Search just our sites by using our customised search engine

Unique Cottages | Electric Scotland's Classified Directory

Click here to get a Printer Friendly PageSmiley

The Scottish Nation
Carnegie


CARNEGIE, a local surname, derived from the lands and barony of Carnegie in the county of Forfar.

      In the reign of King David the Second, Walter Maule granted to John de Bonhard, a charger of the lands of Carnegie, in the barony of Panmure and parish of Carmylie, when the latter assumed, in consequence, the surname of Carnegie.

      The family of Carnegie of that ilk became extinct in the direct line. The next principal family of that name was Carnegie of Kinniard. The first of it was Duthacus, a descendant of Carnegie of that ilk, who obtained a charter from Robert duke of Albany, governor of Scotland, of half of the lands of Kinniard, in Forfarshire, and the superiority.

      From him lineally descended Sir Robert Carnegie of Kinnaird, appointed one of the senators of the College of Justice in 1547, and ambassador to France in 1551; of whom a notice is subjoined. he and his predecessors were said to be cupbearers to the kings of Scotland, for which they were in use to carry a cup of gold on the breast of their eagle to show their office.

      His grandson, Sir David, was created Lord Carnegie of Kinniard, 14th April, 1616, in which year he was constituted one of the lords of session. In June 1633, he was elevated to the earldom of Southesk. [See SOUTHESK, Earl of.] These honours were attainted, under James, the fifth earl, for being engaged in the rebellion of 1715; but restored in 1855.

      Sir John Carnegie, the second son of David Carnegie of Panbride, designed of Coluthie, and brother of David, first earl of Southesk, obtained from his father the lands of Aithie, &c., in Forfarshire, and was elevated to the peerage, 20th April, 1639, as Lord Lour or Lower, and advanced 1st November, 1647, to the dignity of earl of Ethie. He suffered for his fidelity to Charles the First, and after the restoration his lordship, in 1662, got an exchange of his titles for those of Baron Rosehill of Rosehill, and earl of Northesk. [See NORTHESK, Earl of.] He died in 1667, at the age of about 88.

      The seventh earl of Northesk, who distinguished himself as a naval officer, will be noticed in the article NORTHESK.

CARNEGIE, SIR ROBERT, of Kinniard, a lawyer and statesman, the son of John de Carnegie, who was killed at the battle of Flodden, was some time chamberlain of Arbroath, and having attached himself to the regent Arran, was, July 4, 1547, appointed a lord of session; but on the condition that, until an actual vacancy occurred, he should be entitled to no salary or emolument. In 1548 he was sent to England to treat for the ransom of the earl of Huntly, chancellor of Scotland, who had been taken prisoner at the battle of Pinkie. Soon afterwards he was despatched on a mission to France; and when there, was requested by the French king, Henry the Second, to use his influence with the duke of Chatelherault, on his return, for the resignation of the regency in favour of Mary of Guise, the queen dowager. In 1551 we find him clerk to the treasurer of Scotland, and one of the commissioners named to conclude a peace with England. In 1554 and 1556 he was similarly employed. When the Reformation took place, he at first attached himself to the queen regent’s party, and was employed by her majesty in negociating with the lords of the congregation. He afterwards joined the latter, and was sent by them to the courts of England and France to explain and vindicate their intentions. He died July 5, 1566. In the queen’s letter, nominating his successor on the bench, he is described as a person “well inclined to justice, and expert in matters concerning the common weill of this reals.” He is supposed to have been the author of the work on Scots law, cited in Balfour’s Practicks as Lib. Carneg.; or Carnegie’s Book. By Margaret, his wife, daughter of Guthrie of Lunan, he had, with other sons, David, one of the eight commissioners of the Treasury, called Octavians, who, by his second wife, a daughter of Sir David Wemyss of that ilk, had Sir David Carnegie, abovementioned, first earl of Southesk.

CARNEGIE, WILLIAM, seventh earl of Northesk. See NORTHESK, Earl of.

From the Dictionary of National Biography...

CARNEGIE, Sir ROBERT (d. 1566), of Kinnaird, judge and diplomatist, son of John Carnegie of Kinnaird, who fell at Flodden (9 Sept. 1513), by Jane Vaus, was in 1547 nominated an ordinary lord of session by the regent (the Earl of Arran), to whose party he had attached himself. The appointment seems to have been made in anticipation of the removal of Henry Balnaves [q. v.], then under suspicion of complicity in the murder of Cardinal Beaton. In the autumn of 1548 Carnegie was despatched to England to negotiate with the protector for the ransom of the Earl of Huntly, the chancellor of Scotland, who had been taken prisoner at the battle of Pinkie Cleugh in the preceding year (10 Sept.) From London Carnegie proceeded to Blois, where, with the bishop of Ross and Gavin Hamilton (abbot of Kilwynning), he conducted the negotiations which resulted, in 1551, in the creation of the regent duke of Chatelherault, with the understanding that he should resign the regency into the hands of the queen-mother. In the summer of 1551 he returned to Scotland, travelling through England under letters of safe-conduct granted by the protector, and was employed in negotiations relative to the settlement of the borders. On the accession to the regency of Mary of Guise (1553), he became clerk to the treasurer (thesaurar-clerk) at a salary of 26l. per annum. He was appointed (9 June of the same year) commissioner to enforce the observance of the statutes relating to forestalling and regrating at the approaching fair at Brechin, and on 18 Sept. was deputed, with Sir Robert Bellenden, to represent Scotland in another negotiation for a settlement of the border, as the result of which a treaty, the terms of which will be found in the ‘Calendar of State Papers’ (Dom. Addenda, 1547–65, p. 430), was concluded on 4 Dec. In 1557 another negotiation with the same object was opened, Carnegie being again employed. The commissioners met at Carlisle in the summer, but the negotiation was abruptly terminated by the queen regent. Carnegie was employed in 1553 in another attempt to settle the perennial border question. The precise date when he received the honour of knighthood is uncertain, but it was probably about 1552–3. The last meeting of the privy council which he attended was held on 1 Dec. 1565. He died on 5 July in the following year. He is described by Knox as one of those ‘quha for faynting of the bretheris hairtis, and drawing many to the Queneis factioun against thair natyve countrey have declairit thameselfis ennemies to God and traytouris to thair commune wealth’ (Hist. Reform. i. 400, Bannatyne Club). By his devotion to the queen regent he profited largely, receiving from her several grants of lands in Forfarshire. His wife was Margaret Guthrie, of the Guthries of Lunan. He is supposed to be the author of a work on Scotch law, cited in Balfour's ‘Practicks’ (ed. 1754), p. 60, by the title of ‘Lib. Carneg.’

