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During the
Jacobite uprising, James Drummond 3rd Duke and
6th Earl of Perth, joint commander of the Princes forces alongside Lord
George Murray, had commanded a detachment of the rebel army at Preston
Pans as a Lieutenant General and was also at the
seiges of Carlisle and Stirling. Along
with his uncle John, James had been one of the seven people to sign the
association, engaging themselves to take arms and to venture their lives
and fortunes to restore the Stuart family. Thus on the 16th April 1746, he
found himself on
Culloden Moor in command of the left wing of the rebel
forces. This consisted mainly of the Macdonald Clan who grumbled that they
should have been on the right wing, the same position as they held at the
Battle of Bannockburn.The battle was fierce
and the Highlanders, outnumbered almost two to one, were decimated by the
British artillery, the left wing, held back by the very landscape about
them, struggled to meet their enemy. If the left wing succeeded and made
themselves more honourable
than the right wing, James told his men, he would change his name to
MacDonald .Shouting "Claymore" he led his men forward but fierce fire
forced them back. Soon all was lost and the Jacobite
army fled for their lives. Realising the
battle was lost, James Drummond, blood flowing from wounds to his head and
hands and aided by his servants, joined the retreat.
As the British army set
about murdering the wounded and hunting down the surviving highlanders,
James made his way to the area surrounding the Laird of Macintosh's house
and sheltered for the night.The next night he
journeyed to Ruthven in Badenoch where he
gathered at the Jacobite held government fort
with other survivors of the battle including his brother Lord John
Drummond. On the 20th of April a message finally came from the Prince, it
read simply "Let every man seek his safety in the best way he
can".The testimony given by witnesses at the
Cannongate Court during the petition by Thomas
Drummond tells a different story to the contrived history drawn up by the
'False Earl', they tell how James in a far better condition than the
'history' makes out, returned to the area surrounding Drummond Castle and
even visited his mother, becoming adept at disguising himself, sometimes
as a beggar, sometimes as a woman.The locals
became used to seeing James dressed this way, always bare headed and bare
footed, but such was the Dukes popularity, they would never have thought
to gain the rewards offered for his capture.This
was the man for which they formed a 'body of guards' as he rode at the
head of a column of tenants and friends through the huge livestock fair of
Michaelmas Market at
Crieff every year, they guarded him now with their
silence.On one return visit to the castle he
was forced to hide inside a cupboard while a servant stood in front of the
doors when suprised by a search party. Having
been found guilty of high treason, it became clear to James that Scotland
was too dangerous a place to stay and that capture would mean death, and
so with a heavy heart he decided to leave the home and the area he loved
so much..
His brother John had left
Scotland bound for France on board the ship La
Bellone, and, gossip at the time indicated that not only had James
joined him aboard, but also that he had
died during the voyage from the
wounds he gained at Culloden and had been buried at sea. This story was
well received by James and his friends and they certainly had a hand in
spreading the rumour in an effort to stop the
English authorities from searching for him, perhaps a little too well as
future events would show. James however departed on another vessel and
soon found himself docking at the town of South Shields on the River Tyne
and here he decided to leave the ship.
Travelling south he came to the
town of Sunderland where he stayed for a time before moving inland to the
small village of South Biddick on the banks of
the River Wear outside of Sunderland.
In those days
Biddick was a place of tough pitmen and
smugglers and was well known for its unlicensed manufacture of liquor and
of being a place that local law enforcement and duty men avoided. It was
the perfect place for anyone wishing to 'go to ground'. It had a
fiercesome reputation and the villagers were
widely known as the "Bloody Biddickers". Here
James struck up a friendship with a local pitman by the name of John
Armstrong and was invited to lodge at his house.The
Earl accepted the offer willingly thinking that the house of a humble
miner was the last place anyone would think to look for him, and, if
anyone did, the local mines would provide a good
bolthole.Once settled he wrote to his brother John in
France.John replied and in a letter dated 16
April 1747, exactly a year after Culloden, he said :
"I think you had better
come to France, and you would be out of danger, as I find you are living
in obscurity at Houghton-le-Spring," ( Biddick
was then in the parish of Houghton ) "I doubt that is a dangerous place
yet...You say it is reported you died on your passage to France. I hope
and trust you will still live in obscurity..." ,
"hoping that you have at last recovered from your wounds".
