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STEUART, of
Allanton, an ancient family in Lanarkshire, a branch of the great house
of Stewart, lineally descended fro Sir Robert Stewart of Daldowie, sixth
son of Sir John Stewart of Bonkill, son of Alexander, fourth
lord-high-steward of Scotland. Sir John was killed at the battle of
Falkirk in 1298. He had bestowed in 1290, the estate of Daldowie, in
Clydesdale, part of his extensive possessions in the counties of Lanark
and Renfrew, in patrimony on his son, Sir Robert. The latter fought at
Bannockburn, and with three of his brothers, Sir Allan, Sir Walter, and
Sir Hugh, accompanied Edward Bruce to Ireland in 1315. He was in the
battle of Dundalk in 1318, in which Edward Bruce was killed.
The lands of Allanton, in
the parish of Cambusiang, which afterwards came into the possession of
this family, previously belonged to the abbey of Aberbrothwick.
From Allan Stewart of
Daldowie, a staunch adherent of the house of Douglas, killed in 1385 in
action against the English, descended James Stewart of Allanton, who had
two sons, Sir Walter, born in 1606, and Sir James, of Coltness, twice
lord-provost of Edinburgh. Sir Walter Stewart of Allanton married
Margaret, eldest daughter of Sir James Hamilton of Broomhill, and sister
of the first Lord Bellhaven. “It is recorded that Oliver Cromwell, in
1650, after the battle of Dunbar, in his progress through Lanarkshire,
halted with a few attendants at Allanton house, where he was hospitably
entertained by Lady Stewart, and where he passed the night. Sir Walter,
being a royalist, took care to be out of the way. On the Protector’s
arrival, it is said, some choice canary and other refreshments were
presented, but he would suffer nothing to be touched until he himself
had first said grace, which he fervently did for more than half-an-hour,
to the great edification of the lady. He then courteously inquired after
Sir Walter, and on drinking the health of the family, observed that his
mother’s name was Stewart, and that he always felt a kindness fort the
name.” Sir Walter’s eldest son and heir apparent, Gavin, predeceased his
father in March 1652, leaving an only daughter, Margaret, who only
survived him a year. William, another son of Sir Walter, succeeded him
as proprietor of Allanton. The offer of a baronetcy of Nova Scotia was,
in 1687, made to him by King James VII., but declined, from the
chivalrous feeling prevalent at that period, that the title of a knight
banneret conferred by the hands of royalty on the field of battle, which
so many of his ancestors had so gloriously acquired, was a more
honourable distinction. On his refusal it was given to his cousin,
Robert Stewart of Allanbank, 15th August 1687.
James Steuart, born in
1715, tenth baron of Allanton, and thirteenth in descent from the
lord-high-steward of Scotland, died in 1772. He married in 1754, his
cousin, Margaret, daughter of Henry Steuart Barclay, Esq. of Collairnie,
Fifeshire, younger brother of Sir James Steuart of Goodtrees, baronet,
solicitor-general for Scotland, in the reign of George I. His son, Sir
Henry Steuart, an elegant scholar and accomplished gentleman, born 20th
October 1759, was, in 1814, created a baronet of the United Kingdom,
with remainder to his son-in-law, Reginald Macdonald of Staffa, third
son of Colin Macdonald of Boisdale, but the eldest son by his second
marriage. Celebrated for his skill and success as an arboriculturist,
and as the founder of the art of transplanting large trees, Sir Henry
was the author of the following publications: ‘Genealogy of the Stewarts
refuted, in a Letter to Andrew Stuart, Esq.,’ Edin, 1799, 4to; ‘Account
of a Plan for the better supplying the City of Edinburgh with Coal,’
1801, 8vo; ‘The Works of Sallust; to which are prefixed, Two Essays on
the Life, Literary Character and Writings of the Historian; with Notes,
historical, biographical and critical,’ London, 1806, 2 vols. 4to; ‘An
Essay on the Best Mode of Transplanting Trees.’ He was LL.D., F.R.S. and
