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This account was sent to us by Alexander
F.Livingstone and is an account of the Livingston family taken from "The Scottish
Nation or the Surnames, Families, Literature and Biographical History of the People of
Scotland" by William Anderson.
LIVINGSTONE, a surname said to be of Hungarian origin, the progenitor of the
families of this name in Scotland being a gentleman of Hungary who came to this country
with Margaret, queen of Malcolm Canmore, about 1070. His descendant in the third degree,
Livingus, who lived in the reiges of King Alexander I., and his brother, King David I.,
called a considerable estate in West Lothian, which he possessed, Livingston, that is, the
dwellingplace of Livingus. His son, Thurstanus, a witness to the foundation charter of
Holyrood-house in 1128, had two sons, Alexander and William. The elder, Alexander; the
first who assumed the name of Livingston, died in the end of the reign of King Alexander
II. His son, Sir William Livingston, who acquired the lands of Gorgvn near Edinburgh,
witnessed a charter of Malcolm, earl of Lennox, in 1270. From William, the eldest of his
three sons, descended the Livingstons of Livingston, the last of whom, Sir Bartholomew
Livingston, was killed at the battle of Flodden in 1518. leaving three daughters his
coheiresses. The two younger Sons, Sir Archibald and Adam, swore fealty to Edward I. in
1296. Sir Archibald’s grandson, Sir William Livingston, accompanied King David II. in
his expedition to England in 1346, and was taken prisoner at the battle of Durham, 17th
October of that year. He was one or the four commissioners appointed by the Estates of
Scotland, 17th January 1356—7, to treat with England for the ransom of the king, and
also for peace between the two nations. He had a grant from David II. of the barony of
Callendar, then in the crown by the forfeiture of Patrick Callendar, whose only daughter
and heiress, Christian, he married. Of two sons, Patrick, the elder, one of the hostages
for King David II. in 1357, predeceased him. The younger son, Sir William had a son, Sir
John Livingstone of’ Callendar, killed at the battle or Homildon, 14th September
1402, leaving four sons, viz. Sir Alexander, who succeeded; Robert, ancestor of the
Livingstones of Westquarter and Kinnaird; John, of the Livingstones of Bonton; and
William, of the viscounts of Kilsyth. Sir James Livingstone, baronet, son and heir of Sir
John Livingstone of Kinnaird, was created by CharIes II. earl of Newburgh.
Sir Alexander Livingstone of Callendar, the eldest son, the
celebrated guardian of James II. in his minority, was one of the jury on the trial of
Murdach, duke of Albany, in 1424. On the assassination of James I. in 1437, he was
appointed keeper of the young king’s person. The rival minister, Sir William
Crichton, chancellor of the kingdom, retaining his majesty in the castle of Edinburgh, the
queen-mother had him conveyed, enclosed in a chest, to Stirling, where she delivered him
to his legal guardian, Livingstone. He subsequently besieged Crichton in the castle of
Edinburgh, but a reconciliation took place between them. Afterwards quarrelling with the
queen, he imprisoned her, in 1489. By another stratagem, Crichton regained possession of
the king’s person, but by the intercession of friends a lasting agreement was at
length formed between the two ministers, and the king was committed to the care of
Livingstone, who thus obtained the chief direction in the government. All differences
between him and the queen were likewise settled by a solemn indenture dated 4th September
1489. In 1440 the sixth earl of Douglas, his brother David, and his friend Fleming of
Cumbernauld, were, chiefly at his instigation, inveigled into the castle of Edinburgh by
Crichton, and beheaded there. In 1445, when the Douglases were at the height of their
power, Sir Alexander was denounced a rebel, and in the following year he was imprisoned,
but released on paying a large sum of money. However, Alexander, the younger of his two
sons, was tried and beheaded He was ancestor of the Livingstones of Dunipace, one of whom
was named in 1550 an extraordinary lord of session. On 4th July 1600, Jean Livingstone,
Lady Warriston, daughter of John Livingstone of Dunipace, was beheaded at the foot of the
Canongate, Edinburgh, for the murder of her husband, John Kincaid of Warriston near that
city. She was only 21 years of age, and is highly celebrated in several popular ballads of
the period for her graceful appearance and uncommon beauty. Her father had great influence
at court, but she is said to have declined all efforts for saving ber Iife. An account of
her behaviour in prison and at the place of execution, was preserved among Wodrow’s
MSS. in the Advocates’ Library, and is reported on in Pitcairn’s Criminal
Trials. In 1449 Sir Alexander Livingstone was again received into favour, appointed
justiciary of Scotland, and sent ambassador to England. He died soon after.