[Lesley's Hist. Scotl. pp. 197, 220, 258; Reg. Counc. Scotl. i. 83, 141, 146, 150; Keith's Hist. Scotl. App. 115; Cal. State Papers (Scotl. 1509–1603), pp. 100, 105, 192 (Dom. Addenda, 1547–65), p. 430; Knox's Works (Bann. Club), i. 400, iii. 410–11; Strype's Mem. iii. pt. ii. 419, ad fin.; Reg. Mag. Sig. (1513–46), gg. 1465 2730; Brunton and Haig's Senators of the College of Justice.]

CARNEGIE, WILLIAM, Earl of Northesk (1758–1831), admiral, was the third son of George, sixth Earl of Northesk, admiral of the white, who died in 1792. He entered the navy in 1771 on board the Albion, with Captain Barrington, served afterwards with Captains Macbride in the Southampton and Stair Douglas in the Squirrel, and on 7 Dec. 1777 was made lieutenant into the Apollo. He was afterwards with Sir John Lockhart Ross in the Royal George, and in the Sandwich with Sir George Rodney, by whom he was made commander after the battle of 17 April 1780, though the commission was not confirmed till 10 Sept. He continued in the West Indies, commanding in succession the Blast fireship and the St. Eustatius, hired ship, till on 7 April 1782 he was advanced to post rank. He afterwards had command of the Enterprise frigate, which he brought home and paid off at the peace. By the death of his elder brothers, in 1788 he became Lord Rosehill. In 1790 he commanded the Heroine for a few months, in the Spanish armament, and in 1792 succeeded to the earldom on the death of his father. In 1793 he commanded the Beaulieu frigate, and afterwards the Andromeda, but only for a short time. In 1796 he was appointed to the Monmouth of 64 guns, in the North Sea fleet, one of the ships engaged in the following year in the mutiny at the Nore. Northesk was for some time detained on board, a prisoner in his cabin; he was afterwards brought before the committee of delegates on board the Sandwich, and employed by them to lay their demands before the king, receiving from their president a commission in the following terms: 'You are hereby authorised and ordered to wait upon the king, wherever he may be, with the resolutions of the committee of delegates, and are directed to return back with an answer within fifty-four hours from the date hereof. 6 June, 3 p.m.'

Northesk accordingly carried the propositions of the mutineers to the admiralty, and was taken by Lord Spencer to the king. The demands were rejected, and a message to that effect was sent down to the revolted seamen; but Northesk did not return, and shortly after the mutiny had been quelled he resigned the command of the Monmouth. In 1800 he was appointed to the Prince of 98 guns, in the Channel fleet, and commanded her till the peace. On the renewal of the war he was appointed to the Britannia of 100 guns, in the fleet off Brest under Admiral Cornwallis, and continued in her, on the same station, after his promotion to flag rank, 23 April 1804. In August 1805 he was detached under Sir Robert Calder to reinforce the fleet off Cadiz, and on 21 Oct. commanded in the third post in the battle of Trafalgar. The Britannia was the fourth ship in the weather-line led by Nelson, and was thus early in the action, continuing closely engaged till the end, and sustaining a loss of fifty-two killed and wounded. Northesk's services on this occasion were acknowledged by his being nominated a knight of the Bath, the investiture taking place on 5 June 1806. He became vice-admiral 28 April 1808, and admiral 4 June 1814, but had no further service during the war. In 1821 he was constituted rear-admiral of Great Britain; from 1827-1830 was commander-in-chief at Plymouth; and died, after a short illness, on 28 May 1831. On 8 June he was buried in the crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral, where a plain slab marks his grave, in the immediate neighbourhood of Nelson's and Collingwood's. He sat in several parliaments as a representative peer of Scotland. He married, 9 Dec. 1788, Mary, daughter of William Henry Ricketts, and niece of Lord St. Vincent, and had by her a very numerous family. The eldest son, then Lord Rosehill, was lost in the Blenheim with Sir Thomas Troubridge in February 1807.

[Naval Chronicle, xv. 441, with a portrait; Ralfe's Nav. Biog. ii. 400; Marshall's Roy. Nav. Biog. i. 198; Gent. Mag. (1831) vol. ci. pt. ii. p. 79.]


Return to The Scottish Nation Index Page


 


This comment system requires you to be logged in through either a Disqus account or an account you already have with Google, Twitter, Facebook or Yahoo. In the event you don't have an account with any of these companies then you can create an account with Disqus. All comments are moderated so they won't display until the moderator has approved your comment.

comments powered by Disqus

Quantcast