Sunday, 4 March 2018

(323) Baillie of Jerviswood and Mellerstain, and Hamilton (later Baillie-Hamilton) of Tyninghame, Earls of Haddington

Baillie-Hamilton, Earls of Haddington
The last heiress of the Baillies of Jerviswood and Mellerstain carried those estates to the Hamiltons of Tyningham, Earls of Haddington, by her marriage of 1717, but they were left to her second son, who took the name Baillie in 1738, separating the two lines again. One hundred and twenty years later, his grandson inherited the Hamilton seat of Tyninghame and the Earldom of Haddington, and took the name Baillie-Hamilton. With such a complex story, it is not really possible to tell the story of the two families separately, and so this account deals with both families.

To begin with the Baillies, George Baillie (d. 1647) was an Edinburgh merchant whose father came from St John's Kirk in Lanarkshire, and is said to have been descended from the Baillies of Lamington, although the connection is not clear. George may have been a goldsmith or silversmith, but although his trade is uncertain, it is known that he accumulated sufficient wealth to invest in the purchase of the Jerviswood estate near Lanark in 1636, where he built a substantial new house. Seven years later, he made a much larger investment when he bought the Mellerstain estate (where there was already an old five-storey castle) from Andrew Edmondston of Ednam. 

George Baillie was succeeded in his two estates by his eldest son, John Baillie (d. 1655) and then by his second son, Robert Baillie (1635-84), who was educated as a gentleman and emerged with both academic interests and a strong Presbyterian faith. The latter led him into difficulties with the authorities, and in the 1680s he was apparently a conspirator in the Rye House plot to replace King Charles II as monarch with the Duke of Monmouth. After long delays in bringing him to trial, while he languished in jail in harsh conditions, the authorities became concerned by his deteriorating health, and at the end of 1684 he was hastily charged with treason, tried, and barbarously executed. His estates were forfeit to the Crown, and were granted subsequently to the Duke of Gordon. His young family fled abroad, to Holland, where his son, George Baillie (1664-1738), had previously studied at university. George joined Prince William of Orange's Horse Guards, and when William was invited by a group of leading Protestant  noblemen to invade England and seize the Crown from King James II, George was part of the force he brought with him, and was shortly afterwards restored to his ancestral estates.

Remarkably, George seems not to have been made bitter by the treatment of his father and was widely respected for his wise judgement on political matters. He served as a member of the Scottish Parliament from 1693-1707 and then after the Act of Union with England as an MP at Westminster from 1707-34, and he was a minister almost continuously from 1710-25. His activities kept him in London for much of the time, and he relied greatly on his beloved wife, Lady Grisell Baillie (née Hume) to both manage his Scottish estates in his absence and to pass on confidential messages to his political friends in Scotland. When he retired from the Government, he turned his attention to replacing the old tower house at Mellerstain. William Adam provided designs for a new house, but only the wings had been built when work stopped in 1729. Baillie and his wife travelled on the continent from 1731-33, but work was not resumed on their return. 

When George Baillie died in 1738 he left no son but two daughters. The elder, Lady Murray, had married Sir Alexander Murray of Stanhope in 1710 but separated from him three years later and had no children. The younger, Rachel (1696-1773), married Charles Hamilton, Lord Binning, heir apparent to the 6th Earl of Haddington, and although he died young before coming into the peerage, he left three surviving sons. George Baillie therefore left his estates to Rachel's second son, The Hon. George Hamilton (1723-97), on condition that he took the name Baillie. After an unusually extended Grand Tour, he settled down in the late 1750s, married and produced a family, and then turned his attention to completing the mansion at Mellerstain. William Adam's scheme for the main block, which had been curiously old-fashioned when it was produced in the 1720s, was now totally out of date, and he turned instead to Robert Adam for a new design, which was constructed between 1768 and 1778. He was succeeded in 1797 by his son, George Baillie (1763-1841), who seems to have been a less sophisticated person than his father, preferring the simple pleasures of the Hopetoun Fencibles and the Mellerstain Foxhounds to the Grand Tour. He is notable chiefly for the size of his family, since he produced at least two acknowledged illegitimate children before his marriage and eleven legitimate ones thereafter. But his children were more distinguished: they included a Lord of Session, an Admiral, a Canon of York Minster and a leading Presbyterian layman, and his youngest daughter lived to become the first deaconess of the established church in Scotland. (George's younger brother, the Ven. Charles Baillie (1764-1820) produced a similarly talented brood: his seven sons included a diplomat, a colonial governor and two admirals, and his youngest daughter was a Maid of Honour at Queen Victoria's wedding). It was George's eldest son, another George Baillie (1802-70) who inherited the title and estates of the Hamiltons and took the name Baillie-Hamilton.

The Hamiltons can trace their origins back to Walter FitzGilbert of Cadzow in the 14th century, and in the later medieval period were settled at Ballencrieff and Innerwick in East Lothian. Thomas Hamilton (d. c.1537), who became a burgess of Edinburgh, acquired the estate of Priestfield (Midlothian) from his brother-in-law in 1523, and bequeathed it to his son, Thomas Hamilton (d. 1547), also a burgess, who was killed at the Battle of Pinkie, leaving a young family. His elder son, Thomas Hamilton (d. c.1612), became a lawyer and at the end of his life was appointed a Lord of Session as Lord Priestfield, while the younger, John Hamilton (d. 1610), became a Roman Catholic priest and was Rector of Paris University, 1584-94, but later returned to Scotland and ended his days as a prisoner in the Tower of London. My genealogy of the family below begins with Thomas (d. c.1612). His son, another Sir Thomas Hamilton (1563-1637), was the real founder of the family's fortune. He trained as a lawyer in Paris and was admitted to the College of Advocates in 1587, and pursued a highly profitable legal practice. Alongside this, he had a developing judicial and ministerial career which culminated in his appointment as Secretary of State for Scotland, 1612-26. He was raised to the peerage as Lord Binning in 1613, and advanced to be Earl of Melrose in 1619. In 1627 he was allowed to change his title to Earl of Haddington, after the county where most of his estates lay (East Lothian being known until the 20th century as Haddingtonshire). His estates were indeed rapidly expanding, as the profits of his legal practice and the rewards of public office were consistently invested in land. He made eight major purchases between 1601 and 1634, including the Tyninghame estate in East Lothian, which he bought in 1628, and by the time of his death in 1637, he was accounted one of the richest men in Scotland.

The 1st Earl of Haddington made provision for his younger sons from within his extensive property portfolio, but the bulk of his possessions passed to his eldest son, Thomas Hamilton (1600-40), 2nd Earl of Haddington. Whereas his father had probably remained a Roman Catholic all his life, the 2nd Earl was a Presbyterian and when hostilities broke out between the King and the Covenanters in 1640 he became a Major-General in the Covenanter army and was made Governor of Dunglass Castle. He was killed by a massive gunpowder explosion at Dunglass on 30 August 1640 which took the lives of some seventy-two people all told, including two of his half-brothers. His eldest son, Thomas Hamilton (1624-45), who succeeded as 3rd Earl of Haddington, was then in France, where he married in 1643 before returning to Scotland, only to die of consumption two years later. The title and estates then passed to his younger brother, John Hamilton (1626-69), 4th Earl of Haddington, who was lame and suffered from increasing ill-health, and many of whose twelve children died young. One of those who survived was Charles Hamilton (c.1650-85), 5th Earl of Haddington. He married the only child of John Leslie, 7th Earl and later 1st Duke of Rothes, who from 1664 to 1681 stood at the head of Scottish government as Lord Chancellor of Scotland. When the Duke died in 1681, his wife inherited the Leslie estate at Rothes (Morays) and her father's earldom, which was capable of passing through the female line, and the couple lived at Leslie House (Fife) and let Tyninghame. 


