. C, settled in Canada, where he became Member of the Legislative Council, and was succeeded by his son, the Hon. Walter Dickson, M. L. C, who married and left issue. From the Provost also sprang Walter Dickson, W. S., who married Margaret, daughter and co- heiress of Thomas Goldie of Monybuie, Kircudbright, and was father of the present (i) John Dickson, W. S., of Monybuie, born 181 7, married Eliza, daughter of Colonel A. Macleod, C. B. (2) Thomas Goldie, born 18 1 9, J. P., married the Hon. Louisa Charlotte, daughter of 2d Viscount Sidmouth. (3) Walter George, M. D. and J. P. (4) James Gilchrist, mar- ^' Clan Dickson Families. 165 ried Jane Catherine, daughter of George H. Jackson, Esq., of Glenmore, county Waterford. (5) George, married Edith Mary, daughter of Miles Charles Scton, Esq., of Feskerby, Cornwall. (6) William, married Anne Stewart, daughter of Thomas Bruce, Esq., of Langlee, and (7) David Scott, married Hon. Frances Sophia, fourth daughter of 2d Vis- count Sidmouth. Barretstone Casti.e (Ireland). Sir KiLDARE BoRRowEs of Barretstone Castle, county Kildarc, third Baronet, married Eliza, daughter of Sir Richard Dixon, of a Scotch family (knighted in 1683, died 1709), by his wife, the widow of the Lord Chancellor Eustace. His son. Sir Walter Dixon-Borrowes, M. P., who inherited the estates of his maternal uncle, Robert Dixon, Esq., of Colvers, town, county Kildare, and assumed the name of Dixon, was ancestor of the present Sir Erasmus DixoN-B(M Dickson, Esq., of Frogfield, county Kin- cardine, who died 1878, was father of the presen^ 22 ffT^ ) f li l\ i) (' till/. !i! . 170 C/au Dicksoti Families. Patrick Dickson, Esq., of Bainhill in the same shire. Justice of the Peace for the county, married, 1856, Rosalie IsaHne, daughter of M. Francois Favre of Geneva. Clonlkiiardi':. Samuel Auchmuty Dickson, Esq., of Clonleharde, county Limerick, had a Dickson arms confirmed to him by the English Herald's College, with a mark of Cadency. Stockton-ui'on-Tkes (Town). RiciiAKD Dickson, Esq., of Stockton-upon-Tees, county Durham, is of Scotch origin. He is Lord of the Manor of Beverly-Watertown, county York. Many landholders have undoubtedly passed into oblivion who have never been recorded, or whose records have been lost by the ravages so frequent on the Marches, while still others occur with but short notices of the names only, as the Dicksons of Qulentis, or Clontis, county Wigton, first mentioned A. D. 1471 ; of Co'viswark, 1574; of Roskuniefield, 1579! of Burnhouse, 1604, and of Ouhitrig, 1607. Besides these were the tenants, wlio were, as already shown, of the better class, r^nd not sub- tenants or cottars; as Dickson in Glenpoite, 1479; in Luthrie, 1480; in Rothuylt, 1480; in Le Kingis Barnis, 1480; in Railston, 1480; in Crawmond-regis, 1524; in Bothkennar, 1528; in Inglestoun, 1534; in Challachwrek, 1554; in Bonytoun, 1558; in Elis- ^ Clan Dickson Families. 171 toun, 1575 ; in Bankheid, 1576; in Brochtoun, 1581 ; in Meginch, 1583; in Ancrum, 1590; in Quodquon, 1590; in Manerkirk, 1591 ; in Fairnyrig, 1591 ; in Esshiesteill, 1592; in Gourdis, 1592; in Mertoun, 1595; in Newtounheid, 1595; in Scotlandwell, 1595; in Preston, 1597; in the Grene, 1603; in Carphray, 1604; in Snavvdoun, 1604; in Easthopcs, 1604; in Airhouse, 1608; in Gordon, 1608; and in Fcchane, 1609. Tlie dates given are when they first occur, but it is now impossible to show how long they had then been settled there, or how long they afterwards held the lands. Mi:mi;krs ok Parliament (ancikntia- cai,i,i:i> Com- MISSIONKUS TO I^ARMAMENT) TO KNI) (W TIIK LAST Century. THE Ol-O SCOTTISH I'ARU AMF.N I MF.T FOR TIIF, LAST TIMF IN I 707. John Dickson of Winkston, for i*eel)les, A. I). '558. I'atrick Dickson, for Peel)les,(?) A. I). 15S3. John Dickson of Winkston, for P(*ebles, A. D. 161 2. John Dickson, for Sanquhar, A. D. 1645. Andrew Dickson, for Inverkeithing, A. D. 1649. John Dickson of Ilartrie, for Peebles, A. D, 1649. John Dickson of i'usby, for Lanark, A. D, 1649. y I' \t ill f 'I! i 172 C/an Dickson Families. David Dickson, for Forfar, A. D. 1661. John Dickson, for New Galloway, A. D. 1661. Robert Dickson, for New Galloway, A. D. 1663. George Dickson of Buhtrig, for New Galloway, A. D. 1678. Sir Robert Dickson of Inveresk, Bart., for Edin- burgh, A. D. 1702. John Dickson, Jr., of Kilbucho, for Peebles, A. D. 1747- James Dickson of Broughton and Ednam, for Peebles and Selkirk, A. D. 1768. Brig. General William Dickson of Kilbucho, Lieut- Governor of Cork, A. D. 1802. Arms. Bki.chester. Az. three mullets ar. on a chief or, as many pallets gu. Crest — A dexter hand holding a sword in bend ppr. Motto — Fortes fortuna juvat. Blackheck, etc. Quarterly, first and fourth az. three mullets ar. on a chief or, as many pallets gu. for Dickson. Second and third, ar. on a chevron between three goat's heads erased sa. as many escallops of the field for Benson. Crest — First Dickson. A dexter hand holding a sword in bend ppr. Second Benson. A goat's head as in the Arms. BuiiTKiG. The same as afterwards borne by Bel- chester. CiiATTo, etc. Same Arms as Dickson of fluntlaw, with the bar engrailed. Same Crest and Afotto. Clan Dickson Families. ^n Clock BRiGGS. Per fess az. and arg. in chief a mart, let or, between two mullets of the second, and in base a ship in full sail with sea, between a garb and thistle all ppr., on a chief of the third three pallets gu. On a canton the Decoration of the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour. Crest — A dexter hand holding a sword in bend ppr. Motto — Fortes fortuna juvat. Clonleiiarde. Az. a crescent between three mul- lets an on a chief or, as many pallets gu. Crest — Out of battlements a naked arm cmbowed holding a sword all ppr. Motto — Fortes fortuna juvat. Glenham Hall, vide Alexander G. Dickson (Major). HuNTLAW Az. a bar or, between three mullets ar. On a chief of the second two pallets gu. Crest — A dexter hand holding a sword in bend ppr. Motto — r'ortes fortuna juvat. Ilk. Of that, vide Ormiston. Inveresk. Ar. three mullets gu. on a chief of the si jond as many pallets or. Crest — A hart couchant and guardant ppr. attired or, within two branches of laurel disposed orleways. Motto — Cubo sed euro. Newhigging. The same as Buhtrig, with addi- tional figures for difference, as Nisbct says, but he does not blazon these marks of cadency. ORMLSTt)N. Ar. a wehr wolf sa., on a chief az. three mullets of the first. This coat of arms marked " Dikesoun of yat Ilk," and attributed to Ormcston, is emblazoned in the MS. of Sir David Lyndsay of fW^ f 11 I rl \\ \l m 174 C/an Dickso7i Families. the Mount, Lord Lyon King at Arms, A. D. 1542. A wehr wolf is a human-faced one, a heraldic animal, the French lotip-f^arou. PANnRTDE. The same as Clockbriggs within a bor- dure gu., but without the canton. Same Crest and Motto. Smitiikieli). Ar. three mullets, a chief gu. From a Funeral Escutcheon of the Hay Family. Sydenham. Az. an anchor erect or, encircled