FULLARTON,
a surname derived from the barony of Fullarton in the immediate vicinity
of the town of Irvine in Ayrshire. Traditionally, it is said that the
first of the name in Scotland had an Anglo-Saxon or Norman origin [Robertson’s
Ayrshire Families, vol. ii. p. 85], and is supposed to have
accompanied Walter, son of Alan, ancestor of the high stewards, from
Shropshire in England, about the beginning of the twelfth century. As
Walter, soon after his arrival, received a royal grant of the counties
of Kyle (called from him Kyle Stewart), and Strathgryfe, now
Renfrewshire, it is affirmed by Chalmers and others, that many of those
who accompanied him obtained from him grants of land in that district,
and the progenitor of the Fullartons is believed to have been of the
number.
The name
Fullarton, anciently written Foulertoun, is obviously of Saxon
etymology, and is conjectured primarily to be derived from office or
occupation, such as that of a fowler. This conjecture derives
probability from the fact that one Galfredus Foullertoun, whom there is
reason to believe belonged to a branch of the family which settled in
Ayrshire, obtained from Robert the First a charter of some lands in
Angus, together with the hereditary office of fowler to the king
in that county, in which office he and his successors were obliged to
serve the royal household with wild fowl when the king arrived at Forfar
castle, where this fowler was to be entertained with a servant and two
horses. Nisbet states that the original charter is in the earl of
Haddington’s Collections. [Heraldry, vol. i. p. 339.]
The first of
the Ayrshire family named in unquestionable written evidence is Alanus
de Fowlertoun, who lived before the middle of the thirteenth century,
and died about 1280. In 1242 he founded and endowed out of his lands a
convent of Carmelite or White friars at Irvine. His son, Adam de
Fowlertoun, received a charter from James, high steward of Scotland, of
the lands of Fullarton, which has no date, but must have been granted
between 1283 and 1309, the period in which James held the office of high
steward.
Adam’s son,
Reginald de Fowlertoun of that ilk, was the father of Sir Adam
Fowlertoun, who had a new charter from Robert, high steward of Scotland,
dated at Irvine, April 13, 1344, of the lands of Fullarton, Gaylis, &c.,
in Kyle Stewart. Of an active and energetic character, in the beginning
of October 1346 he accompanied the army under David the Second into
England, and was one of the knights created by that monarch before
passing the border. At the disastrous battle of Durham, on the 17th
of the same month, he was taken prisoner, along with the king. On the
release of the latter, October 3, 1357, Sir Adam’s eldest son, John
Foulertoun, younger of Foulertoun, was one of the twenty hostages left
in England, until payment of the king’s ransom. He was much in the
interest of King Robert the Second, both before and after that prince,
the first of the Stuart kings, ascended the throne, and for his long and
faithful services, he obtained various grants of land in his own
neighbourhood. He frequently occurs as a witness in the charters of that
monarch, when he is designed “dominus de Corsbie,” having, among others,
received a charter of the lands of that name. By his wife, Marjory, a
lady of the Stewart family, he had two sons, John and David. John, the
elder, predeceased him, leaving a son, Reginald, who succeeded his
grandfather, on his death, about the year 1399.
The son of
this Reginald, Rankin de Foullertoun, was twice married, and by his
first wife had a son, George his successor. His second wife was Marion,
daughter of Wallace of Craigie, and by her he had two sons, William and
Adam. He had a charter, dated at Perth, July 20th, 1428, from
King James the First, of the lands of Draigarn (now Dreghorn), in Kyle,
to which his elder son, by his second marriage, William, succeeded, and
was the first of the Fullartons of Dreghorn.
The eldest
son, George Foulertoun of that ilk, but most frequently designed of
Corsbie, had a charter under the great seal, by James the Third, in
favour of himself, or, in failure of male heirs, to William his brother,
of the lands of Fullarton, Marras, Shewalton, Harperland, and West
Laithis, also Corsbie, Trune, Craiksland, and Russelsland, all lying
within the bailiary of Kyle, as also of the lands of Knightsland in the
Isle of Arran, dated at Edinburgh, October 24, 1464.
