CARRICK,
a surname derived from the southern of the three districts into which
the county of Ayr is divided. The name appears to have originated from
the British carrig, a rock, probably in reference to Ailsa Craig,
a lofty rock in the sea which lies opposite to, and not very distant
from its seaboard, and which likewise gave his title to the Marquis of
Ailsa.
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CARRICK,
earl of, an ancient title, first held by Duncan, son of Gilbert, one of
the two sons of Fergus, lord of Galloway, a chief descended of a Saxon
family, long previously placed over these wild people by the English
earls of Northumberland, who, having rebelled against Malcolm the
Fourth, was subdued by him, and became a subject of the Scottish crown
in the twelfth century, At that period, the district of Carrick formed a
portion of Galloway. On Fergus’ death, in 1161, his lands were,
according to the law of the country, divided between Gilbert and his
brother Uchtred. They attended William the Lion on his invasion of
Northumberland in 1174, but no sooner was he taken prisoner than,
returning into Galloway at the head of their fierce and rapacious clans,
they broke out into rebellion, attacked and demolished the royal
castles, murdered the Anglo-Normans who had settled among their
mountains, and expelled the officers of the king of Scots. They
proceeded next to dispute about pre-eminence and possessions among
themselves. On the 22d September, 1176, Gilbert attacked Uchtred, while
residing in his father’s house in Loch-Fergus, and having overpowered
him, caused his son Malcolm to put him to death, after depriving him of
his sight and tongue, but was unable to acquire his possessions,
valiantly defended by Roland the son of Uchtred. On William the Lion
regaining his liberty, in the following year, he invaded Galloway,
subdued Gilbert, and exacting a pecuniary satisfaction, allowed him to
resume possession of his inheritance. Gilbert died on the 1st
of January 1184-5, when Roland, the son of the murdered Uchtred, seizing
the favourable opportunity, attacked and dispersed his uncle’s
adherents, 5th July 1185, and obtained possession of all
Galloway as his own inheritance. This procedure was, however, opposed by
Henry the Second of England, then lord paramount of Scotland, who
marched an army to Carlisle, and although William would have been well
pleased to see Roland in possession of the whole country, both he and
Roland were forced to submit the matter to the decision of the English
court. Satisfied with this acknowledgment of his paramount right, Henry
left the settlement of the question to William, who granted Duncan the
district of Carrick as a full satisfaction for all his claims. This took
place about 1186, and Duncan was thereupon created earl of Carrick.
About 1240, he founded the famous abbey of Crossraguel or Crossregal,
two miles from Maybole, for Cluniac monks, and amply endowed it with
lands and tithes. He also gave to the monks of Paisley and Melrose,
several donations out of his estate, for the welfare of his soul.
His son,
Nigel, or Niel, second earl of Carrick, like his father, was very
liberal to the church. In 1255, a commission was granted by Henry the
Third, for receiving ‘Niel earl of Karricke,’ and other Scotsmen into
his protection. He was one of the regents of Scotland and guardians of
Alexander the Third and his queen, appointed in the convention at
Roxburgh, 20th September, 1255, and died the following year.
He married Margaret, daughter of Walter, high-steward of Scotland, by
whom he had a daughter, Margaret, countess of Carrick, in her own right,
and the mother of ROBERT THE BRUCE. She was twice married; first, to
Adam de Kilconcath (or Kilconquhar), who, in her right, in accordance
with the practice of those days, was third earl of Carrick. Having
joined the crusade of 1268, under the banner of Louis the Ninth of
France, he died at Acon in the Holy Land in 1270. The following year she
married, secondly, Robert Burs, son of Robert Brus, lord of Annandale
and Cleveland, under the romantic circumstances already related. [See
BRUCE.] Brus, in consequence, became fourth earl of Carrick. The
countess died before 1292, and on 27th November of that year,
her husband resigned to Robert the Bruce, his eldest son, the earldom of
Carrick, with all the lands he held in Scotland in right of his wife. He
still, however, continued to be styled earl of Carrick. He and his son
swore fealty to Edward the First at Berwick, 28th August
1296, on which occasion they are styled in the record ‘Robert de Brus le
veil (vieil) e Robert de Brus le jouene Counte de Carrick.’ The
elder Brus died in 1304. By the countess of Carrick he had five sons and
