William Crichton, 1st Earl of Dumfries

William Crichton, 1st Earl of Dumfries the ninth Lord Crichton, was born to William Crichton (brother of the sixth and seventh Lords Crichton) and Katherine Carmichael.[1]

William Crichton
Lord Crichton of Sanquhar[1]
Viscount of Ayr (1622-1642/3)[1]
Earl of Dumfries (1633-1642/3)[1]
IssueWilliam Crichton, 2nd Earl of Dumfries
James Crichton
John Crichton
Mary Crichton
Catherine Crichton
FatherWilliam Crichton, tutor of Sanquhar[1]
MotherKatherine Carmichael

The title Lord Crichton passed to William after his cousin Robert was hanged outside Westminster Hall for his involvement with a murder.[1][2] A challenge arose to his claim to the title and lands from an illegitimate son of Robert, but a decree arbitral from King James VI found in favour of William's rights to the title, and compensated Robert's son with lands around Perth.[1][3]

On 31 July 1617, King James VI stayed at Sanquhar Castle while travelling through Scotland.[1] During this visit, Crichton is reported to have burnt a bond recording a large debt owed to him the King.[4][5] In 1622, the King gave Crichton the title Viscount of Ayr.[5] Eleven years later, King Charles I of England gave Crichton the title Earl of Dumfries and Baron Crichton of Cumnock.[5] Then in 1635, Crichton was given Lefnoreis Castle and surrounding lands (on which a descendant would later build Dumfries House).[5]

By the time of his death in 1642 or 1643, due to the family's financial difficulties William and his sons had sold Sanquhar Castle and the estates in the area to William Douglas, 1st Earl of Queensberry, and relocated the family to Cumnock.[1]

Family

He first married Euphemia Seton, daughter of Sir James Seton of Touch and widow of Patrick Hamilton, and they produced five children.[1]

He then married Ursula Barnham, daughter of Stephen Barnham and widow of Sir Robert Swift High Sheriff of Yorkshire. She and William produced no children.[1]

References

  1. Sir James Balfour Paul, ed. (1906). The Scots Peerage Founded on Wood's Edition of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland.
  2. Christopher Winn (2009). I Never Knew That About The Scottish. Pengiun Random House.
  3. Act in favour of William Crichton, lord Crichton of Sanquhar, of 28 June 1617. Parliament of Scotland.
  4. William Wilson (1904). Folk Lore and Genealogies of Uppermost Nithsdale.
  5. Rev John Warrick (1899). The History of Old Cumnock.
  6. James Grant (1851). Memoirs and Adventures of Sir John Hepburn. William Blackwood and Sons.


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