Maj.-Gen. Sir Thomas Livingston, Viscount Teviot

MAJOR GENERAL THOMAS LIVINGSTON, VISCOUNT TEVIOT

Major General of the Royal Regiment of Dragoons (Scots Greys) and Master of Ordnance: Privy Councillor and sometime Commander-in-chief in Scotland

Note: The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards(formerly Royal Regiment of Dragoons or Scots Greys) is a cavalry regiment of the British Army, and the senior Scottish regiment. It is the oldest surviving Cavalry Regiment of the Line in the British Army

The Battle of Cromdale

Thomas Livingstone served in Scotland under General Hugh Mackay, and when in command at Inverness, by forced marches with a body of horse and dragoons, he surprised and completely routed the Jacobite forces under General Thomas Buchan on 1 May 1690 at The Battle of Cromdale The engagement put an end to the resistance of the clans. Livingstone succeeded General Mackay as commander-in-chief in Scotland, and was sworn of the privy council. On 1 Jan. 1696 he became major-general on the English establishment, and on 4 Dec. 1696 was created Viscount of Teviot in the peerage of Scotland, by patent to him and his heirs male. Dictionary of National Biogaphy, v. 33.djvu/409

Monumental Inscription in Westminster Abbey

In the north aisle of the nave of Westminster Abbey is a monument to Thomas Livingston, Viscount Teviot. The Latin inscription can be translated:

Sacred to the memory of Thomas Livingston, Knight and Baronet, Viscount of Teviot, Baron Livingston of Peebles who, born in Holland, descended from the ancient family of Livingstons in Scotland. From his childhood being conversant with arms, and with glory advanced to several military titles, was at length in the reign of William III (under whom, while Prince of Orange, he had long and bravely fought, and whom he attended into Britain as a Colonel of Foot), made Lieutenant General in the army and General of the Scots Forces, Master of the Ordnance and Privy Counsellor. While Scotland was inflamed with civil broils, he happily engaged the enemy at the river Spey; by that means securing peace in his country, and the nation to the king; for which brave actions he was by his grateful prince added to the nobility. To this great man, so well deserving to his country, Alexander Livingston, Knight and Baronet, his only brother and heir, erected this monument. He died in London 14 January 1710, aged 60.

He was buried near the entrance to the Quire. The year of his death on the monument is given in Old Style dating, now called 1711 and the inscription was composed by Dr James Welwood. The coats of arms on the monument include those of Thomas "Azure, three oranges, silpped proper, within an orle of thistles or" (a blue shield with a border of gold thistles and three oranges in the centre) and the arms of Livingston of Wemyss. The supporters are a silver horse and a savage with a staff, with crest and motto and a coronet.

Thomas was the elder of two sons of Sir Thomas Livingston (d.1673) and his wife Gertrat (Edmond). In 1673 he succeeded his father as Viscount Teviot and, as the inscription recounts, served in the army in The Netherlands and came to England with William III in 1688. He married Macktellina Walrave de Nimmeguen but they separated. With no male heir the viscountcy became extinct on his death.

Genealogical and Biographical Accounts

1. Westminster Abbey: Thomas Livingstone, Viscount Teviot
2. Dictionary of National Biogaphy, v. 33.djvu/409
3. Sir James Balfour Paul, CVO., LL.D., The Scots Peerage; Containing an Historical and Genealogical Account of the Nobility of that Kingdom, VIII (David Douglas, Edinburgh, 1911), pp. 368-77 for Livingston, Viscount Teviot
4. Wikipedia: The Battle of Cromdale