Joseph Learmont | |
|---|---|
| Allegiance |  |
| Rank | Major |
| Battles/wars | Rullion Green [1] Bothwell Bridge |
Major Joseph Learmont was major in the Scottish Covenanter army. He was a tailor before he began his military career. He was proprietor of the lands of Newholm, near Dolphinton, which lay partly in the shire of Peebles and partly in that of Lanark.
He was fined £1,200 Scots due to Middleton's Act of 1662 for having complied with Cromwell's forces. [2] He was second in command, leading the Covenanters' horse on the left at Rullion Green in 1666. [3] One source says he led the main attack "in which being unsuccessful, a rout ensued, but he managed to escape, along with William Veitch, a preacher, who afterwards wrote an account of the affair, and lived to be minister of Peebles." [4] [5] [6] He also fought at Bothwell Bridge in 1679. In the year 1667 his whole fortune was forfeited for his being in the Pentland Hills insurrection. [7] [8] For the space of sixteen years thereafter, notwithstanding all the efforts made to find him, he remained undiscovered. He is recorded as spending some of the time in hiding in Ireland. [9]
About the month of February 1682, he was taken prisoner and carried to Edinburgh, where, on 7 April that same year, he was sentenced to be executed. This sentence, however, by the interest of friends, was commuted into perpetual imprisonment in the Bass, to which he was sent on 13 May. He there remained close prisoner for five years. [10]
Through the testimony of physicians that he was in a dying condition, he was liberated by the Council, upon giving bond that as soon as he recovered he would return to that place of confinement. But the Revolution taking place next year freed him from this obligation. He lived at his own house at Newholm some years after that memorable event, and died in peace in the 88th year of his age. [11]
A secret tunnel was found at his house. [12]
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".
The Battle of Rullion Green took place on 28 November 1666, near the Pentland Hills, in Midlothian, Scotland. It was the only significant battle of the Pentland Rising, a brief revolt by Covenanter dissidents against the Scottish government.
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.
Dolphinton is a village and parish in Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located 7 miles (11 km) northeast of Biggar, 11 miles (18 km) northeast of Carstairs, 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Leadburn and 27 miles (43 km) southwest of Edinburgh, on the A702 road.
John Campbell, sometimes spelled Campble was a 17th-century minister of the gospel.
Robert Dick of Prestonpans was a 17th-century merchant and inspector of salt works to Lord Carringtoune. He was arrested on 4 September 1676 for attending an open-air service in the Pentland Hills.
Patrick Anderson of Walston was a 17th-century minister and Covenanter.
William Bell was a field preacher and 17th century minister.
Rev Archibald Riddell (1635–1708) was a Scots-born 17th-century Presbyterian church minister in Scotland and America. His name is sometimes spelled Riddel. He preached at conventicles in a time when such actions were considered high treason. He was imprisoned on the Bass Rock and was later banished to New Jersey.
Rev Thomas Hog of Kiltearn (1628–1692) was a controversial 17th century Scottish minister.
John Rae was the son of William Rae, burgess of Edinburgh. He served heir 7 February 1666. He was educated at the University of Glasgow and graduated with an M.A. in 1651.
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.
James Fithie was a chaplain at Trinity Hospital in Edinburgh. He was imprisoned on the Bass Rock for about a year between 1685 and 1686.
John Greig was a Presbyterian minister from Scotland.
Peter Kid was a 17th-century Presbyterian minister. He was possibly a native of Fife.
Robert Ross was a Presbyterian preacher. He did not have a government licence to preach. He was apprehended at Leith and sent to the Bass Rock. He was kept in confinement there for upwards of three months from April 4-July 19, 1679.
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.
Hugh Mackail, Scottish martyr, was born about 1640 at Liberton, near Edinburgh. His father was Matthew Mackail who was minister at Bothwell before being deprived of his ministry by the government in 1662. At an early age he went to reside with an uncle, Hugh Mackail, one of the ministers of Edinburgh. He entered the University of Edinburgh, studying divinity, where he distinguished himself, graduating, as the records show, in 1658 under Thomas Crawford. Shortly afterward he became chaplain and tutor in the family of Sir James Stuart of Coltness and Goodtrees, then Lord Provost of Edinburgh. In 1661, being then in his twenty-first year, he was licensed by the Presbytery of Edinburgh and afterward preached several times with much success. A sermon which he delivered in the High Church, Edinburgh, in September 1662, in which he declared that "the church of Scotland had been persecuted by an Ahab on the throne, a Haman in the state, and a Judas in the church," gave such offence that a party of horse was sent to apprehend him. He escaped, however, and, after lying concealed in his father's house in Bothwell for some time, retired into Holland, where he improved his time by studying for several years perhaps near Rotterdam. Then, returning to Scotland, he lived chiefly at his father's house, until in November 1666 he joined a rising of the covenanters. After nine days' marching, however, his weak health obliged him to leave the insurgents, and on his way back to Liberton he was arrested, carried to Edinburgh, and committed to the Tolbooth. He was several times brought before the council and tortured with the boot. Finally, after trial, despite the efforts of his cousin, Matthew Mackail, an apothecary, who interceded with James Sharp, archbishop of St. Andrews, on his behalf, Hugh was hanged at the market-cross of Edinburgh on 22 December 1666, amid "such a lamentation," says Kirkton, "as was never known in Scotland before, not one dry cheek upon all the street, or in all the numberless windows in the market-place." According to MS. Jac. V. 7. 22, in the Advocates' Library, "immediately after the execution of the aforementioned four men there came a letter from the king, discharging the executing of more; but the Bishop of St. Andrews kept it up till Mr. Hew was executed," Mackail behaved with great fortitude on the scaffold, addressing the crowd with singular impressiveness. He was buried in Greyfriars churchyard. Wodrow describes him as "universally beloved, singularly pious, and of very considerable learning."
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.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Attribution: This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "M'Crie, Thomas, D.D. the younger (d.1875)". The Bass rock: Its civil and ecclesiastic history. Edinburgh : J. Greig & Son. 1847