His descendant
in the seventh generation, James Fullarton of Fullarton, was served heir
to his father, May 2, 1605. His youngest brother, Robert, is supposed to
have been the first of the Fullartons of Bartonholme, in Ayrshire. James
married Agnes, daughter of John Fullarton of Dreghorne, and (with a
daughter, Helen, married to Blair of Ladykirk, Ayrshire,) had three
sons. John Fullarton, the second son, adopted a military life, and
served several years in Germany. In 1639 he went to France as
lieutenant-colonel to the Hon. Alexander Erskine, brother of the earl of
Mar, and the following year Louis the Thirteenth, king of France,
advanced him to the rank of colonel in the French army. He acquired the
estate of Dudwick in Aberdeenshire, which remained in his family till
about the end of the eighteenth century. The last proprietor of Dudwick
of the name was General John Fullarton, a brave and able officer, who
greatly distinguished himself in the Prussian and Russian service, and
in the latter was promoted to the rank of general. He is described as
being of a somewhat peculiar character, from habits acquired in foreign
service, and while residing at Dudwick, from advancing age, had little
intercourse with the neighbouring proprietors, unless at public
meetings, to which he went in an old-fashioned carriage, accompanied by
one or two Russian servants. Dying unmarried, he was succeeded in his
estate of Dudwick by the family of Udny of Udny, in the same county,
supposed to have been related to, or connected with him.
The third son,
the Rev. William Fullarton, minister of St. Quivox, Ayrshire, acquired
the lands of Craighall from his cousin, John Fullarton of Dreghorn. He
married Frances, daughter of Stewart of Reece, Renfrewshire, a cadet of
the Stewarts of Lennox, and had several sons and daughters, and was
ancestor of the Fullertons of Thrybergh Park, Yorkshire. He was also the
progenitor of the Fullartons of Carstairs in Lanarkshire, one of whom,
Roberton Fullarton, was governor of Prince of Wales Island. His heirs
sold Carstairs to Henry Monteith, Esq.
James’ eldest
son, James Fullarton of Fullarton and Corsbie, received on November 20th,
1634, a commission under the great seal, from King Charles the First,
appointing him sheriff of the bailiary of Kyle Stewart. How long this
office remained in the family does not appear. It was successively held
by the families of Glencairn, Craigie, and Loudoun. The laird of
Fullarton was one of the two commissioners for the shire of Ayr in the
Scots parliament in 1643. The family of Fullarton appear at this time to
have warmly espoused the presbyterian interest, and did not escape the
severe measures which followed the troubled and eventful period of
Charles the First and the Commonwealth. By the Act of Oblivion,
September 9, 1662, by the unprincipled administration of Charles the
Second, Fullarton of Fullarton was fined two thousand pounds Scots. He
died in 1667. He married Barbara, daughter of John Cunninghame of
Cunninghamehead, (sister of the first baronet of that family,) and had
three sons and three daughters. George, the third son, succeeded to the
estate of Dreghorn, by a special destination; and ultimately to his
elder brother in Fullarton. The youngest daughter, Barbara, married
Patrick Macdowal of Freugh, Wigtonshire, ancestor of the noble family of
Dumfries (see DUMFRIES, earl of).
The eldest
son, William Fullarton of Fullarton, studied the law. On suspicion of
being concerned in the affair of Bothwell Bridge, he and his brother,
George Fullarton of Dreghorn, were, on 30th July 1683,
committed to prison, and on 2d April following, were indicted for trial,
but the diet, it seems, was afterwards deserted simpliciter. On this
occasion, amongst other offences, they were charged with ‘Harbouring and
countenancing” their brother-in-law, Macdowal of Freugh, who, as is well
known, was one of the most forward and zealous supporters of the
Covenanters. This laird of Fullarton obtained a charter, under the great
seal, dated at Windsor castle, August 5, 1707, by Queen Anne,
constituting the port of Troon a free port and harbour, and erecting the
town of Fullarton into a burgh or barony. He died in 1710; but, although
thrice married, he left no surviving descendant.
The estates
and representation of the family devolved on his next surviving brother,
George Fullarton of Fullarton and Dreghorn, as mentioned above. The
latter estate, on succeeding to the family property, he sold to William
Fairlie of Bruntsfield, who changed its name to Fairlie. George
Fullarton’s eldest son, Patrick, born in 1677, practised as an advocate
at the Scottish bar, and predeceased his father in 1709. He had (with
two daughters) two sons, namely, William, successor to his grandfather,
and Patrick, who, in 1738, purchased the lands of Goldring, now called
Rosemount, about four miles north-east of Ayr. The latter had also two
sons; William, who added considerably to his paternal estate by
purchases; and John, a general in the East India Company’s service.
George’s second son, Robert, carried on the line of the family.
William
Fullarton of Fullarton, the grandson of the above George Fullarton, by
devoting his attention to the study of agricultural science, greatly
improved his estate, and in 1745 he built the house of Fullarton. He
also successfully cultivated gardening and botany. He died in 1758.
