George Douglas of Parkhead

George Douglas of Parkhead, (died 1602), was a Scottish landowner, mining entrepreneur, Provost of Edinburgh, and Keeper of Edinburgh Castle.

George Douglas of Parkhead was said to have been killed by a landslide at his mine by Shortcleuch water while searching for gold

Career

George Douglas was a son of George Douglas of Pittendreich, the name of his mother is unknown. His half-sister, Elizabeth, daughter of Lady Dundas, married Smeton Richeson. He married Marioun Douglas, heiress of Parkhead or Parkheid, and so became known as George Douglas of Parkhead. Parkhead is close to the Lanarkshire town of Douglas. He was later Provost of Edinburgh and Captain or keeper of Edinburgh Castle.[1]

Refortification of Edinburgh Castle
George Douglas supervised the building of the half-moon battery at Edinburgh Castle

After the Lang Siege of Edinburgh castle was concluded in August 1573, Douglas supervised the rebuilding of part of the back wall and other repairs, buying lime, sand, slate and glass.[2] Part of the running expenses, or "sustenation" of the castle was paid to Douglas from the customs of Edinburgh town by Robert Gourlay.[3] Parkhead is credited with building the half-moon battery at Edinburgh castle, the Historie of King James the Sext records that Regent Morton appointed him captain, and caused "masonis to begin to redd (clear away) the bruisit wallis, and to repaire the foirwark to the forme of ane bulwark, platt and braid above, for the resett and ryving (receiving) of many canonis."[4] Some building accounts from this work survive.[5]

Douglas and Regent Morton

Douglas prospered during the regency of his brother, James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, and his servant Florence Douglas was made Rothesay Herald.[6] When his brother resigned the regency of Scotland in March 1579, George Douglas of Parkhead made an inventory of the personal jewellery of Mary, Queen of Scots kept in Edinburgh Castle, and of the textiles, the royal tapestries, Mary's remaining costume, her pictures, dolls, and library, and he itemised the artillery of the castle and the tools in its workshops.[7] The taking of this inventory was described in the chronicle attributed to David Moysie.[8]

Douglas was involved in lead mining at Wanlockhead and Glengonnar or Leadhills in Lanarkshire and in Orkney.[9] In June 1581 his interest in the lead mines with all the lead ore recovered was confiscated and given to James Stewart, Earl of Arran because he had withheld Torthorwald Castle from the earl.[10]

Parkhead wrote to Francis Walsingham in June 1582 to thank him for hospitality in England, mentioning his friend John Selby of the garrison of Berwick-upon-Tweed. He had written to Selby in May 1582 describing a rumour that James VI would be sent to France.[11]

In August 1584 George Douglas and his sons James and George were declared traitors and their goods and lands forfeited for their role "art and part" in the Raid of Stirling in April 1584.[12]

Norway

James VI of Scotland sailed to Norway to meet his bride Anna of Denmark in October 1589. George Douglas of Parkhead was one of his companions. He wrote from Oslo to the Earl of Morton on 30 November 1589. The king had decided to stay over winter at the Danish court, and the Earl's son Archibald Douglas had decided to go travelling. He had asked Parkhead to go with him.[13]

Later life

After their kinsman William Douglas, 6th Earl of Morton had been imprisoned in their keeping at Edinburgh Castle, Marion Douglas wrote to his wife Agnes Leslie, Countess of Morton to thank her for a gift of cheese from her farms at Fossoway near Lochleven Castle. She said that Morton had "received but very simple entertainment here".[14]

George Douglas of Parkhead stored oats at Foulden tithe barn

Another of Marion Douglas's letters concerns the lead mines.[15] On 6 August 1592 she wrote from Parkhead to Lord Menmuir asking for his decision about the mining concessions between Eustachius Roche and her husband. She had been obliged to order her miners to suspend working, putting them to other work or laying them off.[16] On 20 December 1593 George Douglas and his son James made over some of their lead mining rights in Glengonnar to the goldsmith and financier Thomas Foulis.[17]

An English prospector Stephen Atkinson writing in 1619 stated that "George Parkhead" was killed by a landslide in wet weather at a mine working at "Short-clough brayes". It took three days to dig him out.[18] The Shortcleuch water joins the Elvan and falls into the Clyde.[19] Some sources suggest the victim of this accident was a son of George Douglas of Parkhead, and it occurred in 1586 while he was prospecting for gold.[20]

George Douglas of Parkhead's will was registered in Edinburgh in 1602. It mentions oats stored in the barn yard of "Auld Foulden".

