Major General Sir James Holborne of Menstrie was a Scottish soldier during the years of the English Civil War. He eventually reached the rank of Major General and fought with the Parliamentarians during the English Civil War, fighting at Newbury and Taunton.[1] Although he initially fought on the side of the English Parliament, he later became a senior officer in the Scottish Army, fighting against Cromwell. He lived at Menstrie Castle, in Menstrie, Clackmannanshire, central Scotland, which he had purchased in 1649.[2]
Holborne was a Major General by 1645, when he was nominated, with the Earl of Leven, and Lord Kirkcudbright, as a deputation from the Convention of Estates, the most powerful party in Scotland at that time, to open negotiations with Oliver Cromwell, whose army was then at Berwick. On 4 October 1648 Cromwell made his first visit to Edinburgh. The Lord Kirkcudbright and Major General Holborne conducted him into the city, where he was lodged in the Earl of Moray's house in the Canongate.
By the autumn of 1650, James Holborne was fighting against Cromwell at the Battle of Dunbar. After the defeat of the Covenanting army by Cromwell at Dunbar, Charles II had been crowned by Argyll at Scone in Scotland, assuming personal command of the Scottish army, he managed to restrain Cromwell at Stirling for a month. Cromwell tried to turn the Scottish flank by sending a force under Colonel Overton into Fife. To defeat this attempt, Charles sent forward a contingent under two officers, Brown and James Holborne of Menstrie, with twelve hundred horse and fifteen hundred infantry, and on Sunday 20 July a battle took place on the north shore of the Forth at Inverkeithing. In that encounter, Holborne showed himself uncertain of his new allegiance. At the beginning of the battle Holborne fled with his cavalry, and although Brown, with a small force of infantry under Sir Hector Maclean and Sir George Buchanan fought bravely, they were defeated, the army being 'cut to pieces'.
Major General Holborne later arrived at Ardvreck Castle, Sutherland, as escort for James Graham, Marquis of Montrose, who was held captive by Neil Macleod after his defeat at Carbisdale, to be led to Edinburgh by a troop of horse by order of General David Leslie to meet his judges and his death on 4 May 1650. On 5 May, Montrose thus begun his long and humiliating captive journey, and on 6 May, Major General Holborne took shelter at Skibo Castle, the home of the dowager Lady Gray. Lady Gray, being loyal to the King, requested Montrose to be seated next to her at dinner. Major General Holborne insisted on a strict military order to affairs, and placed the Marquis between himself and another officer. With this breach of etiquette, the Lady Gray flew into a violent rage, and seizing upon a leg of roasted mutton by the shank she confronted the Major General with "such a notable blow on his head, knocking him of his seat."[citation needed]
The officers took alarm, expecting an attempt to rescue their prisoner. Lady Gray promptly reminded them that they were her guests and as such, as gentleman they should accommodate themselves to such an adjustment of place at her table, as she considered to be correct. Order having been restored, mutton replaced to the table, every possible civility was thereafter directed by all present toward the Marquis.
On 7 May, Montrose was ferried across Dornoch Firth to Tain, where General David Leslie took personal command of the procession. Montrose was led down the east coast of Scotland on the long journey toward Edinburgh, where he was met at the town’s Watergate and the sentence of hanging, drawing and quartering was pronounced.
Family
One "James Holburn" was recorded as having married Helen Millar on 29 July 1680 at Muthill, Perthshire in Scotland. A reference in the International Genealogical Index records a second marriage, to Margaret Gordon, which took place on 30 August 1682 at Monimail, Fife.
Holborne's son, also named James (d. 1737), was admitted as advocate on 23 November 1714, becoming thereafter an Examiner in the Exchequer. This James was married at first to Janet Inglis of Cramond, and later to Jean, the daughter of Alexander Spital of Leuchat. His son, another James (d. 1758), was created a baronet in 1706, in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia.
James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose was a Scottish nobleman, poet and soldier, lord lieutenant and later viceroy and captain general of Scotland. Montrose initially joined the Covenanters in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, but subsequently supported King Charles I as the English Civil War developed. From 1644 to 1646, and again in 1650, he fought in the civil war in Scotland on behalf of the King. He is referred to as the Great Montrose.
Admiral Sir Francis Holburne was a Royal Navy officer and politician. He served as commodore and commander-in-chief at the Leeward Islands during the War of the Austrian Succession and then took part in an operation to capture Louisbourg as part of the Louisbourg Expedition during the Seven Years' War. He went on to be Port Admiral at Portsmouth and then Senior Naval Lord. In retirement he became Governor of Greenwich Hospital. He also served as a Member of Parliament.
Captain Sir Alexander Holburn, 3rd Baronet was a Scottish sea captain in the Royal Navy. He was the second son of the advocate Sir James Holburn, 2nd Baronet by his second wife Jean, the daughter of Alexander Spital of Leuchat. Alexander succeeded to the baronetcy on the death of his father in 1758 when he was killed at sea in 1756.