F.A.S. Edinburgh. He died in March 1836. He had married, in 1787,
Lillias, daughter of Hugh Seton, Esq. of Touch-Seton, Stirlingshire, and
had by her two daughters, the elder of whom died in infancy. The other,
Elizabeth Margaret, his sole heiress, born 31st October 1790, married in
January 1812, Reginald Macdonald, Esq. of Staffa, sheriff of
Stirlingshire, and, with two daughters, had three sons, the youngest of
whom, Colin Reginald, was drowned. On succeeding, in 1835, in right of
her mother, to the estate of Touch-Seton, the property of her maternal
uncle, the Hon. Archibald Seton, at one period a member of the supreme
council of Bengal, and governor of Prince of Wales’ Island, she took the
surname of Seton, in addition to her own. Her husband succeeded his
father-in-law as second baronet in 1836, and thereafter was styled Sir
Reginald Macdonald Steuart Seton, baronet of Staffa, Allanton, and
Touch. He died in 1838. Their eldest son, Sir Henry James Seton Steuart,
born in 1812, succeeded his father as third baronet. He married in 1852,
Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Robert, younger son of Sir James
Montgomery, of Stanhope, baronet. As the representative of the Setons of
Touch, he holds the office of hereditary armour-bearer to the sovereign,
and squire of the royal body. The Setons of Touch claim the title of
Baron Seton de Gordon.
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The progenitor of the
Coltness family was Sir James Steuart, second son of James Steuart of
Allanton. Born in 1608, Sir James was a banker in Edinburgh, of which
city he was in 1649 elected lord-provost. He acquired a large fortune,
and in 1653 purchased the lands of West Carbarns or Kirkfield,
Lanarkshire, from Sir John Somerville of Cambusnethan, and soon after
the estate of Coltness, in the same county, from Sir John Hamilton of
Edston. Being a zealous Covenanter, he was, in 1650, chosen, with the
marquis of Argyle and the earl of Eglinton, on the part of the Scots, to
hold a conference with Oliver Cromwell in Bruntsfield Links. IN 1659 he
was again elected lord-provost of Edinburgh, but on account of his
covenanting principles, was dismissed at the Restoration, and after
being confined in the castle of Edinburgh, was sent prisoner to Dundee,
and fined £1,500 sterling. In 1670, he obtained a pardon. Archbishop
Leighton was brought up at Edinburgh under his care, and the undaunted
Hugh Mackail, executed in 1666, had been chaplain in his family. Among
many particulars recorded in the Coltness manuscripts, the following,
inserted in the New Statistical Account of Scotland (vol. v. p. 618,
Note. Parish of Cambusnethan,) may be quoted here: “Sir James Stewart,
who had been twice first magistrate of Edinburgh, when nearly
seventy-three years of age, after his last visit to Coltness, when going
to Edinburgh, accompanied by some of the most respectable in the land;
at Muiryett, about two miles from Allanton, there was a rising ground
which draws an extensive prospect; there he stopt, and having turned his
horse, he looked around upon a scenery that he was convinced he should
behold no more, and exclaimed, while tears of gratitude flowed down his
venerable cheeks, ‘Westshiel, and Lanark, and Carnwath church, my early
home, my favourite haunts, farewell! Coltness, and Allanton, and
Cambusnethan church, my later sweet abodes, farewell! Ye witnesses of my
best spent hours and of my most ardent devotions, a last farewell! It is
long since I bade the vanities of this world adieu.’”
The 4th son of this
worthy man, who was also named Sir James Steuart, born in 1635, was one
of the most eminent advocates of his time. IN 1695 he was created a
baronet of Nova Scotia. He died in 1715.
His only son, Sir James Steuart of Goodtrees and Coltness, 2d bart.,
born in 1681, was also an advocate, and became solicitor-general for
Scotland. By his wife, Anne, daughter of Sir Hugh Dalrymple of North
Berwick, lord-president of the court of session, he had, with one son,
James, the subject of the following notice, three daughters. 1.
