Wedderburn book; a history of the Wedderburns in ... - waughfamily.ca

180 THE WEDDERBURN BOOK.
Part II.
Chap. V,
8 Feb. 1821)1; but at length, 2 July 1821, the Privy Council, while they postponed
without decision his right to appear at the coronation, approved his hereditary title to the
Office he claimed and he w;xs presented a.s royal standard bearer at the King's levee at Edinburgh
in the following year. The office is now held bv his grandson and successor, whose
attendance as Hereditary Royal Standard Bearer of Scotland, together with that of
the other great Scottish officers of state, was commanded by the (jueen when Her
Majesty unveiled the statue of the Prince Consort iu Charlotte Square. Edinburgh,
17 Aug. 18/ C- '
^ '
Like his brother Alexander, he at one time contemplated establishing his ri'dit to the
Earldom of Dundee and Viscountcy of Dudhopo before the Houvc of Lords, and "continued
to some extent the investigation begun by his brother, with the assist^uice of the eminent
bcotch peerage lawyer, Mr. J. Riddell, but beyond this took no active ste[)s.^
He took much interest in ihe preparation by J.W. of his printed memoir of the Wedderbums
and gave him every opportunity and information in his power, but the mass of documents
in his possession relating to the ^Vedderburns seems to have remained practically
unexamined.* Several letters passed between them on the subject (S.W. 70.5. TOG ; J.W.
12, 13), and there are also some letters to Henry Scryni-eour-Weddc'rburn' from
other members of the family, incidentally containing notes of family matters,* which I
have made use of iu the accounts of those to whom they refer. At one time, 17 Feb. 1835
(S.W. 721), there was talk between him and my grandfather, then at Auchterhouse, near
Dundee, of his restoring the Weddcrburn monuments in the Howff', but nothing was done,
and we can only regret that this work was left untouched till nearly sixty "vcars later
(1892-93), when the condition of the so long neglected stones had become hopelessly bad
(see post, s. the Chapter on the Howll).
Mr. Scryrageour-Wedderburn died at Edinburgh 20 Eec. 1841 (Gent. Mar/, vol. xvii.,
p. 228). There is a fine portrait of him at Birkhill, painted by Raeburu in ]S22,« as well
as one of his wife by George Watson, and a group by the latter artist of three of liis'childreii
(Frederick, JIatilda, and Euphemia) when young. There are also miniatures of most of
his daughters at Birkhill. A facsimile of his signature is given opposite p. 72 of vol. ii.
He had married at Edinburgh, 5 April 1793,' Mary Turner Maitland,* eldest
daughter to Captain the Hou. Frederick Lewis Maitlaud, R.N., sixth son of Charles, sistli
' This and other letters on the subject are iu the Scrymgeoiir-WedJerburn Charter Chest, vi., xii., 128-38,
anil see J.W. 15.
= See letters to him frona the Secretary of .St.^te, 23 July, 1, 2 Aug. 1876, now at Birkhill. Among theother
ofiBcera of state who attended with him were the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal (Marquis ut Lothian),
the Keeper of the Great Seal (E«rl of Selkirk), the I,. .rd Justice Clerk. Lord Clerk Register, Lord
Justice General, and Lord Advocate ;
the hereditary Standard Bearer (Earl of Lauderdale) and the
hereditary Armour Bearer (Sir H. J. Setou-Stewart, Bart.).
* When I came to exaniiue the Charter Chest and collect together all the material Scrymgeour and W'edderburn
documents, either in it or at Birkhill, I found that Mr. Kiddell had inventoried barely one
sixth of the documents cow in the chest. See vol. ii., pp. 3 and 84-83, where it appears that there
are now some 2 500 jiapers, out of which Mr. Riddell inventoried 371.
* Alexander Scrymgeour- Wedderburu had made a cursory examination for Lord Loughborough in 1782,
and had then drawn up a list of some twenty-five VVedderburu documeuts (S.W. 669), which J. W.
seems also to have examined ; but the greater mass, if looked at. were nut dealt with.
5 See S.W. 702, 703, 707-9, 711, 714, 7!5, 716, 718, 721 ; and J.W. 11-20 ; for letters to him from J.W.
and Charles Wedderburn of Pearsie. There are also some lettei-s from Sir James Webster-
Wedderburu, viz., 6 March 1824, asking him to be a trustee of his marriage settlement which H.S.W.
declined (S.W. 712-13) : 16 Dec. 1S29, to give evidence as to Sir James' (supposed) claim to the
Blackness baronetcy (post, Part III , chap, ix.) and also in the 'Wedderbura suit (see post, ibid.),
but H.S.W. does not seem to have encouraged the correspondence.
* The receipt for this picture is at Birkhill. It is dated 24 April 1822, and the price of the picture was
eighty guineas.
^ There is a family register in his hand in an old ('1762) Bible at Birkhill. beginning " Henry Scrymgeour and
Mary Turner .Maitland were married at Edinburgh on the fifth day of .\pril 1793," after which there
follows a list of their children iu the above account of whom the entries reUting to them are quoted.
The numbers after each name give the priority of the children irrespective of their sex. The
iLdinburjh Faritik Rcjixtcr not ha\ing beeu searched for the name of Scrymgeour, the entries of
H.S.W.'s marriage and his children's births, are not given in vol- ii., pp. 499 set/.
' Her father died 16 Dec. 1786 (S.W. 698), Iiaving married 2S Aug. 1767. Her mother was Margaret Dick
MakgiU, heiress of Raukeillour and Liudores. co. Fife, a descendant of the same family as Jean
McGill, who married John Scrymgeour of Kirktoun in 1624 (ante, p. 170). It appears that James
McGill of Rankeillour who had made a settlement of his property in 1738, d.s.p,, and was
fiucceeded by his sister Isobel McGill wlio m. the Rev. William Dick of Cupar and d. 13 Jan. 1787
(S.W. 69S), and w.is succeeded by her grand-daughter Margaret 3Iaitland-Makgill, wlio d. 17 March
1825 [ilaUland- .Mahjill Papers, S.W., yii., ii., B. 1-5).