John Steward, Earl of Carrick

JOHN STEWART, EARL OF CARRICK. LORD KINCLEVIN

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY BY WIKIPEDIA

John Stewart, Earl of Carrick, Lord Kinclaven (died c. 1645) was a Scottish nobleman, the third son of Robert, Earl of Orkney, a bastard son of King James V.

His father had been born in 1533 as the illegitimate child of the King and his mistress Euphemia Elphinstone. Robert acquired the temporalities of the See of Orkney in 1569, and in 1581 was made Earl of Orkney and Lord of Zetland by his half-nephew King James VI. He married Lady Jean Kennedy, eldest daughter of the Earl of Cassilis, and by her had five sons and four daughters, in addition to the ten bastards he fathered. His eldest son Henry had died before 1590, meaning on his death in 1592 he was succeeded as Earl of Orkney by his second son Patrick, a man infamous for his godless and tyrannical nature. In 1593 the younger brothers of Earl Patrick - John, James and William - were accused of conspiring with the "sorceress" Margaret Balfour to poison him. Margaret was executed along with John's servitor Thomas Papla, but both left depositions renouncing their testimonies on the account that they had been extracted by torture, meaning the prosecution of the brothers failed and they were acquitted. Earl Patrick was later forfeited and executed for treason in 1615, and his lands in Orkney passed to John.

John was known as the "Master of Orkney". On 6 August 1600 he rode with James Sandilands to Dirleton Castle to arrest William and Patrick Ruthven, brothers of the Earl of Gowrie but they had fled, being forewarned by a man called Kennedy.

Union of the Crowns

He came to London in 1603 with King James. Lady Anne Clifford wrote that in July 1603, "Now was the Master of Orkney and the Lord Tullibardine much in love in Mrs Cary and came thither (to Norbury, where they were isolated because of suspected plague) to see us with George Murray in their company who was one of the King's bedchamber."[2]

King James ennobled him as Lord Kincleven on 10 August 1607.[3] In 1623 he quarrelled with George Hay, later Earl of Kinnoull, over their business ventures in Orkney.[4] In 1628 James's successor Charles granted him the ancient and prestigious title Earl of Carrick. The validity of the latter title was questioned, as it conflicted with the earldom of Carrick held by the heir to the throne. This difficulty was resolved when it was pointed out that the titles referred to different places: the royal earldom to Carrick in Ayrshire, and Kinclaven's earldom to the lands of Carrick on Eday in Orkney.

The Earl of Carrick was a great entrepreneur, establishing businesses such as salt works and breweries on Eday. In 1619 he had received a licence to make and sell new kinds of earthenware vessels and tobacco pipes,[5] and in 1630 he was appointed a Commissioner of Fisheries. He was present at the funeral of James VI in London, from whom he had received a pension of three thousand pounds Scots 'for services done'. The Earl died sometime between 1639, when he is recorded as having subscribed to the Covenant, and 1649, when a charter issued by his brother refers to him as deceased.

Family

He was betrothed or married to Margaret Stewart, a daughter of James Stewart, 1st Lord Doune, but she died soon after. He married at Chelsea in 1604 Lady Elizabeth Howard (d. 1646), daughter of Charles, Earl of Nottingham and widow of Sir Robert Southwell of Woodrising. They had one child, Lady Margaret Stewart, who married Sir John Mennes and became the ancestress of the Lords Willoughby de Broke.

Carrick also had two natural children: a son, Henry Stewart, who received a grant from his father of certain lands on Eday, and a daughter (name unknown), who married William Craigie of Gairsay. As he had no legitimate son, the earldom of Carrick and lordship of Kinclaven became extinct on

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY

between 1639, when he subscribed the Covenant, and 6 April 1649, when in a charter of Eday in Orkney Sir James Stewart of Tullos is styled brother and heir of the deceased John, Earl of Carrick.' The earldom seems to have become extinct, at least Orawlurd ' says ' so much as I know, the dignity at present is not claimed by any.' He married at Chelsea, 26 October 1604, Elizabeth, daughter of Charles Howard, Earl of Nottingham, widow of Sir Robert Southwell. She was buried at Greenwich, 31 January 1645-46, and her administration dated 3 March 1645-46, 12 August 1651, and 21 February 1653-54," and by her he had a daughter: " Margaret Stewart, married to Sir John Mennes, Knight, and was ancestress of the family of Lord Willoughby de Broke.'*

He is stated to have had a natural daughter, married to William Craigie of Gairsay, who died in 1657, and He had a natural son: " Henry Stewuart, who received a grant of certain lands in Eday from his father in 1639.' Arms. " Font's ms. gives the following: " Quarterly, 1st and 4th, or, a lion rampant within a double tressure flory counterflory gules, all within a bordure compony argent and azure: 2nd and 3rd, argent, a ship, her raes in cross or.