Leslie House: the mansion at the beginning of the 20th century, from an old postcard.

At the time when the 5th Earl married in 1674 it was clear that his father-in-law's peerage would come to his wife in the fullness of time, and that in the natural course of things their eldest son would therefore inherited both the Haddington and Rothes titles. To prevent this, they included in their marriage settlement a provision that if they had two or more sons, their eldest son would succeed to the Rothes title and estates, but that the 5th Earl and his eldest son should both resign the Haddington title and estates in favour of the second son. (Until 1707, a Scottish peer could at any time resign his honours into the King's hands and obtain a re-grant of them with altered limitation of descent). On the death of the 5th Earl of Haddington in 1685, therefore, his second son became the 6th Earl, while his elder brother had to wait until 1700 to succeed his mother as 9th Earl of Rothes.

Thomas Hamilton (1680-1735), 6th Earl of Haddington, was a child of five when he inherited the title and estates, and he was brought up by his mother at Leslie House under the direction of governors appointed by his father. They put the rather perilous family finances onto a more secure footing and ensured he emerged as a Whig and a supporter of the Act of Union and of the Hanoverian cause. In 1696 he married his cousin, Eleanor alias Helen Hope, and she seems to have tamed some initially rather wild tendencies in her young husband and turned his attention to literary pursuits, and to estate improvement. She encouraged him particularly to plant trees and he became an expert arboriculturalist, producing a treatise on the subject which was published in 1756. He transformed the estate at Tyninghame, planting some 800 acres of trees, but also draining the land and introducing new crops which helped fertilise the soil and produce better yields. He outlived his son and heir apparent, Charles Hamilton (1697-1732), Lord Binning, and on his death in 1735 the peerage and the Tyninghame estate therefore passed to his grandson, Thomas Hamilton (1720-94), 7th Earl of Haddington. He continued his grandfather's improvements to the estate through landscaping works, which included the removal of the old Tyninghame village from its site near the house and the partial demolition of the Norman church, which became a picturesque ruin in the landscape. His son, Charles Hamilton (1753-1828), 8th Earl of Haddington, had a reputation as a wit and was a man of cultivated tastes, but like his father, took no part in public affairs. His only child was a son, Thomas Hamilton (1780-1858), 9th Earl of Haddington, who was rewarded for long service as a Tory MP by being raised to the peerage as Baron Melrose of Tyninghame in 1827, shortly before he inherited the earldom. On coming into the title and estates he greatly remodelled Tyninghame House to the design of William Burn, turning it into a fashionably Baronial mansion. He then resumed his political career whenever the Tories were in power. He was briefly Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1834-35, turned down the Governor Generalship of India in 1840, but became First Lord of the Admiralty from 1841-46 and then briefly Lord Privy Seal. He was married, but had no issue, and on his death his title and estates passed to his second cousin, George Baillie (1802-70) of Mellerstain, who took the name Baillie-Hamilton in that year.

In the person of the 10th Earl the two intertwined families of Baillie and Hamilton were finally permanently united. During his brief tenure of the peerage he was elected as a representative peer for Scotland (from 1707 to 1963 the Scottish peers had to elect sixteen of their number to sit in the House of Lords as Scottish representative peers) and was, for two years, Queen Victoria's Commissioner at the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. He was also a prominent member of the Royal Company of Archers, serving as Vice-President of the Council which governed the company. At his death in 1870 he was succeeded by his eldest son, George Baillie-Hamilton-Arden (1827-1917), 11th Earl of Haddington. He married in 1854 Helen Warrender, who three years later inherited the Utkinton and Alvanley Hall estates of her maternal grandfather in Cheshire.
Arderne Hall (Cheshire): the house built by the 11th Earl of Haddington
on the estate inherited by his wife in 1857, to the designs of J.S. Crowther.
The couple settled in Cheshire and built a new house, Arderne Hall, on their property in 1863 to the designs of the Manchester architect, Joseph S. Crowther. After the 11th Earl came into the peerage, they divided their time between Cheshire and Scotland, and after the Countess died in 1889, Arderne Hall was apparently handed over to their youngest son, the Hon. Henry Robert Baillie-Hamilton (1862-1949), who took the additional name Arden in 1918, after he formally inherited the estate from his father.


The 11th Earl's eldest son, George Baillie-Hamilton (1856-1917), Lord Binning, was a career soldier with the Royal Horse Guards until 1903, when he retired as a Lt-Colonel. He returned to the army in the First World War and commanded a brigade with the temporary rank of Brigadier-General. He fought at Ypres, where he contracted an illness of which he died in January 1917, a few months before his father. The title and estates therefore passed to his elder son, George Baillie-Hamilton (1894-1986), 12th Earl of Haddington, who held them for a notable sixty-nine years. He served in the First and Second World Wars, was a Scottish representative peer and Lord Lieutenant of East Lothian, and devoted increasing time to arts and heritage interests in his later years. His Canadian wife was one of the early promoters of the Edinburgh Festival from 1947. In the 1960s, they refurbished and modernised Tyninghame House, under the guidance of William Schomberg Scott, the conservation architect, and with the help of the decorator John Fowler. When the 12th Earl died in 1986, the title and estates passed to his only son, John George Hamilton-Baillie (1941-2016), 13th Earl of Haddington. The estates were then still remarkably intact. Jerviswood had been sold in the 1920s, but both the Mellerstain and Tyninghame estates were still in the possession of the family. To meet the substantial death duties arising from the death of the 12th Earl, and the decision was taken to sell Tyninghame House but to retain the estate (some of the land was sold in 2003). Tyninghame was subsequently bought by the specialist country house developer Kit Martin, and converted into apartments. Mellerstain, which had been open to the public for many years, was vested in the Mellerstain Trust, but continues to be the home of the 13th Earl, and since 2016, of his son and successor, the 14th Earl.


Jerviswood House, Lanarkshire


The house stands in a high, naturally defensible location above the Mouse Water, a tributary of the River Clyde, about a mile north of Lanark. The site was granted by Mary, Queen of Scots in 1549 to William Livingstone, and either he or his successors built a quadrilateral castle here, of which some ruins still remain, and of which there was more until about 1950. However, after the castle was bought by George Baillie, an Edinburgh merchant, in 1636, it was abandoned and replaced by the present three-storey house. 


Jerviswood House: the regularly fenestrated courtyard side of the house.

As one approaches the house from the east, it appears to be L-shaped, but this is misleading; the two gabled rubble-built and harled ranges only overlap enough at the angle between to allow communication between them via a staircase entered by the modest main doorway between the two. The elegant elevations to the courtyard, with relatively large windows (now sashed) disguise this awkward junction. 


Jerviswood House: the house from the hillside to the west, showing the two separate ranges of which the building is composed.

After Mellerstain House in Roxburghshire became the seat of the Baillies in the 18th century, Jerviswood became a tenanted property, and by 1834 it was reported to be in decay and used as accommodation for farm workers. After the estate was sold to the farming tenant in the early 1920s, the ground floor continued to be occupied by the dairyman and it was still occupied in 1950, when a bathroom was added to the south gable of the house (occasioning the destruction of part of the ruins of the earlier castle), but by 1968 it was unoccupied and most of the original interiors had been lost, although a number of good original stone fireplaces survived. The house was restored and reharled after 1979 by John Aitken with the assistance of Alex Cullen & Co., architects.

