Rachel Chieslie, Lady Grange

RACHEL CHIESLIE (aka RACHEL CHIESLEY)

Rachell Cheislie, here treated is the daughter of John Chieslie of Dalry and his wife Margaret Nicholson She was born before 4 February 1679, the date upon which her baptism was registered at Edinburgh in Midlothian, Scotland. [National Records of Scotland, Edinburgh Baptisms, reference OPR.685/1/8]

Evidence from the National Records of Scotland

                   1

1694-1710: Documents anent business affairs and executry of Maj Walter Cheislie [Chiesley] of Dalry (dec 1700), and intromissions of his executors, eg Margaret Nicolson [Nicholson], relict of John Cheislie of Dalry, his mother, Thomas, Robert and Samuel Cheislie, his brothers, and Rachel Cheislie, spouse of James Erskine, Lord Grange, Katherine Cheislie, spouse of George Wallace of Monkcastle, and Margaret Cheislie, his sisters. National Records of Scotland, Papers of the Erskine Family, Earls of Mar and Kellie, reference GD124/3/70

                   2

26 July 1715: Signature of the lands of Preston granted to Rachel Cheislie (Chiesly), wife of James Erskine (Araskine, Areskine, Erskene, Erskin). National Records of Scotland, Register of Signatures, boxed series, reference SIG1/30/5

                   3

7 August 1730 x 7 August 1731: Papers relating to the payment of an allowance by Lord Grange to his wife, Rachel Chiesly [Chiesley], for her maintenance. National Records of Scotland, Papers of the Erskine Family, Earls of Mar and Kellie, reference GD124/16/54

                   4

1732 x 1739: Copy of letter written by Rachel, wife of James Erskine of Grange, on the island [of St Kilda] describing her abduction in 1732 and later sufferings. National Records of Scotland, Papers of the Erskine Family, Earls of Mar and Kellie, reference GD124/15/1506

Wikipedia Biographical Summary

"Rachel Chiesley, usually known as Lady Grange (1679–1745), was the wife of James Erskine, Lord Grange, a Scottish lawyer with Jacobite sympathies.

Rachel Chiesley's birthday is unknown but she was baptised on 4 February 1679 and was probably born shortly before then, making her about ten years old at the time of her father's execution.[3]

Marriage and children

The date of Chiesley's marriage to James Erskine is uncertain: based on the text of a letter she wrote much later in life, it may have been in 1707 when she was about 28.[Note 1] Erskine was the younger son of Charles Erskine, Earl of Mar and in 1689 his older brother John Erskine, became 22nd Earl of Mar on their father's death.

The young Lady Grange has been described as a "wild beauty", and it is likely the marriage only took place after she became pregnant.[11] This uncertain background notwithstanding, Lord and Lady Grange led a superficially uneventful domestic life. They divided their time between a town house at the foot of Niddry's Wynd off the High Street in Edinburgh and an estate at Preston (near Prestonpans in East Lothian), where Lady Grange was the factor (or supervisor) for a time.[12][13] Her husband was a successful lawyer, becoming Lord Justice Clerk in 1710,[14] and the marriage produced nine children:

1. Charlie, born August 1709.[15]
2. Johnie, born March 1711, died age two months.[15]
3. James, born March 1713.[15] He married his uncle "Bobbing" John's daughter Frances. Their son John eventually became Earl of Mar after the title was restored.[16][17]
4. Mary, born July 1714,[15] who married John Keith the 3rd Earl of Kintore in August 1729.[17][18]
5. Meggie, who died young in May 1717.[19]
6. Fannie, born December 1716.[15]
7. Jeannie, born in December 1717.[19]
8. Rachel.[15]
9. John.[15]

In addition, Lady Grange miscarried twice and one of the above children is known to have died in 1721.[15]

After 25 years of marriage and nine children, the Granges separated acrimoniously. When Lady Grange produced letters that she claimed were evidence of his treasonable plottings against the Hanoverian government in London, her husband had her kidnapped in 1732. She was incarcerated in various remote locations on the western seaboard of Scotland, including the Monach Isles, Skye and the distant islands of St Kilda...