with an oak wreath vert, between three mullets pierced of the second. On a chief of the last three pallets gu., the centre one surmounted by a mural crown ar. Crest — An armed arm embowed brandishing a fal- chion ppr. surmounted of a trident and spear in sal- tire or. Motto — Fortes fortuna juvat. Westeriunning. Az. three mullets ar. on a chief, or, as many pallets gu., the whole within a bordure engrailed of the third. Crest — A man's heart ppr. winged ar. Motto — Caelum versus. WiNKSTON. Ar. a werewolf passant ppr. on a chief az. three mullets of the first. Crest — A pelican in her piety. A branch of this house as already mentioned quar- tered a bull's head sa. langued gu. armed or, on a chief of the third an armory sword ppr. WooDViLLE. The same .is Clockbriggs witliin a bordure ar. but without the canton. Same Crest and Motto. Major Alexander G. Dickson, M. P., of Glcnham Hall, CO. Suffolk. The Arms of Belchester. Clau Dic/cson Families. '75 B. HoMEK Dixon, K. N. L., Toronto. Ar. three mullets gu. on a chief or, as many pallets of the second. Crest — A hand holding a sword in bend ppr. Motto — Fortes fortuna juvat. CiiAKLKS Dkcksouni:, a. D. 148 1. A lion passant. On a chief a crescent between two mullets. '* S. Charles Decksoune." Dalhousie Charters. This seal of the year 1481, is from Laing's Descrip- tive Catalogue of Scottish Seals. Not being very legible a wehr wolf has probably been mistaken for a lion. "S." is the abbreviation of the Latin for " Seal of." The name generally accompanied the arms on old seals. Sir CoLLiN(;wu()i) Dickson, G. C. B., V. C, Officer of the Order of the Legion of Honour, General in the Army. (Son of the late Admiral Sir Alexander Dickson, G. C. B., K. C. H. and A. D. C to King William IV). Same Arms and Motto as Dickson of Sydenham, Bart. Crest — The same also, a crescent on the arm for difference. LsAitELLA DvxcouN, wife of W. Nicolson. Three mullets. " S. Isabel Dyxcoun." Appended to Re- version of one husband-land in the town of Yester, A. D. 1527. Tweeddale Charters. Sir Jerkmiah Dickson K. C. B., Major General. Ar. a chevron between three estoiles of six points wavy gu. on a chief of the last as many pallets or. Crest — On a mural crown or a stag couchant guard- ant ppr. attired or. Baron Oscar Dickson, of Gothenburg. Quarterly, first and fourth ar. a rose gu. Second and third h 1 1| 'I 1 ■ ■ \r >^ 1 '1 f. II: 176 C/au Dickson Families. upon a bend an estoile ar. on an incscutchcon az. a man's heart ppr. winged ar. Crest — Over a baronial coronet, two coronetted helmets, on the first a man's heart as in the arms, and over th(i other a laurel wreath vert. Motto — Caelum versus. RiciiAKi) Dickson, Esq. Stocton-upon-Tees. Ar. three mullets gu. within a bordure engrailed az. bezant^e, on a chief of the second three pallets or. Crest — On a mount vert between two branches of palm a buck lodged in front of a tree all ppr. |H» m ^ Clan Dickson Families. ^n POSTSCRIPT. As a rule it may be said that the sons, or at least the grandchildren of Scotchmen who settle in Kng- lish-speaking countries, soon lose the language of their fathers, some even looking at it as one not to be proud of, but ours is not on a level with the dif- ferent English provincial dialects as is generally con- sidered, but as Mackay in his Dictionary of Lowland Scotch, says is, broadly speaking, classic old English, and as the London Daily Telegraph says, the terse and vigorous expressions of the Lowlanders are of older and purer extraction than many a word and phrase current with us to-day. " Neither the ver- nacular nor our literature would be the losers, per- chance, if Dr. Mackay had the i)ower, as doubtless he possesses the inclination, to weed our modern discourse of some of its thin, insipid colloquialisms, and fdl their places by the best of the strong, har- monious language that gives local colouring to the pages of Scott and Mogg, Ramsay and Macneil. Who would not gladly see some of Burns' one-word sentences once more restored to use amongst us, and ousting some of the insipid and un-English jargon which weaken as well as deface the most widely- spoken, and, with fair play and wise conservatism, the most simple, mobile and powerful language in the whole world. Enirlish and Lowland Scotch were 23 w 'S tl] i i 1 •II 1 I \'\ I i.;' 'm 178 C/uu Dickson /'umi/ics. orij^inally the same, but the Htcrary and social in- (lucnccs of the soutliern metropolis, after the transfer of the Royal Family of Stuart have favored the in- fusion of a Latin element into current r^n<^lish, which our kinsman were slow to adopt, and which we have taken with small or no advantage." Another writer says : " The pure and classical lan- iruaire of Scotland must on no account be re > y -^ i M^.. fe. % 1^ C\^ i .« ffl sik 1^ 1 80 Clan Dickson Families. The time for sawin' seed It is wearin', wearin' dune; An' the time for winnin' souls Will be ower verra sune : Then let us a' be active, If a fruitfu' sheaf we'd bring To adorn the royal table r the palace o' the King. An' lat us trust Him better Than we've ever dune afore, For the King will feed His servants Frae His ever bounteous store; Let us keep a closer grip o' Him, For time is on the wing, An' sune He'll come and tak' us Tae the palace o' the King. Its iv'ry halls are bonnic Upon which the rainbows shine. An' its Eden bowers are trcUised Wi' a never-fadin' Vine ; An' the pearly gates o' Heaven Do a glorious radiance fling On the starry floor that shimmers r the palace o' the King. Nae nicht shall be in Heaven, An' nae desolatin' sea, An' nae tyrant hoofs shall trample r the city o' the free ; There's an everlastin' daylicht, An' a never-fadin' spring, Where the Lamb is a' the glory r the palace o' the King. We see oor fr'ens await us Ower yonner at His gate; Then lat us a' be ready, For ye ken it's gettin' late ; Lat oor lamps be brichtly burnin' ; Lat us raise oor voice an' sing ; For sune we'll meet to pairt nae mair, r the palace o' the King ! ■■':^'ll HOMER DIXON FAMILY, WITH SOME NOTICES OK FAMILIES OK COCKBURN, DALLAS, FRASER, HOWARD, HO- MER, MAYNE, McKEIGE, PENNAZZI, ROBIN- SON AND SMITH. i hi ill ( H *;: 'fvt PREAMBLE, mmim^ NOW TRANSFERRED TO THIS SECOND PART. As I am now over three score, and all my children are minors, I will commit to writing some account of my family, in case when I am gone some of my children should take an interest in the matter; a subject which, I regret to say, neither my father nor my grandfather cared about. My grandfather, who was an only son, left home when a young man, and was thrice burned out, viz.: twice in the city of Westminster and once in Ostend ; besides which his houses, both in Ostend and Flush- ing, were sacked by French troops. One of the fires in England occurred before the year 1 786, when he and his wife were in the country, and it was at this time all his papers were lost, and he had had one or two family lawsuits before this date. He married at the age