Descent: sold 1636 to George Baillie (d. 1647); to son, John Baillie (d. 1655); to brother, Robert Baillie (1635-84); forfeited after his execution but restored 1689 to son, George Baillie (1664-1738); to widow, Lady Grisel Baillie (1665-1746); to grandson, George Hamilton (later Baillie) (1723-97); to son, George Baillie (1763-1841); to son, George Baillie (later Baillie-Hamilton) (1802-70), 10th Earl of Haddington; to son, George Baillie (later Baillie-Hamilton-Arden) (1827-1917), 11th Earl of Haddington; to grandson, George Baillie-Hamilton (1894-1986), 12th Earl of Haddington; who sold c.1920-25 to farming tenant, George Findlater; sold 1960s to a gentleman from Wishaw whose plans to restore the house did not materialise; sold 1979 to John & Greta Aitken (fl. 1993); sold c.1997 to Colin Steele McRae (1968-2007); to widow, Alison McRae.


Mellerstain House, Berwickshire


George Baillie (d. 1649) bought the Mellerstain estate from Andrew Edmondston of Ednam in 1643, and in 1700 a visitor noted that the family 'have ane old tower w[ith] but one room off a floor about 5 storey high but it looks very ruinous'. Even in the 1720s, when a new house was being planned, the old tower was being repointed and the windows reglazed.


Mellerstain House: design by William Adam for the centre block of Mellerstain House (not built). Image: © The Mellerstain Trust.

The new house was designed by William Adam, then recently established as the leading Scottish architect, for George Baillie (1664-1738). Adam had just completed some (unexecuted) designs for Baillie's brother-in-law, the 2nd Earl of Marchmont. The house he designed for Mellerstain would have had a rather old-fashioned central block in the style of James Smith, and large pavilions enclosing the forecourt. The entrance front of the central block was to be pedimented, and have Gibbs surrounds and alternating segmental and triangular pediments to the windows and doorways on the ground floor. On the garden front, the ground and first floor windows of the pedimented centrepiece were to be round-arched and rusticated. Inside, the house was to have a very large T-plan hall and saloon in the centre, separating the state apartment from the family rooms.  In the event, only the pavilions were built, in 1725-29. These are large but plain quadrangular blocks of rubble stone, seven bays by four, with the long sides facing each other across the forecourt of the later mansion. The ground-floor windows and entrance doorways have Gibbs surrounds, and the small square windows above have moulded frames, but there is little other decoration. The pavilions remained unconnected for nearly 40 years while the family lived in the east wing, with service rooms and stables in the west wing. 


Mellerstain House: design by Robert Adam for entrance front (largely as executed), c.1768.
Image: Soane Museum Adam volume 43/42
Mellerstain House: garden front. Image: Visit Scotland.

A new main block was not built until 1768-70, when George Hamilton (later Baillie) (1723-97) turned to Robert Adam for the design, which takes the form of an E-plan with the wings projecting towards the forecourt, and connected by short one-storey links to the earlier pavilions. On the garden side, the central block and ends are also broken forward very slightly from the plane of the wall. The house appears to be very large because of its length (a total of seventeen bays) and because the long wings produce five-bay side elevations; but in reality the main block is only one room and a corridor deep. This must have been a chilly arrangement in these northern climes. The entrance front has a three bay central block of three storeys above a basement, connected by five-bay links of two storeys over the basement to three-storey end pavilions which are only two bays wide but project by a full three bays. The house is given a faint castle air by the individual Tudor-style hoodmoulds over the rather small, widely-spaced sash windows, and by the battlements which surround the whole house. Adam's drawings for the project show that he intended to remodel the pavilions designed by his father with battlements too, but this was never done.


Mellerstain House: entrance hall. © The Mellerstain Trust.
The carcase of the house was complete by 1770, and attention then turned to the design of the interiors. They were executed progressively, and designs were supplied only as they were needed, over a period of several years, with work continuing until at least 1778. The plasterwork was executed by the (otherwise unknown) Powell; the decorative painting by John Bonnar; and the carving by James Adamson. In contrast to Adam's other houses (and therefore perhaps reflecting the client's preferences), the rooms are almost all simple rectangles. The sole exception of the entrance hall, which has apsed ends, and this was a late change from the original design. The entrance hall has large round-headed niches in the apses, a richly decorated ceiling, and a good Doric frieze, with crossed swords and daggers on the metopes of the frieze. A central doorway leads through under the main staircase into the corridor that runs the length of the house. The corridor is treated differently east and west of the staircase, but the eastern half has inventively detailed Gothick plasterwork on the tunnel vault. The only other Gothick decorations in the house are the ceiling of the east back staircase and the ceiling of the breakfast room, which lies at the end of the east corridor: here there are interlocking circles on the ceiling, and a Gothick frieze and doorcase.


Mellerstain House: library. Image: © The Mellerstain Trust.
Otherwise, the decoration of the interiors is entirely neo-classical, and forms a very fine suite of Adam rooms. From east to west, the other principal interiors on the piano nobile are the library, dining room, and drawing room, while the largest room is the gallery, at the top of the house in the centre tower. The library has four groups of bookcases sunk into the wall and divided by Ionic pilasters, which also frame the doorcases and are continued on the window wall, where they frame oval mirrors. Above the bookcases is a wide band of blank wall decorated with low-relief plaster panels of classical subjects, executed in white against a dark background, and copied from engravings in the same way that 17th century plasterers worked. Above the doors are six circular recesses containing portrait busts - four of them by Scheemakers and Roubiliac and dating from the 1740s. The ceiling, decorated in vivid Adam colours of apple green and soft pink, has a painting of Minerva in the centre, surrounded by panels of musical trophies and medallion heads. The design of the centrepiece was originally made for the library at Luton Hoo but not used there.


Mellerstain House: the dining room (now music room). Image: © The Mellerstain Trust.

The dining room (or music room) at the centre of the south front is comparatively simple after the grandeur of the library. It has a pretty compartmented ceiling of light blues and greens, with a central medallion showing the sacrifice of an ox, encircled by a band of grapes and vine leaves. The chimneypiece in this room is not by Adam, but a replacement of the 1820s, carved by the otherwise unknown J. Marshall, with figures of War and Peace and a central panel of oxen ploughing. Continuing along the enfilade, the drawing room has a ceiling with delicate patterns of circles linking panels of vases and supporting griffins.


Mellerstain House: drawing room. © The Mellerstain Trust

The gallery at the top of the house has views north to Mellerstain Hill, and south over the gardens and the great lake towards the Cheviot Hills in Northumberland. It has screens of Ionic columns supporting a barrel vault, but the intended ornamented ceiling (for which a design of 1775 survives) was never carried out. The idea for the room seems to have been suggested by George Baillie, but in a letter written in 1778 Adam suggests that the ceiling should be left 'plain and elegant and not expensive', with decoration confined to the end walls, where the tympana between the frieze and the ceiling are decorated with tripods, vases, griffins and delightful cherubs.


Mellerstain House: the landscape gardens as shown on the 1st edn 6" map of 1858.

The landscaped grounds of Mellerstain have developed over a long period from the late 17th to the early 20th century. A large-scale formal landscape, contemporary with that at Marchmont House, was complete by 1738, and was at the least planned in conjunction with William Adam's proposed house. Work began with the formation of enclosures, the planting of formal avenues, and the digging out and construction of the ponds and waterworks. A canal was made in c.1727 by widening the Eden Water, and its south end was dammed in 1748 by a Mr Craw to create a series of cascades. A long east-west axis was created by a double avenue of trees over three miles long, which was reduced to a single line of beeches and limes c.1800. An eyecatcher, known as the Hundy Mundy, was begun in 1726 on the skyline south-west of the house, possibly using stone from the original tower house. Drawings by Robert Adam for a folly sham castle, reminiscent of the Codger Fort at Wallington in Northumberland, were not executed.