William Holburne was an officer of the Royal Navy. He entered the navy, and may have served aboard the 74-gun third rate HMS Kent, during her time with Admiral Sir Edward Hawke's fleet at the Battle of Cape Finisterre.
David Leslie, 1st Lord Newark was a Scottish cavalry officer. He fought for the Swedish army of Gustavus Adolphus during the Thirty Years' War. He had entered Swedish service in 1630, serving as a captain in the regiment of Alexander Leslie. He returned to Scotland just before the end of the Bishops' War, and participated in the English Civil War and Scottish Civil Wars.
The Battle of Alford was an engagement of the Scottish Civil War. It took place near the village of Alford, Aberdeenshire, on 2 July 1645. During the battle, the Royalist general James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose defeated the forces of the Covenanter-dominated Scottish government, commanded by William Baillie.
The Battle of Inverkeithing was fought on 20 July 1651 between an English army under John Lambert and a Scottish army led by James Holborne as part of an English invasion of Scotland. The battle was fought near the isthmus of the Ferry Peninsula, to the south of Inverkeithing, after which it is named.
William Keith, 7th Earl Marischal was a Scottish nobleman and Covenanter. He was the eldest son of William Keith, 6th Earl Marischal.
Clan Graham is a Scottish clan who had territories in both the Scottish Highlands and Lowlands.
The Battle of Carbisdale took place close to the village of Culrain, Sutherland, Scotland on 27 April 1650 and was part of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It was fought by the Royalist leader James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, against the Scottish Government of the time, dominated by Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll and a grouping of radical Covenanters, known as the Kirk Party. The Covenanters decisively defeated the Royalists. The battlefield has been inventoried and protected by Historic Scotland under the Scottish Historical Environment Policy of 2009. Although Carbisdale is the name of the nearest farm to the site of the battle, Culrain is the nearest village.
Clan Dundas is a Scottish clan.
The Holburn Baronetcy, of Menstrie in the County of Clackmannan, was a title in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia. It was created on 21 June 1706 for James Holburn who was later titled, Sir James Holburn, 1st Baronet. He was the son of Major-General Sir James Holborne of Menstrie. The third Baronet was a captain in the Royal Navy. The fifth Baronet was founder of the Holburne Museum of Art, Bath, Somerset. On his death in 1874 the baronetcy became either extinct or dormant.
Sir George Munro, 1st of Newmore (1602–1693) was a 17th-century Scottish soldier and member of parliament from the Clan Munro, Ross-shire, Scotland. He was seated at Newmore Castle. Between 1629 and 1634 Munro held command in the Swedish army during the Thirty Years' War, and from 1642 in the Scottish Covenanter army during the Irish Confederate Wars before changing his allegiance to the Royalist cause of Charles I in 1648 during the Scottish Civil War and Irish Confederate Wars.
Menstrie Castle is a three-storey manor house in the town of Menstrie, Clackmannanshire, near Stirling, central Scotland. From the early 17th century, it was home to Sir William Alexander, 1st Earl of Stirling, who was instrumental in founding the colony of Nova Scotia. It was later owned by the Holburn or Holborne family, who were created Baronets of Menstrie in 1706. The castle was restored in the 20th century, won a Civic Trust award, and now incorporates holiday accommodation, private flats, and a museum and cafe run by the National Trust for Scotland.
Clan Munro is a Highland Scottish clan. Historically the clan was based in Easter Ross in the Scottish Highlands. Traditional origins of the clan give its founder as Donald Munro who came from the north of Ireland and settled in Scotland in the eleventh century, though its true founder may have lived much later. It is also a strong tradition that the Munro chiefs supported Robert the Bruce during the Wars of Scottish Independence. The first proven clan chief on record however is Robert de Munro who died in 1369; his father is mentioned but not named in a number of charters. The clan chiefs originally held land principally at Findon on the Black Isle but exchanged it in 1350 for Estirfowlys. Robert's son Hugh who died in 1425 was the first of the family to be styled "of Foulis", despite which clan genealogies describe him as 9th baron.
James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton, KG, PC, known as The 3rd Marquess of Hamilton from March 1625 until April 1643, was a Scottish nobleman and influential political and military leader during the Thirty Years' War and the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.
James Holburn is the name of:
Colonel John Cockburn was an officer in the Scottish Covenanter army in the late 1640s and early 1650s during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. In this capacity he led Lowland soldiers against Montrose's Scottish Royalist forces during the First English Civil War (1642-1646), when the Covenanter parliament of Scotland was allied with the English Parliamentarians against King Charles I. Colonel Cockburn led the colourfully defiant but futile Scottish resistance at Hume Castle during the Third English Civil War (1649-1651), when a Parliamentary army led by Oliver Cromwell invaded Scotland after its Covenanter government had made an uneasy alliance with King Charles II.
Events from the year 1715 in Scotland.
Sir Thomas William Holburn, 5th Baronet (1793–1874), generally known as William, was an English Baron and Lieutenant of the British Navy. He is mostly known as the owner of the collections that is currently on display in the Holburne Museum.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