of twenty-two, resided twenty years in Westminster, and then went to the Continent in 1788; and when his widow died in 1824, the silver plate, etc., and a box of papers was sent to us in Boston, but the latter was consigned to the cellar, and I remember cutting up some of the parchments to strengthen my kites, which almost 184 Homer Dickson Family. every boy played with in those days. Some years after I overhauled the box again and found only a few papers left, principally referring to General Fraser. When my grandfather removed to Ostend my father Wi s only seven years old. The first French Revolution broke out four years after, in 1 792, and soon after the French invaded the Austrian Nether- lands, and Fngland and France were at war; and from that time, for nearly a quarter of a ce?itury, there were no mails nor hardly any communication between the two countries, except by fishing boats and smugglers, until 1815, when my grandparents were not far from four score, and too old to think of returning home. My father went to England in 18 1 4, and remained about a year, principally in Lon- don, but all his relations of his own name were then dead. Henry Dickson, born circa A. D. 1712, married and had issue (i) William, born in Dunblane, county Perth, Scotland, in 1737, died young; (2) Thomas, of whom next, (3) Margaret, born 1 740, died young ; (4) Margaret, born 1 744. The only son, Thomas Dickson or Dixon was born in Dunblane, Nov. 6, 1739, and married at Inveraray, in 1762, Elizabeth Mann (born 1 738), daughter of Alexander Mann or Mayne, of Renny, county Ross, by his wife Katharine, daughter of the Hon. John Fraser, Master Homer Dici'son Family, 185 of Lovat,* second son of Thomas Frascr, Lord Lovat, Chief of the Clan Fraser. MANN ( '^^^ Wai/i'kr Mak'.n, Knli^ht, is the first ^ of this family on record. He had a ' ( charter of lands in Aberdeenshire in 1370, and from him descended families of the name, written also Mayne, Mane, Main and Mann who settled in the shires of Aberdeen, T^orfar, Perth, etc. Michaelis de Mane is mentioned in a Charter of KlnL^ Robert III (1390-1406). They may have been of Norman origin from the province so called. Alexander K. Main of Renny or Rhynie (Mouse), county Ross, died in 1735, and was buried at Fearn In the same county. He was father of Alexander Mann of Renny, born 1706, died 1802, aged 96. He Is called an Officer in the Army, and was probably a subaltern In one of the Indruce, and was killed in 1332, and (III.) Simon Fraser of Inverness, first Chief of the Clan Fraser, who took from him their Gaelic name of MacShimi, or Sons of Simon. He also was killed in battle in 1332. His grandson, Hugh Fraser, was the first Lord Lovat. The seventh Lord married a daughter and heiress of the Earl of Athol, at whose death s. p. m., King James VI. offered the Earldom to the late Earl's nephew Simon eighth Lord Lovat, and the King's Privy Councillor, who however declined it "as a sinking of his own title of Lord Lovat." Simon Loid Lovat, decapitated in 1747, has been painted by the Hanoverian party in the blackest colors, but he was no worse than many of his con- temporaries, Itnglish as well as Scotch. Doublefacedness was by no means uncommon among the ruling families, and with all his faults Lovat was not to be contrasted with many whom the country were delighted to honor.* *As, for instance, John Cluircliili, of whom liistorians say tliat he was an "ahnost indescribably prodij^rate statesman; a lover of pelf; as miserly as he was rapacious. Ife recoiled before no infa- mous action when he had a purpose to serve. He was the favorite of two Ivinj^s, both of whom he shamelessly betrayed. For years he dabbled in army contracts, and meanly swindled the State by drawing the pay of soldiers who were dead "—and he was created Duke of Marlborough! i' .'fli' 3I^S I \\. n. "1 . 1 88 Homer Dickson Family. By the Jacobites, who judged him by his good qualities, he was called " The Last of the Martyrs." He is too often judged by his portrait, or rather caricature of an old man of eighty, for Hogarth knew what the mob wanted, and painted a picture that would sell ! Lovat's portrait by Le Clerc, painted about the year 1715, shows him to have been then a fine looking man. He preferred Prince Charley (the gallant young Chevalier, as he was then ; not the dis- appointed man of later years, who might almost have been compared to the fourth George) to the house of Hanover, and who can wonder. Not that the Stuart was perfect ; but what were the Georges ? Any other but a George would have pardoned an old man of four score, or at least have left him to die a natural death in prison. Lovat was so weak that he was brought down from Scotland in a litter, and so feeble that two men had to help him up to the scaffold.* John Fraser, master of Lovat, was born at Tan- ich, Urray, county Ross, circa 1674. The record of his marriage is lost, but my cousin, the late Capt. Thomas Fraser of Balnain (who served during the Peninsular War, but retired in 181 5, and died in * After the battle of Cullodcn, King George's second son, tlic bloody Duke of Cumberland, also styled the Butcher, gave orders to kill all the wounded; and not only were the fugitive Jacobites slain without mercy, but the wounded were knocked on the head like so many cattle, and this not in the heat of the battle, but in the days that followed it. A number had huddled together into a barn, and it was set on fire as the easiest way of getting rid of them, while strings of helpless captives were fusiladcd without mercy. , Hovicr Dickson Family. 189 i860), believed that he married EHzabeth, daughter of Alexander Fraserof IJalnain by his wife, a daughter of Fraser of Foyers. The Hon. John T'raser was a consistent Jacobite to the last, and often resided in I'Vance. When in Scot- land he bore assumed names, as John MacOmas (son of Thomas), John Dubh, or I)hu (dark haired orcom- plexioncd), and John Corsan, which was necessary as he was outlawed, for he was a faithful adherent of both the old and the young Chevalier. To check pursuit or to prevent suspicion, therefore, Lord Lovat always gave out that his brother John was dead. The Frasers of Balnain wen; cadets of F.rchitt, who in their turn were descended from the house of Farralinc, the oldest offshoot of the house of Lovat. The youngest son of above Alexander was Urig. General .Simon I'raser younger of Ijalnain, who was killed at the battle of .Saratoga in 1 777. He was the officer who answered the challenge of the sentry at Quebec in bVench, and made him believe the troops who scaled the Heights of Abraham were the French Rcoimcuf dc la Reive. They were suddenly chal- lenged, but Fraser, who had been educated in France and spoke the language fluently, without losing his presence of mind exclaimed, " Hold your tongue, you fool, hav(; you seen the b^nglish?" The sentry not being able in the dark to distinguish the uniforms and fearing to offend one of his own officers hes- itated before demanding the countersign, and in that moment his musket was seized before he could fire \\ «rT!