Mellerstain House: the garden front, showing the terraces added by Blomfield in 1909-11. Image: Christine Wallace.

In 1909-11 Sir Reginald Blomfield was brought into redesign the park south of the house as a series of imposing formal Italianate terraces with a wide lawn running down to a remodelled canal, and emphasizing the vista to the Hundy Mundy and the distant Cheviots. Blomfield also made one change to the house, building a new front doorcase.

Descent: George Baillie (d. 1647); to son, John Baillie (d. 1655); to brother, Robert Baillie (1635-84); forfeited after his execution but restored 1689 to son, George Baillie (1664-1738); to widow, Lady Grisel Baillie (1665-1746); to grandson, George Hamilton (later Baillie) (1723-97); to son, George Baillie (1763-1841); to son, George Baillie (later Baillie-Hamilton) (1802-70), 10th Earl of Haddington; to son, George Baillie-Hamilton (later Baillie-Hamilton-Arden) (1827-1917), 11th Earl of Haddington; to grandson, George Baillie-Hamilton (1894-1986), 12th Earl of Haddington; to son, John George Baillie-Hamilton (1941-2016), 13th Earl of Haddington, who established the Mellerstain Trust.


Tyninghame House, East Lothian


Tyninghame House: the mansion from the south in 1982. Image: Nicholas Kingsley. Some rights reserved.


The house is now, to all intents and appearances, a U-shaped Scots Baronial house designed by William Burn in 1829 for the 9th Earl of Haddington, but there is a much older core. The estate belonged to the Bishops of St. Andrews in the medieval period, and in the 13th century, their country retreat here was described as a tower house. The estate was purchased after the Reformation by the Lauders of Bass, who probably rebuilt the house, and it was apparently a tower house when sold to the Hamilton family in 1628. This tower was incorporated into the north and west ranges of the 'plain old Scottish mansion of large size' recorded in the early 19th century, which was no doubt the result of a remodelling for the 1st Earl of Haddington before 1637 or for his grandson, the 4th Earl, after the Restoration. The 8th Earl made some alterations to the house in the 1790s, apparently to the design of John Baxter (d. 1798), which included the formation of a new library, but the nature of these works is not now apparent. 

When Burn arrived on the scene, the house already formed three sides of a courtyard open to the south, and Burn's plans show that his work was in the nature of a radical remodelling rather than a rebuilding. Apart from bay-windows and turrets, Burn's principal additions to the plan were the porch, an extension of the west range to provide an enlarged drawing room, and a new corridor alongside the south-east wing. The walls, however, were almost entirely refaced to create a romantic outline and movement in the elevations, and the only old masonry still visible is on small areas of the courtyard elevations. The picturesque composition is especially evident from the west, where Burn uses Baronial elements to achieve a dynamic balance between two unequal but similar walls on either side of the circular turret; and on the north front, where the three projecting elements of the old house were given different gable treatments and a sense of building up to the tallest element at the north-west corner.



Tyninghame House: the north front. Image: © Andy Sweet/Stravaiging around Scotland.

Inside, the main rooms were all redecorated by Burn and are amongst the finest of their date in Scotland. Whereas the external details are largely Tudor or Jacobean in inspiration, the interior is a typically eclectic and promiscuous mixture of classical and early modern forms. A short flight of stairs leads from the porch up to the principal floor, and to the main staircase, which is a Jacobean well-stair, set in a hall with a classical ceiling. Beyond this is the Gallery, with an original deep red wallpaper, a French Rococo chimneypiece of red speckled marble, and dark stained and grained woodwork. North of this is the dining room, with a heavily cross-beamed ceiling decorated with a delicate foliage cornice, and a large 18th century white marble chimneypiece, believed to come from Rushbrooke Hall in Suffolk.


Tyninghame House: the drawing room, as furnished by Sir Timothy Clifford in the 1990s. 

The main suite of rooms occupies the west side of the house. First comes the Anteroom, opening off the end of the Gallery. This has a Grecian ochre marble chimneypiece and a pale green damask wallpaper which is continued in the adjoining Drawing Room, a charming room whose great length is offset by a large bay window towards the further end. North of the ante-room is the Library, with an unusual ceiling formed of a geometrical pattern of moulded ribs, a French marble chimneypiece like that in the Gallery, and fine fitted bookcases.


Tyninghame House: library in the early 20th century. Image: John Donat/RIBA Collections

In the 1960s the house was refurbished and modernised for the 12th Earl of Haddington by the conservation architect, W. Schomberg Scott. He removed an eroded stone balcony from the exterior of the house and added the carved heraldic panel over the porch in 1961. A little later, work was done inside the house under the direction of John Fowler. He created a new small drawing room for Lady Haddington, with mid 18th century furnishings removed from Elie House (Fife) and Mellerstain House, and pyramidal bookcases of his own design. The room is approached from the upper end of the gallery along a corridor with wall paintings of East Lothian scenes by William McLaren, 1967, set in trompe l'oeil architectural frames.


Tyninghame House: Lady Haddington's drawing room, as decorated by John Fowler.

With the death of the 12th Earl in 1986 and of his widow in 1987, the family decided that it could no longer afford to maintain both Mellerstain and Tyninghame. The 13th Earl had made his home at Mellerstain, and so the house at Tyninghame was sold. It was bought by the specialist country house developer, Kit Martin, who divided it vertically into nine residences between 1989 and 1994. The grandest unit, containing the principal apartments in the west wing, was subsequently owned for a time by Sir Timothy Clifford, and filled with his fine collections.

There is a large walled garden at Tyninghame which is entered through an 18th century doorcase with a Gibbs surround, but which has on the inside a flat-arched Renaissance archway with a datestone for 1666, so development of the gardens was probably begun as early as the house. The park and estate at Tyninghame were further developed between 1700 and 1737 by the 6th Earl and his wife, in the interests of agricultural improvement as much as landscaping. Their work was on a large scale: in Binning Wood alone they planted over 400 acres of trees in a goosefoot pattern. Landscaping was continued by the 7th Earl, who cleared the village to the south of the house in 1761, leaving only the ruins of the 12th century parish church as a picturesque object. He began the construction of a model estate village on the east side of the main road, and work continued on this in the early 19th century; further cottages were added in 1854 and even in 1939. The 9th Earl celebrated the contribution of the 6th Earl and his countess to the gardens on an obelisk erected in 1856 on the edge of the ha-ha. Finally, the 12th Earl added a Chinese-Gothick arbour and a Gothick summer house in about 1960.  