...In January 1732 she was conveyed with great secrecy from Edinburgh to the Monach Islands for two years, thence Hirta in St Kilda, where she remained for about ten years, thence she was taken to Assynt in Sutherland, and finally to Skye. To complete the idea that she was dead her funeral was publicly celebrated, but she survived until May 1745....

...Lady Grange's father was convicted of murder and she is known to have had a violent temper; initially her absence seems to have caused little comment. News of her plight eventually reached her home town of Edinburgh however, and an unsuccessful rescue attempt was undertaken by her lawyer, Thomas Hope of Rankeillor. She died in captivity, after being in effect imprisoned for 13 years. Her life has been remembered in poetry, prose and a play...

Origins

...Rachel Chiesley was one of ten children born to John Chiesley of Dalry and Margaret Nicholson. The marriage was unhappy and Margaret took her husband to court for alimony. She was awarded 1,700 merks by Sir George Lockhart of Carnwath, the Lord President of the Court of Session. Furious with the result, John Chiesley shot Lockhart dead on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh as he walked home from church on Easter Sunday, 31 March 1689. he assailant made no attempt to escape and confessed at his trial, held before the Lord Provost the next day. Two days later he was taken from the Tolbooth to the Mercat Cross on the High Street. His right hand was cut off before he was hanged, and the pistol he had used for the murder was placed round his neck.[2]

References

1. SOURCE: Wikipedia contributors, 'Rachel Chiesley, Lady Grange', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 19 October 2012, 19:20 UTC, <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rachel_Chiesley,_Lady_Gra...> [accessed 14 November 2012]
   
   1. Cites: Macaulay, Margaret (2009) The Prisoner of St Kilda: The true story of the unfortunate Lady Grange. Edinburgh: Luath. ISBN 978-1-906817-02-2. (Preview: https://a.co/3zJlrLm); (Chronology: document attached)
2. Seton-Watson, R. W. “THE STRANGE STORY OF LADY GRANGE.” History, vol. 16, no. 61, 1931, pp. 12–24. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24400560. Accessed 20 Dec. 2022.
3. “notices of Lady Grange. With an introductory sketch illustrative of the condition of the Highlands, prior to the year 1745.” By K. Macleay With plates. Third edition. Edinburgh : W. Brown, 1881. < link >
4. “Rachel Chiesley, Lady Grange, 1679 - 1745. Wife of James Erskine, Lord Grange.” < Nationalgalleries.org > Reproduced courtesy of a private collection on long term loan to the National Galleries of Scotland. Rachel Chiesley married James Erskine, Lord Grange (PGL 236) in 1707, but the union was a disaster. She was embarrassing and notoriously aggressive, and they eventually split in 1730. Headstrong Rachel was unwilling to let him go and made his life extremely difficult, even threatening to expose him as a Jacobite. In an extraordinary move Erskine had Rachel kidnapped in 1732, and incarcerated on St Kilda. She was a prisoner for thirteen years leading a miserable existence, being handed between various captors at her husband’s instruction. She never returned to Edinburgh and her fate remained a mystery among locals. She died on Skye in 1745.
5. “Family - Erskine of Mar and Erskine of Dun Connections - Rachel Chiesley, Lady Grange” < OrnaVerum.org>
6. “1689: John Chiesly, for alimony.” < ExecutedToday.com >
7. “Descendants of Henry de Erskine - Generation 18.” < link > James Erskine (died on 24 Jan 1754) had four sons (the two elder sons died young) and four daughters with Rachel Chiesly.
8. ” One of our most intriguing ancestors …” Clan MacNeacail Society of Scotland. < link > “She died on the Vaternish peninsula in 1845 [sic: 1745]. Unusual in many ways, she may have had up to three funerals. There may have been one in Edinburgh shortly after she was kidnapped, the real one was at Trumpan Church at Vaternish and there was an “official” one in Dunvegan a week or two after that. Ironically, had she not sent the letters and had she survived a bit longer, she would have been freed when British troops invaded St Kilda in 1746 looking for Bonnie Prince Charlie. The gravestone belonging to Lady Grange can be found in Trumpan cemetery, which is a 40 minute drive from Portree.”
9. “The true burial place of Lady Grange.” near to Trumpan, Highland, Great Britain. < link >

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• Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: Mar 21 2023, 3:19:02 UTC