Margaret, born in 1715, wife of Thomas Calderwood, Esq. of Poltown. 2.
Agnes, born in 1717, married David, earl of Buchan, father of Thomas,
first Lord Erskine in the peerage of Great Britain, and the Hon. Henry
Erskine. 3. Marion, born in 1823, the wife of Alexander Murray, Esq. of
Cringletie, father of James Wolfe Murray, a lord of session under the
title of Lord Cringletie.
The son, Sir James Denham
Steuart of Coltness, 3d bart., an eminent writer on political economy,
was born at Edinburgh, October 10, 1713. He received the rudiments of
his education at the school of North Berwick, from which he was removed
to the university of Edinburgh. He succeeded his father in 1727, and in
1734 was admitted advocate, but without any intention of prosecuting the
law as a profession. Soon after, he set out on a tour on the continent,
and in 1740, returned to Scotland. IN October 1743 he married Lady
Frances, eldest daughter of the earl of Wemyss, and sister of Lord
Elcho, one of the principal adherents of Prince Charles Stuart. Having
while at Rome been introduced to the prince, Sir James, on the arrival
of the young adventurer in Edinburgh in 1745, prevailed upon his
brother-in-law to conduct him, apparently as a prisoner, to his
presence. The earl of Buchan, who had married one of Sir James’ sisters,
was also brought by Lord Elcho to Holyrood, on the same pretence. As the
prince refused to see them except as avowed adherents of his cause, Lord
Buchan retired, not wishing to commit himself, but Sir James at once
offered his services to the young Pretender, and was dispatched by him
on a mission to the court of France, where he was at the time of the
battle of Culloden. Being among those who were excepted in the act of
indemnity, he was forced to remain in exile for eighteen years, residing
chiefly in the town of Angouleme, but visiting other parts of the
continent. While residing at Spa during the Seven years’ war, he was
arrested, though in a neutral territory, by a body of French troops, for
his enthusiastic rejoicings in the success of the British arms, and
conveyed to a prison in the duchy of Luxemburg, where he was detained
for several months. In 1758 he published at Frankfort on the Main, a
vindication in French of Newton’s Chronology, and the same year, while
settled at Tubingen in Suabia, he produced his ‘Treatise on German
Coins,’ written in the German language. In 1763 he returned to Scotland,
and was allowed to remain unmolested on his estates, which had never
been forfeited. His ‘Enquiry into the Principles of Political Economy’
was the first considerable work on this subject published in Great
Britain. It appeared in 1767, in two volumes quarto, and for the
copyright of the work he got £500 from Messrs. Miller and Cadell. As
this work was published nine years before that of Dr. Adam Smith, Sir
James Steuart is well entitled to be considered the father of political
economy in Great Britain. IN 1771 he obtained a full pardon, and in 1772
he published, at the request of the East India Company, a treatise on
‘The Principles of Money as applied to the Coin of Bengal.’
In 1712, Sir James
Steuart of Goodtrees purchased from his nephew, Sir David, the son of
his eldest brother, Sir Thomas Steuart, the estate of Coltness, and in
1773, Sir James Denham Steuart, the political economist, on the death of
Sir Archibald Steuart Denham, succeeded to the baronetcy of Coltness,
which became united in his person with that of Goodtrees. Sir James died
of an inflammation in his tow, November 26, 1780. He was buried in the
family vault at Cambusnethan church, Lanarkshire, and a monument was
erected to his memory in Westminster Abbey.