Baillie family of Jerviswood and Mellerstain



Baillie, George (d. 1647). Son of John or William Baillie (fl. 1636), of St John's Kirk (Lanarks). Merchant burgess of Edinburgh, 1613. Member of Edinburgh town council, 1631. He married 1st, Christian Vorie (d. 1628), illegitimate daughter of John Vorie of Balbaird,  and 2nd, Margaret, daughter of James Johnston of Edinburgh and sister of Sir Archibald Johnston, Lord Wariston, and had issue:
(2.1) Christian Baillie (b. 1630; d. by 1664), baptised at Edinburgh, 2 July 1630; married, 1657, as his first wife, Joseph Brodie (d. 1682) of Asliesk Castle, son of David Brodie of Brodie Castle ; died before 1664;
(2.2) John Baillie (1632-c.1649), baptised at Edinburgh, 27 January 1632; died unmarried and without issue between November 1648 and May 1649;
(2.3) Rachel Baillie (b. 1633; fl. 1696), baptised at Edinburgh, 8 November 1633; married 1st, 31 March 1654, Rev. Andrew Gray (1633-56), minister of the Outer High Kirk, Glasgow, fifth son of Sir William Gray of Pittendrum, and had issue two sons and one daughter; married 2nd, Rev. George Hutcheson, minister in Edinburgh; living in 1696;
(2.4) Robert Baillie (1635-84) (q.v.);
(2.5) Capt. George Baillie of Mannerhall; married Lillias Baillie and had issue two sons;
(2.6) Archibald Baillie;
(2.7) James Baillie of Mannerhall; died without issue;
(2.8) Elizabeth Baillie (d. 1697); married, 3 December 1657, Rev. James Kirkton (1628-99), Presbyterian minister, and had issue one son and one daughter; buried 7 April 1697.
He lived at Edinburgh and St John's Kirk (Lanarks) and purchased Jerviswood in 1636 (where he built a new house) and Mellerstain in 1643. At his death the estates passed to his eldest son, John, and then to his second son, Robert Baillie.
He died in May 1647. His first wife died in 1628. His second wife's date of death is unknown.


Robert Baillie (d. 1684)
Baillie, Robert (1635-84). Eldest surviving son of George Baillie (d. 1647) of Jerviswood and Mellerstain, and his wife, baptised at Edinburgh, 12 March 1635. A Presbyterian in religion, he was 'a man of great piety and virtue, learned in the law, in mathematics, and in languages'. In June 1676 he came to the attention of the Scottish government when he was found guilty of riot for rescuing his brother-in-law, the Rev. James Kirkton, a Presbyterian minister who had been seized and locked up by William Carstairs, an unscrupulous informer who planned to extort money from Kirkton. Baillie was fined £500 and imprisoned for four months before a review of the case led to his being released and the unpaid part of the fine being remitted. Along with the 5th Earl of Haddington and others, he became so disenchanted with life in Scotland that in 1682 he determined to emigrate to America as part of a scheme led by Sir John Cochrane of Ochiltree and Sir George Campbell of Cesnock for a new colony in the Carolinas, but before the scheme could be put into effect Baillie was one of those arrested for conspiracy in the Rye House Plot to bring the Duke of Monmouth to the throne. Although he denied any knowledge of the conspiracy, he did not deny that he had been consulted about an insurrection in Scotland, and he was tried and executed for treason. He married, 20 January 1661, Rachel (d. 1697), daughter of Sir Archibald Johnston of Wariston and sister of Lord Warriston, and had issue:
(1) Helen Baillie (1662-72), born 29 April 1662; died young and was buried at Greyfriars, Edinburgh, 14 December 1672;
(2) Rt. Hon. George Baillie (1664-1738) (q.v.);
(3) Archibald Baillie (b. 1665), born 15 April and baptised at Lanark, 26 April 1665;
(4) Robert Baillie (b. 1666), born 4 July and baptised at Lanark, 8 July 1666;
(5) Margaret Baillie (b. 1667), born 20 August and baptised at Lanark, 23 August 1667;
(6) William Baillie (b. 1669), baptised at Lanark, 21 January 1669;
(7) Rachel Baillie (b. 1670), born 3 April and baptised at Lanark, 11 April 1670; married Sir Patrick Dundas (d. 1735) of Breastmill (W. Lothian) and had issue six sons and two daughters; living in 1704;
(8) Martha Baillie (b. 1672), born 3 November 1672.
(9) James Baillie (1673-98), born 9 June 1673; Captain of the Town Guard at Edinburgh and a customs collector at Prestonpans; buried at Greyfriars, Edinburgh, 7 October 1698;
(10) John Baillie (1675-1717), born 14 March 1675; apprenticed to James Baillie, merchant, in Edinburgh, 1691; died 1717;
(11) Helen Baillie (b. 1676), born July 1676; married John Hay WS of Edinburgh;
(12) Elizabeth Baillie (b. 1677), born 25 September 1677; married Robert Weymss (fl. 1717) of Grangemuir, collector of taxes at Alloa, and had issue.
He inherited the Jerviswood and Mellerstain estates from his elder brother in 1655, but they were forfeited to the Crown on his conviction for treason and subsequently allocated to the Duke of Gordon.
He was hung, drawn and quartered at the Mercat Cross in Edinburgh on 24 December 1684. His widow was buried in Greyfriars churchyard, Edinburgh, 1 February 1697.

Baillie, Rt. Hon. George (1664-1738). Eldest son of Robert Baillie (1635-84) and his wife Rachel, daughter of Sir Archibald Johnston of Warriston (Midlothian), Lord Warriston, born 16 March and baptised at Lanark, 23 March 1664. Educated at the University of Franeker (Holland), 1682. After his father's execution he served in the Prince William of Orange's Horse Guards, c.1685-89, with whom he returned to Britain as part of the Prince's invasion. Appointed a Commissioner of Supply for Berwickshire and Lanarkshire, and a Militia Commissioner, 1689; MP in the Scottish Parliament for Berwickshire, 1693-1701 and for Lanarkshire, 1702-07; MP at Westminster for Scotland, 1707-08 and for Berwickshire, 1708-34; Receiver-General for Scotland, 1693-1701; Lord Treasurer Depute for Scotland, 1704-05; one of the Scottish Treasury (later Exchequer) Commissioners, 1704-10; a member of the Privy Council for Scotland, 1704-05; Lord of Trade, 1710-12; Lord of the Admiralty, 1714-17; Lord of the Treasury, 1717-25. He and his wife travelled in Italy, May 1731-October 1733, and were the subjects of a memoir by their daughter, Lady Murray of Stanhope, Memoirs of the lives and characters of the Rt. Hon. George Baillie of Jerviswoode, and of Lady Grisell Baillie (2nd edn, 1824). He married, 17 September 1691, Lady Grisell (1665-1746), daughter of Sir Patrick Hume, 1st Earl of Marchmont, and had issue:
(1) Grisell Baillie (1692-1759), born 26 October 1692; author of a memoir of her parents published in 1824; married, 16 August 1710 (sep. 1714) Sir Alexander Murray (c.1687-1743), 3rd bt., of Stanhope, but had no issue; died 6 June 1759;
(2) Robert Baillie (b. 1694), baptised at Edinburgh, 23 January 1694; died in infancy;
(3) Rachel Baillie (1696-1773) (q.v.).
He was restored to the Jerviswood and Mellerstain estates in 1689. On his widow's death they passed to his second grandson, George Hamilton (later Baillie) (1723-97).
He died in Oxford, 6 August 1738. His widow died in London, 6 December 1746.

Baillie, Rachel (1696-1773). Younger daughter of Rt. Hon. George Baillie (1664-1738) of Jerviswood and Mellerstain, and his wife Lady Grisell, daughter of Sir Patrick Hume, 1st Earl of Marchmont, baptised at Edinburgh, 23 February 1696. She married, 24 August 1717 at Earlston (Berwicks), Charles Hamilton (1697-1732), Lord Binning, eldest son and heir apparent of Thomas Hamilton, 6th Earl of Haddington, and had issue [see below, under the entry for her husband].
She died 24 March 1773. Her husband died in Naples (Italy), 27 December 1732.


