| Clan Wedderburn | |
|---|---|
 Crest: An eagle's head erased Proper. | |
| Motto | Non Degener (Not Degenerate [1] |
| Profile | |
| Plant badge | Beech [1] |
| Chief | |
 | |
| Henry David Scrymgeour-Wedderburn | |
| Lord Scrymgeour [1] | |
| Historic seat | Blackness House |
Clan Wedderburn is a Lowland Scottish clan. [2]
The first person of the name of this clan on record in Scotland is Wautier de Wederburn who rendered homage to Edward I of England in 1296. [2] The lands of Wederburn were in Berwickshire. [2] Other early references to the name are John de Wedderburn living in 1364 and William de Wedderburn who lived between 1426 and 1452. [2] The lands of Wedderburn however passed to the Clan Home at an early date. [2]
After the decline of the Wedderburns in the Scottish Borders the family seems to have settled in Forfarshire. [2] By 1400 there were four distinct yet closely related Wedderburn families who could be found in Dundee and Kingennie in Forfar. [2]
One of the Dundee families was that of James Wedderburn. [2] His three sons, James, John and Robert, were among the earliest Scottish Protestant reformers. [2] They united to write the famous Guide and Godlie Ballads which were known as the Wedderburn Psalms. [2]
From the eldest brother James is descended James Wedderburn, Bishop of Dunblane in 1636, who, as the friend of Archbishop Laud and those responsible for introducing a new liturgy to the Church, was driven from Scotland in 1638. [2] He retired to Canterbury and is buried in its cathedral. [2]
The third brother was Robert Wedderburn whose grandson was Alexander Wedderburn who was clerk of Dundee from 1557 to 1582. [2] His son was Wedderburn of Kingennie who was a favourite of James VI of Scotland. [2] He accompanied the king to England in 1603 and when he returned the king presented him with a ring from his own hand. [2] This line in the direct male line became extinct in 1761 upon the death of David Wedderburn and the estates passed to the Scrymgeours who added the additional surname of Wedderburn to their own. [2]
David Wedderburn's brother, James, had a son, Alexander Wedderburn of Blackness. [2] Alexander Wedderburn was one of the commissioners for the Treaty of Ripon in 1641. [2]
Blackness House, in Dundee was owned by a branch of the Clan Wedderburn in the 17th and 18th centuries. Sir John Wedderburn of Blackness entered the British Army, and married and died in 1723. [2] He had sold Blackness House to his cousin Alexander, who succeeded to the baronetcy. [2]
However, Alexander was deposed from the office of Clerk of Dundee for having Jacobite sympathies. [2] His eldest son Sir John Wedderburn, 5th Baronet of Blackness was also a Jacobite, and served as a volunteer in Lord Ogilvy’s regiment. [2] He was taken prisoner at the Battle of Culloden in 1746 and was convicted and executed for treason. [2] The baronetcy was then forfeited, [2] a process known as attainder. His eldest son, John Wedderburn of Ballindean, was also at the Battle of Culloden but survived and fled to Jamaica. [2] Several of the family, including his second son, later James Wedderburn-Colville, made their fortunes in the slave-run West Indian sugar plantations, or the London trading house that underpinned the venture.
In 1775, David Wedderburn of Balindean, who was MP for Perth and Postmaster General for Scotland, succeeded to the chiefship of the clan. [2] He was also created a baronet. [2] Alexander Wedderburn, the great-grandson of the judge, Sir Peter Wedderburn of Gosford, became a distinguished lawyer and Solicitor General for Scotland. [2] He spoke out against the British Government’s policies in the American colonies, and predicted that they would break away from the British Empire. [2] He was created Lord Loughborough in 1780 and Earl of Rosslyn in 1801. [2]
The chiefship of the family is now held within the family of the Scrymgeour-Wedderburns, the Earls of Dundee. By family arrangement, the chiefship of Wedderburn is held by the eldest son of the earl who is himself chief of the Clan Scrymgeour. When the Wedderburn chief succeeds to the earldom, the chiefship passes to his heir.
Clan Ross is a Highland Scottish clan. The original chiefs of the clan were the original Earls of Ross.
Earl of Dundee is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1660 for John Scrymgeour, 3rd Viscount Dudhope. At his death in 1668, the Duke of Lauderdale declared that the first Earl had no heirs-male, and had the crown seize all of his lands. The earldom of Dundee became dormant and its holdings and offices were granted to Charles Maitland, 3rd Earl of Lauderdale, the Duke's younger brother. The title was revived in 1953, when it was determined that the first Earl did indeed have heirs-male, contrary to the assertion of the crown. The title was given to Henry James Scrymgeour-Wedderburn, who had previously served in the House of Commons and in the Cabinet.
Earl of Rosslyn is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1801 for Alexander Wedderburn, 1st Baron Loughborough, Lord Chancellor from 1793 to 1801, with special remainder to his nephew Sir James St Clair-Erskine, as Wedderburn had no surviving issue of his own. Wedderburn had already been created Baron Loughborough, of Loughborough in the County of Leicester, in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1780, with normal remainder to the heirs male of his body, and Baron Loughborough, of Loughborough in the County of Surrey, in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1795, with the same remainder as the earldom. The 1780 barony became extinct upon his death, but the 1795 barony and the earldom passed, by the special remainder, to his nephew, who thus became the second Earl of Rosslyn. The second Earl was a Lieutenant-General in the Army and also held political office as Lord Privy Seal and Lord President of the Council.