*i»?f«M>f»*--- - '"i-' r'^ I? Homer Dickson Family. and give the alarm. A few years after at Saratoga the American General perceiving that General Bur- goyne (who was afterwards court-martialled) had lost his head, called two of his best riflemen and said, "You see that brave officer on the white horse. It goes against my heart to do it, but you must pick him off or we lose the battle." They succeeded, and the Americans won the day, Fraser being the second in command under Burgoync. Elizabeth Dixon, nee Mann, was goddaughter of John, fourth Duke of /. .gyle, and generally spoke of him as her uncle, his sister having married her grand- uncle Simon Lord Lovat in 1733. She told my mother in Amsterdam that the Duke was very kind to her, and that she had been a guest more than once at Inveraray Castle. The Duke was Hereditary Grand Master of the Household in Scotland, and had some influence also in England, for there was a vacant office at St. James', which he offered, but it required residence at or near the Palace, and my grandfather who did not like Court life, declined it. My grandfather was a very kind-hearted man and was robbed by his friends ( ! ), and decided to go to the continent where living was much cheaper. About this time however (1786) my grandmother's uncle. General Thomas Fraser, died in London. This was Brig. General Thomas Fraser, Lieut. -Colonel of the Hovicr Dickson Fatnily. 191 Royals and Liciit.-Ciovcrnor of Chester, aiul [)re- viously LicLit.-Govcriior of the Island of St. Christo- pher, who died Nov. 5, 1 7S6, a bachelor, aged 75, and was buried in the Church of St. Martin's-in-the- r'ields. His tombstone is still in the crypt bearing all the above titles, and at the foot the words, " E. Dixon, lapid. libcns posiiit.'' During his last illness the General ordered his ser- vant to send for his niece, my grandmother, as he wished to give his Commission as Lieut.-Colonel (then worth ^4,000 or ^5,000) to my father, for whose benefit it could have been sold as it was usual then to dispose of them, even on death beds. The servant however said that our family had already left the country, and no sooner was his master dead than he ran off with about one thousand pounds in money and the most valuable effects. Officers were sent after him and recovered the gold watch (which I still possess) and about ^250 in money which was all he had left. My grandparents were however only out of town and were not aware of his death until one of his brother officers, a General, came down to offer Five thousand pounds for the Prize money due the estate, as Gen. Fraser was one of the commanding officers at the capture of St. Eus- tatius in 1781, where the prize money was estimated at Four millions, and his share, which had not been distributed, was valued at Twenty thousand pounds. The offer was of course refused. My grandmother took out Letters of Administration Dec. 29, 1786, mtmm .'y. ^ m i. 192 Ilumcr Dickson Fafni/y. soon after which sundry claimants appeared, and she had to oppose quite a number, and after gaininj^ her case before the Courts of London and Edinburgh found she had expended nearly all she had received from the General's bankers, etc. At this time a new claimant appeared, and by bad advice of her proctors she o-ave ujj some papers which were afterwards withheld, and she was prevented from recovering the Prize money which was placed in Chancery. When my father was in England in 1841, 1 per- suaded him to look up this affair. lie learnt then that early in the present century, I think he said in 1806, a certain Major Eraser of Newton laid claim to this sum, and as our family were then, as it were, locked up on the Continent, and ignorant of what was going on, as there were then no mails between England and the Continent, so that even if adver- tised they never heard of it, and there was, therefore, no one to oppose him, he succeeded in establishing his claim and the money was paid over to him. About January, 1788, my grandparents went to Ostend, then a much more important place than at present. In 1792, the Erench Revolution broke out, and not long after the Erench invaded the Austrian Netherlands, now called Belgium. Mr. Dixon had invested some money in real estate which he could not sell, and was afraid to leave the country for fear it would be confiscated. He, however, raised as much money as he could and gave it to his wife who, with her son Thomas (my father), went to England, ■ i Homer Dickson Family. 193 where she invested some of her money. Strange to say, I found a certificate for part of it between the leaves of an old book. It is a printed government certificate or receipt for ;^i,o89 sterling, received of Mrs. Elizabeth Mann to pay for ^1,800 consols, dated July 22, 1796. The receipt is in her maiden name, but Scotch women often retained their maiden name after marriage. It appears she bought consols at about sixty for one hundred. During the mutiny at the Nore, however, the year following, they went down to ^45, the lowest point ever reached. Mrs. Dixon was afterward allowed to return to Ostend to join her husband. The French had entered the city the day after she left, and Mr. Dixon was soon imprisoned and re- mained confined some weeks, until his Belgian friends obtained his liberty by giving bonds that he should not leave the country. On his release,, he found his house had been taken possession of by General Beaufort with his wife and about fifteen officers and servants, and with difficulty obtained permission to occupy an upper room in his own house ! Not long after the house caught fire and was entirely consumed, and moreover the French general claimed damages, conceiving the fault to have been in the chimney, for which he claimed that Mr. Dixon, as owner, was liable ! And yet, as before stated, the general had quartered himself there, and of course without pay- ing rent. The case was tried before the Tribunal of 25 W'wr ~^i 194 Homer Dickson Family. Bruges, and Mr. Dixon gained it, but had tc oa; his own costs. I have an official copy of the decree of court : " Citoyen Beaufort, General de Division et Adelaide Barthelemy David son epouse vs. Citoyen Thomas Dixon," dated Bruges, 21 Vendemiaire I'an 6," i. e., A. D. 1798. There were no Monsieurs in those days. It was Citizen Dixon, and even the general was Citizen Beaufort. Mr. Dixon was continually called upon to pay " emprunts forces," or forced loans, and threatened with the guillotine if he refused. As a foreigner he was not i:pared, and was supposed as an English- man to be rich. During these troublous times, he was again imprisoned, and was several times threat- ened with the guillotine. About the year 1803, he removed to Flushing to be near his son Thomas, who was then engaged in business there, principally with the West Indies. He remained there until 18 18, when he went to Amsterdam, where he died in 1824, aged nearly 85, and his widow died in 1826, aged P7. My father was then in Boston, and could not leave his wife and four young children for an indefinite period, especi- ally as it was in the days of slow sailing vessels, when a voyage of two . and even three months was not uncommon. His parents were, however, carefully attended to by their eldc'st son's widow. They had twelve children, all of whom pre-deceased them ex- Homer Dickson Family. 