Hamilton (later Baillie-Hamilton) family of Tyninghame, Earls of Haddington



Hamilton, Rt. Hon. Sir Thomas (c.1540-c.1612). Son of Thomas Hamilton (d. 1547) and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Leslie of Inverpeffer (and later wife of William Hutson), born about 1540. Probably educated at St. Andrews University (MA 1559) as well as the University of Paris, where he was studying c.1568, and where his brother was later Rector. On his return to Scotland (which had taken place by 1571) he was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates. Although he does not seem to have played a prominent part in public affairs, he was outlawed along with the Earl of Arran in 1572, but rehabilitated the following year. In 1603 he was appointed one of the commissioners for managing the Queen's property in Scotland, in 1607 he was raised to the bench as a Lord of Session (taking the title Lord Priestfield), and in 1608 he was sworn of the Privy Council for Scotland, but these honours came too late in life; he resigned his judicial appointment in favour of his second son in 1608, and retired from the Privy Council in 1610. He married 1st, 1558, Elizabeth, daughter of James Heriot of Trabroun (E. Lothian) and 2nd, Elizabeth (d. 1612), daughter of Sir Andrew Murray of Blackbarony and widow of James Borthwick of Newbyres, and had issue:
(1.1) Sir Thomas Hamilton (1563-1637), 1st Lord Binning, 1st Earl of Melrose and 1st Earl of Haddington (q.v.);
(1.2) Christian Hamilton (fl. 1592); married, (contract 13 April 1592), as his second wife, Sir Alexander Hamilton of Innerwick, and had issue; 
(2.1) Sir Andrew Hamilton (d. 1634); succeeded his father as a Lord of Session (as Lord Redhouse), 1608; married Jean (d. by 1617), daughter and heir of John Laing of Redhouse, and had issue three sons and one daughter; died 1634;
(2.2) Sir John Hamilton (d. 1632) of Magdalens (W. Lothian); a Lord of Session, 1622-26 and Lord Clerk Register of Scotland, 1622-32; married (contract 26 June 1602), Agnes, daughter of William Hamilton of Edinburgh, and had issue six daughters; died 28 November 1632 and was buried at Holyrood;
(2.3) Sir Patrick Hamilton (d. 1662) of Little Preston; lawyer; acted for a time as under-Secretary of State in London to his brother, the 1st Earl; knighted, 22 June 1633; a member of the Committee of Estates to 1648; married (contract 18 March 1613), Elizabeth, daughter of Ninian Macmorran, merchant, of Edinburgh, and had issue one son and three daughters; died 1662;
(2.4) Gen. Alexander Hamilton (d. 1649); educated partly in Paris, where he was studying in 1615; an officer in the service of King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (Col. 1629), who fought in the Thirty Years War and gained experience of the management of artillery; returned to England in 1635, where he held an appointment as an artillery officer for a couple of years; returned to Scotland in 1638 and sided with the Covenanters when hostilities developed; was appointed a General of Artillery and probably managed the capture and refortification of Edinburgh Castle, 1639; played a leading role in the Scottish army which advanced into England in 1640 and then in the army sent into Ireland to suppress rebellion there; was again in the Scottish army which advanced into England in aid of King Charles I in 1648 and was defeated at the Battle of Preston; was subsequently stripped of his military commands; married 1st, [forename unknown], daughter of Thomas Dalziel of The Binns; married 2nd, [forename unknown], daughter of [forename unknown] Cochrane; married 3rd, (contract 13 January 1649), Elizabeth, daughter of Sir David Crichton of Lugton (Fife), and had issue one son and one daughter; died 26 November 1649;
(2.5) Elizabeth Hamilton; married Sir Walter Scott of Ardross and had issue;
(2.6) Margaret Hamilton; married William Kirkcaldy of Grange, nephew and heir of Sir William Kirkcaldy of Grange, and had issue.
He inherited Priestfield in Duddingston (Midlothian) from his father and had a new charter of that estate in 1597.
He died about 1612. His first wife's date of death is unknown. His second wife was buried 23 November 1612.


1st Earl of Haddington.
Hamilton, Rt. Hon. Sir Thomas (1563-1637), 1st Lord Binning, 1st Earl of Melrose and 1st Earl of Haddington. Eldest son of Sir Thomas Hamilton (d. c.1612) of Priestfield and his first wife, Elizabeth, daughter of James Heriot of Trabroun (E. Lothian), born 1563. Educated at Edinburgh High School and University of Paris, where he studied 1581-87, and where his uncle, Rev. John Hamilton, was rector. After returning from France he was admitted to the College of Advocates, 1587 and made a Lord of Session (as Lord Drumcairn), 1592-1626; Lord Clerk Register, 1612; and Lord President of the Court of Session, 1616-26. He attended a meeting of the Privy Council for Scotland in 1593 but did not become a regular member until 1596; served as Lord Advocate from 1596-1612; as one of the eight Commissioners of the Treasury (the Octavians), 1596-97; as Secretary of State for Scotland, 1612-26 and as Lord Privy Seal, 1627-37. Alongside his ministerial and judicial appointments, Hamilton was a busy and successful lawyer, and made a great deal of money, which he invested in land, further increasing his income. In 1606, silver was discovered on his estate at Hilderstone (W. Lothian) and in 1607 he was appointed Master of the Metals, but soon afterwards found it prudent to surrender his rights to the Crown. Shortly before his death his rental was estimated at £68,000 Scots a year, making him one of the richest Scottish peers. In July 1593 he was appointed to a committee to manage the finances of James VI's Queen, Anne of Denmark. He was knighted as 'of Monkland' between June and August 1603; elevated to the peerage, 19 November 1613, as Lord Binning; and created Earl of Melrose, 20 March 1619, which title he exchanged* for Earldom of Haddington, 17 August 1627, with the original precedence and remainder to his heirs male bearing the name and arms of Hamilton. The new peerage was seen as superior to the earldom of Melrose, in that the title came from a county rather than from a mere abbey and town. He was born, and probably remained, a Roman Catholic in religion. He married, 1st, c.1588, Margaret (d. 1596), only child of James Borthwick of Newbyres, 2nd, May-Aug 1597, Margaret (d. 1609), daughter of James Foulis of Colinton and sister of the king's banker, Thomas Foulis (c.1560-1628), and 3rd, between 18 and 26 September 1613, Julian (d. 1637), daughter of Sir Thomas Ker of Ferniehurst (Roxburghs), sister of the royal favourite Robert Carr (d. 1645), 1st Earl of Somerset, and widow of Sir Patrick Home (d. 1609) of Polwarth, and had issue:
(1.1) Lady Christian Hamilton (c.1590-c.1645), born about 1590; married 1st (contract 26 January 1610), Robert, 9th Lord Lindsay of the Byres, and had issue; married 2nd (contract 9 December 1617), Robert Boyd (d. 1628), 7th Lord Boyd, and had further issue; died before 22 January 1645/6;
(1.2) Lady Isabel Hamilton (b. 1596), born 18 February 1595/6; married (contract 22 November 1610), James Ogilvy (c.1593-1666), 1st Earl of Airlie, and had issue three sons and two daughters; living in 1665;
(2.1) Lady Margaret Hamilton (1598-c.1652), born 5 April 1598; married 1st, 28 September 1613, David Carnegie (d. 1633), Lord Carnegie, eldest son of David Carnegie, 1st Earl of Southesk, and had issue two daughters; married 2nd, 31 January 1647, James Johnstone (1602-53), 1st Earl of Hartfell; died before August 1652;
(2.2) Lady Helen Hamilton (b. 1599), born 16 May 1599; died young;
(2.3) Thomas Hamilton (1600-40), 2nd Earl of Haddington (q.v.);
(2.4) The Hon. Sir James Hamilton (1603-65?), born 29 May 1603; lived at Priestfield, which he was given by his father in 1618 and sold to his uncle, Sir Alexander Hamilton in 1647; knighted before September 1623; served in the La Rochelle expedition in support of French Huguenots, 1627-28, and in Sweden, 1629-31; went into exile abroad in 1647; inherited the property of his late brother, Sir John Hamilton, in 1647; married (contract September 1623) Anna, daughter of Sir Patrick Hepburn of Waughton, and had issue four sons and two daughters; died before January 1666;
(2.5) The Hon. Sir John Hamilton (b. 1605), born 3 November 1605; lived at Coldstream and Trabroun; married, 7 August 1621, Katherine, only child of Alexander Peebles of Middleton and Skirling and had issue one son and one daughter (who both died without issue); died before 1637 in the lifetime of his father;
(2.6) Lady Jean Hamilton (1607-42), born 5 February 1607; married (contract 7 January 1622), as his first wife, John Kennedy (d. 1668), 6th Earl of Cassillis and had issue one son and two daughters; died 15 December 1642 and was buried 5 January 1642/3;
(2.7) Lady Anne Hamilton (b. 1608), born 24 April 1608; died unmarried;
(3.1) The Hon. Robert Hamilton (1615-40) of Wester Binning, born 14 May 1615; died unmarried, 30 August 1640, when he was killed in a gunpowder explosion at Dunglass Castle (E. Lothian) with his half-brother, the 2nd Earl; at his death his property at Binning passed to the 4th Earl.
He also had at least one** illegitimate son:
(X1) Patrick Hamilton (d. 1640); educated partly in France; received letters of legitimation under the Great Seal, 22 January 1631; died 30 August 1640, when he was killed in a gunpowder explosion at Dunglass Castle (E. Lothian) with his half-brother, the 2nd Earl.
He was given lands at Dalmeny (W. Lothian) by his father in 1596 and inherited Priestfield and Trabroun from his father in 1612. He purchased the estates of Humbie (W. Lothian) in 1601; Binning in 1603, Byres in 1609, Drem (E. Lothian) in 1614, Melrose Abbey in 1618, Tyninghame (E. Lothian) in 1628; Luffness (E. Lothian) in 1633, and Coldstream (Berwicks) in 1634.
He died 29 May 1637; his will was proved 15 July 1637 (effects £43,000 Scots). His first wife died in December 1596. His second wife died 31 May 1609; administration of her goods was granted 19 June 1609. His third wife was buried at Holyrood, 30 March 1637.
* Following the death without heirs to his titles of Sir John Ramsay, Viscount of Haddington, in 1626.
** A James Hamilton, natural son of the Earl of Haddington, is mentioned in 1654, but it is not certain if he was a child of the 1st or 2nd Earl.

