Sir John Lauder, 1st Baronet
Encyclopedia
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
baillie
Baillie
A baillie or bailie is a civic officer in the local government of Scotland. The position arose in the burghs, where baillies formerly held a post similar to that of an alderman or magistrate...
and Treasurer of the City of Edinburgh, who was raised to a Nova Scotia baronetcy in 1688.
Antecedents
Lauder was born at Melville Mill and baptised 17 August 1595 at LasswadeLasswade
Lasswade is a civil parish and village in Midlothian, Scotland, on the River North Esk, nine miles south of Edinburgh city centre, between Dalkeith and Loanhead...
church, the son of Andrew Lauder of Melville Mill, Lasswade (d.June 1658) and his first wife, Janet (d. April 1617), daughter of David Ramsay of Polton
Polton
Polton is a village located in Lasswade parish, Midlothian, Scotland, anciently a superiority of the Ramsay family, cadets of Dalhousie. In 1618 David Ramsay of Polton was in possession. ....
and Hillhead. His son, Sir John Lauder, Lord Fountainhall
John Lauder, Lord Fountainhall
Sir John Lauder of Fountainhall, 2nd Baronet, Lord Fountainhall was one of Scotland's leading jurists who remains to this day an oft consulted authority...
, recorded his ancestry in his Holograph Notes.. He gives the 1st baronet's father as Andrew Lauder, and his father as William Lauder, a "second brother of [Robert] Lauder of that Ilk", sons of Richard Lauder, younger, of that Ilk (k. June 1567).
As John Lauder of Newington he matriculated Arms with the Lord Lyon King of Arms
Lord Lyon King of Arms
The Lord Lyon King of Arms, the head of Lyon Court, is the most junior of the Great Officers of State in Scotland and is the Scottish official with responsibility for regulating heraldry in that country, issuing new grants of arms, and serving as the judge of the Court of the Lord Lyon, the oldest...
c. 1672 as descended of a second son of Lauder of that Ilk.
Merchant career and estates
Lauder, mentioned in his mother’s Testament, became a highly successful merchant-burgess in Edinburgh, being admitted as a Burgess on 23 November 1636. He served as Treasurer of the City of Edinburgh in 1652, and as bailie from 1657 to 1661.He purchased (before 1672) the estate of Newington, EdinburghNewington, Edinburgh
Newington is an area of Edinburgh, Scotland, about 15 to 20 minutes walk south of the city centre, the Royal Mile and Princes Street.It is the easternmost district of the area formerly covered by the Burgh Muir, gifted to the City by David I in the 12th Century...
, and subsequently (10 June 1681) the lands of Woodhead and Templehall, which along with others in Edinburghshire and Haddingtonshire, were erected by Crown charter into the feudal barony of Fountainhall
Pencaitland
Pencaitland is a village in East Lothian, Scotland, about south-east of Edinburgh, south-west of Haddington, and east of Ormiston.The land where the village lies is said to have been granted by William the Lion to Calum Cormack in 1169, who gave the church, with the tithes and other property...
on 13 August 1681. He later purchased the lands of Idingtoun (now Edington) near Chirnside
Chirnside
Chirnside is a hillside village in Berwickshire in Scotland, west of Berwick-upon-Tweed and east of Duns.-Notables:David Hume, the Scottish Enlightenment philosopher, lived in Ninewells House, just south of the village...
, Berwickshire
Berwickshire
Berwickshire or the County of Berwick is a registration county, a committee area of the Scottish Borders Council, and a lieutenancy area of Scotland, on the border with England. The town after which it is named—Berwick-upon-Tweed—was lost by Scotland to England in 1482...
, from his third father-in-law, George Ramsay of Idingtoun.
Marriages
Lauder married thrice: (1) 20 November 1639, at Edinburgh, Margaret (1618 - 1643) daughter of James Speirs by his wife Catherine née Curie; (2) 17 July 1643 at Edinburgh, Isabel (27 July 1628 - 2 February 1669), daughter of Alexander Ellis of Mortonhall and Stanhopmilnes by his wife Elisabeth, daughter of Nicol Edward, Dean of Guild in Edinburgh; (3) 15 February 1670, Margaret, daughter of George Ramsay of Idingtoun (of the Dalhousie familyEarl of Dalhousie
Earl of Dalhousie, in the County of Midlothian, is a title in the Peerage of Scotland, held by the Chief of Clan Ramsay.-History:This family descends from Sir George Ramsay, who represented Kincardineshire in the Scottish Parliament in 1617. He received a charter of the barony of Dalhousie and also...
), by his wife Margaret Seton. After Lauder's death his widow married William Cunninghame, younger of Brounhill, sometime Provost
Provost (civil)
A provost is the ceremonial head of many Scottish local authorities, and under the name prévôt was a governmental position of varying importance in Ancien Regime France.-History:...
of Ayr
Ayr
Ayr is a town and port situated on the Firth of Clyde in south-west Scotland. With a population of around 46,000, Ayr is the largest settlement in Ayrshire, of which it is the county town, and has held royal burgh status since 1205...
.
Baronetcy
On 17 July 1688, he was created a baronet, of FountainhallLauder Baronets
There has been one baronetcy granted to the Lauder family. The baronetcy of Lauder of Fountainhall, Haddingtonshire, was created for John Lauder, last surviving male representative of the Lauders of that Ilk, a rich merchant-burgess and sometime Treasurer and baillie of the City of Edinburgh, and...
, East Lothian
East Lothian
East Lothian is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a lieutenancy Area. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Scottish Borders and Midlothian. Its administrative centre is Haddington, although its largest town is Musselburgh....
in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia, with special remainder to the eldest surviving male heir of his third marriage. This patent
Letters patent
Letters patent are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch or president, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, title, or status to a person or corporation...
was successfully contested and "reduced" (cancelled)
on 19 February 1692 having been replaced on 25January 1690 with a new Letters Patent
Letters patent
Letters patent are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch or president, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, title, or status to a person or corporation...
altering the succession to include his eldest surviving son from any marriage.
He died on 2 April 1692, in his 97th year and was interred in the Lauder vault within Greyfriars Kirk
Greyfriars Kirk
Greyfriars Kirk, today Greyfriars Tolbooth & Highland Kirk, is a parish kirk of the Church of Scotland in central Edinburgh, Scotland...
. He had, in all, twenty-four children by his three wives and was succeeded in the baronetcy by his eldest surviving son (of his second marriage) Sir John Lauder, 2nd Baronet
John Lauder, Lord Fountainhall
Sir John Lauder of Fountainhall, 2nd Baronet, Lord Fountainhall was one of Scotland's leading jurists who remains to this day an oft consulted authority...
, later Lord Fountainhall.