195 cepting onh- the youngest son. Nine died young. The eldest son, 1. Henry Dixon, born in Westminster in 1768, was imprisoned two or three times by the French, and his sufferings so undermined his constitution that he died of consumption. He married Sarah Watkinson and died in Ostend in 1802, leaving an only son, Henry, who died coelebs at Manilla, E. I., in 1823. 2. Thomas, of whom next. 3. Elizabeth, born in Westminster in 1766, married Eaton, of Craven St., Charing Cross (then a fashionable West-end quarter), and died in 1790, leaving an only daughter, Charlotte, born 1787, died in Ostend, 1799, aged 12 years, Thomas Dickson, who altered the spelling of his name to Dixon, was succeeded by his only surviving son Thomas Dixon, Knight of the Order of the Neth- erlands Lion and of the Order of the Lily, born Westminster, Jan. 26, 1781. He accompanied his parents to the Netherlands, and when about fifteen years old a commission in the British Army was sent to him by Sir Henry Dundas, afterwards Viscount Melville, then Secretary of State, but it was inter- cepted by the French Police and he was imprisoned and sentence of death passed upon him, but a Law had lately been passed that no executions should 196 Homer Dickson Family, take place in the Departments unless countersigned by the Minister of Police in Paris, and by the for- tunate changes of Ministers of Police — three changes in about as many months — and the intercession of his father's friends, he was released upon bail that he should not leave the country. In 1800, he left Ostend for Flushing, then like the former place a much more important city than now, and went into business. While there another letter to him from England was seized by the Police. He had assisted a friend and fellow-countryman to escape, and this gentleman on his safe arrival in England unwisely wrote a letter of thanks, giving it to the captain of the smuggler who had taken him over. This skipper was like most of them, doubly a spy, taking pay both from English and French, and after undoubtedly tirst opening the letter to see that he himself was not im- plicated, he gave it to the French Police. Mr. Dixon was arrested and only escaped by bribing the Chief of Police with a purse of Fifty Napoleons or One thousand francs. A few years after this he petitioned the British Government for reimbursement of certain losses, and among sundry certificates which he then procured was one which referred to the year 1804, and which I copy here : — "This is to certify that in the year 1804, I com- manded the British brig called the 'Eve,' of North Yarmouth was captured in the North Sea by the p. : .^JAm.. Homer Dickson Family. 197 French privateer the Admiral Bruix, and was con- ducted into Flushing, where, immediately on my arrival, Mr. Thomas Dixon, merchant at Flushing, rescued me from on board the privateer, conducted me to his own house and kept me there in private for three weeks, after which he conducted me on board a Dutch schuit going to Rotterdam, which put me on shore at Brouwershaven, according to the directions of Mr. Dixon, with letters of recommen- dation to his friends there, who procured me a pas- sage over to England immediately. "All which services Mr. Dixon did gratuitously, and even furnished me with ten pounds in money, as when Mr. Dixon rescued me out of the privateer all I possessed was a few shillings, which I had previ- ously communicated to Mr. Dixon. It is and was well known that Mr. Dixon frequently assisted other British masters in the same way, for which every British subject ought to be acknowledging to him. " Spencer Scott, " Master of the Brig Liberty of this place."* Between the years 1798 and 1807, he rescued from different prisons between thirty and forty English captains and seamen, and procured their passages home at his own expense, and at great risk to him- self had it been found out. In 1808, he was appointed Magistrate of the city of Flushing, and when King Louis (Bonaparte) * Mr. Dixon's friends probably bribed some smuggler or fisher- man to give Capt. Scott a passage to England. f . !j > J ; 1 i y ff i^ 1 i f lk\ 198 Homer Dickson Family. visited the city he had the honor of a long conversa- tion with him, and accompanied him on horseback around the batteries, navy yard, etc. When the Island of Walcheren was taken by the English in 1809, he was ordered to continue in office by the Earl of Chatham, Commander-in-Chief, and when the English evacuated the city he was con- tinued in office. When the Emperor Napoleon visited Flushing in May, 1 8 10, he presented to him the keys of the city and subsequently delivered an address as Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce ; but on the day fol- lowing (May 12), was arrested by special order of the Emperor, taken to Paris and confined as an " Otage Hollandais" (Dutch Hostage) in the Prison La Force, where he remained more than fifteen months, three of which was in a dungeon, charged with having served the English during the occupa- tion of Walcheren, until by the unceasing efforts of his friends van Royen, Bijleveld and Baron van Doom, Deputes de la HolUnde, Bruys de Charly, Deputy of the Department of the Saone and Loire ; Reverchon, old Member of the Council of Five Hun- dred, and Count Emmery, Senator, he was released from prison and sent into exile at Macon in Bur- gundy, sous caution et surveillance. He was, more- over, ordered to sell all his property in Holland and re-invest it in Burgundy, he being exiled there for life, as legal copies of all the documents still in my possession will prove. E I ■ BBBS Homer Dickson Family. 