John Paton | |
|---|---|
 John Paton with two swords | |
| Born | Meadowhead, Fenwick |
| Died | 9 May 1684 (executed) Grassmarket, Edinburgh |
| Buried | |
| Allegiance |  |
| Rank | Captain |
| Battles/wars | Battle of Lützen (1632), Battle of Marston Moor, Battle of Kilsyth, Battle of Philiphaugh, Battle of Worcester, Battle of Rullion Green, Battle of Bothwell Bridge |
John Paton was a Scottish soldier and Covenanter. He was executed at the Grassmarket on 9 May 1684 largely for his actions at the Battle of Bothwell Bridge. [1] [2]
James Paton was a Covenanter. He was born at Meadowhead in the parish of Fenwick, Ayrshire, where his father had a farm. Until near manhood he was employed in agricultural pursuits. According to one account he went as a volunteer to Germany, and served with such distinction in the wars of Gustavus Adolphus that he was raised to the rank of captain. According to another, he was present with the Scots army at Marston Moor. With the rank of captain, he fought with great gallantry against Montrose at Kilsyth, 15 August 1645, and escaped uninjured during the flight. After the defeat of Montrose at Philiphaugh on 13 September he returned home to Fenwick. He took part with the people of Fenwick in opposing General Middleton in 1648. With other Scottish Covenanters he, however, supported the king against Cromwell in 1650 and, accompanying him in 1651 into England, fought for him at the battle of Worcester on 3 September. After the Restoration he fought, in command of a party of covenanting cavalry, on 28 September 1666, at Rullion Green, where he had a personal encounter with Thomas Dalyell. [3] [4] [5] He was also at the battle of Bothwell Bridge 22 June 1679. [6] He was excepted out of the indemnities passed after both battles, but succeeded in lurking safely in various hiding places, until in 1684 he was taken in the house of a covenanter, Robert Howie. Dalyell on meeting him is said to have stated that he was both glad and sorry for him. The fact that he had fought for the king at Worcester atoned in Dalyell's eyes for much that was unjustifiable in his subsequent behaviour. He severely rebuked an insult that was offered him, and is supposed to have exerted special influence to procure his pardon. Lauder of Fountainhall mentions that Paton ‘carried himself very discreetly before the justices’ (Historical Notices, p. 535).
He was sentenced to be hanged at the Grassmarket on 23 April, but was reprieved till 9 May. He was then willing to have taken the test, but a quorum of the Privy Council could not be obtained to reprieve him. [1] He was buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard, Edinburgh. [2] There is a large monument to John Paton in Fenwick Churchyard. [7]
He married (1) Janet Lindsay, around 1652, (2) Janet Millar around November 1666 and has issue before she died "in or after 1684". They had 6 children. [2]
James Dodds, a minister from Dunbar wrote a poem called "Meeting Of General Dalziel And Captain John Paton Of Meadowhead, When the Latter was brought Prisoner to Edinburgh, August, 1684." [8] The first two verses are:
Hath his good sword her temper lost,
Or her master now forsaken?
Or why, such wars and dangers passed,
Is he a captive taken?
Nay, nay! his arm is powerful yet,
His sword as keen as ever;
But he is life-worn, and would fain
That God should him deliver.
The same that won his maiden scars
At Lutzen, famed in story;
And since, in every hard campaign,
Hath shared the toil and glory.
But chiefly to his native land
His heart and sword were given;
That she might keep her ancient rights
And her covenant with heaven.
...
John Michael Welsh of Irongray was a leader of the Scottish Covenanter movement. Dunlop an early 20th century writer says: "It is a noteworthy fact that there exists no memoir of John Welsh of Irongray, though from the Battle of Rullion Green till Bothwell Bridge he was the most conspicuous Covenanting minister in Scotland. Had he glorified God in the Grassmarket, or fallen in some scuffle with Claverhouse's dragoons, or even like his friend Blackadder of Troqueer languished in prison on the Bass Rock, some pious hand would have been moved to write his story." Dunlop also wrote: "The events of Welsh's life must be sought for in the pages of Wodrow and Kirkton and in the letters and State papers of the reign of Charles II. After spending a fortnight hunting him in the British Museum, I have come to sympathise with Clavers and his dragoons. Mr John Welsh is a most elusive gentleman."
John Howie was a Scottish biographer. His best known work was Biographia Scoticana, first published in 1775, which is often called The Scots Worthies. It deals with Christians and particularly Presbyterians especially in their strivings with church and civil authorities.
Alexander Peden, also known as "Prophet Peden", was one of the leading figures in the Covenanter movement in Scotland.
Sir Thomas Dalyell of The Binns, 1st Baronet (1615–1685) was a Scottish Royalist general in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, also known by the soubriquets "Bluidy Tam" and "The Muscovite De'il".