His eldest son, Sir James Livingstone of Callendar, first
Lord Livingstone, had the appointment of captain of the castle of Stirling, with the
tuition of the young king, conferred on him by his father. In 1453, he was sworn, a privy
councillor, appointed master of the household, and great chamberlain of Scotland. He was
created a peer before 8th August 1458, under the title of Lord Livingstone and died about
1467. With two daughters he had two sons. The elder son, James, second Lord Livingstone,
died without issue, when the title devolved on his nephew, John, son of his brotber
Alexander. John, third lord, died before 1510.
His son, William, fourth lord, had a son, Alexander, fifth
lord, who in 1548 was chosen one of the four noblemen to whom was committed the education
of the young queen, Mary. He was appointed an extraordinary lord of session, 5th March,
1544. (Haig and Brunton’s Senators of the College of Justice, p. 81.) the
safe-keeping of the queen’s person was intrusted to him and Lord Erskine by the
Estates, 24th April 1545, and in 1547, after the disastrous battle or Pinkie, in which the
master of Livingstone was slain, these noblemen conveyed her for greater security to the
priory of lnchmahome, on the lake of Monteith, whence, in the following year, they
accompanied her to France. Lord Livingstone died in that country about 1558. His eldest
son having had no issue, his second son, William, succeeded as sixth Lord Livingstone.
Thomas, the youngest son, was ancestor of the Livingstones of Haining. His lordship’s
youngest daughter, Mary, a maid of honour to her majesty, was one of the queen’s
Maries. She married in 1567, John Sernple of Beltries, when the queen gave them conjunct
liferent of Auchtermuchty and other lands. According to John Knox, "shame
hasted" the marriage, and on this occasion he said Mary Livingstone the lusty married
John Semple the dancer. (Knox’s Historie, p. 345.)
William, the sixth lord, adhered to Queen Mary, and fought
for her at the battle of Langside. He was one of the queen’s commissioners at the
conference at York in 1568 and retained her confidence to the last. He is described by
Bruce the Jesuit in 1589 as a "very catholic lord," and it is certain that he
favoured the plots of’ the papists in that and the following year. He married Agnes,
second daughter of the third Lord Fleming, and died in 1592. His eldest son, Alexander,
seventh lord, when master of Livingstone, accompanied the duke of Lennox to France, on his
exile in December 1582. He was the first earl of Linlithgow.
The Livingstons of Westquarter and Bedlormie, the
representatives of the earls of Linlithgow and Callendar, are descended from the Hon. Sir
George Livingstone of Ogleface, Linlithgowshire, fourth son of the sixth Lord
Liovingstone, and younger brother of the first earl of Linlithgow. He was created a
baronet of Nova Scotia, 30th May 1625. His great-grandson, Sir Alexander Livingstone,
fourth baronet, married Susannah, only daughter and heiress of Patrick Walker of
Bellormie, Linlithgowshire, and was designed of Craigenhall and Bedlormie. He had one son,
Sir Alexander Livingstone, fifth baronet. The latter had seven sons and three daughters.
George, the eldest son, who died in 1729, without issue; Alexander, the second son, who
died unmarried in 1766, and William, the fourth son, designed of Westquarter and
Bedlormie, were, successively, sixth, seventh and eighth barronets. Robert, the fifth son,
lost his right arm in battle with the rebels in 1745, and had a son, Alexander, who
succeeded his uncle, Sir William, on his death, without issue, in 1769.
