CRAIGIE,
a surname originally Creagach, a Celtic word signifying a
craggy ridge, and derived from the lands of Craigie in the parish of
Dalmeny, Linlithgowshire, now called Craigiehall. They formerly
belonged to a family who took their name from them. Joannes de Craigin,
or Craigie, was one of the witnesses to the original charter of Dundas
of Dundas, the Superior, in the reign of David the First. In the
Ragman Roll (1296) is the name of John de Craigy, supposed on good
grounds to belong to this family. In 1367, John de Craigy of that ilk
is made mention of in the Chartulary of St. Giles. He got the lands
and barony of Braidwood in Lanarkshire by his marriage with Margaret,
daughter and heiress of Sir John de Monfode, by whom he had an only
daughter, Margaret, called domina de Craigy, heiress of Craigy
and Braidwood, who, in 1387, married Sir John Stewart, a younger son
of Sir Robert Stewart of Durrisdeer. Of this marriage came the
Stewarts of Craigiehall, who possessed the estate for about two
hundred and fifty years, and ultimately sold it, in 1643, to John
Fairholm, treasurer of the city of Edinburgh. Mr. Fairholm’s
grand-daughter married the first marquis of Annandale, who in her
right obtained Craigiehall. Their only surviving child, Henrietta, on
her marriage with the first earl of Hopetoun, carried the estate into
that family, and it is now possessed by Mr. Hope Vere, their
descendant, the additional name of Vere or Weir having been assumed on
the marriage of the Hon. Charles Hope, second son of the said earl of
Hopetoun, with the heiress of Blackwood in Lanarkshire, whose name was
Vere.
Another
principal family of the name were the Craigies of Kilgraston, in the
parish of Dunbarnie, Perthshire, two of whom were eminent judges.
Robert Craigy of Glendoick, in the parish of Kinfauns, in that county,
lord president of the court of session, born in 1685, was the son of
Lawrence Craigie of Kilgraston. Admitted advocate 3d January 1710, he
was, on 4th March 1742, appointed lord advocate. On the
death of Robert Dundas of Arniston, he was promoted lord president,
and took his seat on the bench 2d February 1742. On 18th
June 1755 he was named by patent one of the commissioners for
improving the fisheries and manufactures of Scotland. He died 10th
March 1760. Lord Woodhouselee, in his Life of Lord Kames, (i. 41) has
preserved his character both as a judge and a lawyer. Another Robert
Craigie, of the same family born in 1754, second son of John Craigie
of Kilgraston was also on the bench, under the title of Lord Craigie.
He passed advocate 13th July 1776, was appointed
sheriff-depute of Orkney, November 1786, and of Dumfries-shire 3d
December 1791, on which occasion he was presented with the freedom of
the burgh of Dumfries, and was elevated to the bench 18th
November 1811. He died in 1834, and was buried in the old churchyard
of Dunbarnie. He was considered an excellent feudal lawyer. The estate
of Kilgraston was purchased in 1784 by John Grant, Esq., chief justice
in the island of Jamaica, who died in 1793, and was succeeded by his
brother Francis, in whose family it remains. – See SUPPLEMENT for
additional information.
The Craigies
of Dunbarnie, in the parish of that name, are a branch of the family
who formerly possessed Kilgraston. “They were remarkable,” says the
New Statistical Account, “for the elegant improvements they made on
their estates; and it is to their public spirit that the community is
indebted for several avenues of trees which adorn the roads in the
parish.” Half a mile south from Perth there is a village of the name
of Craigie. There is also a parish in Ayrshire of the name.