Hamilton, Rt. Hon. Thomas (1600-40), 2nd Earl of Haddington. Eldest son of Sir Thomas Hamilton (1563-1637), 1st Earl of Haddington, and his second wife Margaret, daughter of James Foulis of Colinton, born 25 May 1600. In 1615 he was granted licence to travel abroa'as he shall thinke moste fitte for his instruction in literature, language, and custome of diuers nations', but he was back in Scotland by 1621. He attended the funeral of King James I in London in 1625 and the coronation of King Charles I in Edinburgh in 1633, and was sworn of the Scottish Privy Council, 7 November 1633. He succeeded his father as 2nd Earl, 29 May 1637.  He was a Presbyterian in religion, opposed to episcopalian government in the church; nonetheless in the early stages of the revolt of the Covenanters against Charles I he supported the king, signing the 'king's covenant' with the rest of the privy council, 22 September 1638, but his loyalty became increasingly strained. and when the Marquess of Hamilton tried to dissolve the General Assembly that was reforming the Scottish church, he changed sides to support the assembly. On the outbreak of hostilities in 1640, he was appointed Maj-General in the Lothians Covenanter regiment and Governor of Dunglass Castle, where he was killed by a massive gunpowder explosion later that year. The cause of the explosion was never established, although some circumstantial evidence pointed to it being a 'suicide bombing' by an English servant, Edward Paris, who held the only key of the gunpowder vaults. He married 1st (contract 27 February 1621/2), Lady Catherine (d. 1635), youngest daughter of John Erskine, 19th & 3rd Earl of Mar, and 2nd, 14 January 1639/40, Lady Jean (d. 1655), third daughter of George Gordon, 2nd Marquess of Huntly, and had issue:
(1.1) Thomas Hamilton (1624-45), 3rd Earl of Haddington, baptised at Alloa (Clacks), October 1624; educated partly in France; married August 1643 at Chatillon (France), Henrietta (1618-73), a celebrated beauty with literary aspirations who was the eldest daughter of Gaspard de Coligny, Count de Coligny, Marshal of France and later wife (sep. 1661) of Gaspard de Champagne, Count de la Suze, but had no issue; died of consumption, 8 February and was buried at Holyrood, 15 February 1644/5;
(1.2) John Hamilton (1626-69), 4th Earl of Haddington (q.v.);
(1.3) Hon. Alexander Hamilton (1628-29), baptised at Canongate Kirk, Edinburgh, 16 May 1628; died young, 13 December 1629;
(1.4) Lady Marie Hamilton (b. 1629), baptised at Canongate Kirk, Edinburgh, 5 May 1629; probably died young;
(1.4) Hon. Harry Hamilton (b. 1630), born November and baptised at Alloa, 1 December 1630; probably died young;
(1.5) Lady Margaret Hamilton (b. 1632), baptised at Edinburgh, 17 July 1632; died young;
(1.6) Hon. Robert Hamilton (b. 1633), baptised at Edinburgh, 6 April 1633; died young;
(1.7) Hon. James Hamilton (b. 1634), baptised at Edinburgh, 24 September 1634; died young;
(2.1) Lady Margaret Hamilton (b. 1641), born posthumously and baptised at Edinburgh, 15 January 1641; married, 24 April 1662, Sir John Keith (d. 1715), Knight Marischal of Scotland and later 1st Earl of Kintore.
He inherited Tyninghame from his father in 1637. After his death it passed in turn to his two sons.
He died at Dunglass Castle, 30 August, and was buried at Tyninghame, 1 September 1640. His first wife died 5 February and was buried at Tyninghame, 4 March 1634/5. His widow died in the summer of 1655.