Baron Macdonald, of Slate in the County of Antrim, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1776 for Sir Alexander Macdonald, 9th Baronet, of Sleat. The Macdonald family of Sleat descends from Uisdean Macdonald, also known as Hugh of Sleat, or Hugh Macdonald, who was an illegitimate son of Alexander Macdonald, Earl of Ross. On 28 May 1625, his great-great-great-great-grandson Donald Gorm Og Macdonald was created a baronet, of Sleat in the Isle of Skye in the County of Inverness, in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia. The baronetcy was created with remainder to heirs male whatsoever and with a special clause of precedence which provided that it should have precedency over all former baronets.
Clan Murray is a Highland Scottish clan. The chief of the Clan Murray holds the title of Duke of Atholl. Their ancestors were the Morays of Bothwell who established the family in Scotland in the 12th century. In the 16th century, descendants of the Morays of Bothwell, the Murrays of Tullibardine, secured the chiefship of the clan and were created Earls of Tullibardine in 1606. The first Earl of Tullibardine married the heiress to the Stewart earldom of Atholl and Atholl therefore became a Murray earldom in 1626. The Murray Earl of Atholl was created Marquess of Atholl in 1676 and in 1703 it became a dukedom. The marquess of Tullibardine title has continued as a subsidiary title, being bestowed on elder sons of the chief until they succeed him as Duke of Atholl.
Clan Macdonald of Clanranald, also known as Clan Ranald,, is a Highland Scottish clan and a branch of Clan Donald, one of the largest Scottish clans. The founder of the Macdonalds of Clanranald is Reginald, 4th great-grandson of Somerled. The Macdonalds of Clanranald descend from Reginald's elder son Allan and the MacDonells of Glengarry descend from his younger son Donald. The clan chief of the MacDonalds of Clanranald is traditionally designated as The Captain of Clanranald and today both the chief and clan are recognised by the Lord Lyon King of Arms, the heraldic judge in Scotland.
Clan Macdonald of Sleat, sometimes known as Clan Donald North and in Gaelic Clann Ùisdein[kʰl̪ˠan̪ˠ ˈuːʃtʲɛɲ], is a Scottish clan and a branch of Clan Donald — one of the largest Scottish clans. The founder of the Macdonalds of Sleat was Ùisdean, or Hugh, a 6th great-grandson of Somerled, a 12th-century Lord of the Isles. The clan is known in Gaelic as Clann Ùisdein, and its chief's Gaelic designation is Mac Ùisdein, in reference to the clan's founder. Both the clan and its clan chief are recognised by the Lord Lyon King of Arms, who is the heraldic authority in Scotland.
Clan Moncreiffe is a Highland Scottish clan.
Clan Scrymgeour is a Highland Scottish clan.
Clan Matheson is a Highland Scottish clan.
Clan Strachan is a Scottish clan originating from the barony of Strachan, in Aberdeenshire. The clan does not have a chief, therefore it is considered by Court of the Lord Lyon and the Stand Council of Scottish Chiefs as an Armigerous clan.
Clan Rattray is a Highland Scottish clan.
Clan Wemyss is a Lowland Scottish clan.
The Wedderburn, later Ogilvy-Wedderburn Baronetcy, of Balindean in the County of Perth, is a title in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom created in 1803.
Clan Forbes is a Highland Scottish clan from Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
The chiefs of the Scottish highland Clan Munro, the Munros of Foulis, are according to tradition, descended from a Donald Munro of Foulis who died in 1039. However, their descent can only be proved by contemporary evidence back to a Robert de Munro who died in 1369.
Sir John Wedderburn of Ballindean, 6th Baronet of Blackness (1729–1803) was a Scottish landowner who made a fortune in slave sugar in the West Indies. Born into a family of impoverished Perthshire gentry, his father, Sir John Wedderburn, 5th Baronet of Blackness, was executed for treason following the Jacobite uprising of 1745, and the young Wedderburn was forced to flee to the West Indies, where he eventually became the largest landowner in Jamaica. In 1769 he returned to Scotland with a slave, one Joseph Knight, who was inspired by Somersett's Case, a judgement in London determining that slavery did not exist under English law. Wedderburn was sued by Knight in a freedom suit, and lost his case, establishing the principle that Scots law would not uphold the institution of slavery either. Wedderburn ended his days as a wealthy country gentleman, having restored his family fortune and recovered the title Baronet of Blackness.
Sir John Wedderburn, 5th Baronet of Blackness, was a Perthshire gentleman who joined the 1745 rebellion of Charles Edward Stuart. He was captured at the Battle of Culloden, taken to London, and convicted of treason. He was hanged, his estates were forfeit to the Crown, and his family was attainted. The Blackness in his title is Blackness House in Dundee rather than Blackness in Lothian just west of Edinburgh. His son John Wedderburn of Ballendean fled after his father's death to Jamaica, where he re-established the family's fortunes via slave sugar, and eventually regained his father's title.
Sir David Wedderburn, 1st Baronet was a Scottish businessman and Tory politician. He was Postmaster General for Scotland 1823-31 and a member of two London militias before that.
The Munros of Culcairn were a minor noble Scottish family and a branch of the ancient Clan Munro, a Scottish clan of the Scottish Highlands. Their seat was at Culcairn which is on the east side of Allt Graad/River Glass in the parish of Kiltearn.