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

1 54 LOCKERBIE AND HIS DESCENDANTS
tenants were labouring their lands at Turriemuir his daughter-in-law came
with her accomplices, loosed the horses from the plows and harrows, cut
the harness, and beat the workmen. James, a younger son of Lockerbie, was
present, and in the struggle was wounded under the eye with a penknife
to the great hazard of its loss. In June a set of Mrs Margaret's friends,
headed by David Carlile and his sons, William and Robert, made a personal
assault on Mrs Mary Johnstoun, wife of the Laird of Lockerbie, cut her down
and left her for dead, while her friend, Mrs Barbara Hill, was run through the
thigh with a sword. These ladies had since lain under the care of surgeons, and
it was uncertain whether they would live or die. A maid servant was also
attacked by the Carliles, cruelly beaten, and nearly choked with a horn snuftbox
(to stop her cries). In May Mrs Margaret's friends came and drove away the
sheep and cattle from the lands of Hass and Whitwynd Hill with houndcalls,
and the tenants coming to rescue their property were taken home in blankets.
Not long after Westerhall's servants came to the same lands, and took by
violence from Robert Johnstoun of Roberthill fourteen cows and oxen, which
Sir James received into his byres, had them marked, and sold ten of them, each
being worth .£40. Lastly Walter Johnstoun, brother to Mrs Margaret, came
with servants to the house of Netherplace at night, beat the owner, Mungo
Johnstoun, in a most outrageous manner, besides squeezing the hands of his son,
a boy, till the blood came from his nails. The Privy Council decided against
Lockerbie for keeping his daughter-in-law out of her rights. Chambers, in
his Domestic Annals, calls this " a fair specimen of the violence still permitted in
debateable matters of property " ; but it shows how wars and anarchy had
lowered the standard of civilisation.
The Laird of Lockerbie in 1746 was James, whose son, William Johnstone,
left two daughters. Grace, the elder, married Sir William Douglas of Kelhead
in 1772, and was mother of the sixth Marquis of Queensberry. Her grandson,
Robert Johnstone, inherited Lockerbie, and married his cousin, Lady Jane
Douglas, in 1841. Their eldest son, Arthur H. Johnstone Douglas, was born in
1846. The descendants of the co-heiresses of Lockerbie are numerous. The
younger sister, Catherine, married Colonel William Douglas in 1791.
Sir James Johnstoun of Westerhall died in 1699, and was succeeded by his
eldest son, John, who had married, about 1687, Rachel, eldest daughter of
James Johnston of Sheens, the last being first cousin to Warrieston and to
Sophia Johnston, the mother of Lady Annandale. Westerhall was an M.P.
and voted for the Union, while his Chief and Provost Johnston (Clochrie)
of Dumfries voted on the other side. He died in 171 1 at Tournay, when
commanding a regiment of dragoons in Flanders, leaving an only child,
Philadelphia, married to her cousin, James Douglas of Dornock. Westerhall
was created a Baronet of Nova Scotia in 1700, and his brother, William,
inherited it with the estate. A sister, Grizel, seems to have died unmarried.
Sir William's wife was sister to his brother's wife, but died early in 17 10.
She was mother of his heir, James, and of John, the ancestor of Lord Derwent.
Sir William, like his brother, voted for the Union in the last Parliament