The Earls of Crawford
Earls
of Crawford
The
house of Lindsay, of which the earl of Crawford is the head,
traces its descent back to the barons of Crawford who flourished
in the 12th century, and has included a number of men who
have played leading parts in the history of Scotland. It is
said that ”though other families in Scotland may have
been of more historic, none can in genealogical importance
equal that of Lindsay,” and the Lindsays claim that
“the predecessors of the 1st earl of Crawford were barons
at the period of the earliest parliamentary records, and that,
in fact, they were never enrolled in the modern sense of the
term, but were among the pares, of which kings are primi,
from the commencement of recorded history.” And again
we are told, “the earidom of Crawford, therefore, like
those of Douglas, of Moray, Ross, March and others of the
earlier times of feudalism, formed a petty principality, an
imperium in iinperio.” Moreover, the earls “had
also a concilium, or petty parliament, consisting of the great
vassals of the earldom, with whose advice they acted on great
and important occasions.”
Sir
James Lindsay (d. 1396), 9th lord of Crawford in Lanarkshire,
was the only son of Sir James Lindsay, the 8th lord (d. c.
1357), and was related to King Robert II.; he was descended
from Sir Alexander Lindsay of Luffness (d. 1309), who obtained
Crawford and other estates in 1297 and who was high chamberlain
of Scotland. The 9th lord fought at Otterburn, and Froissart
tells of his wanderings after the fight. He was succeeded
by his cousin, Sir David Lindsay (c. 1360—1407), son
of Sir Alexander Lindsay of Glenesk (d. 1382), and in 1398
Sir David, who married a daughter of Robert II., was made
earl of Crawford.
The
most important of the early earls of Crawford are the 4th
and the 5th earls. Alexander Lindsay, the. 4th earl (d. 1454),
called the “tiger earl,” was, like his father
David the 3rd earl, who was killed in 1446, one of the most
powerful of the Scottish nobles; for some time he was in arms
against King James II., but he submitted in 1452. His son
David, the 5th earl (c. 1440—1495), was lord high admiral
and lord chamberlain; he went frequently as an ambassador
to England and was created duke of Montrose in 1488, but the
title did not descend to his son. Montrose fought for James
at the battle of Sauchieburn, and his son John, the 6th earl
(d. 1513), was slain at Flodden.
David
Lindsay, 8th earl of Crawford (d. 1542), son of Alexander,
the 7th earl (d. 1517), had a son Alexander, master of Crawford
(d. 1542), called the “wicked master,” who quarrelled
with his father and tried to kill him. Consequently he was
sentenced to death, and the 8th earl conveyed the earldom
to his kinsman, David Lindsay of Edzell (d. 1558), a descendant
of the 3rd earl of Crawford, thus excluding Alexander and
his descendants, and in 1542 David became 9th earl of Crawford.
But the 9th earl, although he had at least two sons, named
the wicked master’s son David as his heir, and consequently
in 1558 the earldom came back to the elder line of the Lindsays,
the 9th earl being called the “interpolated earl.”
David
Lindsay, 10th earl of Crawford (d. 1574), was a supporter
of Mary Queen of Scots; he,was succeeded by his son David
(c. 1547—1607) as 11th earl. This David, a grandson
of Cardinal Beaton, was concerned in some of the risings under
James VI.; he was converted to Roman Catholicism and was in
communication with the Spaniards about an invasion of England.
After his death the earldom passed to his son David (d. 162I),
a lawless ruffian, and then to his brother, Sir Henry Lindsay
or Charteris (d. 1623), who became I3th earl of Crawford.
Sir Henry’s three sons became in turn earls of Crawford,
the youngest, Ludovic, succeeding in 1639.
Ludovic
Lindsay, 16th earl of Crawford (1600—1652), took part
in the strange plot of 1641 called the “incident.”