seven daughters, viz. 1. Robert the Bruce, fifth earl of Carrick and
king of Scots; 2. Edward, sixth earl, crowned king of Ireland; 3 and 4,
Thomas and Alexander, who, being taken prisoners in Galloway, 9th
February, 1306-7, by Duncan Macdowal, when bringing succours to their
brother Robert from Ireland, after an engagement in which they were both
severely wounded, and presented by him at Carlisle to Edward the First,
were, by his order, immediately executed; and, 5. Niel, a young man of
singular beauty, one of those who surrendered at Kildrummie castle to
the earls of Lancaster and Hereford in 1306. He was tried by a special
commission at Berwick, condemned, hanged and beheaded. The daughters
were, 1. Lady Isabel, married, first, to Sir Thomas Randolph of
Strathdon, high-chamberlain of Scotland, by whom she had Thomas earl of
Moray, regent of Scotland; secondly, to an earl of Athol; and thirdly,
to Alexander Bruce, by whom she had a son of the same name. Among the
charters of Robert the Bruce is one to Isobel countess of Athol and
Alexander Bruce her son, of the lands of Dulven and Sannaykis. Two
others are granted to Isabell de Atholia and Alexander Bruce, ‘filio suo
nepoti nostro,’ of the lands of Balgillo in Forfarshire; 2. Lady Mary,
married, first, to Sir Niel Campbell of Lochow, ancestor of the Argyle
family, and secondly, to Sir Alexander Frazer, high-chamberlain of
Scotland; 2. lady Christian, married, first, to Gratney, earl of Mar;
secondly to Sir Christopher Seton of Seton, who was put to death by the
English in 1306; and thirdly, to Sir Andrew Moray of Bothwell; 4. Lady
Matilda, married to Hugh, earl of Ross; 5. Lady Margaret, married to Sir
William Carlyle of Torthorwald and Crunington; 6. Lady Elizabeth,
married to Sir William Dishington of Ardoss in Fife; and 7. the youngest
daughter, whose name has not been preserved, married to Sir David de
Brechin.
King Robert
the Bruce, the eldest son, married, first, Isabella, daughter of Donald,
tenth earl of Mar, by whom he had a daughter, Marjory, who fell into the
hands of the English in 1306, and was detained a prisoner in England, in
charge of Henry de Percy till after the battle of Bannockburn in 1314,
when she was conducted back to Scotland by Walter the high-steward, to
whom she was married in 1315. She died in March 1315-16, leaving an only
child, afterwards King Robert the Second. The Bruce married, secondly,
in 1302 Lady Elizabeth de Burgo, eldest daughter of Richard, second earl
of Ulster. In 1306, she fled to the sanctuary of St. Duthac at Tain, in
Ross-shire, but the earl of Ross, violating the sanctuary, delivered her
up to the English. The directions given for her entertainment while a
prisoner, are preserved by Rymer. She was to be conveyed to the manor of
Brustewick; to be allowed a waiting woman and a maid servant, advanced
in life, sedate, and of good conversation; a butler, two men servants,
and a footboy for her chamber, sober, and not riotous, to make her bed;
three greyhounds when she inclined to hunt; venison, fish, and the
fairest house in the manor. In 1308, she was removed to another prison,
and in 1312, to Windsor castle, when twenty shillings weekly were
allowed for her maintenance. Her last place of confinement was the
castle of Rochester, whither she was conveyed in 1314. The same year,
after Bannockburn, the queen, the sister and daughter of Bruce, with the
bishop of Glasgow and the earl of Mar, were exchanged for the earl of
Hereford. She died 26th October 1327, and was buried at
Dunfermline. Her issue were, a son, King David the Second, and three
daughters, namely, 1. Margaret, married, first, to Robert Glen, who,
with his wife, received a grant of Piteddy in Fife from her brother,
David the Second; and, secondly, to William, fourth earl of Sutherland,
and died in 1358, leaving issue by the earl; 2. Matilda, married to
Thomas Isaac, a simple esquire, and had two daughters, Johanna, married
to John, lord of Lorn, and Catharine, who died young. Their mother died
at Aberdeen 20th July, 1353, and was buried at Dunfermline;
and 3. Elizabeth, married to Sir Walter Oliphant of Aberdalgy, for which
Crawford refers to a charter of 11th January 1364, whereby
King David erects the lands of Gask into a free barony, ‘dilecto et
fideli suo Waltero Olyfant et Elizabethae, spousae suae, dilectae sorori
nostrae.’ Besides these children, King Robert the Bruce had a natural
son, Sir Robert Bruce, knight, who obtained from his father grants of
the lands of Liddisdale, the barony of Sprouston, the forfeited lands of
Alexander de Abernethy, and various other lands, in which grants he is
generally styled ‘filius noster charissimus.’ He fought gallantly at the
disastrous battle of Dupplin, where he was killed, 12th
August, 1332.