Sir Alexander, the ninth baronet, designed of that ilk,
Westquarter and Bedlormie, in 1784 laid before Lord Kenyon, then attorney-general, a case
respecting his claim to the attainted conjunct titles of earl of Linlithgow and earl of
Callendar. He was twice married. By his first wife he had, with one daughter, seven sons,
and by his second, two sons and one daughter. He died in 1795. Two of his sons,
George-Augustas and David, were killed in battle.
Sir Thomas, his third son, became the tenth baronet. He
catered the navy in 1782, and commanded the Diadem in the expedition against Qaiberon and
Belleisle in 1800. In 1806-7 he was employed in the Mediterranean. In 1848 he attained the
rank of admiral of the Blue. He was appointed keeper of the royal palace of Linlithgow and
of the castle of Blackness, by the king, in consideration of his being the male heir and
representative of the hereditary governors of these places. He was married in 1809 the
daughter of Sir James Stirling, baronet, and died April 1, 1853, without issue.
His brother, Thurstaus Livingstone, born in 1770 or 1772,
went to sea, as a common sailor, both in the merchant service and in the navy, and was
discharged in 1797, in consequence of his wounds. Taking up his residence at Bethnal
Green, London, he married, the same year, Susannah Brown, a widow, who died in 1806. Two
years afterwards he married her sister, Catherine Ann Ticehurst, also a widow. By the
latter he had a son, Alexander, born in 1809, who, on the death of his uncle in 1853,
assumed the title of Sir Alexander, as 11th baronet, and took possession of the estates.
The 10th baronet’s sister, the wife of Rev John Fenton, recotr of Ousby, and vicar of
Torpenhow, in Cumberland, instituted two suits in the court of session, on the ground
that, according to the law of Scotland, the marriage of his father with his deceased
wife’s sister was not lawful. The court held that the domicile of Thurstanus
Livingstone, during both his marriages, having been in England, the legitimacy of his son
must be decided by the laws of England. The case was appealed to the house of lords, by Mr
John Thomas Fenton, Mrs Fenton’s son, that lady having died July 15, 1859, when their
lordships reversed that judgement, and remitted to the court of session to decide the
question according to the law of Scotland. The case again came before the court of session
January 18, 1861, when it was unanimously decided that the marriage of Alexander’s
parents was incestuous and illegal, and giving decree to the pursuer. The so-styled Sir
Alexander Livingston died at Edinburgh January 20, 1859.
LIVINGSTONE, John, an eminent minister of
the Church of Scotland, was born at Monyabreck, or Kilsyth, Stirlingshire, January 21,
1603, His father and grandfather, descended from the noble family of the same name, were
successively ministers of that parish. John studied at the university of Glasgow, and was
licensed in 1625. In 1627 he became chaplain to the earl of Wigton at Cumbernauld. The
celebrated revival of religion at the Kirk of Shotts, in June 1630, is considered to have
been the effect of his impressive preaching. In August of the same year he accepted of the
charge of the parish of Killinchie, in the north of Ireland, but, for non-conformity, he
was deposed and excommunicated by the bishop of Down, in whose diocese his parish was
situated. He was inducted minister of Stranraer in July 1688. In 1640, as chaplain to the
earl of Cassillis’ regiment, he was present at the battle of Newburn near Newcastle,
of which he wrote an account. In 1648 he was translated to the parish of Ancrum in
Teviotdale. In April 1663, for refusing to take the oath of allegiance he was banished
from Scotland. Retiring to Rotterdam he devoted the remainder of his days to the
cultivation of theological and biblical learning, and died August 9,1672. He had prepared
an edition of the Old Testament, with a Latin translation and explanatory notes, which has
never been published. His ‘Remarkable Observations upon the Lives of the most Eminent
Ministers and Professors in the Church of Scotland’ were printed with his Memoirs in
1754. Go
here for an account of the Highland Clan Livingstone
The Livingstons of Livingston Manor
Being the History of that Branch of the Scottish House of Callandar
which settled in the English Province of New York during the Reign of
Charles the Second; and also including an Account of Robert Livingston
of Albany, "The Nephew," a Settler in the same Province, and his
principal Descendants, by Edwin Brockholst Livingston (1910) (pdf) |
