Sir William de Livingston

SIR WILLIAM LIVINGSTON OF DRUMRY

William Livingston of Drumry (aka Will de Leuyingston Miles dns de Drumry) is the son of Andrew Livingston and his wife Elena. Registrum S. Marie de Neubotle etc., 1140-1528, pp. 34-5

Marriage

Marriage

Sir William Livingston of Drumry married Margaret. Registrum S. Marie de Neubotle etc., 1140-1528, pp. 34-5

Successor

William Livingston was succeeded at Drumry by John Livingston of Drumry. It is not certain but it seems quite likely, probable even, that William Linvingston of Drumry is the father of John Livingston of Drumry. The Scots Peerage, VIII, p.369

Genealogy

1. Sir James Balfour Paul, CVO., LL.D., The Scots Peerage; Containing an Historical and Genealogical Account of the Nobility of that Kingdom, v, {David Douglas, Edinburgh, 1908), pp, 421-51 for Livingston, Earl of Linlithgow
2. 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

Biographical Accounts

William de Livingston (son of Andrew Livingston and Elene DeQuarantley) was born Abt. 1270 in Drumry, Scotland, and died 1339 in Drumry, Scotland.

Sir William de Livingston of Gorgyn, Crainmillar and Drumry, was a firm adherent of the House of Bruce, and fought against the English at Halidon Hill, July 19th, 1333 Died: 1339

Married: Margaret, whose surname unfortunately is not on record; she may have been a daughter of Sir Fergus Comyn, Lord of Gorgyn, circa 1260. Other family researchers say she was Margaret (Agnes) Erskine, daughter of John Erskine of Erskine, Renfrewshire, Scotland.

Edwin Brockholst Livingston says in his publication of 1920 called The Livingstons of Callendar, etc, the following: It is unfortunate that the Newbottle charter of William Livingston in 1338 does not give his wife's surname, as the author would not be at all surprised to discover that she was descended from royalty. She may have been the daughter of Sir Fergus Comyn, Lord of Gorgyn, her husband's predecessor in the ownership of these lands, as her son Sir William de Livingston, the founder of the Callendar line, and his descendants as well as the descendants of her elder son, John of Drumry, had the right to bear the royal tressure of Scotland in their paternal coat-of-arms, which tressure was not borne by the Livingstons of that ilk, nor by any other of their cadets than Drumry and Callendar.

Sir William de Livingston and Margaret had the following children:

John Livingston (died 1366) married a daughter of Wemyss of Wemyss and was the founder of the Livingstons of Drumry and East Wemyss, but the line became extinct when Sir Robert Livingston was slain at the Battle of Flodden Field on September 9, 1513.

Sir William Livingston of Callendar

From a charter of Sir William de Livingston, Lord of Gorgyn and of Drumry, granting the monks of Newbottle the liberty of grinding the grain grown on their lands of Easter Craig at his mill of Gorgyn, we learn that the grantor was the son of Andrew de Livingston by his wife Elene or Ellen. For the donor specially states in this charter that he confers on these monks this use of his mill of Gorgyn, "for the weal of my soul and the soul of Margaret my spouse, and of our children; and for the souls of my father Andrew and my mother Elene, and of all my ancestors and successors." This Charter was granted on March 3, 1338-39. The Gorgyn lands, in Midlothian, which had formerly been in the possession of Sir Fergus Comyn, according to a Holyrood charter, had been in the ownership of Sir William de Livingston previous to March 25, 1328, as on that date he had confirmed to the abbot and canons of Holyrood the right to the mill lade of Salchton, which had been granted to them by his predecessor Sir Fergus Comyn, and Sir William de Livingston must have obtained posession of Drumry between that date and the date of the Newbottle charter. His lands of Gorgyn and Craigmillar in Midlothian were temporarily forfeited to the English crown during the years 1335 to 1337 evidently in punishment for their owner having fought against the English at the battle of Halidon Hill, near Berwick-on-Tweed, July 19, 1333; in which battle Sir William ranked as a knight banneret, and his post was in the rearguard, which was commanded in person by Sir Arcibald Douglas, the Guardian of Scotland. Two of the late King Robert Bruce's most notable adherents, Sir Alexander Seton, the elder and Sir William Ramsay, were the principal witnesses to Sir William's confirmatory charter to Holyrood Abbey of March 25, 1328. He must have been a man of considerable importance, for in a contemporary Norman-French manuscript entitled Le arrai et lassemble des gentz Descoce que vindrent a la bataille de Berewick, known better as the battle of Halidon Hill, his name appears among those of the knight bannerets who were attached to the command of Sir Archibald Douglas. His presence at this battle had escaped the author's notice, until he came across a printed copy of the above manuscipt in the 2nd vol. of The Miscellany of the Scottish History Society, as in Tytler's history of Scotland his name is misspelt "Launston." His name appears as that of a witness to Douglas charters, as "Dominus Willelmus de Levingstoun, miles," between the years 1316 and 1319. (From The Livingstons of Callendar, etc by Edwin Brockholst Livingston 1920)