Robert Kerr, 1st Earl of Ancram (c. 1578–1654), was a Scottish nobleman, politician and writer. [2] [3]
Robert Kerr, 1st Earl of Ancram (c. 1578–1654), was a Scottish nobleman, politician and writer. [2] [3]
He descended from a third son of Sir Andrew Kerr of Ferniehurst, and was laird of Ancrum in Roxburghshire. His father was William Kerr of Ancrum and his mother was Margaret Dundas, a daughter of Alexander Dundas of Fingask. [4]
He was born about 1578, and succeeded to the family estate in 1590 on the death of his father, who was assassinated on the orders of his kinsman, Robert Ker, younger of Cessford. Cessford's men ambushed William Kerr of Ancram on the stairs at the entry to his lodging and shot him with a pistol called a "dag". [5] The dispute concerned the office of Provost of Jedburgh. [6] His widowed mother married George Douglas of Mordington, a son of George Douglas of Parkhead, and had several more children. [7]
Robert Kerr was honoured at an early age with court favour. Soon after the king's accession to the English throne, Kerr occupied a considerable station in the household of Prince Henry and Princess Elizabeth at Oatlands. He was knighted, probably in 1605. In March 1608, James gave him diamond-set gold locket with his picture, supplied for £300 by the goldsmith Henrick van Hulton. [8]
After the death of Prince Henry in 1612, Kerr joined the household of Prince Charles as a gentleman of the bedchamber, gaining the position with the help of his cousin, the favourite Robert Carr, then Lord Rochester. [9] [10] In April 1613 he was made a denizen of England. [11] Charles became his patron through life. Charles mediated his second marriage to Lady Anne Stanley, daughter of the Earl of Derby. [2]
In 1620, Kerr was involved in a fatal quarrel with Charles Maxwell, who insinuated that he had slighted the Duke of Buckingham and insulted him without provocation as he entered the palace at Newmarket. In a duel that followed, Sir Robert killed Maxwell. Even though Maxwell's friends acquitted Kerr of blame, the king's strict rules for prevention and punishment of duels forced him to flee to Holland, where he remained about a year. During his exile, he collected pictures, for which, like his royal master, he had good taste. He eventually presented those he brought back with him to the prince. He was also distinguished by his literary taste and was a friend of John Donne. [2] He also lived in Whitehall Palace and Kew.
On the accession of Charles I to the throne, in 1625, Sir Robert Kerr was made a gentleman of the bedchamber.
He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Aylesbury in 1625, and for Lostwithiel and Preston in 1628. [12]
Kerr came to Scotland in June 1629. He brought a gift from Charles I to Lady Yester, a jewelled hair-dressing described as a "head busk", a band of small diamonds set in fleur de lys to wear at the forehead from ear to ear. He mentioned Charles' gratitude to her mother Lady Seton for looking after him as a child at Dunfermline Palace. [13]
On 24 June 1633, when Charles was in Scotland at his coronation, Kerr was elevated to the peerage under the titles Earl of Ancram and Lord Kerr of Nisbet, Langnewton, and Dolphinstoun. [14] Previously, his son William, by his first wife Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Murray of Blackbarony, had married his relative, Anne, Countess of Lothian in her own right, and had been, by the king, given the title Earl of Lothian. [15] It was therefore arranged, in the patent granted to Kerr, that his own title should descend to the children of his second marriage. Thus, he was father of two peers. [2]
Unlike others who owed everything to this prince, the Earl of Ancram remained the prince's steady adherent during the whole of his troubles—though he was unable to prevent his eldest son, the Earl of Lothian, from acting a conspicuous part on the opposite side. On the death of King Charles, Kerr took refuge in Holland, where he spent the remainder of his days in solitary afflictions and poverty, and died in 1654, aged 76. Jan Lievens painted him marvelously.