199 The Deputy (or, as we should say, Member of Parliament) Briiys de Charly gave him letters to the Baron de Roujoux, Prefect of the Department of the Saone and Loire, and to others in Macon, and although my father did not say so in his memoirs (privately printed), still I think that Count Emmery must also have introduced him both to the Governor and to a brother Senator, as in a letter dated Paris, 28 Xbre, 181 1, he says: "Dans votre Prefet, dans un de mes Collegues, vous avcz la des protecteurs excellent." The Prefect invited him to dine once a week regu- larly and gave him invitations to all his assemblies, and they were all very kind to him. He was an ex- cellent whist-player and frequently took a hand at the Prefect's own table, so that he became quite inti- mate with him, and therefore passed the time not unpleasantly, except that as he was an exile, he had no passport and could not go beyond the city, for the country swarmed with gendarmes (military po- lice) who would have demanded his passport, and not having the same he would have been arrested and again imprisoned. At length after two and a half years, in January, 1 8 14, the Baron sent for him at ten o'clock at night, and saying that he trusted to his honor, for if the Emperor heard of it he would be undone, told him that the German Army would soon be in Macon and all the exiles and Spanish officers, prisoners of war, were to be removed into the interior the next morn- 20C Homer Dickson Family. /y^ ing. That this was his only chance of escape, and from his friendly feelings towards him he could not bear to think of his being marched off by the gen- darmes, and advised him to change his lodgings, promising not to order a particular search. The next day, from his place of concealment, an attic of an unoccupied house, he beheld the prisoners marched off, and the following morning saw the Douaniers (officers of customs) running away. He then ventured out and met a detachment of Austrian Hussars, told the Colonel who he was, and in reply was informed that they were only an advanced guard with orders to retreat at the first resistance. The Colonel advised him to take lodgings opposite the bridge where he could give him warning. The next night the Colonel sent for him and they galloped off, pnrsued for some distance by a French mob, arriving the following morning at Bourg I'Ain, the head- quarters, where the Colonel introduced him to Gen- eral Count Bubna, Austrian Commander-in-Chief, who invited him to dinner, where he sat next to the General's aide-de-camp. Prince Leopold, afterwards King of the Belgians. A few days later he arrived at Basle in Switzerland where he met an old acquaintance, the Chevalier de los Rios,* whom he had formerly known at The Hague, and who told him confidentially that the * He was brother to the Duke of Fernan Nunez, and was after- wards Spanish Minister to the Congress of Vienna in 1815. I have two letters from him written at Vienna at that time. i^ ^gTT |r|i'ii r» . iH |,ii II HM .III » -^ Homer Dickson Family. 20I King of France's brother, the Count d'Artois (after- wards King Charles the Tenth), was then in Basle incognito under the name of Count Leu,* and upon his saying he might give the Count some news from Burgundy, the Chevalier asked permission to present him, whioh was granted. He enjoyed the honor of His Royal Highness' acquaintance about eleven days, and was able to give him much useful informa- tion, and became quite intimate with him. The Count wrote a Proclamation in the name of his brother Louis XVHL, which my father got privately printed and contrived to smuggle a few hundreds into France. I have two copies of it. He then left Basle and eight days after arrived at Nijmegen, where he presented himself to the prince of Orange, afterwards King William of the Netherlands. Soon after he arrived at The Hague and passed three months at the house of his friend van Royen, then Minister of the Navy, and until the island of Walcheren was evacuated by the French, when he returned to Flushing, arriving there May i8, 1814, and was reinstated in his office of Magistrate. Shortly after the return of the Bourbons he re- ceived a letter from the Mayor of Macon, who with three Deputies had waited upon King Louis to con- gratulate him upon the Restoration, — informing him that he had barely finished his address when the King's brother said "Apropos, you had a Monsieur Dixon in exile with you a long while. It was he who * Louis Bonaparte afterwards assumed the very similar name of Count de St. Leu. 26 'irr ;! I ; f' :' ( if 202 Hovier Dickson Family, first informed me of the good disposition of the Maconnais to the Bourbons, and it was in conse- quence of this assurance that I showed my favors to Macon in particular on my return. If you write Monsieur Dixon tell him from me that I remember him with affection." Not long after the Baron de Vinck, a Dutch noble- man, was presented at the French Court, and the Count d'Artois asked him if he knew a Monsieur Dixon living in Holland, and upon his replying in the afifirmative said if he would take charge of it he would send him a Decoration for his friend, and accordingly sent him the Patent (dated Paris, August 25, 1814) and Decoration of a Knight of the Order of the Lily. About this time King William visited Flushing and my father accompanied him in a two hours' walk about the fortifications, and was listened to with interest as he had previously accompanied King Louis and the Emperor Napoleon on the same route. A dinner was given to the King and my father was seated directly opposite to H. M. who sat at the side of the table, in the middle. He then placed his resignation into the King's hands and soon after went to England where he remained about a year.* •""In 1839, King William I. granted me a private audience just before I was returning to Boston, having finished my education in Holland. After a few words (speaking Dutch) he said '' But your father has lived here, has he not, I forget where?" "Yes, Sire (I replied) he was in Flushing when your Majesty first visited that city." " Yes (said the King) I remember, I dined with him there and he was then one of the Magistrates." Homer Dickson Family. 203 Durinor his stay in London he petitioned the Lords of the Admirahy to refund the losses he had incurred at the time of his imprisonment, amounting to nearly ^15,000 sterling, and especially because he may be said to have saved the British fleet from destruction, the suspicion of which was probably one of the reasons of his arrest. Had the French been able to prove it it would certainly have cost him his head. The facts were that in 1809, a French officer's wife who had remained in Flushing and by some means had obtained the information, told my grandmother as a great secret that the French had prepared fire- ships in the Upper Scheldt and intended to burn the English fleet. My father did not return home until nearly ten o'clock v. m., when his mother told him. He immediately took a boat and went on board the ship of his friend, Captain Campbell, who without losing a moment took him to the Commander-in- Chief. The fleet were then lying in close order, but orders were immediately given to weigh anchors and prepare for fire-ships, and the French seeing this gave up the undertaking. In 1 8 14, Campbell, who was then a Rear Admiral, gave him the following Certificate, endorsed by Vice Admiral Otway :• — " These are to certify that, shortly after the sur- render of the town of Flushing to H. M. Land and Sea Forces in 1809 (I. at the time, in command of H. M. Ship Audacious) I became acquainted with I I ■ I m 204 Homer Dickson Family. Mr. Thomas Dixon, then merchant and acting as one of the magistrates of the said town