The brothers continued to
write to each other, John was serving under Marshal
Saxe in Flanders and after the Seige of
Op Zoom in 1747 was appointed Major General. Sadly though, even as this
honour was being bestowed, he was lying ill
from a fever from which he died. John was buried in the Chapel of the
English Nuns at Antwerp. He died without marrying.
James had settled in well
with the pitman and his family and because of his evident education was
asked to teach the Armstrong's beautiful 13 year old daughter Elizabeth to
read and write, a task he readily agreed to, James himself had been taught
at the Douai College and later at the Scots
College in Paris. As time passed, and in spite of their difference in
status and rank, James fell in love with young Beth and for a time they
courted secretly. Then just before they were to ask Armstrong for
permission to marry, a great press gang descended on the area. The
villagers had just sufficient time to prepare and James using his military
knowledge, took charge. He instructed the
villagers to put all the keel boats in line across the River Wear to form
a pontoon bridge in order that the men of Fatfield
Village on the opposite bank could run over them to aid them. The press
gang was heavily defeated and James was held in high esteem. John
Armstrong was more than willing to bless the marriage, and, after giving
consent, learned the true status of his lodger.
James married Elizabeth in
the town of Houghton-le-Spring on 6 Nov 1749,
the Earl was 36 and the new Countess 17.
The Drummonds continued to
live in the Armstrongs house and in time
Elizabeth had a baby, James had realised for a
long time that he would have to find funds and for a while had set up as a
'seller of shoes' but this business had been a disaster. One night while
sitting by the banks of the river he heard a voice, "Good evening, my Lord
Drummond, I ken you well". James wheeled around and faced the stranger,
"Who are you" he asked "What do you know?, I
warn you, sir, I have much to lose and will not surrender what happiness I
have now lightly."
James was dumbfounded when
the stranger introduced himself as Nick Lambton,
landowner and Squire of Biddick.
"Oh. I know you have taken
great care never to meet me" Lambton told him,
"but I have known of you all along".
Nicholas
Lambton told James all the news of his
compatriots and warned him never to leave the safety of
Biddick, he himself had no reason to see the
Earl harmed, and offered his assistance. He gave James a cottage called
The Boathouse near the river ferry and set him up as ferryman, here with
calloused hands James Drummond Earl of Perth, plied the oars for a living
while his Lady ran a small grocers store they had set up within the
boathouse.
James and Beth had six
children, two boys and four girls, the eldest son also called James became
the inseperable companion of his grandfather
John Armstrong. The Duke had always hoped that he would one day become a
priest but although he had been well educated by James himself, the money
could not be found to pursue this career and so the young James gained
work at the local mine. After a fortnight he brought home his first wages
to give to his mother. The pride the Earl had in his son caused him to
reveal his story to his family, until that point Elizabeth had never been
told of his true identity, he showed her his hidden papers showing his
rights to the Drummond estate, these were the letters given to his
grandfather by James II at
Germain . He explained to them
that the scars he carried had been gained at Culloden, one particularly
nasty scar, on the back of his right hand stretched from his wrist to his
middle finger which had been rendered shorter by the injury, here he told
them was where a piece of bone had been taken out. Due to the death
sentence still hanging over his head, he told his family to say nothing of
his revelations.
In 1771 a mighty storm
struck the North East of England, bridges, trees and even homes were swept
away in the great floods, the boathouse was totally destroyed and with it
went the small chest containing the all important papers. James searched
the riverbank for weeks but in the end had to resign himself to the loss.
His second son William had gone to sea, an active intelligent man, he had
been mate, master and finally part owner of a
ship.William had travelled to Scotland
to see the Drummond family, he had taken with him several papers proving
his identity, and after a successful meeting with family members had set
sail for London to 'prosecute inquiry' into the standing of the heirs of
James. During the passage his ship was struck by another and broke up, the
survivors, trying to climb onto the ship that had struck them were beaten
back with handspikes and all were subsequently drowned. This act of
barbarity was carried out to hide the fact that the surviving ship had
caused the accident. The fate of Williams ship
was not discovered until years later when one of the guilty crew confessed
to the crime, however it was deemed too long ago and that there was
insufficient evidence for the authorities to take any action. William
carried the remaining papers to his watery grave.