Having joined Charles I. at Nottingham in 1642, he fought
at Edgehill, at Newbury and elsewhere during the Civil War;
in 1644, just after Marston Moor, the Scottish parliament
declared he had forfeited his earldom, and, following the
lines laid down when this was regranted in 1642, it was given
to John Lindsay, 1st earl of Lindsay. Ludovic was taken prisoner
at Newcastle in 1644 and was condemned to death, but the sentence
was not carried out, and in 1645 he was released by Montrose,
under whom he served until the surrender of the king at Newark.
Later he was in Ireland and in Spain and he died probably
in France in 1652. He left noissue.
The
earl of Lindsay, who thus supplanted his kinsman, belonged
to the family of Lindsay of the Byres, a branch of the Lindsays
descended from Sir David Lindsay of Crawford (d. c. 1355),
the grandfather of the 1st earl of Crawford. Sir David’s
descendant, Sir John Lindsay of the Byres (d. 1482), was created
a lord of parliament as Lord Lindsay of the Byres in 1445,
and his son David, the 2nd lord (d. 1490), fought for James
III. at the battle of Sauchieburn. The most prominent member
of this line was Patrick, 6th Lord Lindsay of the Byres (d.
1589), a son of John the 5th lord (d. 1563), who was a temperate
member of the reforming party. Patrick was one of the first
of the Scottish nobles to join the reformers, and he was also
one of the most violent. He fought against the regent, Mary
of Lorraine, and the French; then during a temporary reconciliation
he assisted Mary, queen of Scots, to crush the northern rebels
at Corrichie in 1562, but again among the enemies of the queen
he took part in the murder of David Rizzio and signed the
bond against Bothwell, whom he wished to meet in single combat
after the affair at Carberry Hill in 1565. Lindsay, who was
a brother-in-law and ally of the regent Murray, carried Mary
to Lochleven castle and obtained her signature to the deed
of abdication; he fought against her at Langside, and after
Murray’s murder he was one of the chiefs of the party
which supported the throne of James VI. In 1578, however,
he was among those who tried to drive Morton from power, and
in 1582 he helped to seize the person of the king in the plot
called the “raid of Ruthven,” afterwards escaping
to England. Lindsay had returned to Scotland when he died
on the 11th of December 1589. His successor was his son, James
the 7th lord (d. 1601).
Patrick’s
great-grandson, John Lindsay, 17th earl of Crawford and 1st
earl of Lindsay (c. 1598—1678), was the son of Robert
Lindsay, 9th Lord Lindsay of the Byres, whom he succeeded
as 10th lord in 1616. In 1633 he was created earl of Lindsay,
and having become a leader of the Covenanters he marched with
the Scottish army into England in 1644 and was present at
Marston Moor; in 1644 also he obtained the earldom of Crawford
in the manner already mentioned. In the same year he became
lord high’ treasurer of Scotland, and in 1645 president
of the parliament. Having fought against Montrose at Kilsyth,
the earl of Crawford-Lindsay, as he was called, changed sides,
and in 1647 he signed the “engagement” for the
release of Charles I., losing all his offices by the act of
classes when his enemy, the marquess of Argyll, obtained the
upper hand. After the defeat of the Scots at Dunbar, however,
Crawford regained his influence in Scottish politics, but
from 1651 to 1660 he was a prisoner in England. In i661 he
was restored to his former dignities, but his refusal to abjure
the covenant compelled him to resign them two years later.
His son, William, 18th earl of Crawford and 2nd earl of Lindsay
(1644—1698), was, like his father, an ardent covenanter
in 1690 he was president of the Convention parliament. Mr
Andrew Lang says this earl was “very poor, very presbyterian,
and his letters, almost alone among those of the statesmen
of the period, are rich in the texts and unctuous style of
an older generation.”
William’s
grandson, John Lindsay, 20th earl of Crawford and 4th earl
of Lindsay (1702—1749), won a high reputation as a soldier.