James Renwick was a Scottish minister with whose death on the scaffold, at the early age of 26, closed the sanguinary persecution directed against religious liberty in Scotland by the house of Stewart. He was born at Moniaive in Dumfriesshire on 15 of February 1662, being the son of a weaver, Andrew Renwick. Educated at Edinburgh University, he joined the section of the Covenanters known as the Cameronians about 1681 and soon became prominent among them. Afterwards he studied theology at the university of Groningen and was ordained a minister in 1683. Returning to Scotland “full of zeal and breathing forth threats of organized assassination,” says Mr Andrew Lang, he became one of the field-preachers and was declared a rebel by the privy council. He was largely responsible for the “apologetical declaration” of 1684 by which he and his followers disowned the authority of Charles II.; the privy council replied by ordering every one to abjure this declaration on pain of death. Unlike some of his associates, Renwick refused to join the rising under the earl of Argyll in 1685; in 1687, when the declarations of indulgence allowed some liberty of Worship to the Presbyterians, he and his followers, often called Renwickites, continued to hold meetings in the fields, which were still illegal. A reward was offered for his capture, and early in 1688 he was seized in Edinburgh. Tried and found guilty of disowning the royal authority and other offences, he refused to apply for a pardon and was hanged on 17 of February 1688. Renwick was the last of the Covenanter martyrs.
John Nisbet (1627–1685) was a Scottish covenanter who was executed for participating in the insurgency at Bothwell Brig and earlier conflicts and for attending a conventicle. He took an active and prominent part in the struggles, of the Covenanters for civil and religious liberty. He was wounded and left for dead at Pentland in 1666 but lived and fought as a captain at Bothwell Bridge, in 1679. He was subsequently seized and executed as a rebel. He was a descendant of Murdoch Nisbet, a Lollard who translated the Bible into the Scots language.
Alexander Shields or Sheilds or Sheills was a Scottish, Presbyterian, nonconformist minister, activist, and author. He was imprisoned in London, in Edinburgh and on the Bass Rock for holding private worship services. After his escape from prison he wrote A Hind Let Loose which amongst other things argues for the rights of people to resist tyrants including the bearing of arms and the resistance of taxes. It even argues that assassination, in extreme cases, is sometimes justified. Shields was one of the ministers who supported the Cameronians who disowned the king. They were brutally put down. All three of the Cameronian field-preachers, of which Shields was one, rejoined the church after the Revolution. Shields served as a chaplain to King William's armies in the Low Countries. Shields was later called to be a minister at St Andrews but did not stay there long as he joined the second Darien Expedition. After its failure he died on Jamaica under 40 years of age.
William Guthrie (1620–1665) was a Scottish Covenanter minister and author. He was the first minister of Fenwick parish church in Ayrshire, Scotland. He is known primarily for his book on assurance, The Christian's Great Interest.
David Hackston or Halkerstone, was a militant Scottish Covenanter, remembered mainly for his part in the murder of Archbishop James Sharp of St. Andrews in 1679 and his involvement in the events of 1680 which led to his capture and execution.
Robert Hamilton (1650–1701), second baronet of Preston, was one of the leaders of the Scottish Covenanters. He was the son of Sir Thomas Hamilton, and brother of Sir William, first baronet of Preston. Hamilton was educated at Glasgow University under Professor Burnet. He attached himself to the cause of the Covenanters, and appears in command at Drumclog and Bothwell Brig. After the defeat he retired to Holland, where he remained with his brother-in-law, Gordon of Earlston, until the Revolution of 1688. He declined to recognise title of Prince of Orange, on the ground that he was not a Covenanted sovereign. He was arrested in Edinburgh for being concerned in the second Sanquhar Declaration of August, 1692, issued by the "United Societies". On liberation, he left his testimony afresh against backsliding in Church and State, and becomes as far as one person could be the main stay of "the afflicted Remnant." He died, unmarried, aged 51.
Robert Garnock was a Scottish covenanter. He was baptised by James Guthrie and like him was hanged in Edinburgh although at a different time and place; Guthrie was executed about 20 years before Garnock.
John Spreul was a town clerk in Glasgow who was educated at the University of Glasgow, where he completed his Master of Arts degree in 1635. His father was the Provost of Renfrew and an MP for Renfrew. After university, he thought about becoming a church minister but could not, in good conscience, sign the Five Articles of Perth. He was converted after hearing a sermon from David Dickson in 1644. He was a writer which is a Scottish term for a lawyer. For example William Lin is described as a Writer to the Signet which would make him a senior lawyer. He became unpopular with some Glaswegian magistrates because of his opposition to Hugh Binning. According to rumours, he potentially fought for the Covenanters at the Battle of Kilsyth. Spreul and John Graham fought together at the Battle of Philiphaugh in September 1645. Spreul became town clerk of Glasgow on 21 October 1645. He fought for the Scottish Covenanters in the Battle of Dunbar. He is reported to have had a very long beard and to have been mocked for it before the Privy Council of Scotland.
