James Duncan of Ratho was a Scottish tailor and landowner who worked for Anne of Denmark in England. [1]
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James Duncan of Ratho was a Scottish tailor and landowner who worked for Anne of Denmark in England. [1]
Duncan had family connections at Colpy near Culsalmond in Aberdeenshire, in the lands of Henrietta Stewart, a favourite of Anne of Denmark, and her husband George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly, and at the Mote of Errol and Gourdiehill in Perthshire.
After the Union of the Crowns in 1603, Duncan came to England and was appointed a yeoman of the robes and master tailor to Anne of Denmark, the wife of James VI and I. As well as working on the queen's clothes, her robes and "bodies", he supplied costume for her masques, including The Vision of the Twelve Goddesses in January 1604. His work for the masque may have involved selecting garments from the wardrobe of Elizabeth I with the Countess of Suffolk and Audrey Walsingham to be cut up and recycled. [2]
Duncan received £5 yearly as a fee as a yeoman of the wardrobe, and £36 as the master tailor by letters patent. In July 1614 he was given an allowance for livery for life. He was also paid for work and materials supplied to the queen. [3]
Duncan bought land and houses around Edinburgh and in East Lothian. He acquired lands in Monktonhall in 1612 and a servant of another court tailor, Alexander Miller, was a witness to the transaction. [4] He bought the estate of Bonnington and Hillhousefield (in Pilrig and North Leith) from Sir Lewis Craig in 1621. [5] He also acquired lands in Ratho from Thomas Otterburn of Redhall and John Marjoribanks, and was known as "James Duncan of Ratho". [6] His house at Ratho, the Place of Ratho, was called "Marjoribanks", a name and surname supposedly derived from a grant of the Ratho lands to Marjorie Bruce, a daughter of Robert the Bruce. [7]
James Duncan died before 1630, when his properties were in the hands of his heirs, his cousins, James Duncan (died 1641), a son of Gilbert Duncan in "Colpnay" near Culsalmond, and Robert Duncan, a son of Peter Duncan in Gourdhill. Duncan had already transferred his property in Monktonhall, which was within the dower lands of Anne of Denmark in Musselburgh, to his cousin James Duncan in 1620. [8] This James Duncan became the second "James Duncan of Ratho". His son, the third James Duncan of Ratho (died 1646), married Isabella Foulis. They had a daughter, Elizabeth Duncan. Following his death, Isabella, Lady Ratho, married Major William Murray at Ratho in 1648. [9]
Anne of Denmark was the wife of King James VI and I; as such, she was Queen of Scotland from their marriage on 20 August 1589 and Queen of England and Ireland from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until her death in 1619.
Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, was the eldest son and heir apparent of James VI and I, King of England and Scotland; and his wife Anne of Denmark. His name derives from his grandfathers: Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley; and Frederick II of Denmark. Prince Henry was widely seen as a bright and promising heir to his father's thrones. However, at the age of 18, he predeceased his father when he died of typhoid fever. His younger brother Charles succeeded him as heir apparent to the English, Irish, and Scottish thrones.
Ludovic Stewart, 2nd Duke of Lennox and 1st Duke of Richmond, lord of the Manor of Cobham, Kent, was a Scottish nobleman who through their paternal lines was a second cousin of King James VI of Scotland and I of England. He was involved in the Plantation of Ulster in Ireland and the colonization of Maine in New England. Richmond's Island and Cape Richmond as well as Richmond, Maine, are named after him. His magnificent monument with effigies survives in Westminster Abbey.
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Ratho is a village in the Rural West Edinburgh area of Edinburgh, Scotland. Its population at the 2011 census was 1,634 based on the 2010 definition of the locality. It was formerly in the old county of Midlothian. Ratho Station, Newbridge and Kirkliston are other villages in the area. The Union Canal passes through Ratho. Edinburgh Airport is situated only 4 miles (7 km) away. The village has a high ratio of its older houses built from whin stone due to a whin quarry nearby. The older, historical, part of the village was designated a Conservation Area in 1971 by Midlothian County Council.
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Clan Marjoribanks is a Scottish clan of the Scottish Lowlands.
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