His works are:
‘Dirleton’s Doubts and Questions in the Law of Scotland resolved and
answered,’ Edinburgh, 1715, folio; ‘Apologie du Sentiment de Newton sur
l’Ancienne Chronologie des Crecs, contenant des responses a toutes les
objections qui y ont ete faites jusqu a present,’ Franc.-sur-le-Main,
1757, 4to.; ‘A Treatise on German Coins,’ in German, Tubingen, 1757; ‘A
Dissertation upon the Doctrine and Principles of Money applied to the
German Coin,’ Bugingen, 1758; ‘An Inquiry into the Principles of
Political Economy; being an essay on the science of domestic policy in
free nations; in which are particularly considered, population,
agriculture, trade, industry, money, coin, interest, circulation, banks,
exchange, public credit, and taxes,’ Lond. 1767, 2 vols. 4to; Dublin,
1770, 3 vols, 8vo; ‘The Principles of Money applied to the present state
of Bengal,’ 1772, 4to; ‘A Plan for introducing Uniformity in Weights and
Measures within the limits of the British Empire,’ Lond. 1790, 8vo;
‘considerations on the Interest of the County of Lanark in Scotland;
which may be applied to that of Great Britain in general, in relation to
agriculture, maintenance of the poor, wages of labourers, and connection
and interest of the land and trace, &c.’ His works, complete in six
volumes 8vo, with a Memoir, were published in 1805, by his son, who also
published in 1818, at Greenock, the Correspondence between his father
and the celebrated Lady Mary Wortley Montague, whose acquaintance he had
made at Venice in 1758.
The son, Sir James
Steuart, fourth baronet, born in 1744, a general in the army, colonel of
the 2d dragoons, and M.P. for Lanarkshire, died, without issue, in 1839,
when his cousin, Sir Henry Barclay Steuart, eldest son of Henry Steuart
Barclay, Esq. of Collairnie, Fifeshire, succeeded as fifth baronet.
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The family of Steuart of
Auchlunkart, Banffshire, are descended from Alexander Stewart of
Stradown, advocate, fourth son of the earl of Athol. His son, Andrew
Stuart of Tannadice, was father of another Andrew, who was the first to
spell his name Steuart. The great-grandson of this Andrew Steuart of
Tannadice, Patrick Steuart, married his cousin, Elizabeth, daughter of
Alexander Stewart of Auchlunkart, an estate which came into the family
by marriage with the heiress of Innes of Auchlunkart. Patrick was
succeeded by his brother, Andrew, who married Harriet, daughter of James
Gordon of Cocklarachie, Aberdeenshire, and had three sons and two
daughters, the younger of whom, Mary, married David Monypenny, Esq. of
Pitmilly, a lord of session under the title of Lord Pitmilly. Patrick
Steuart of Auchlunkart House, Andrew’s eldest son, married 9th November
1820, Rachel, only daughter of Lachlan Gordon of Park; with issue, an
only son, Andrew, born 25th May 1822, of the Inner Temple, London.
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The family of Steuart of
Dalguise, Perthshire, are descended from Sir John Stewart of Arntullie
and Cardneys, also designed of Dowallie, the youngest natural son of
King Robert II. of Scotland, by Marion or Mariota de Cardney, daughter
of John de Cardney of that ilk, sister of Robert Cardney, bishop of
Dunkeld from 1396 to 1436. Sir John Stewart, knighted at the coronation
of King James I. at Scone in 1424, married Jean Drummond, sister of
Annabella Drummond, queen of Robert III., and daughter of Sir John
Drummond of Drummond. His grandson, the third laird of Arntullie, died
about 1320, leaving three sons. The eldest continued the family of
Arntullie, the lineal and male representative of which, Ronald Steuart
Menzies, Esq., was the grandson of John Steuart of Cardneys, who assumed
the name of Menzies, on succeeding as heir of entail to Culdares and the
other estates of his maternal uncle, Colonel Menzies. At the Reformation
in Scotland, the lairds of Arntullie and Kinniard received an order
signed by the lord James Stewart, afterwards the regent Moray, the earl
of Argyle and Lord Ruthven, to take down and burn the images at the
cathedral church of Dunkeld. The laird of Arntullie, on that occasion
unroofed the cathedral. At that time he held the office of bailie of the
regality of Dunkeld, which continued for some time in his family. John,
the second son, was ancestor of the family of Steuart of Dalguise. The
third son, Sir Thomas, was vicar of Dowallie.
