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From the Book of Eminent Burgesses of Dundee 1513 to 1885.
James, Earl of Airlie - 23rd May 1668
AT DUNDEE, QUHILK DAY THE HAILL PERSONS UNDERNAMIT WERE ENTERED, SWORN, AND ADMITTED BURGESSES AND BRETHER OF THE SAID BURGH, GRATIS, viz.: JOHN, ERLE OF ROTHES, LORD HIGH CHANCELLOR OF SCOTLAND; JAMES, ERLE OF AIRLY; CHARLES, EARL OF ABOYNE; DAVID, LORD OGILVY; SIR JAMES CARNEGIE OF BALNAMONE.
JAMES OGILVY, second EARL OF AIRLIE, was the son of JAMES, first EARL OF AIRLIE, and of LADY ISABELLE HAMILTON, daughter of the EARL OF HADDINGTON, and was born circa 1615. His family had been connected with Dundee for centuries before his time, but the entry of his name at this period has a special historical significance. His father had been a most devoted adherent of the Royalists, even in their severest distress, and he had early been brought into enforced support of the cause of CHARLES I, as he was left in charge of the paternal Castles of Forther and Airlie whilst the first EARL was absent from Scotland. The first EARL OF AIRLIE, fled from his native land to avoid compulsory subscription of the Covenant, leaving his two principal castles in the custody of his eldest son. The Estates of Parliament, then dominated by the Presbyterian party, instructed the EARLS OF MONTROSE and KINGHORNE to take possession of these fortresses. The EARL OF MONTROSE (afterwards famous as the first MARQUESS OF MONTROSE) was inclined to deal leniently with the OGILVIES, and he left the young LORD OGILVY unmolested. But his tenderness was not appreciated by the Covenanters, and shortly afterwards a Commission of Fire and Sword, dated 12th June, 1640, was granted to the EARL OF ARGYLL (vide page 121), empowering him to subdue the EARL OF ATHOL, the LORD OGILVY, and other rebels, and "to persew thame and euery ane of thame, in all hostile maner, with fyre and sworde, ay and quhill [until] he bring thame ather to thair bowndin dewties, and give assurance for the samen, be pledges or vtherwayes, or else to the utter subdueing and rooting thame out of the countrie." The EARL OF ARGYLL was not so fastidious in his actions, nor so lukewarm in his adherence to the Covenant, as MONTROSE had been; and he marched at the head of an overpowering army of five thousand men to Angus, and besieged the Castles of Airlie and Forther. The memory of his action in this matter still survives, though poetically over coloured, in the ballad of "The Bonnie House of Airlie." The young LORD OGILVY, whose name is here entered refused to deliver up Airlie Castle to the assailants, and ARGYLL was compelled to invest it. Whilst the army lay in front of the Castle, LORD OGILVY managed to convey his mother and her young family secretly to Forther, leaving the besieged Castle of Airlie undefended. When ARGYLL discovered that he had been losing time over a fruitless victory, and that he had been outwitted by a mere stripling, his irritation was extreme, and he gave orders for the total destruction of the Castle. If the contemporary account of this incident given by GORDON of Rothiemay can be accepted, the EARL led the work of demolition in person, and “was so extremely earnest that he was seen taking a hammer in his hands and knocking down the hewed work of the doors and windows, till he did sweat for heat at his work." A rumour reached him that the young LORD OGILVY had found refuge with his kinsman, SIR JOHN OGILVY of Innerquharity, and he took measures to apprehend him there. The following letter addressed by ARGYLL to the LAIRD OF INNERQUHARITY is Still preserved amongst the family archives at Baldovan House:
"Loveing Freyad, Sen your parteing frome this I have gottine certaine informatioune that my Lord Ogilvie is this night in your house. For the which cause I could doe no less than direct a companlie to ly about your house till it be searched, wherat I entreat you to tak no exceptiounes for I doe nowayes doubt you. Onlie I will give you this warning, that if ye press to conecall my Lord Ogilvie in your lions at this tyme it will be moir to your preiudice than ye ar awar off, and so I hope ye wil be wyise. The gentleman that is commander of this company is Coline Campbell, Cawdor's sonne. So referring this to your consideratioune, I rest your afetionat freynd,
ARGYLL.