James had made several
journeys back to Drummond Castle where he would hang around the local town
and soak up the atmosphere and of course all the local
gossip.At the age of 60 James once again had a
yearning to return to his beloved Drummond Castle, he made the journey
disguised as a pedlar in an old soldiers red
coat bought for the purpose by Beth in Newcastle.Upon
arriving there he sought out an old friend Mr
Graeme, who while being astounded that James
was still alive, chastised him for wearing the coat of an enemy and
refused him entry until he took it off, giving him a fine coat to wear in
its place, then he and others assembled there toasted the man they thought
long dead, "Why " the said "the Duke of Perth has come to his own again".
After spending some time there, James returned to
Biddick. He told his family all that had happened, he lamented his
forlorn and destitute situation, repeating to them that he was the Duke of
Perth and that they were his children and heirs and, though he feared he
would not get his lands again, yet, at some future period, perhaps, his
children might, and gave them much good counsel as to their future conduct
and deportment in life. (In hindsight it is a pity this counsel was not
passed on to future generations). James never returned to Drummond Castle
again.
Some anecdotes remembered
by his family of the secret visits to his home are as
follows :
Upon arriving at Drummond
Castle he asked the housekeeper if he could see the apartments, the
housekeeper, an old servant at the castle, looked at his face and, instead
of telling this 'beggar' to leave, started to softly hum the tune "The
Duke of Perth's Lament" as she went from room to room, upon entering the
Duke's room James is said to have cried out "This is the Dukes own room"
and burst into tears.
The local weaver took the
Earl into his home and pointed to a large weaving machine standing there
and said "What do you think of a machine like that in a poor weaver's
house". James, in disguise put his hand in his pocket and pulled out his
massive ancestral gold watch and said "What do you think of a thing like
that in a poor beggars pocket".
James died in his
seventieth year, early in June 1782. He was buried in
Penshaw graveyard, near Sunderland.
Two years after his death
the
Act of Attainder which
stripped him of his titles was repealed and
another Act was passed to enable George III to restore forfeited estates
to the heirs of attainted persons. This act named the heirs to the
estates, but in the case of James Drummond, no heir was listed, the belief
that James had died en route to
France had, while giving him
much needed protection, been believed so completely that it was not
thought possible for there to be any heirs. If at this time the eldest son
James had come forward and stated his rights the subsequent course of
events would have been very different and the estates would have been
restored. James however, for whatever reason, did not step forward, some
say it was due to his timid nature, others that he had no knowledge of
events and was anyway too poor to pay to press the claim. He died at
Biddick on the 7th February 1823 and was
buried near his father.
Many claimants did come
forward however, one such claimant presented
himself as
Capt James Drummond and was
awarded the titles, although an imposter.
The second James Drummond
of Biddick left a family, the eldest son,
called Thomas, was not of the timid nature of his father, he bore a
striking resemblance to his grandfather and above all else wanted to
regain the family estate.Soon after his
fathers death Thomas devoted himself fully to
accumulating evidence that would prove his claim. In this venture he was
helped again by the Lambton family, this time
by Lord John George Lambton a relation of Nick
Lambton, and also known as Radical Jack the
Governor General of Canada and the first Earl of Durham, the identity of
the Drummonds had been as much a Lambton
secret as it had been for the Drummonds themselves and so John
Lambton knew of the validity of the claim.. A
claim was made to the House of Lords which, in turn
,directed it to the Court of Privileges. On 21st June 1831 the case
came up for hearing at the Cannongate Court
Room in Edinburgh, here the daughters of James Drummond gave evidence
before a jury, they related what their father had told them of the Battle
of Culloden and his subsequent flight, of his clandestine return visits to
his ancestral home and they supplied letters written by the Earls brother
John from France. After hearing all the evidence the
the jury decided unanimously that
Thomas Drummond of
Biddick was proved to be the "nearest and lawful heir male of his
deceased great-granduncle, Lord Edward Drummond.", and the heir of James
Drummond formerly known as the Earl of Perth, and as such, had every
legitimate claim to the Earldom of Perth and the estates of the Drummonds.