Family
Arms of the House Douglas of Parkhead

The children of George Douglas and Marion Douglas included;[21]

References
  1. David Reid, David Hume of Godscroft's History of the House of Angus, vol. 1 (STS, Edinburgh, 2005), p. 129.
  2. Charles Thorpe McInnes, Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 12 (Edinburgh, 1970), pp. 355-6, 387.
  3. See National Records of Scotland NRS E25/5/4, 5, 6.
  4. Historie of James the Sext (Edinburgh, 1804), p. 236.
  5. Henry Paton, Accounts of the Masters of Work, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1957), pp. 299-301.
  6. George Hewit, Scotland under Morton (Edinburgh, 1982), p. 37.
  7. Thomas Thomson, Collection of Inventories (Edinburgh, 1815), pp. 201-272, (the google scanned images omit pp. 256-257). Another version of the inventory is held by the British Library, Calendar of State Papers Scotland, vol. 5 (1907), p. 383 no. 327 citing Harley MS 4637.
  8. James Dennistoun, Moysie's Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1830), p. 5
  9. George Hewitt, Scotland under Morton (Edinburgh, 1982), p. 184.
  10. Gordon Donaldson, Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1982), p. 56 no. 340, p. 57 no. 345, p. 110 no. 651.
  11. Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1581-1583, vol. 6 (Edinburgh, 1910), pp. 127, 132-3.
  12. Gordon Donaldson, Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1982), p. 363 no. 2106, p. 400-1 no. 2313.
  13. Registrum Honoris de Morton: Original Papers of the Earls of Morton, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1853), p. 164.
  14. National Records of Scotland, NRS GD150/3440/7.
  15. Rosalind K. Marshall, Virgins and Viragos: A History of Women in Scotland (Collins, 1983), p. 147.
  16. Robert William Cochran-Patrick, Early Records Relating to Mining in Scotland (Edinburgh, 1878), p. 92: Margaret H. B. Sanderson, A Kindly Place? (East Linton: Tuckwell, 2002), p. 153.
  17. Robert William Cochran-Patrick, Early Records Relating to Mining in Scotland (Edinburgh, 1878), pp. 97-8.
  18. Stephen Atkinson, The Discoverie and Historie of Gold Mynes in Scotland, 1619 (Bannatyne Club, Edinburgh, 1825), pp. 32-3.
  19. George Vere Irving, The Upper Ward of Lanarkshire Described and Delineated, vol. 1 (Glasgow, 1864), p. 56.
  20. Maureen Meikle, The Scottish People 1490-1625 (lulu 2013), p. 77: Robert William Cochran-Patrick, Early Records Relating to Mining in Scotland (Edinburgh, 1878) p. xviii.
  21. G. Harvey Johnston, Heraldry of the Douglases (Edinburgh, 1907, p. 43
  22. Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 12 (Edinburgh, 1952), p. 360 no. 291.
  23. Nicholas Carlisle, Collections for a History of the Ancient Family of Carlisle (London, 1822), pp. 108, 111-113.
  24. Edmund Lodge, Illustrations of British History, vol. 2 (London, 1838), pp. 404-6: Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 11 (Edinburgh, 1936), pp. 377-8.
  25. David Laing, Correspondence of the Earls of Ancram and Lothian, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1875), p. vii.
  26. Mary Elizabeth Cumming Bruce, Family Records of the Bruces and the Cumyns (Edinburgh, 1870), p. 543.
  27. John Gibson Charles, Lands and lairds of Larbert and Dunipace parishes (Glasgow, 1908), pp. 172-5.
  28. Nicholas Carlisle, Collections for a History of the Ancient Family of Carlisle (London, 1822), p. 110.
  29. Mary Elizabeth Cumming Bruce, Family Records of the Bruces and the Cumyns (Edinburgh, 1870), p. 543.
  30. Nicholas Carlisle, Collections for a History of the Ancient Family of Carlisle (London, 1822), p. 110.
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