History of the Johnstones, 1191-1909, with ... - Electric Scotland

WAMFRAY 69
Johnstoun de Beatok, John Johnstoun de Elsieschellis, and William Johnstoun
in Hayhill. Maxwell of Cowhill was the Deputy-Sheriff.
Men did not look far for a wife when John, the .second Baron of Newbic,
was young. A neighbour's daughter or a cousin had the first chance. So John
married Marion, the daughter of John Carruthers, the father of seven sons, and
Laird of Holmends, whose lands included Wormanbie, a fief of the Laird of
Johnstoun and the adjoining estate to Newbic. Marion's mother was Blanche
Murray, daughter of John's cousin, the Laird of Cock pool ; and another
daughter of Holmends married Gilbert, second son to the Laird of Wamfray.
Warn fray, formerly owned by Avenel, Graham, Carlile, Corrie, Kirkpatrick,
Boyle, Scott, and Crichton, was sold by Crichton to Laird Johnstoun in 1476.
He gave it, but only in feu, to his younger son, John, who married Katherine
Boyle, but appears to have left no legitimate male heirs. In 1528 Wamfray
was owned by James of Pocornwell, brother-german to the Laird. Being a
very poor district his retainers had the worst character for thieving and law-
lessness of all belonging to the clan. 1 Possibly, like Crichton, he did not feel
that it was his duty to guard the Borders ; but when his brother chiefs were
called out with all their able-bodied men to oppose the English, it left him
great opportunities for annexing cattle and horses. It does not appear that
he assisted at all in the war in 1541 ; and in 1546 he obtained the lands of
Aldtoun and others from his second son's father-in-law, Carruthers of Holmends.
The next year his " town " was burned by the enemy. He is mentioned in one-
State paper, but not in all, as surrendering to the English with 102 men. In
1549 his estate was erected into a Barony by Queen Mary, and settled on
himself, his wife, Margaret M'Clellan, and his eldest son, James. His possession
of Wamfray was as much disputed as that of his kinsman to Newbie ; but
in 1550 he paid Adam Scott, son and heir of Robert Scott (whose mother, John
Johnstoun's widow, Katherine Boyle, had married a Scott), for his rights to
Wamfray with the exception of Ryeholme.
The surviving Scottish prisoners straggled back from England when the
heavy ransoms demanded for them could be paid. Cuthbert Murray of Cockpool
is described by the English Warden as worth little or nothing. James, the eldest
son of the Laird of Johnstoun, died soon after his release. His widow, Margaret
Hamilton, niece of the Regent Arran, was re-married in 1552 to David Douglas,
and made an exchange of land—Howcleuch for Harthope — with William
Johnstoun, described as brother of the Laird. David Johnstoun in Nether
Garvald witnessed the deed. This is the last mention of the Laird's second
brother, William, who signed one document himself, another with his hand at
the pen ; and unless the identity of William Johnstoun of Graitney with this
William is proved he left no legal descendant. The same may be said of his
uncle, William, brother to Laird James (1509-24).
When the Laird returned home in 1550 he formed a bond of manrent with
Wamfray, and this bound them to defend each other at home and abroad. He
1 In 1530 James Charteris sues William, Thomas, David, and James Johnstoun, brothers,
in Wamfray for trespassing in Drumgrey.