Thomas was overjoyed, soon,
he told everyone, he would gain back the family estates and titles, all he
had to do was put his case before the House of Lords. Thomas however had a
reputation for liking the drink a little too much and would often be found
in the local inns relating the Drummond history interspersed with musical
performances on the violin he always carried, the inn patrons would repay
this entertainment by buying him his drink, all the while being told that
he would see them alright when his estates were restored. As the great day
dawned Lord Durham furnished him with a new suit to wear before the Lords.
As Thomas tried on the suit he decided to parade his new finery before the
locals and went out into the lane, alas poor Thomas did not command the
respect that his grandfather had and the local roughs seeing him
swaggering around in his dress suit decided to teach him a lesson, his
fine new coat was torn to shreds.
One day a man going by the
name of Count Melfort appeared at the house of
Mrs Elizabeth Peters, formerly Elizabeth
Drummond, daughter of the Earl, and, calling her cousin, asked her if she
had any family papers that could assist him in his claims to the estates,
which, as the nearest male heir, undoubtably
belonged to him. Mrs Peters pointed out that
he was not the nearest male heir while her brother and his sons were
alive. He seemed very distressed to find out that the Earl had male
issue, he had been led to believe that James
only had daughters. It is believed this Count Melford
was a great grandson of John Drummond, the second son of James Drummond
3rd Earl of Perth and the younger brother of James the 4th Earl. He would
appear to have been a Roman Catholic priest and officiated as such at the
Roman Catholic Chapel in Moorfields, London.
It is said that his claim to the estates was very strong (given that James
the 6th Earl was believed to have died without male issue) and that he was
' bought off ' from making his claim by certain other claimants. Count
Melford, ancestor of the current Earl wrote a
book about the Drummond family which includes these years, it tells of
conspiracies involving persons of high rank that gained much from the
estates. Little wonder that a pitman from Biddick
looking only for justice would find none, not when these high ranking
persons had nothing to gain and much to lose.
In 1831 a book was
published entitled "The Case of Thomas Drummond", it detailed the story of
James Drummond and gathered together much of the detailed evidence from
both England and Scotland, it left the reader in no doubt as to the
validity of Thomas's claim. It opened with an
address by Thomas himself.
The night before the case
was due to be heard by the Lords, Thomas was summoned to the house of Lord
Durham, upon whom he was relying for support in the Lords. When Thomas
entered the room it was apparent to Lord Durham that he was totally drunk,
some say he was in this state because Durham's butler had plied him with
wine, others, that he had spent the night in the local bar, whatever the
reason Lord Durham was disgusted and refused to have anything more to do
with him.
The hearing at the Lords
went ahead, Thomas stood before them, a poor ragged pitman, and stated his
claim to his estates. The House of Lords has
no real records of the hearing, but from snippets of information found in
the library there, the following reasons for the failure of Thomas's claim
can be surmised.
1.
He had lost the backing of Lord Durham and any of his friends.
2.
Lord Durham was unpopular at that time and so the mere fact that he had at
one stage supported Thomas was enough to set some Lords against the claim.
3.
Thomas was a mere 'pitman', an upstart, in an age when British snobbery
was at its height.
4.
The House was also considering a claim by the family of the current Earl,
and, though this was a lesser claim from a different line, it seems that
the House decided to overturn the lawful decision of the
Cannongate Court, i.e
that James Drummond of Biddick was in fact the
6th Earl of Perth and that Thomas was proven to be his rightful heir, and
so turned down his claim in favour of the
claim made by the Duke de Melfort to whom they
eventually restored the titles in 1853.
Thomas returned to
Biddick and the mines, though he made more
claims during the following years they came to nothing, and, when the Duke
de Melfort was granted the titles, Thomas
finally gave up, the last record of him appears in the
Penshaw Church Registers :
"Thomas Drummond, Alleged Earl of Perth, buried November 22, 1873. 81
years. Signed Philip Thompson (rector).
Read the
Inscription
from the burial plot of Thomas Drummond.
After asking the House of
Lords to provide information regarding the case of Thomas Drummond I was
informed that "The case of Thomas Drummond is unusual in that despite his
petition to the House to claim the Earldom of Perth, his case was not
heard by the Commitee for Privileges", I do
not know enough yet about these procedures but I intend to find out why
the case was heard by the Lords but not by the
Commitee.
For more information on the
Drummonds visit
The True Drummonds web site |