His only son,
Colonel Fullarton of Fullarton, born January 12, 1754, was only five
years of age when he succeeded his father. He received his academical
education at Edinburgh, and in his sixteenth year was placed under the
care of Patrick Brydone, Esq., (of whom a memoir is given previously).
With that gentleman he travelled on the continent, and accompanied him
when he made his celebrated tour in Sicily and Malta in 1770. In 1775
young Fullarton was appointed principal secretary to the embassy of Lord
Stormont at the court of France. In 1780 he proposed to government the
plan of an expedition to Mexico against the Spaniards, which being
approved of, he raised the 98th regiment of infantry, of
which he was appointed colonel, though not previously in the army. He
and Lieutenant-colonel, then Major Mackenzie Humberstone, (of the noble
family of Seaforth, see SEAFORTH, lord,) raised two thousand men, at
their own expense, with unusual despatch, and involved their estates to
a very large amount, by preparations for the expedition. The unexpected
breaking out of the Dutch war, however, caused it, instead of Mexico, to
be sent upon an attack on the Cape of Good Hope; and ultimately it was
employed in the war in India. Colonel Fullarton, with the troops under
his command, served at first on board Commodore Johnston’s fleet, but in
May 1783 he received the command of the southern army on the coast of
Coromandel, a force consisting of upwards of thirteen thousand men. His
campaigns and operations with this army, in that and the succeeding
year, were attended with a rapidity and brilliancy of success previously
altogether unknown in that clime.
On his return
to Europe, he published a work entitled ‘A View of the English interests
in India,’ &c., together with an account of his campaigns there in the
years 1782, 1783, and 1784 (London, 1787); a very interesting narrative,
which contains also some curious and valuable information relative to
the history of our eastern empire. He was frequently a member of the
House of Commons, and was twice returned for his native county of Ayr.
In 1791 he was served heir of line and representative of the family of
Cunninghame of Cunninghamehead, baronet.
At the
breaking out of the French war in 1793, he raised the 23d light
dragoons, then called “Fullarton’s light horse,” and also the 101st
regiment of infantry. The same year, at the request of the president of
the Board of Agriculture, he wrote ‘An Account of the Agriculture of the
County of Ayr, with Observations on the means of its improvement,’ which
was printed and generally circulated. In 1801 he also wrote an essay,
addressed to the Board of Agriculture in England, on the best method of
turning grass lands into tillage. The same year he was appointed
governor of the island of Trinidad, but returned home in 1803, when he
preferred a charge against Sir Thomas Picton, the former governor, for
authorising torture on a female slave, which led to the trial of that
gallant officer. Colonel Fullarton died at London, 13th
February 1808, at the age of 54, and was interred within the church of
Isleworth, where a marble monument, with an appropriate Latin
inscription, was soon after erected to his memory. He had married in
1792, the Hon. Marianne Mackay, eldest daughter of the fifth Lord Reay,
and had a daughter, Rosetta, married to the representative of the family
as mentioned in the next paragraph. His widow claimed, as heir of
entail, the estates of the former noble family of Bargeny, and in
consequence assumed the family name of Hamilton. (See BARGENY, lord.)
As Colonel
Fullarton left no male issue, the representation of the family of
Fullarton devolved on his second cousin, Col. Stuart Murray Fullarton of
Bartonholme, grandson of Robert Fullarton, second son of George
Fullarton of Fullarton and Dreghorne, above mentioned. This Robert
Fullarton, a writer to the signet, drew up a genealogical tree of the
family of Fullarton. The lands of Bartonholme and others were bequeathed
to him by his kinsman Captain William Fullarton of Bartonholme, who died
in 1731. By his wife, Grizel, daughter of John Stuart of Ascog, in the
island of Bute, a branch of the noble family of Bute, he had, with other
children, a son, George Fullarton of Bartonholme, an officer in the
army, who was much engaged in foreign service, and was present in North
America, during the whole period of what was called the “Seven years’
war.” Col. Stuart Murray Fullarton, who succeeded to the representation
of the principal family, was a son of this gentleman. He entered the
army early, and in 1812 was appointed colonel of the Kirkcudbright and
Wigton, or Galloway regiment of militia, but resigned his commission on
becoming, in May 1819, collector of customs at Irvine. He was a fellow
of the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh. On January 4, 1796, he
married Rosetta, daughter of Colonel Fullarton, of Fullarton, and had
eight sons and four daughters. His wife having died October 19, 1814, he
married, secondly, September 11, 1820, Isabella Buchanan, only daughter
of the late James Muir, D.D., Glasgow, and had by her one daughter and
one son.
In 1805 the
estate of Fullarton was purchased by the duke of Portland, and it now
belongs to that noble family.