Sir Alexander Gordon of Earlston (1650–1726) was a 17th-century Scottish gentleman. He was known as a Covenanter and was member of the United Societies network. He was involved in the early 1680s in fomenting rebellion against the Crown in Scotland.
William Veitch. He was the youngest son of John Veitch, the minister of Roberton, Lanarkshire. He was educated at the University of Glasgow, graduating with an M.A. in 1659. He became a tutor in the family of Sir Andrew Ker of Greenhead. He was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Lanark in 1664. Having identified himself with the Pentland Rising, he was outlawed, and escaped to Newcastle, where he became chaplain in the family of the Mayor. In 1671 he was ordained to a meeting-house at Fallowlees, a remote spot among the Simonside Hills, Rothbury. From that he removed to Hanamhall, in the same district, and afterwards to Seaton Hall, Longhorsly. Whilst living at the latter place under the assumed name of William [or George] Johnston, he was arrested on 16 January, and sentenced to the Bass Rock 22 February 1679.. Veitch was liberated on 17 July 1680, and returned to Newcastle. He aided Archibald, Earl of Argyll, in his escape from Scotland in 1681. In 1683 he went to Holland, and in 1685 he was again in Northumberland acting as an agent on behalf of Monmouth. Soon afterwards he was settled as minister of a meeting-house at Beverley, Yorkshire. Having returned to Scotland, he was called to Whitton Hall, Morebattle, April 1688. In 1690 he was minister of Peebles, and in September 1694, he was admitted to Dumfries. He demitted on 19 May 1715. His death was on 8 May 1722. In 1705 he presented to the church two communion cups.
William Gordon was a 17th-century landowner and Covenanter. He is remembered as being a correspondent in Samuel Rutherford's Letters and being one of the biographies in John Howie's Scots Worthies. He was regarded as a man of strong religious convictions and piety. In 1664 he was banished for listening to ministers who lacked a government licence, both at his mother's house and in the woods. He arrived at the Battle of Bothwell Bridge after the fighting was over and, hesitating to surrender, was shot.
Henry Hall was a Covenanter and Church of Scotland elder. He had firm Presbyterian convictions. He tried but was prevented from joining the Pentland Rising. He fought as an officer at Drumclog and at Bothwell Bridge. He was part of a group, along with Richard Cameron and Donald Cargill, who were openly opposed to the government's religious policies. Hall was intercepted at South Queensferry where Robert Middleton, the governor of Blackness Castle, tried to arrest him along with Donald Cargill. Hall managed to hold off the governor but received a mortal headwound from the butt of a gun from a taxman after Cargill had escaped. An unsigned and probably unfinished work known as The Queensferry Paper was found on Hall which caused considerable disquiet when it was read by government supporters.
Robert Ker (the younger) known as Robert Ker of Kersland was a Covenanter. He sympathised with the insurgents who fought at Rullion Green and consequently was declared a rebel and his lands became forfeit. He escaped to Holland but following his wife home on business he was captured while visiting her in her sick-bed in Edinburgh. He spent many years in various jails. He is remembered by Christian historians and biographers such as Wodrow and Howie as one who suffered for the Presbyterian cause in Scotland.
John King was an outlawed minister of the Covenant, chaplain at one time to Lord Cardross, but seized by Claverhouse among the insurgents after the affair at Drumclog. King was taken to Edinburgh along with another preacher named John Kid. They were each subjected to torture, condemned to death, and executed. Following his death King's head and limbs were displayed at the Netherbow Port on Edinburgh's Royal Mile beside James Guthrie's skull.
John Kid was an outlawed minister of the Covenant. He was seized by Claverhouse among the insurgents after the affair at Drumclog. He was released by the insurgents but recaptured in a bog a few miles from Bothwell Bridge with a sword in his belt. Kid was taken to Edinburgh along with another preacher named John King. They were each subjected to torture, by the boots, condemned to death, and executed. Following his death Kid's head and limbs were displayed at the Netherbow Port on Edinburgh's Royal Mile beside James Guthrie's skull.
John Balfour of Kinloch was the principal actor in the assassination of Archbishop Sharp in 1679. For this crime his estate was forfeited and a large reward offered for his capture. He fought at Drumclog and at Bothwell Bridge, and is said to have escaped to Holland, and to have there tendered his services to the Prince of Orange.
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Henderson, Thomas Finlayson (1895). "Paton, James (d.1684)". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography . Vol. 44. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