of F'lushing under H. M. Government, and found him on all occasions animated with the greatest zeal for the interest of H. M. Government and service, always furnishing H. M.'s officers with such private information as he could collect of the movements and plans of the enemy. " On one occasion, 1 think to the best of my recol- lection, about the end of November in the above year, H. M. squadron and a number of transports then anchored at Flushing roadstead, he gave me for the information of the Commander-in-Chief certain and correct intelligence that the enemy were using the greatest exertions in preparing fire-craft and rafts in the Upper Scheldt, to send down the river for the annoyance, and if possible, the destruction of H. M. said squadron and transports, and this intelligence was afterwards proved to be entirely correct, and the arrangements made and orders given in consequence by the Commander-in-Chief had in my opinion (and indeed it was the general opinion) alone prevented the enemy from putting their plans in execution. "Given under my hand, the 23rd Nov., 18 14, " D. Campbell. "Rear Admiral." Endorsed " I recollect the circumstances as stated in Rear Admiral Campbell's certificate. The Admiral was \>m ■Ri ■<*■«■ Homer Dickson Family. 205 then Captain of the Audacious and communicated to me, who then commanded H. M. ships in the Scheldt, in tiie absence of Sir Richard Strachan, the intelli- gence of the enemy's motives and intentions agreea- bly to information received from Mr. Thomas Dixon. " Wm. A. Otway, "Vice- Admiral." Vice Admiral Otway also wrote the following official letter to J. W. Croker, Esq., Secretary of the Admiralty. "Bath, loth April 18 15" " Sir,— " I request that you will lay before the Lords the Commissioners of the Admiralty, the enclosed letter from Rear Admiral Donald Campbell, with the cer- tificate therein mentioned, stating some important service rendered to the public by Mr. Thomas Dixon of Flushing, about the month of November, 1809, at which time I commanded the ships in the Scheldt in consequence of the absence of the Commander-in- Chief Sir Richard Strachan. " I have a perfect recollection of the circumstances as stated in Rear Admiral Dona*ld Campbell s letter and certificate, who was then Captain of the Auda- cious, and I had no reason to doubt the authenticity of Mr. Dixon's intelligence ; in justice to whom and at his particular request I make this statement for their Lordships to determine how far Mr. Dixon is entitled to any remuneration for the sufferings he I i! ■ I 206 Homer Dickson Family. has, according to his narrative, sustained in conse- quence of his attachment to the British Government. •' I have etc., " W. A. Otway, "Vice Admiral." "J. W. Croker, Esq." I ■ rtu i llif f !: The reply my father received was : " That the Board of Admiralty cannot enter into such claims as you have set forth unless founded on documents forwarded officially to the Board at the time when such services may have been rendered." This was shamefully unjust, for the very docu- ments accompanying these papers proved that my father was imprisoned soon after this event and had only just escaped from France, and even had he in- tended originally to have made any claim, it would have been then impossible ; but he never dreamt of doing so at the time, and it was only after the con- fiscation of part ri his property and his imprisonment that he thought of it. He also applied for the post of British Consul at Antwerp, then worth ;^2,ooo a year. General Son- tag gave him the following letter : " 14 Buckingham St., "30th Nov., 1 8 14. " Sir, " Lieut.-General Sontag being very dangerously ill, has desired me to inform you, in reply to your letter V ~1 I Homer Dickson Family. 207 of 24th inst, that on hearing the circumstances stated in your letter, he perfectly recollected the very zeal- ous and useful services rendered by you, and the ap- plause you merited for the particular care and atten- tion you afforded to the wounded English prisoners during the blockade and siege of Flushing, in fur- nishing them with all possible comforts. " Lieut.-General Sontag hopes that this testimony given by me in his name may be found conducive towards the granting of your application for the British Consulship at Antwerp, which will afford him much pleasure. " I have the honor to be. Sir, " Your obedient and humble servant. " David Ragay^, Lt.-Col. "Assist, to Lt.-General Sontag." "Thomas Dixon, Esq." Earl Bathurst, Acting Secretary of State, promised the Consulship to my father, but E^^rl Castelreagh, who was at the Congress of Vienna, gave it to the Hon. Mr. Annesley, son of the Earl of Annesley. It will be observed that Admiral Campbell states the certain and correct intelligence was afterwards proved to be perfectly correct. My father said there were some three or four hundred sail in the harbor, great numbers of which would have been destroyed had it not been for his information. From Parliamentary Papers (papers relating to the expedition to the Scheldt, Jan., 1810), it appears i.' i . I i( '1 ' - { s 2l8 Homer Dickson Family. II. Harriette Kate Macaulay Homer. III. Ida Louise Homer. Family of Fitz Eugene Dixon (born 1821) of Piiiladelphia, who died in 1880, aged 58. 1. Alexander James Dallas, born 1850, m. Mar- garetta, daughter of Col. William Serjeant, United States Army, son of the Hon. James Serjeant, M. C, whose father, the Hon. J. D. Serjeant, was the first Attorney-General of Pennsylvania after the Revolution. 2. Thomas Fraser, born 1852, married Emma, daughter of Lieutenant Colonel C. J. Biddle, United States Army, and niece of Hon. Craig Biddle, Judge C. C. P., sons of Nicholas Biddle, President of the Bank of the United States. 3. George Dallas, born 185 7, married Mary Frances Quincy, daughter of William H. Allen, Esq., LL. D., President of Girard College, by his wife Mary Quincy, granddaughter of the Hon. Samuel Quincy, Solicitor General of Massachusetts before the Revo- lutionary War. 4. Thomas Henry, born 1859, married Florence, daughter of William Henry Trotter, Esq., of Phila- delphia, retired merchant and director of several banks, trust companies, etc. Of Scotch origin and descendant in the 7th degree from William Trotter, who settled first in Essex county, Delaware, but removed to Philadelphia in 1690 and died there in 1699. A f^ 4 Homer Dickson Family. 