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

THE JOHNSTONS OF COWHILL 25
Bounty. Bligh had an illness, which, in the tropical summer of New South
Wales, made him violent, so, in 1805, Johnston arrested him on his own respon-
sibility and sent him to England. The voyage cured him, and he brought a
charge of mutiny against Johnston, with the result that the Major was cashiered
and outlawed, and made his permanent home in Australia. His descendants
are among its wealthiest inhabitants.
The late owner of Cowhill was William Johnston, Esq., J. P., formerly in the
Civil Service in India. He was born in 1831, and the son of the late Admiral
Charles Johnston of Cowhill and of Lilias M'Alpine, his wife. He married first,
1854, Elizabeth, daughter of the late Hon. J. Thomason, Lieutenant-Governor of
the North-West Provinces of India ; and secondly, Eleanora Jane, daughter of
C. W. M'Killop, Esq., Bengal Civil Service, by whom he had a son, James
Thomason, born i860.
The Johnstons of Clouthrie, or Clauchrie, near Closeburn, are cadets of
Westerhall. Walter, their ancestor, appears in Knokilshane, Co. Dumfries,
early in the sixteenth century, and Roger, described as his son, bought lands in
Auldgirth in 1561. The same Charter transfers to him the share of his late
brother, George, bought of the same vendor, William of Dunduff.
A family of Johnstoun, who lived as feuars on the lands of Duchrae, in
Galloway, seem to belong to the Clauchries, who were particularly associated
with Dumfries and Glasgow in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Thomas Johnston of Clouthrie and John, his brother, are the last two names on
the respite to the Laird of Johnestoun and his followers (1594) after the battle
of Dryfe Sands, and John Johnston, " called Clouthrie," was, among a Jardine
and several Johnstouns, accused (March 2, 1619) by John Jardine of abstract-
ing the tithe sheafs from the complainer's land at Apilgarth. This was a mild
protest against the Reformation by those who had not yet accepted it. John of
Clauchrie got into other difficulties, and fraternised with the more lawless
members of the clan.
Archibald Johnston of Clauchrie married Bessie Williamson of Castle
Robert, and was on the War Committee of Dumfries in 1644. He lent £8S5 to
Roger Kirkpatrick of Wod and others in 1612, and probably, owing to losses
in the Civil War, was obliged, with consent of his son, John, in 1653 to mortgage
Clauchrie to Robert Neilson, sometime servitor to Sir Robert Grierson of Lag.
The mortgage was paid off to Charles Neilson (Robert's nephew) by John
Johnston, a merchant and magistrate in Glasgow, in 1663, with 9084 marks,
including interest and sheriffs fee. His brother, James, witnessed it, also
George Edgar, servant to their late father, Archibald.
The Charter of Clauchrie included the lands of Nether Clochrie, Knowhead,
Auldgirth, and Dunduff. John of Clauchrie recorded arms in the Lyon Office
in 1673. He married, 1633, Janet, daughter of John Craik, a merchant of
Dumfries, and had a sister married to Robert Herries, and two brothers, George
of Castle Robert (1649), and Alexander of Clochrie (1678).
In 1675 there is a sasine in favour of John, only son of Mr John Johnston,
doctor of physic in Paisley, and Elizabeth Cunningham, daughter of the