Sir Edward
Bruce, the second son, on whom and the heirs male of his body, without
reference to legitimacy, the earldom of Carrick was conferred by charter
by his brother King Robert, and who was also lord of Galloway and king
of Ireland, married Isabella, daughter of William earl of Ros, for which
he received a dispensation from the Pope, dated at Avignon 1st
June 1317, as they were within the third and fourth degrees of
Consanguinity, for the purpose of putting an end to feuds between their
parents, relatives, and friends. Edward, king of Ireland, had no
legitimate issue, but he left three natural sons, Robert, Alexander, and
Thomas, successively earls of Carrick.
Robert,
seventh earl, the eldest son, inherited that earldom in virtue of the
charter granted by Robert the First to the heirs male of the body of his
brother, Edward Bruce, without restricting the succession to legitimate
sons. He fell at the battle of Dupplin, 12th August, 1332,
without issue.
Alexander,
eighth earl, his brother and heir, with many others of the Scottish
nobles, submitted to Baliol after the battle of Dupplin. At the battle
of Annan soon after, where Baliol was surprised and defeated, he was
taken in arms by the earl of Moray, who saved him from the punishment of
a traitor. Balfour says that he had been constrained to follow Baliol to
Annan. At the battle of Halidonhill, 19th July, 1333, he held
a command in the third division of the Scots army, which was led by the
regent himself, and fell, fighting valiantly against the English; thus
atoning, says Lord Hailes, for his short defection from his cousin David
the Second. He married Eleanor, only daughter of Archibald de Douglas,
sister of William first earl of Douglas, and by her had an only
daughter, Lady Eleanor Bruce, married to Sir William de Cunynghame, who,
in her right, became tenth earl of Carrick. The countess, her mother,
after the death of her husband, earl Alexander, was four times married
again, namely, to James Sandilands of Calder, of the Torphichen family;
William Towers of Dalry; Sir Duncan Wallace of Sundrum; and lastly, in
1376, to Sir Patrick Hepburn of Hales. In the Faedera is a
safe-conduct for Alianora de Bruys, countess of Carrick (the daughter),
going into England, with sixty horse in her train, to visit the shrine
of Thomas á Becket at Canterbury, to endure for one year, dated 8th
December, 1373.
Thomas Bruce,
ninth earl, succeeded his brother Alexander. He was one of the
associates of Robert the Steward, guardian of Scotland, whom he joined
with the flower of the gentry of Kyle, in 1334, but died soon afterwards
without issue.
On his death
the earldom of Carrick reverted to the crown, and was conferred on Sir
William de Cunynghame, knight, husband of Lady Eleanor Bruce, as appears
from an incomplete charter of King David the Second, without a date. The
earldom, however, soon again reverted to the crown, and was conferred by
David the Second on John Stewart, Lord of Kyle, great grandson of King
Robert the Bruce, eldest son of Robert Steward of Scotland, earl of
Strathern, by a charter in the parliament at Scone, 22d June 1363. In
1356 he had defeated the English in Annandale, and obliged the
inhabitants to submit to the Scots government. John Stewart, eleventh
earl of Carrick, was present in the parliament held by David at Perth,
23d October 1370, when the earldom of Ross was resigned into the king’s
hands. After the accession of his father to the throne, he resigned the
earldom into his majesty’s hands, and obtained a new charter thereof to
him and Lady Annabella Drummond, his spouse, in liferent, and to the
heirs procreated between them, in fee, 1st June 1374.
Succeeding to the crown of Scotland in 1390, by the title of Robert the
Third, he conferred the earldom of Carrick on his eldest son, the
ill-fated duke of Rothesay, who thus became the twelfth earl. After the
death of that prince, the king, 10th December 1404, granted
in free regality to his second James, steward of Scotland, afterwards
James the First, the whole lands of the stewartry of Scotland, including
the earldom of Carrick. That earldom ever after composed part of the
inheritance of the princes and stewards of Scotland, and is one of the
titles of the prince of Wales, duke of Rothesay.
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The title of
earl of Carrick was, for a short time, held by another John Stewart, the
second son of Robert earl of Orkney, a natural son of James the Fifth.