He held a command in the Russian army, seeing service against
the Turk, and he also served against the same foe under Prince
Eugene; Having returned to the English army he led the life-guards
at Dettingen and distinguished himself at Fontenoy; later
he served against France in the Netherlands. He left no sons
when he died in December 1749, and his kinsman, George Crawford-Lindsay,
4th Viscount Garnock (c. 1723—1781), a descendant of
the ,7th earl, became 21st earl of Crawford and 5th earl of
Lindsay. When George’s son, George, the 22nd earl (1758—1808),
died unmarried in January 1808, the earldoms of Crawford and
Lindsay were separated, George’s kinsman, David Lindsay
(d. 1809), a descendant of the 4th Lord Lindsay of the Byres,
becoming 7th earl of Lindsay. Both David and his successor
Patrick (d. 1839) died without sons, and in 1878 the House
of Lords decided that Sir John Trotter Bethune5 Bart. (182
7—1894), also a descendant of the 4th Lord Lindsay of
the Byres, was entitled to the earldom. In 1894 John’s
cousin, David Clark Bethune (b. 1832), became 11th earl of
Lindsay.
The
earldom of Crawford remained dormant from 1808, when this
separation took place, until 1848, when the House of Lords
adjudged it to James Lindsay, 7th earl of Balcarres.
The
earls of Balcarres are descended from John Lindsay, Lord Menmuir
(1552—1598), a younger son of David Lindsay, 9th earl
of Crawford. John, who bought the estate of Balcarres in Fifeshire,
became a lord of session as Lord Menmuir in 1581; he was a
member of the Scottish privy council and one of the commissioners
of the treasury called the Octavians. He had great influence
with James VI., helping the king to restore episcopacy after
he had become, in 1595, keeper of the privy seal and a secretary
of state. Menmuir, a man of great intellectual attainments,
left two sons, the younger, David, succeeding to the family
estates on his brother’s death in 1601. David (c. 1586—1641),
a notable alchemist, was created Lord Lindsay of Balcarres
in 1633, and in 1651 his son Alexander was made earl of Balcarres.
Alexander
Lindsay, 1st earl of Balcarres (1618—1659), the “Rupert
of the Covenant,” fought against Charles I. at Marston
Moor, at Alford and at Kilsyth, but later he joined the royalists,
signing the “engagement“ for the release of the
king in 1647, and having been created earl of Balcarres took
part in Glencairn’s rising in 1653. Richard Baxter speaks
very highly of the earl, who died at Breda in August 1659.
His son Charles (d. 1662) became 2nd earl of Balcarres, and
another son, Cohn (c. 16541722), became 3rd earl. Cohn, who
was perhaps the most trusted of the advisers of James II.,
wrote some valuable Memoirs touching tile Revolution in Scotland,
these were first published lh 1714, and were edited for the
Bannatyne Club by the 25th earl of Crawford in 1841. Having
been allowed to return to Scotland after an exile in France,
the earl joined the Jacobite rising of 1715. His successor
was his son Alexander, the 4th earl (d. 1736), who was followed
by another son, James, the 5th earl (1691—1768), who
fought for the Stuarts at Sheriffrnuir. Afterwards James was
pardoned and entered the English army, serving under George
II. at Dettingen. This earl wrote some Memoirs of the Lindsays,
which were completed by his son Alexander, the 6th earl in
(1752—1825).
Alexander
was with the English troops in America during the struggle
for independence, and was governor of Jamaica from 1794 to
1801, filling a difficult position with great credit to himself.
He became a general in 1803, and died at Haigh Hall, near
Wigan, which he bad received through his wife, Elizabeth Dalrymple
(1759—1816), on the 27th of May 1825. This earl did
not claim the earldom of Crawford, although he became earl
dejure in 1808, but in 1843 his son James Lindsay (1783—1869)
did so, and in 1848 the claim was allowed by the House of
Lords. James was thus 24th earl of Crawford and 7th earl of
Balcarres; in 1826 he had been created a peer of the United
Kingdom as Baron Wigan of Haigh Hall.