Crest. " A prince sitting on a chair of state clad in ancient habit, holding a sceptre or in the dexter hand, and a goshawk in the sinister, proper.

Supporters. " These are not given by Pont, but are stated by Rietstap (Armorial General) to be the same as those of the Earl of Orkney. These again are given in the Forman (Lyon Office) ms. as: Dexter, a unicorn argent, horned and gorged with an open crown or; sinister, a griffin proper beaked and membered azure and gorged or.

Motto. " Sic fuit est et crit.

[a. f. s.] [7]

' Seg. Mag. Sig. Family of Stewart, 38. "' Wood's Douglas; Lysons

Environs of London (Chelsea). Complete Peerage. * Wood's Douglas, i. 323. " Stodart's Scottish Arms, ii. 203. ' Orkney Sasines.

King James VI and I created John Stuart (Steward) "Earl of Carrick", in Orkney, in the Peerage of Scotland.

He had already been made Lord Kincleven in 1607, also in the Peerage of Scotland, and in 1616 obtained charter of the monestary at Crossregal of the lands of Ballondorn and of the lands of Knockronnal, part of the ancient Earldom of Carrick.

Stuart was a younger son of Robert Stewart, 1st Earl of Orkney, illegitimate son of King James V of Scotland.
He was granted title to the island of Eday in 1632 [3] , and he constructed a substantial mansion house at Calfsound on its northern shores shortly thereafter.[4]

He also had property in Ayrshire and hankered after the prestigious title of Earl of Carrick.

House in London (1606):
Survey of London: volume 13: St Margaret, Whitehall, Westminster, part II: Whitehall I: The Bowling Green and Hance's House

King James allowed him to name his new Eday property "Carrick House" enabling him to have the style, if not the substance of this title.[5]

The title became extinct on his death in 1652, as he had no legitimate male heirs.

Key dates:

1596 Indicted for consulting with a witch.

1603 Accompanied James VI (his cousin) at his accession to the crown of England

1604 Marriage to Elizabeth

1607 Created Lord Kincleven

1628 Created Earl of Carrick

1632 Granted barony of Eday

Background:Stewart earls

   John Stewart, Earl of Carrick (c. 1368–1390) [became King Robert III of Scotland in 1390]

   David Stewart, Duke of Rothesay (1390–1402)

   reverted to crown

   James Stewart, Duke of Rothesay (1404–1437) [became King James I of Scotland in 1406]

See Duke of Rothesay for further Earls of Carrick. [Wikipedia]

John Stewards house in Edinburgh:

Mr Daniel Wilson in his “Memorials of Edinburgh vol 1 page 94” remarks-“The fine old mansion of this family (Balmerino House) still stands at the corner of Coatfield lane, in the Kirkgate.It has a handsome front to the east, ornamented with some curious specimens of the debased gothic, prevalent in the reign of James VI”. The same author observes “its most striking feature is a curiously decorated doorway, finished in the ornate style of gothic-an ogee arch, filled with rich gothic tracery surmounts the square lintel, finished with s lion’s head which seems to hold the arch suspended in its mouth, on other side is a sculptured shield on which a monogram is cut, characterised by the usual inexplicable ingenuity of these quaint riddles and with the date 1631

He goes on to mention “Tradition may be right in assigning this mansion as the temporary residence of Charles II in 1650. The arms are of the Stewart of Scotland, quarterly, first and fourth (lion Rampant), second and third, azure a galley (or lymphad) her sails furled. 

The house itself was built by John Stewart, Earl of Carrick second son of Robert of Orkney natural son of James V in 1631. The earl of Carrick sold the house and grounds on the 13th September 1643 to John, Lord Balmerino. The house remained in the Balmerino until the attainder on the last lord Balmerino and the property was sold in 1755 to the Earl of Moray who in turn sold it to Lady Baird of Newbyth for 700 pounds. Lady Baird was succeeded by her brother General James St Clair of St Clair and then he sold it to Colonel Robert Elphinstone of Logie

[1] WikipediaBartholemew 1983. ISBN 0-7028-1709-0 [2] William Cunynghame of Kilmaurs, Earl of Carrick [3] "Eday, Carrick House". Canmore. Retrieved 3 Mar 2012. [4] Stewart, Walter (mid-1640s) "New Choreographic Description of the Orkneys" in Irvine (2006) p. 24 [5] Thomson (2008) p. 302 [6] The Peerage – John Stewart, 1st and last Earl of Carrick

[7] APA: Paul, James Balfour. (2013). page 440-441, page 442-443 The Scots Peerage (Vol. 2). London: Forgotten Books. (Original work published 1905) MLA: Paul, James Balfour. The Scots Peerage. Vol. 2. 1905. Reprint. London: Forgotten Books, 2013. 442-3. Print.