Lady Henrietta Douglas

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• Reference Number: 4272

Henrietta married James Johnstone 29 May 1645. James (son of James Johnstone and Margaret Douglas) was born 1625, St Ninians, Stirlingshire, Scotland; died 16 Jul 1672, Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland; was buried , Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland. [Group Sheet]

1. George Johnstone was born 21 Jun 1667; died 10 May 1674.
2. Margaret Johnstone was born 1672.
3. Mary Johnstone was born 1660.
4. James Johnstone was born 17 Dec 1660.
5. John Johnstone was born 3 Sep 1665; died 29 Dec 1714.
6. William Johnstone was born 17 Feb 1663, Annandale, Dumfries-shire, Scotland; died 14 Jan 1721, Dumfries-shire, Scotland.
7. Henrietta Johnstone

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• Reference Number: 4274

Notes:

Buried:
St Bride's Kirk

Died:
Douglas Castle

William married Mary Gordon 1632. [Group Sheet]

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• Reference Number: 36964

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• Reference Number: 4265

Notes:

WILLIAM DOUGLAS, tenth Earl, who became a Roman Catholic, and, in conjunction with the Earls of Errol and Huntly, disturbed the peace of the country and perilled its safety by their treasonable intrigues with the King of Spain. They were implicated in the conspiracy of the ‘Spanish Blanks,' as it was called in consequence of certain blank sheets of paper, having at the bottom the seals and signatures of the Popish lords, being found in the possession of George Kerr, a brother of the Abbot of Newbattle, who was about to proceed on a secret mission to Spain. Kerr, on being put to the torture, confessed the whole affair.

It appears that the King of Spain was to land an army of thirty thousand men on the west coast of Scotland, where they were to be joined by the Popish lords with all the forces they could muster. Fifteen thousand of the Spanish troops were to march across the Border and assist in raising an insurrection in England, while the remainder, with the assistance of the Romish faction, were to overthrow the Protestant Church in Scotland. This nefarious plot against the independence of the country and the national religion was repeatedly renewed by the three Popish lords; but James, who was unwilling to proceed to extremities against them, contrived to delay the infliction of the punishment which their crime deserved. The lenity shown by the King seemed only to embolden them to open resistance against the royal authority. They were at length declared guilty of high treason, and excommunicated as obstinate Papists, their estates and honours were forfeited, and a commission was given to the young Earl of Argyll to pursue them with fire and sword. Huntly and Errol collected their retainers, and, after a stubborn conflict, defeated the royal forces at a place called Glenlivet, 3rd October, 1594.

The King, indignant and alarmed at this disaster, marched at the head of a powerful army to the north, and laid waste the estates of the insurgents and destroyed their strongholds. Angus was not present at the battle of Glenlivet, but he shared the fate of his associates, and implored the King's permission to leave the kingdom, which was granted on condition that he would not return without the royal sanction, nor during his exile make any attempt to injure the Protestant religion or the peace and liberties of his native country. He returned secretly in 1595 and was suffered to remain in Scotland on giving assurance that he would henceforth conduct himself like a loyal and peaceful subject. In the following year he was formally ‘released' from the bond, and in 1597, along with Huntly and Errol, was publicly absolved from his excommunication and reconciled to the Kirk at Aberdeen, in the presence of a great assembly of persons of all ranks. He subsequently retired to the Continent, and died at Paris, 3rd March, 1611, in the fifty-seventh year of his age.

Buried:
Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés

William married Elizabeth of Oliphant 1585. Elizabeth (daughter of Laurence IV of Oliphant and Margaret Hay of Erroll) was born 1571; died 1622. [Group Sheet]

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• Reference Number: 10610

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• Reference Number: 36965

Notes:

The son of George Gordon, 5th Earl of Huntly, and of Anne, daughter of James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran and Duke of Châtellerault,[1] he was educated in France as a Roman Catholic. He took part in the plot which led to the execution of James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton in 1581 and in the conspiracy which saved King James VI from the Ruthven raiders in 1583. In 1588 he signed the Presbyterian confession of faith, but continued to engage in plots for the Spanish invasion of Scotland. On 28 November he was appointed captain of the guard, and while carrying out his duties at Holyrood his treasonable correspondence was discovered. King James, however, finding the Roman Catholic lords useful as a foil to the tyranny of the Kirk, was at this time seeking Spanish aid in case Queen Elizabeth I tried to challenge his right to the English throne; Huntly, always one of his favourites, was pardoned.
Subsequently in April 1589, Huntly raised a rebellion in the north, but was obliged to surrender, and after a short imprisonment in Borthwick Castle was again freed. He then involved himself in a private war with the Grants and the Mackintoshes, who were assisted by the Earls of Atholl and Moray; and on 8 February 1592 he set fire to Moray's castle of Donibristle in Fife, and stabbed the earl to death with his own hand. This outrage, which originated the ballad The Bonnie Earl of Moray, brought retribution on Huntly; his enemies ravaged his lands.
In December the "Spanish Blanks" were intercepted (see Francis Hay, 9th Earl of Erroll), two of which bore Huntly's signature, and a charge of treason was again brought against him, while on 25 September 1593 he was excommunicated. James treated him and the other rebel lords with great leniency. On 26 November they were freed from the charge of treason, being ordered at the same time, however, to renounce their Catholic faith or leave the kingdom. On their refusal to comply they were attainted. Huntly then joined Erroll and Francis Stewart-Hepburn, 5th Earl of Bothwell, in a conspiracy to imprison the king, and they defeated the royal forces under Argyll in the Battle of Glenlivet on 3 October 1594, Huntly especially distinguishing himself. His victory gained no real advantage; his castle of Strathbogie was blown up by James, and Huntly left Scotland in about March 1595. He returned secretly soon afterwards, and his presence in Scotland was at first tolerated by James; but owing to the hostile feeling aroused, and the "No Popery" riot in Edinburgh, the king demanded that he should abjure Romanism or go into permanent banishment. He submitted to the Kirk in June 1597, and was restored to his estates in December.
On 7 April 1599, he was created a marquess, and on 9 July, together with Lennox, appointed lieutenant of the north. He was treated with great favour by the king and was reconciled with Murray and Argyll. The Kirk still doubted the genuineness of his abjuration and, on 10 December 1606, he was confined to Aberdeen; on 19 March 1607 he was summoned before the privy council. Huntly thereupon went to England and appealed to James in person. He was excommunicated in 1608, and imprisoned in Stirling Castle till 10 December 1610, when he signed again the confession of faith.
Accused of Romanist intrigues in 1616, he was ordered once more to subscribe the confession, which this time he refused to do; imprisoned at Edinburgh, he was set free by James's order on 18 June, and having joined the court in London was absolved from excommunication by Abbot, archbishop of Canterbury; this absolution, after a further subscription to the confession by Huntly, was confirmed by the Kirk.
At the accession of Charles I Huntly lost much of his influence at court. He was deprived in 1630 of his heritable sheriffships of Aberdeen and Inverness. The same year a feud broke out between the Crichtons and Gordons, in the course of which Huntly's second son, Lord Melgum, was burnt to death either by treachery or by accident, while being entertained in the house of James Crichton of Frendraught. For the ravaging of the lands of the Crichtons Huntly was held responsible, and having been summoned before the privy council in 1635 he was imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle from December till June 1636. He left his confinement with shattered health, and died at Dundee while on his journey to Strathbogie on 13 June 1636, after declaring himself a Roman Catholic.

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• Reference Number: 4264

William — Gille Egidia Graham. Gille (daughter of Robert Graham) was born 1534; died 1609. [Group Sheet]

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• Reference Number: 5409

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• Reference Number: 10611

Laurence — Margaret Hay of Erroll. Margaret was born 1530. [Group Sheet]

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• Reference Number: 6413

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• Reference Number: 36990

Notes:

Second son of the 4th Earl, he was Sheriff of Inverness from 1556. As Captain of Badenoch, he was in charge of carrying letters send from Edinburgh to Mary of Guise in Inverness from Dunkeld throughout the summer of 1556.[1] However, he was attainted and sentenced to death for treason in 1563. He was imprisoned at Dunbar castle until the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots, to Darnley in 1565, when his lands and dignities were nominally restored. [2]
He allied himself with James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, who was married to his sister Jean, and joined Queen Mary at Dunbar after Rizzio's murder in 1566. He became Lord Chancellor of Scotland in 1567, and joined Bothwell in the plot to murder the Regent Moray at Jedburgh. He signed the bond at Craigmillar Castle for Darnley's murder, and accompanied Bothwell and Mary on the visit to Darnley before his murder.
His estates were fully restored after Bothwell's acquittal in 1567. Bothwell's divorce from his sister was facilitated by his influence over her, and he witnessed the marriage contract between Mary and Bothwell. He connived at the capture of the Queen, and accompanied her to Edinburgh, escaping to the north after her flight. He joined the partisans at Dumbarton Castle, and after a temporary agreement with Moray he conspired for her deliverance from Loch Leven castle in 1567. After the Queen's escape to England in 1568, he held all the north in alliance with Argyll, but received Mary's order to disperse.
Huntly made an agreement with Regent Moray at St Andrews on 14 May 1569. Huntly was to make up his quarrel with the Earl of Morton, repress rebellion amongst his former allies, and surrender a royal cannon kept at Huntly Castle. In return, Regent Moray would give the Earl and his followers a remission for all their crimes against the King since 11 June 1567, and promised an Act of Parliament to forgive his role as 'pretended Lieutenant to the Queen's Grace' between August 1568 and March 1569.[3]
After this temporary submission he gained possession of Edinburgh Castle, held a parliament, captured the Regent Lennox at Stirling and, in 1572, came to terms with the Regent Morton.

Died:
Strathbogie (the old name of Huntly in Scotland)

George — Anne Hamilton. [Group Sheet]

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• Reference Number: 36991