His son Charles, inherited his title, but ultimately merged with that of Lothian. [2]
He had two sons by his first marriage to Elizabeth Murray:
He had one son and two daughters by his second marriage to Anne, daughter of William Stanley, 6th Earl of Derby:[ citation needed ]
Marquess of Lothian is a title in the Peerage of Scotland, which was created in 1701 for Robert Kerr, 4th Earl of Lothian. The Marquess of Lothian holds the subsidiary titles of Earl of Lothian, Earl of Lothian, Earl of Ancram (1633), Earl of Ancram, Viscount of Briene (1701), Lord Newbattle (1591), Lord Jedburgh (1622), Lord Kerr of Newbattle (1631), Lord Kerr of Nisbet, Langnewtoun, and Dolphinstoun (1633), Lord Kerr of Newbattle, Oxnam, Jedburgh, Dolphinstoun and Nisbet (1701), and Baron Ker, of Kersheugh in the County of Roxburgh (1821), all but the last in the Peerage of Scotland. As The Lord Ker in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, previous marquesses sat in the House of Lords before 1963, when Scottish peers first sat in the House of Lords in their own right. The holder of the marquessate is also the Chief of Clan Kerr.
Clan Kerr(Carr) is a Scottish clan whose origins lie in the Scottish Borders. During the Middle Ages, it was one of the most prominent, feared & violent border reiver clans along the present-day Anglo-Scottish border and played an important role in the history of the Border country of Scotland. The clan is renowned for their left handed-ness, along with being one of the most warlike clans in Scotland, with no loyalties except to their own.
General William Henry Kerr, 4th Marquess of Lothian, was a Scottish nobleman, British soldier and politician, the eldest son of William Kerr, 3rd Marquess of Lothian. He was styled Master of Jedburgh until 1722, Lord Jedburgh from 1722 to 1735, and Earl of Ancram from 1735 to 1767. As the Earl of Ancram, he distinguished himself during the War of the Austrian Succession.
Mark Kerr, 1st Earl of Lothian was a Scottish nobleman and politician. He became the first Earl of Lothian in 1606.
William Kerr, first Earl of Lothian of a new creation (1605–1675) was a Scottish nobleman.
Robert Ker, 1st Earl of Roxburghe was a Scottish nobleman.
Anne Stanley, Countess of Ancram was an English aristocrat.
Robert Douglas (1594–1674) was the only minister of the Church of Scotland to be Moderator of the General Assembly five times.
Ancrum is a village in the Borders area of Scotland, 5 km (3.1 mi) northwest of Jedburgh.
John William Robert Kerr, 7th Marquess of Lothian, styled Lord Newbottle until 1815 and Earl of Ancram from 1815 to 1824, was a Tory politician. He served briefly as Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard under Sir Robert Peel between September and November 1841.
Charles Kerr, 2nd Earl of Ancram was a Scottish peer and a member of the English House of Commons.
Mark Kerr or Ker was a Scottish churchman who became abbot of Newbattle, and then joined the reformers.
Robert Kerr, 2nd Earl of Lothian was a Scottish noble.
Annabella Campbell, Countess of Lothian, was a Scottish aristocrat.
John Livingstone was a Scottish minister. He was the son of William Livingstone, minister of Kilsyth, and afterwards of Lanark, said to be a descendant of the fifth Lord Livingston. His mother was Agnes, daughter of Alexander Livingston, portioner, Falkirk, brother of the Laird of Belstane.
George Douglas of Parkhead,, was a Scottish landowner, mining entrepreneur, Provost of Edinburgh, and Keeper of Edinburgh Castle.
Margaret Stewart, Mistress of Ochiltree was a courtier in the household of Anne of Denmark in Scotland and looked after her children Prince Henry, Princess Elizabeth, and Charles I of England
Helen Leslie, Lady Newbattle (1520-1594) was a Scottish aristocrat and supporter of Mary, Queen of Scots.
Anne Kerr, Countess of Lothian was a Scottish aristocrat and landowner.
Sir John Seton was a Scottish aristocrat and soldier who wrote letters to his cousin Alexander Montgomerie, 6th Earl of Eglinton, previously known as Alexander Seton of Foulstruther.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain : "A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen", Robert Chambers (1840)
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