He was first created a peer of Scotland by the title of Lord Kincleven,
10th August, 1607, and had charters of the dominical lands
and mill of the monastery of Crossraguel, of the lands of Ballersom,
Knockronnall, and of the barony of Grenane, &c., 29th August
1616. Being thus in possession of part of the ancient earldom of
Carrick, he obtained from King Charles the First a patent of the title
of earl of Carrick. At the privy council held 22d July 1628, the
procurator for his lordship delivered to the earl of Mar, lord
treasurer, a patent under the great seal, whereby his majesty had been
pleased to advance him to that dignity, which patent the lord treasurer
having exhibited to the council that the title of earl of Carrick
belonged to the king’s eldest son, the prince of Scotland, and was not
communicable to any subject, and he recommended to the council to advise
with his majesty on the subject, before any ‘forder wer proceedit
herein.’ The difficulty appears to have been got over by the earl’s
alleging that the title was taken not from the earldom of Carrick in
Ayrshire, but from a small place called Carrick on his lordship’s estate
in Orkney; for, on 14th December 1630, the lord chancellor
delivered to the earl of Carrick a patent under the great seal, whereby
his majesty made him and the heirs male ‘gottin’ of his own body earls
of Carrick, which patent the said earl reverently accepted on his knees,
his ambition now being completely gratified. His lordship died without
male issue in 1652, when his titles became extinct.
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In the peerage
of Ireland, the title of earl of Carrick, created in 1748, is enjoyed by
a family of the name of Butler, descended from a common ancestor with
the house of Ormonde. The first Viscount Ikerrin (created in 1629), the
second title of the earl of Carrick, was Sir Pierce Butler of Lismallon,
a lineal descendant of Edmund, created in 1315 earl of Carrick-Mac-Griffyne,
for his services against the Scots, a sort of opposition title when, at
the same time, it was borne by Edward Bruce, afterwards crowned king of
Ireland. The eighth Viscount Ikerrin obtained the earldom in 1748.
CARRICK, JOHN DONALD,
a miscellaneous writer, was born at Glasgow in April 1787. His father
was in humble circumstances; and after receiving the common elements of
education, he was at an early period placed in the office of a Mr.
Nicholson, an architect in his native city. In 1807, unknown to his
parents, with the view of trying his fortune in London, he set off on
foot, with but a few shillings in his pocket, sleeping under hedges, or
wherever he could obtain a dormitory. On his arrival in the great city
he offered his services to various shopkeepers, but at first without
success. At last a decent tradesman, himself a Scotsman, took compassion
on the friendless lad, and engaged him to run his errands, &c. He was
afterwards in the employment of several other persons. In the spring of
1809 he obtained a situation in the house of Messrs. Spodes & Co., in
the Staffordshire pottery line of business. In the beginning of 1811 he
returned to Glasgow, and opened a large establishment in Hutcheson
street, as a china and stoneware merchant, in which business he
continued for fourteen years. In 1825, he published a ‘Life of Sir
William Wallace,’ in two volumes, which was written for Constable’s
Miscellany. This, his principal work, was favourably received. He also
wrote, about this time, some comic songs and humorous pieces. In that
year he gave up his business, and travelled for two or three years,
chiefly in the West Highlands, as an agent for some Glasgow house. He
afterwards became sub-editor of the ‘Scots Times,’ a newspaper of
liberal principles then published at Glasgow, and wrote many of the
local squibs and other jeux d’esprit which appeared in that
paper. He contributed ‘The Confessions of a Burker,’ ‘The Devil’s
Codicil,’ and other pieces, to ‘The Day,’ a periodical published for six
months at Glasgow in 1832. Afterwards to a collection of songs and
pieces of poetry, sentimental and humorous, entitled ‘Whistle-Binkie,’
Mr. Carrick contributed ‘The Scottish Tea-Party,’ ‘Mister Peter
Paterson,’ ‘The Harp and the Haggis,’ ‘The Gudeman’s Prophecy,’ ‘The
Cook’s Legacy,’ and ‘The Muirland Cottagers,’ in that vein of humour in
which he excelled. In 1833 he was editor of the ‘Perth Advertiser’
during eleven months. In February 1834 he was editor of the ‘Kilmarnock
Journal;[ but being afflicted with an affection which finally settled
into tic doloreux in the head and mouth, he returned to Glasgow
in January 1835, where he superintended the first edition of the ‘Laird
of Logan,’ a collection of Scottish anecdotes and facetiae, which
appeared in June of that year, and of which he was projector and
principal contributor; and he contributed papers to the ‘Scottish
Monthly Magazine,’ a periodical published for a short time in Glasgow.
Mr. Carrick died August 17, 1837, and was interred in the burying-ground
of the High Church of his native city. As a writer he is principally
distinguished for humorous satire, and a thorough knowledge of the
manners and customs of his countrymen. To an enlarged edition of the
‘Laird of Logan’ we are indebted for these details of his life.