John Steuart of Dalguise
died in 1576. The lands of Dalguise had been granted to him in 1543, by
George, bishop of Dunkeld. By his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Alexander
Stewart of Grandtully, he had a son, Alexander Steuart, whose son, John
Steuart, usually styled in Gaelic, Ian Morh Macalastair, or great John,
the son of Alexander, was leader of the Athole Stewarts under the banner
of the marquis of Montrose, during the civil wars, and having been
chamberlain to the bishops of Dunkeld, he possessed considerable
influence in the neighbouring districts. He married Elizabeth, daughter
of Mr. Stewart of Kinniard, of the family of Rosyth, and died in 1653.
With several daughters, he had three sons. Alexander, the eldest son,
succeeded. William, the second son, got from his father the lands of
Middle Dalguise, and married a daughter of Menzies of Belfracks. From
the third son are descended several Stewarts in Strathbran.
John Steuart, the sixth
laird of Dalguise, was a commissioner of supply for the county of Perth,
and took a part in many of the military and political transactions of
his time. He married his second cousin, Isobel, only daughter of William
Steuart of Middle Dalguise above mentioned, and died in 1706. His eldest
son, John Steuart of Dalguise, born in 1689, possessed the estate for
the long period of 70 years. He was engaged in the rebellion of 1715. He
was present, as an officer of cavalry at the battle of Sheriffmuir, and
suffered both fine and imprisonment. He built the house of Dalguise, and
was a magistrate and commissioner of supply for the county of Perth, as
were also the subsequent proprietors of Dalguise. He died 25th September
1776, aged 87, and was succeeded by his eldest son, John Steuart, eighth
laird of Dalguise. His fifth son, David, at one period a banker in
Edinburgh, in partnership with Robert Allan, Esq. was in 1781 elected
lord-provost of that city, an office which he filled for two years. He
subsequently became a merchant in Leith, and afterwards a wine merchant
in Edinburgh. Having in his youth resided for some years on the
continent, he had acquired a knowledge of several modern languages. He
was a great book collector, and two of the finest specimens of early
printing now in the Advocates’ library were formerly in his possession,
namely, the first edition of the Latin Bible, in two large volumes
folio, one of the earliest books executed with moveable types, supposed
to have been printed by Guttenberg and Faust in 1450. The other is the
Breviary of the Roman Church, beautifully printed on the finest vellum
at Venice, by Nicholas Jenson in 1478, and finely illuminated. Provost
Steuart married Ann Fordyce, an Aberdeenshire lady, by whom he had
sixteen children, and having left Edinburgh in 1815, he died at Gretna
Hall near Annan, 17th May 1824.
The eldest son, John
Steuart, eighth laird of Dalguise, died in 1785, aged 73, and was
succeeded by his fifth son, Charles, the four eldest having all died
young.
Charles Steuart, 9th
laird of Dalguise, was appointed deputy-lieutenant for Perthshire, on
the first institution of that office in Scotland in 1794. He died Oct.
27, 1821, aged 65.
His eldest son, John
Steuart of Dalguise, born Aug. 7, 1799, married in 1829, the Hon. Janet
Oliphant Murray, eldest daughter of the 8th Lord Elibank; issue, five
daughters; a deputy-lieutenant and magistrate for the county of Perth,
and in 1829 high-sheriff of the colony of the Cape of Good Hope.
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The Steuarts of Ballechin,
in the same county, are descended from Sir John Stewart, an illegitimate
son of King James II. of Scotland. Having purchased the lands of Sticks
in Glenquaich from Patrick Cardney of that ilk, he got a charter of
those lands from King James III., dated in December 1486. The family
afterwards acquired the lands of Ballechin.
Colonel
George Steuart and his Wife Margaret Harris
Their Ancestors and Descendants with Appendixes of Related Families,
Portraits and Illustrations, a Genealogical History by Robert Stewart,
D.D., LL.D., Author of "Ancestors and Children of Col. Daniel Fisher and
his wife Sybil Draper," (1907) (pdf) |
