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The Scottish Nation
Annandale


ANNANDALE, lord of, a title possessed by the de Bruses, the ancestors of ROBERT the BRUCE; the lordship of Annandale in Dumfriesshire, having been bestowed by David the First, soon after his accession to the throne, in 1124, on Robert de Brus, the son of a Norman knight who came into England with William the Conqueror. Besides his large estates in Yorkshire, he thus became possessed of an extensive property in Scotland, which he held by the tenure of military service. (See BRUCE, surname of.) After the battle of Bannockburn, the lordship of Annandale was bestowed by Robert the Bruce on his nephew, Sir Thomas Randolph, earl of Moray. With the hand of his daughter Agnes, who married Patrick, ninth earl of Dunbar and March, it went, after the death of her brother John, third earl of Moray, to the Dunbars, earls of March. On their attainder, it came into possession, in 1409, of Archibald, fourth earl of Douglas, and on the forfeiture, in 1455, of James, ninth and last earl of Douglas, it was lost to that family. Annandale now belongs chiefly to the earl of Hopetoun.

ANNANDALE, earldom of, an extinct title, formerly in the possession of a family of the name of Murray. Sir William Murray, the first of this noble family, is said to have been descended from the house of Duffus DUFFUS]. He married Isabel, the sister of Thomas Randolph, earl of Moray, and daughter of Sir Thomas Randolph, great chamberlain of Scotland, by Isabel, sister of King Robert Bruce, and by her had two sons, William and Patrick. His great grandson, Sir Adam Murray of Cockpool, made a considerable figure in Scotland in the reigns of King Robert the Second and Robert the Third. A descendant of his, Mungo Murray of Broughton, the second son of Cuthbert Murray of Cockpool, was the ancestor of the Murrays of Broughton in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright. Sir James Murray of Cockpool, the twelfth designed of Cockpool, who died in 1620, married Janet, second daughter of Sir William Douglas of Drumlanrig, ancestor of the dukes of Queens-berry, by whom he had three daughters, the eldest of whom, Margaret, was married to Sir Robert Grierson, younger of Lag, by whom she had an only son, Sir John Grierson of Lag, who had no sons. h-his eldest daughter, Nicholas, married David Scot of Scotstarvet, and had one daughter, Marjory, by whose marriage with David fifth viscount Stormont, the Murrays of Cockpool, earls of Annandale, are lineally represented by the present earl of Mansfield (see STORMONT, viscount of).

      Sir James Murray’s brother, John, who succeeded to the estates of the family on the death, in 1636, of an intermediate brother, Richard, was raised to the peerage by James the Sixth, with whom he was a great favourite, and whom, on his majesty’s accession to the throne of England, he accompanied to London, as one of the gentlemen of the privy chamber, by the titles of Viscount of Annand, and Lord Murray of Lochmaben. The date of his creation does not appear; but he had a charter "to John Viscount of Annand," of the palace in Dumfries, and the lands of Haikheuch and Caerlaverock, 20th February 1623. He was created earl of Annandale by patent dated at Whitehall, 13th March 1624. His lordship married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Shaw, knight, and died at London in September 1640. He was succeeded by his son James, second earl of Annandale, who in March 1642 succeeded as third viscount of Stormont. He died at London 28th December 1658, leaving no issue. The titles of earl of Annandale, viscount of Annand, and Lord Murray of Lochmaben, in consequence became extinct, and those of Viscount Stormont and Lord Scoon devolved on David, second Lord Balvaird (see MURRAY, surname of).

      The title of Marquis of ANNANDALE (now dormant) was formerly possessed by a brave and powerful Border family of the name of Johnstone, which, as far back as can be traced, were in possession of most extensive estates in the upper district of Annandale; and of the numerous families bearing that name the Johnstones of Lochwood were acknowledged the chiefs. This distinguished family maintained their ground, not only against the English borderers, but also against the lords of Sanquhar, whose descendants became earls of Dumfries, and against the powerful and ancient family of the Maxwells, lords of Nithsdale.

      In the reign of King Robert the Second, Sir John de Johnstone, the ancestor of the Annandale family of that name, made a conspicuous figure. In 1371, he was one of the guardians of the west marches, and frequently had an opportunity of exerting himself against the English borderers, particularly in 1378,

"When at the wattyr of Sulway,
Schyr Ihon of lhonystown on a day
Of Inglis men wencust a grete dele.
He bare hym at that tyme sa welle
That he and the Lord of Gordowne,
Had a sowerane gud renown
Of ony that was of thar degreFor full thai war of gret bownte."
Wyntoun, b. ii. p 311.

He died about 1383, leaving a son Sir John Johnstone of John-stone. A lineal descendant of his in the eleventh degree, James Johnstone of that ilk, was by Charles the First created Lord Johnstone of Lochwood, by patent dated at Holyroodhouse, 20th June 1633. In March 1643 he was created earl of Hartfell. In 1644 he was imprisoned by order of the committee of estates, as a favourer of the marquis of Montrose. After the battle of Kilsyth, August 1645, he joined Montrose, and being taken at Philiphaugh, 13th September of the same year, he was carried to St. Andrews, where, with several others, he was sentenced to death, 26th November 1645, and ordered to be executed first of all, with Lord Ogilvy. But the night before the time fixed for the execution, Lord Ogilvy escaped out of the castle of St. Andrews, and the marquis of Argyle, suspecting it to have been done by means of the Hamiltons, obtained a pardon for the earl of Hartfell, who was as obnoxious to the Hamiltons as Lord Ogilvy was to Argyle. He died in March 1653.

