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Robert De Rutherford witnessed a charter by David
I around 1140. Sir Nichol de Rutherford is mentioned in several charters between 1161 and 1272. Sir Richard Rutherford was a favourite of Robert III he was ambassador to England in 1398.
Thomas Rutherford, The black Laird of Edgerston, was famed for his daring attacks upon the English. His most notable exploit was at the battle of the Red Swire at Caterfield in July 1575. This came about when the English and the Scots wardens of the marched had met to hear mutual grievances and to give redress for complaints. The Scots demanded the surrender of a notorious English brigand named Farnstein. The English claimed that Farnstein had fled and could not be found. Sir John Carmichael, the Scots warden, doubted this and said so to Sir John in plain terms. The English warden retorted with insults regarding Carmichael's family whereupon the English bowman discharged a flight of arrows among the Scots Sir John Carmichael was taken prisoner However the Rutherfords and the men of Jedburgh soon appeared and put the English to flight, freeing Carmichael and instead taking prisoner the English warden and a number of lieutenants.
The Lairds of Edgerston further distinguished themselves fighting for Charles I during the civil war
Rutherford raised a troop of horse at his own expense and fought in England until the king surrendered in 1646. He took up the cause again only to be severely wounded and have his whole troop wiped out at the battle of Dunbar in 1650.
General Andrew Rutherford was raised to peerage as Lord Rutherford in 1661. He was appointed Governor of Tangier in Morocco in 1663 and was killed in battle against the native forces in 1664
He had been advanced to the earldom of Teviot, but died without issue, this title became extinct, the title Lord Rutherford passing to a cousin. This title is also extinct.
Andrew Rutherford was a MP for Leith from 1839-1851. He held the office of Lord Advocate and was raised to the bench with the judicial title of Lord Rutherford. Earnest Rutherford discovered the alpa particle and developed the nuclear theory of atomic structure, laying the groundwork for the development of nuclear physics in the 20th century. He was knighted in 1914 and appointed to the Order of Merit in 1925 and died in 1937.
The lands of Rutherford in Roxburghshire near Maxton The first is that a man named Ruther guided an ancient king of Scots (Rhyderch Hael?) over a little known ford in the river tweed, giving him a victory over the Northumbrians. He was given a grant of land there after, named after the crossing.
Another story tells of an English army which foolishly abandoned a strong
position on heights above the River Tweed to attack a Scottish force on
the opposite bank The English attempted to force a crossing of the river
and were defeated. The Scots named the place Rue the Ford, To commemorate
the disaster at that spot. |