His
son, Alexander William Crawford Lindsay, 25th earl of Crawford
(1812—1880), was born at Muncaster Castle, Cumberland,
on the 16th of October 1812, and educated at Eton and Cambridge.
He travelled much in Europe and the East, and was most learned
in genealogy and history. His’ more important works
include Lives of the Lindsays (3 vols., 1849), Letters on
Egypt, Edom and the Holy Land (1838), Sketches of the History
of Christian Art (1847 and 1882), Etruscan Inscriptions Analysed
(1872), and The Earidom of Mar during 500 years (1882). He
succeeded to the title in September 1869, and died at Florence
on the i3th of December 1880. A year later it was discovered
that the family vault at Dunecht had been broken into and
the body stolen It was not until the 18th of July 1882 that
the police, acting on the confession of an eye-witness of
the desecration, found the remains, which were then reinterred
at Haigh Hall, Wigan.
His
only son, James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th earl of Crawford, British
astronomer and orientalist, was born at St Germain-en-Laye,
France, on the 28th of July 1847. Educated at Eton and Trinity
College, Cambridge, he devoted himself to astronomy, in which
he early achieved distinction. In 1870 he went to Cadiz to
observe the eclipse of the sun, and, in 1874, to Mauritius
to observe the transit of Venus. In the interval, with the
assistance of his father, he had built an observatory at Dunecht,
Aberdeenshire, which in 1888 he presented, together with his
unique library of astronomical and mathematical works, to
the New Royal Observatory on Blackford Hill, Edinburgh, where
they were installed in 1895. His services to science were
recognized by his election to the presidentship of the Royal
Astronomical Society in 1878 and 1879 in succession to Sir
William Huggins, and to the fellowship of the Royal Society
in 1878. He also received the degree of LL.D. from Edinburgh
University in 1882, and in the following year was nominated
honorary associate of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences.
An enthusiastic bibliophile, he became a trustee of the British
Museum, and acted for a term as president of the Library Association.
To the free library of Wigan, Lancashire, he gave a series
of oriental and English MSS. of the 9th to the 19th centuries
in illustration of the progress of handwriting, while for
the use of specialists and students he issued the invaluable
Bibliotheca Lindesiana. He represented Wigan in the House
of Commons from 1874 till his succession. to the title in
1880.
Another
title held by the Lindsays was that of Spynie, Sir Alexander
Lindsay (c. 1555—1607), created Baron Spynie in 1590,
being a younger son of the 10th earl of Crawford. The 2nd
Lord Spynie was Alexander’s son, Alexander (d. 1646),
who served in Germany under Gustavus Adolphus and assisted
Charles I. in Scotland during the Civil War; and the 3rd lord
was the latter’s son, George. When George, a royalist
who was taken prisoner at the battle of Worcester, died in
1671 this title became extinct.
The
dukedom of Montrose, which had lapsed on the death of the
5th earl of Crawford in 1495 and had been revived in 1707
by the Graham family, was claimed in 1848 by the 24th earl
of Crawford, but in 1853 the House of Lords gave judgment
against the earl.
The
Lindsays have furnished the Scottish church with several prelates.
John Lindsay (d. 1335) was bishop of Glasgow; Alexander Lindsay
(d. 1639) was bishop of Dunkeld until he was deposed in 1638;
David Lindsay (d. C. 1641) was bishop of Brechin and then
of Edinburgh until he, too, was deposed in 1638; and a similar
fate attended Patrick Lindsay (1566—1644), bishop of
Ross from 1613 to 1633 and archbishop of Glasgow from 1633
to 1638. Perhaps the most famous of the Lindsay prelates was
David Lindsay (c. 1531—1613), a nephew of the oth earl
of Crawford. David, who married James VI. to Anne of Denmark
at Upsala, was one of the leaders of the Kirk party; he became
bishop of Ross under the new scheme for establishing episcopacy
in 1600.