From my Camp at Airlie, 7 July, 1640, for my loveing freynd, the Laird of Innerquharity."
Finding that he could obtain no clue to the hiding place of LORD OGILVY and his mother, ARGYLL was compelled to abandon the search, and direct his army to the seat of ATHOL and his associates. He left the task of destroying Forther Castle to his kinsman, DUGALD CAMPBELL of Inverawe, and his original letter of instructions is still in existence at Inverawe. As it proves the vindictiveness with which ARGYLL pursued the OGILVIES, it may be quoted here:
“Dowgall, I mynd, God willing, to lift from this the morrow, and therefor ye shall meitt me the morrow at nichit at Stronarnot in Strathardill, and caus bring alonges with you the hail nolt and shiep that ye have foundine perteining to my Lord Ogilvie. As for the horses and mearis that ye have gottine perteining to him. Ye shall not faill to direct thame home to the Stranemoor. I desyre not that they be in our way at all, and to send thame the neirest way home. And albeit ye shoulde be the langer in followeing me, yeit ye shall not faill to stay and demolishe my Lord Ogilbie's hous of Forthar. Sic how ye can cast off the irons yeattis and windowis, and tak doun the roug, and iff ye find it will be langsome, ye shall fyre it weill that so it may be destroyed. Bot you neid not to latt know that ye have directions frome me to fyir it, onlie ye may say that ye have warrand to demolishe it, and that to mak the work short ye will fyir it. Iff ye mak any stay for doeing of this, send fordwart the goodis. So, referring this to your cair, I rest
Your froynd ARGYLL.
P.S. Ye shall heawe for your pains of that beis send hame. You shall delyver bak to Rob Grewer such of his goods as ar not sufficient for present use, and thir presents shall be your warrand.
ARGYLL.
For Dowgall Campbell of Inverawe”
When DUGALD CAMPBELL attacked Forther Castle LORD OGILVY was still within its walls, but finding that he could not hopefully maintain resistance to the force brought against him, he again managed to escape from his oppressors, and to join his father, the EARL OF AIRLIE, in England. Shortly afterwards, when MONTROSE abandoned the Covenanters, LORD OGILVY Met with him, and they waited on the KING at Oxford, in 1643, to offer their services. He was present at the Battle of Marston Moor, and was despatched to Scotland in command of some of PRINCE RUPERT'S men after that engagement. Whilst on the way, he was captured by a skirmishing party of the Parliamentarian army, and sent prisoner to the Tolbooth of Edinburgh in 1644. Here he remained in confinement till he was released by MONTROSE after the battle of Kilsyth, in August, 1645. He had the command of some of the Royalist troops at Philiphaugh (13th September, 1645), and was captured after the battle as he was escaping from the field. He was carried prisoner to Glasgow and thence to St Andrews, and was condemned to death by the Parliament which met there in November, 1645. Through the intrepidity of his sister, LADY HELEN OGILVY, he escaped from St Andrews Castle the night before his execution was to have taken place, she having exchanged clothes with him and remained in prison whilst he passed out disguised. After suffering severely in the Royalist cause, he was at last induced to submit to GENERAL LESLIE, in 1649, under guarantee that his life, estate, and liberty would not be endangered; and soon afterwards he was relieved from the pressure of the Acts that had been made against him. He was appointed to the command of a troop of horse at the Restoration, and was sworn a Privy Councillor. From a paper preserved amongst the family documents at Cortachy Castle, it appears that at this time he endeavoured to obtain compensation for the destruction of the Castles of Airlie and Forther by the EARL OF ARGYLL, but his application was unsuccessful. He lived to see KING WILLIAM III. firmly established on the throne, and was a Member of the Scottish Parliament which met in 1693, though he was excused from attendance in consequence of his great age and infirmity. His death took place shortly after this date.
The EARL was twice married, firstly to HELEN, daughter of GEORGE, first LORD BANFF, by whom he had one son and three daughters, LADY MARION, the eldest daughter, being the wife of JAMES, LORD COUPAR, referred to on page 129. The EARL'S second wife was ISOBEL, widow of LEWIS, third MARQUESS OF HUNTLY.