219 r 5. William Boulton, born i860. And six daughters, viz.: I. Sophia Dallas, married Francis John Alison, barrister, son of Robert Alison, M. D., grandson of the Rev. Francis Alison, D. D., of Donegal, Ireland, Vice Provost of the University of Pennsylvania. II. Mary Homer, married Brigadier General Russell Thayer (graduate of West Point Military Academy), Commanding Second Brigade first division Pennsyl- vania Militia, son of the Hon. Martin R. Thayer, President Judge, C. C. P., of Philadelphia. III. Catharine Eugenia, married Joseph Percy Keating, barrister, son of William V. Keating, M. D., whose grandfather, John Baron Keating, Knight of the Order of St. Louis {pb. 1856, aged 96) emi- grated to the United States after the first French Revolution. He \/as grandson of Sir Geoffrey Keat- ing, of Adare, county Limerick, who went to France after the siege of Limerick, and was created a Baron by the King of France. IV. Harriette (Rita), married Arthur Emlen New- bold, barrister, son of John S. Newbold, Esq., of Philadelphia, a descendant of Godfred Newbold, of Newbold Abbey, county York, England, who emi- grated to America in 1678, and settled at Newbold's Island, Delaware River, and afterward at Mt. Holly, N. J., where the homestead now is. V. Susan Dallas, married Thomas Wilson Sharp- less, son of Samuel J. Sharpless, Esq of Philadelphia, a descendant of John Sharpies of Sharpies, county ^ I 220 Homer Dickson Family. Lane, England, who emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1682, and received a grant from William Penn, of 1,000 acres of land in Chester county, a great part of which is still owned by his descendants. VI. Matilda Wilkins. She was named after her aunt Matilda Dallas, wife of the Hon. William Wil- kins, Secretary of the Navy of the United States America, and Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of Russia. Catherine C. Dallas, wife of F. E. Dixon, died in 1878, se 51. \ i V- Mr. Dallas Yorke, of Walmsgate Park, near Louth, Line, and Cadogan Place, who assumed the addi- tional name of Yorke upon inheriting the estates of his maternal uncle in 1856, is the present chief of the Dallas Family. He was for some years Master of the Southwold Hounds. He has one son, born in 1875, ^'^d o"^ daughter, who married His Grace the Duke of Portland. t T^ ^ ^'3^-^'" ""-*v f INDEX OF BORDER AND OTHER SCOTCH SURNAMES. APieck, 87, 103. Ainslie, 89, 97. Anstruther, 81. Armstrong, 7, 9, 16, 18, 23, 40, 46, 84, 89, 90, 91, 97, 98, 99, 100, 106, 108. Bar, 91. Batie, Batison. 46, 84, 99, 100, 108. Baillie, 88, 92. ' Beattie, ?/. Batie. Bell, 46, 83, 100, loi. Bennett, 89, 103. Bothwell, 86. Bowmaker, 88. Boyd, 106. Bromfield, 88, 92, 94. Brown, 87, 91, 103, 105. Burnheid, 98. Burnes, 96. Burnet, 90, 105. Cameron, 16. Campbell, 73. Car, V. Ker. Carlisle, 46, 83, 84, 88, 100, loi. Carmichael, 9. Carncors, 81. Carruthers, 82, 84, 86, 88, 91, 105. Charteris, 82, 85, 91, 104. Chirnside, 87, 103. Chisholm, 86, 90, 104. Cockburn, 7, 87, 88, 90, 102. Cransfield, 83. Cranstoun, 7, 9, 20, 21, 90, 103, 104, 105. Creighton, 83. Crichton, 85, 91, 104. Crossby, 87, 103. Croser, 98. Cumin, 27. Cunningham, 105. Dalgleish, 90, 94. Dalziel, 85. Davison, 94. Dickson, 7, 12, 13, 20, 21, 22, 38, 77, 81, 88, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 105, 106. Dinwiddle, 82, 86. Douglas, 9, 20, 21, 26, 30, 34, 35, 36, 85, 86, 89, 90, 91, 93, 103, 104, 105, 107, 108. Duff, 106. Duns, 88. Edgar, 87, 103. Edmondstone, 89, 93. Eglinton, 81. Eliot, 7, 9, 41, 84, 89, 97, 99, 104. EUame, 87, 103. Elphinstone, 90, 105. Ferguson, 91, 105. Fraser, 17, 27, 73, 75, 89, 103, 106. French, 88. Froude, 90, 93, 105. I ; " i i •ill -r ,1 : ;*,, l! k 222 Index. Gasse, loi. Geddes, 90, 105. Gilchrist, 94. Gillenby, 83. Gladstone, 7. 9, 9°, 104. Glencors, 88. Glendenning, 91, 104. Gordon, 33, 84, 86, 91, 104, 105, 106. Gradon, 88, 93, 104. Graham, 7, 88, 99, 100, loi, 106. Grant, 16, 59. Grierson, 83, 85, 91, 104. Grymslowe, 85. Grinyslaw, 103. Haig, 85, 103. Haitlie, 88, 93, 94. Haliburton, 20, 72, 85, 103. Hall, 94. Halliday, 21. Hamilton, 81, 106. Hangan^iue, 85. Harris, 86, 91, 104. Hay, 22, 90, 105, 106. Henderson, 99. Hewitt, 88, 105. Home or Hume, 7, 20, 21, 37, 87, 88, 91, 92, 102, 103, 106. Hoppringle, 85. Horsburgh, 105. Hunter, 105. Huntley, 92. Inglis, 7, 90. 91, 92, 105. Innerwick, 92. Irving, 7, 46, 82, 88,91, 100, 101,105. Jardine, 83, 86, 88, 105, 106, 108. Johnes, 100. Johnstone, 7, 46, 80, 82, 83, 86, 88, 105, 106, io8. Keith, 21, 29. Kerse, 91, 104. Ker, 7, 68, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 91, 92, 93, 103, 104, 107. Kirko, 91, 105. Kirkmichael, 104. Kirkpatrick, 83, 91, 104. Kirktoun, 89, 104. Kirton, 85. Knox, 105. Laidlaw, 97. Langlands, 90, 104. Latimer, 86. Lauder, 88, 93. Laverokstane, 91. Lawson, 83, 91. Leslie, 4I. Lidderdaill, 104. Lindsay, 91, 104, 107. Little, 100. Livingstone, 92, 104. Lorane, 90, 103. Lowis, 90. Lumsden, 87, 103. Lyle, 87, 103. Lynton, 85. MacBrair, 91. Macculloch, 104. Macdonald, 107. Macdougal, 85, 89, 103. Macdowall, 85, 89. Macintosh, 107, Maclean, 17, 81. Maclellan, 84, 104. Macleod, 17. Macmath, 91, 104. Macnaught, 104. Macneil, 107. Macrae, 107. Macraw, 107. Mader, 89, 103. Maitland, 91, 104. Maxwell, 2, 7, 21, 24, 72, 82, 83, 85, 86, 88, 91, 104, 105, 108. Melville, 105. Menzies, 91, 104. Mether, 85. Middelmaist, 94, 105. Moffatt, 83, 86. Morton, 91. Mowe or Mowll, 85, 89, 103, Morrison, 107. Murray, 82, 88, 90, 103, 104, 105, 107. ^ Index. 223 If Nasmyth, 90, 106. Neilson, 107. Nisbet, 92. Nixon, 84, 98. Oliver, 97. Orcharton, 84. Ormeston, 85. Parke, 98. Penicuik, 91, 106. Posso, 106. Porteous, 105. Pringle, 88, 90, 91, 94, 105. Purdon, 88. Purves, 85, 88. Pyle, 97. Ramsay, 87, 88, 103, Reddik or Rerik, 104. Kenton, 87, 92, 93, 102. Riddell, 85, 89, 103. Ridpatli, 87, 92, 93, 94, 103. Robeson, 97. Rome, 83, loi. Rose, 82. Ross, 19, 82. Rodyk, 104. Rutlaerford, 9, 19, 84, 85, 89, 103, 107. Sandilands, 91. Sanquhar, 91. Scott, 7, 9, 12, 15, 20, 22, 40, 86, 89, 90, 93, 99, 103, 104, 107- Seton, 21, 107. Sinclair, 87, 103, 104. Sharp, 81. Shaw, 88. Sleich, 87, 103. Somerville, 107. Spottiswood, 87, 103. Stewart, 85, 86, 90, 103, 104, 105. Swinton, 87, 92, 103. Tate, 94. Thompson, 84, 100, loi. Trotter, 88, 93, 95. Turnbull, 9, 84, 85, 86, 89, 92, 93, 103. Tweedie, 90, 91, 105. Urquhart, 19. Vaitch, 90, 104, 105. Watson, 107. Williamson, 105. Welschaw, 98. Whitmore, 89. Wood, 49, 106. Young, 94. fc 1 » Wl i / ERRATA. Page 17, line 13, omit "great." Page 48, line 6, for " hoofs " read " houghs." Page 82, line 10, after " Kirkmighel " add " {KirkpatHck?)." Page 83, line 20, after " Laird of Cowhill " add " 91." Page 91, line 10, after " Kirkmichael " add " {Kirkpatrick?)." Page 91, line 14, for " Kirks " read " Kirko." Page 92, line 11, for " Blacadde " read " Blacadder." Page 92, line 14, for " Home " read " Home." The following was accidentally omitted among " Clan Dickson Families:" Anton's Hill. John Dickson de Anton's Hill, co. Berwick, served heir to his grandfather {avi^ John Dicksone de Anton's Hill in 1677. John Dickson of Anton's Hill was a writer in Edinburgh in 1712, when he and Janet Home, Lady Eccles, signed a joint bond which was only discharged in 1724. John Dickson of Anton's Hill was a Jus- tice of the Peace in 1732. The last of this family, James Dickson of Anton's Hill, had an only daughter who m. the late General Sir Martin Hunter, G. C. M. G., G. C. H., of Medomsley, co. Durham. ison 3 his John vhen I was L Jus- ;kson il Sir am.