      His only son, James the second earl of Hartfell, was, on the restoration of Charles the Second, sworn a privy councillor. The title of earl of Annandale having become extinct by the death of James Murray, the second earl, in 1658, the earl of Hartfell made a resignation of his peerage into the hands of his majesty, who, 13th February 1661, granted a new patent to him as earl of Annandale and Hartfell, viscount of Annand, Lord Johnstone of Lochwood, Lochmaben, Moffatdale, and Evandale. He died 17th July 1672. His son William, who succeeded as second earl of Annandale and third of Hartfell, was appointed an extraordinary lord of session, 23d November 1693. He was also constituted one of the lords of the Treasury, and president of the parliament of Scotland, which assembled at Edinburgh 9th May 1695, and sat till 17th July following. On the 24th of June 1701 he was created marquis of Annandale, and on the accession of Queen Anne was appointed lord privy seal. In 1703 he was appointed president of the privy council. In 1704 he was in vested with the order of the Thistle. In 1705 he represented her majesty as high commissioner to the General Assembly of the church of Scotland, as he had already done King William in 1701. He was also constituted in 1705 one of the principal secretaries of state, but not approving of the Union, he was dismissed from that office in the following year, and strenuously opposed the Union treaty in parliament. He was afterwards on several occasions elected a representative peer. In 1711 he was again lord high commissioner to the General Assembly. On the accession of George the First he was, 24th September 1714, appointed keeper of the privy seal, and a few days after sworn a privy councillor. He died at Bath on the 14th January 1721. His lordship married, first, Sophia, only daughter and heiress of John Fairholm of Craigiehall, in the county of Linlithgow, by whom he had James, second marquis of Annandale, two other sons, who both died unmarried, and two daughters, of whom the eldest, Lady Henrietta, married, in 1699, Charles Hope of Hopetoun, created earl of Hopetoun in 1703, and had issue. His first wife having died in 1716, the marquis married secondly, in 1718, Charlotte Van Lore, only child of John Vanden Bempde of Pall Mall, London; by whom he had George, third marquis of Annandale, and another son named John, who died young.

      James, the second marquis of Annandale, resided much abroad, and dying unmarried at Naples, 21st February 1730, was buried in Westminster Abbey. The estate of Craigiehall went to his nephew, the Hon. Charles Hope, and his titles and the other estates to his half brother George, third marquis of Annandale, who was born 29th May 1720. The loss of his brother, Lord John, in 1742, occasioned a depression of spirits, which finally deranged his mind. In 1745 David Hume, the historian, went to live with him, the friends and family of the marquis being desirous of putting his lordship under his care and direction. He resided with him a year. On 5th March 1748 an inquest from the court of Chancery found the marquis a lunatic since 12th December 1744. He died 24th April 1792, when the title of Marquis of Annandale became dormant; claimed by Sir Frederic John William John-stone of Westerhall, baronet; and by Mr. Goodinge Johnstone. It is understood that the titles of earl of Annandale and Hart-fell devolved upon James, third earl of Hopetoun, who, however, did not assume them, but took the name of Johnstone in addition to that of Hope.

      In the parish of Johnstone, Dumfries-shire, are the ruins of the castle or tower of Lochwood, said to have been built during the fourteenth century, and which, from the thickness of its walls and its insulated situation amidst bogs and marshes, must have been a place of great strength. It was in allusion to this circumstance that James the Sixth is said to have remarked, "that the man who built Lochwood, though he might have the outward appearance of an honest man, must have been a knave at heart." In 1593, it was burnt by Robert, the natural brother of Lord Maxwell, who, with savage glee, exclaimed while it was in flames, "I’ll give Dame John-stone light enough to show her to set her silken hood." In revenge for the destruction of Lochwood’s "lofty towers, where dwelt the lords of Annandale," the Johnstones, aided by the bold Buccleuch, the Elliots, the Armstrongs, and the Grahams, attacked and cut to pieces a party of the Maxwells near Lochmaben, and among the slain fell Robert the incendiary. The surviving few then took refuge in the church of Lochmaben, but the church with all that was in it was burnt to ashes by the Johnstones, and it was this sacrilegious act which in its turn occasioned the memorable battle of Dryfe Sands, 7th December 1593, in which the Johnstones finally prevailed. Lord Maxwell, while engaged in single combat with the laird of Johnstone, was slain behind his back by the cowardly hands of Will of Kirkhill. The Maxwells lost, on the field and in the retreat, about 700 men. Many of those who perished or were wounded in the retreat, were cut down in the streets of Lockerby; and hence the phrase currently used in Annandale to denote a severe wound,—" A Lockerby lick." Sir James Johnstone of Johnstone, warden of the west marches, was murdered, 6th April 1608, by John, seventh Lord Maxwell, the son of the Lord Maxwell slain on Dryfe Sands, at a meeting betwixt them, in presence of Sir Robert Maxwell of Orchardton, brother-in-law of Sir James, to which meeting each of them came with one attendant. Their attendants quarrelling, Sir James Johnstone turned about to separate them, when he was treacherously shot in the back with two bullets by Lord Maxwell, who, being taken at Caithness some years afterwards, was beheaded for the same, at the cross of Edinburgh, 21st May 1613.


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