_____
John Fullarton
of Dreghorn, who was served heir to that estate in 1546, and who was the
fifth in direct descent from Rankine Fullarton of Fullarton, mentioned
previously, took an active part in the Reformation in Scotland, and
involved his estate very much on that account. With a view of
suppressing the convent of Carmelite friars at Irvine, which the
Fullartons of that ilk for centuries liberally supported, he purchased,
on 19th May 1558, from Robert Burne, prior of said convent,
the lands of Friars Croft and Dyets Temple, on which it was situated. At
the meeting of the first General Assembly of the reformed Church of
Scotland at Edinburgh, 20th December 1560, Fullarton of
Dreghorn was one of the commissioners “for the kirk of Kyle.” On 4th
September 1562, with the earl of Glencairn, Lords Boyd and Ochiltree,
and a number of the gentlemen of Ayrshire, he subscribed the famous band
at Ayr, to support and defend the reformed religion at all hazards, and
against all its enemies; and, on Queen Mary’s marriage with Lord Darnley,
he went, on 31st August 1565, to Edinburgh, along with the
earls of Moray, Glencairn, and Rothes, and Lords Boyd and Ochiltree, at
the head of 1,300 horse, in defence of the reformed faith. He was also
one of those who, on 25th July 1567, subscribed the articles
agreed to in the fifteenth General Assembly, for the punishment of the
murderers of the king (Darnley), the defence of King James, and the
rooting out of all monuments of popery. In 1570, with the Reformed
noblemen and gentlemen of Ayrshire, he signed the letter addressed to
Kirkaldy of Grange, desiring to know the meaning of his threats toward
John Knox. In the General Assembly of March 1571, he was one of the
commissioners appointed to wait upon the Regent, relative to matters
pertaining to the jurisdiction of the church. By his wife, Janet,
daughter of Mungo Mure of Rowallan, he had three sons and three
daughters. His third son, Sir James Fullarton, was educated at Glasgow,
under the tuition of the celebrated Andrew Melville, and afterwards went
into the court of Charles the First, who knighted him, and appointed him
first gentleman of the bedchamber. In this situation he died, and was
interred in Westminster Abbey, where an elegant monument was erected to
his memory.
_____
The family of
Fullarton held, from an early period, lands in the island of Arran. A
cadet of the principal family, said to have spring from a second son,
named Lewis, settled in the island, and his descendants have always been
distinguished by the patronymic of M’Lewie, or M’Lewis. When Robert the
Bruce landed in Brodick Bay, whilst upon his peregrinations through the
Western Highlands, one of the Fullartons directed him to a place where
some of his adherents had taken shelter, and were employed in making a
temporary fort. For this and other services, the king granted to Fergus
Fullarton a charter, dated at Arnele castle, in Cunningham, 29th
November, in the second year of his reign (1307), of the lands of
Kilmichael and others, with the hereditary office of coroner of the
bailiedom of Arran. The farm of Kilmichael, in the parish of Kilbride,
worth about £100 a-year, still remains in possession of the family, the
rest of the island being the property of the duke of Hamilton. The
present proprietor of Kilmichael, who resides on his property, has his
right of coroner confirmed to him and his heirs, from the family of
Hamilton. He is obliged to have three men to attend him upon all public
emergencies, and he is bound by his office to pursue all malefactors and
to deliver them to the steward or in his absence to the next judge. The
perquisites due to the coroner are a firlot or bushel of oats, and a
lamb from every village in the isle; both of which are punctually paid
to him at the ordinary terms. [Martin’s Description of the Western
Islands.]
From the
Kilmichael family was descended Mr. Allan Fullarton of Glasgow,
proprietor of the estate of Orchard in Lanarkshire. He married, in 1812,
Janet, daughter of John Wilson, surgeon in Kilmarnock, and had a son,
and several daughters. Another branch of Kilmichael were designed of
Glenderuel, one of whom was bishop of Edinburgh from 1720 to 1727.
Coeval with
the Arran family, but from a third brother, were the Fullartons of the
island of Bute, who had the patronymic of M’Camie, or son of James,
which seems to have been the name of their original ancestor in that
island. They are often also called Jameson.
_____
Of the
Carstairs branch, who spelled their name Fullerton, one of them became a
lord of session, and was distinguished as a sound lawyer and an able
judge. John Fullerton, second son of William Fullerton of Carstairs,
passed advocate, 17th Feb. 1798, when in his 23d year, and on
17th Feb. 1829 he was elevated to the bench in the room of
Lord Eldin, when he took the judicial title of Lord Fullerton. He died
2d Dec. 1853, about three weeks after resigning his seat on the bench.