Hamilton, Rt. Hon. John (1626-69), 4th Earl of Haddington. Younger son of Thomas Hamilton (1600-40), 2nd Earl of Haddington, and his first wife Catherine, daughter of John, Earl of Mar, baptised at Canongate Kirk, 29 March 1626. A supporter of episcopacy in the Scottish church, he was fined £555 by Cromwell. He was a Royalist, but in 1648 was appointed a Colonel of Horse by the Parliament, although he was not able to exercise his command as he was lame. He was an assiduous attendee in Parliament. He attended and played a part in the coronation of King Charles II at Scone on 1 January 1651. At the Restoration he was appointed to the Privy Council for Scotland, 1661. He suffered from increasing ill-health, apart from his lameness, and spent time at the spa in Harrogate (Yorks) in 1663 and 1664. He married, 13 April 1648 at Holyrood, Edinburgh, Christian (d. 1704), second daughter of John Lindsay, 1st Earl of Lindsay and 17th Earl of Crawford, Lord Treasurer of Scotland, and had issue:
(1) Lady Margaret Hamilton (c.1649-1711), born about 1649; married, 31 December 1668, John Hope (d. 1682) of Hopetoun (W. Lothian) and had issue one son and one daughter; died December 1711 and was buried at Tyninghame;
(2) Charles Hamilton (c.1650-85), 5th Earl of Haddington (q.v.);
(3) Lady Catherine Hamilton (b. 1652), born 8 December and baptised 10 December 1652; died young;
(4) Lady Anna Hamilton (b. 1653), baptised 20 December 1653; died young;
(5) Lady Helen Hamilton (1656-1708), baptised 28 June 1656; married, (contract 5 July 1677), Sir William Anstruther, kt. (c.1655-1701) of Anstruther, a Lord of Session as Lord Anstruther, son of Sir Philip Anstruther, kt., and had issue one son; died 1708;
(6) Lady Susanna Hamilton (b. 1657), born 20 July and baptised at Tyninghame, 28 July 1657; married, (contract 13 March 1679), as his first wife, Adam Cockburn (1656-1735) of Ormiston, Lord Justice Clerk, and had issue several children; died before 1706;
(7) Lady Christian Hamilton (b. 1659), baptised 21 July 1659; died young before 1677;
(8) The Hon. Thomas Hamilton (b. 1661), baptised 7 July 1661; probably died young;
(9) The Hon. John Hamilton (b. 1663), baptised 31 October 1663; probably died young;
(10) Lady Mary Hamilton (fl. 1686); probably died unmarried;
(11) Lady Elizabeth Hamilton (b. 1667), baptised 24 December 1667; died young before 1677;
(12) The Hon. William Hamilton (b. 1669), baptised 17 February 1669; probably died young.
He inherited the Tyninghame estate from his elder brother in 1645, and came of age in 1647. He was also heir to his uncle Robert Hamilton (d. 1640) of West Binning. In 1662 he sold Dalmeny (W. Lothian) to Sir Archibald Primrose.
He died at Tyninghame, 31 August 1669. His widow died 26 October 1704.


5th Earl of Haddington.
Hamilton, Charles (c.1650-85), 5th Earl of Haddington. Only son of John Hamilton (1626-69), 4th Earl of Haddington, and his wife Christian, second daughter of the 1st Earl of Lindsay, born at Struthers (Fife), 1 July 1650. It was intended to send him to France to complete his education in 1665, but the advent of plague in that year may have prompted a change of plan. Hereditary Keeper of Holyrood Park (deprived 1681). In politics he was a supporter of the Duke of Hamilton and 'the party', in opposition to the government of the Duke of Lauderdale. He attended the Scottish Parliament after achieving his majority, but he did not take a prominent part in political affairs. He refused to subscribe to The Bond in 1677 or the Test Act in 1681, disqualifying him from public office, so that he lost the Hereditary Keepership of Holyrood Park. He became so disenchanted with life in Scotland that in 1682 he determined to emigrate to America as part of a scheme led by Sir John Cochrane of Ochiltree and Sir George Campbell of Cesnock for a new colony in the Carolinas, but the scheme collapsed in 1684 when some of those involved (including Robert Baillie, vide supra) were detained in connection with plots against King Charles II and the Duke of York. He accumulated large debts, partly on account of the astonishing cost of the funeral of his father in law in 1681, which is reputed to have cost over £5,000 sterling (£68,000 Scots). He married, 8 October 1674 at Leslie (Fife), Margaret (d. 1700), elder daughter of John Leslie (1630-81), 7th Earl and later 1st Duke of Rothes, Lord Chancellor of Scotland, who on his death succeeded him as Countess of Rothes in her own right. Under their marriage contract, Lord Haddington agreed to resign his titles to his second and younger sons in tail male, to prevent the two earldoms being held together. They had issue:
(1) Lady Anna Hamilton (b. 1676), baptised 25 August 1676; died in infancy;
(2) John Hamilton (later Leslie) (1679-1722), 9th Earl of Rothes, baptised at Tyninghame, 18 August 1679; succeeded his mother as 9th Earl, 21 August 1700; Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland, 1704; elected as a representative Scottish peer in the House of Lords, 1708-22; Vice-Admiral of Scotland, 1714; Governor of Stirling Castle, 1715-22; commanded the volunteer cavalry at the Battle of Sheriffmuir, 1715; Lord Lieutenant of Fife, Kinross-shire and Aberdeenshire and Hereditary Sheriff of Fife; married, 29 April 1697, Lady Jean (d. 1731), daughter of John Hay, 2nd Marquess of Tweeddale, Lord Chancellor of Scotland, and had eight sons and four daughters; died 9 May 1722;
(3) Thomas Hamilton (1680-1735), 6th Earl of Haddington (q.v.);
(4) Lady Margaret Hamilton (b. & d. 1682?), baptised at Leslie, 23 June 1682; probably died in infancy;
(5) The Hon. Charles Hamilton (b. 1685; d. by 1702), baptised at Leslie, 11 February 1684/5; dead by 1702.
He inherited Tyninghame from his father in 1669, and came of age in about 1671. He let Tyninghame and lived on his wife's estate at Rothes.
He died at Leslie House (Fife) in May 1685. His widow died 20 August 1700.


6th Earl of Haddington. Image: NGS
Hamilton, Thomas (1680-1735), 6th Earl of Haddington. Second son of Charles Hamilton (c.1650-85), 5th Earl of Haddington and his wife Margaret, Countess of Rothes in her own right, born 29 August and baptised at Tyninghame, 5 September 1680. His father resigned the peerage to him, with effect from his death in 1685, and his elder brother executed a similar resignation in 1687. A new patent of the peerage was then granted and was further ratified by letters patent in 1702. He was brought up at Leslie House by his mother and under the guardianship of tutors appointed by his father, one of whom, Adam Ormiston, Lord Justice Clerk, took a particular interest in the young man and shaped his political opinions, so that he emerged as a Whig in politics. His guardians found that the profits of his estates were almost entirely consumed by debt repayments, jointures and taxes, and made strenuous efforts to reduce the debts, including the sale of the Byres estate. They also secured his restoration as Hereditary Keeper of Holyrood Park, 1690/1, with a salary of £400 a year. On coming of age he was made a Commissioner of Supply for East Lothian, Berwickshire, Roxburghshire and Fife, 1702 and took his seat in the Scottish Parliament, 1703.  He was one of 'squadrone volante' who encouraged the Union of the English and Scottish crowns in 1707.  As a staunch supporter of the House of Hanover he fought alongside the Duke of Argyll as a volunteer against the rebels at the Battle of Sheriffmuir, 13 November 1715, where he was wounded. He was elected as a representative Scottish peer in the House of Lords, 1716-34, appointed Lord Lieutenant of East Lothian, 1716-35 and made a Knight of the Thistle, 1 March 1716/7. He was also made an Hon. Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. Two volumes of his verse were published after his death, and his Treatise on the Manner of Raising Forest Trees was issued in 1756 (2nd edn., 1761). He married, 1696, his cousin, Eleanor alias Helen (1677-1768), daughter of John Hope of Hopetoun (Midlothian) and sister of Charles Hope, 1st Earl of Hopetoun, and had issue:
(1) Charles Hamilton (1697-1732), Lord Binning (q.v.);
(2) The Hon. John Hamilton (d. 1772); educated at Glasgow University (matriculated 1716); admitted to Faculty of Advocates, 1725; Cashier to the Board of Police; inherited from his father lands at Drem (East Lothian); married, 8 December 1728, Margaret (d. 1779), daughter of Sir John Home of Blackadder, 3rd bt., and had issue two sons (who died young) and six daughters (two of whom also died young); died at Edinburgh, 11 February 1772;
(3) Lady Margaret Hamilton (d. 1768); died unmarried at Edinburgh, 22 February 1768;
(4) Lady Christian Hamilton (d. 1770); married, 17 December 1725 at Whitekirk, Sir James Dalrymple (1692-1751) of Hailes, 2nd bt., and had issue sixteen children (including the judge Sir David Dalrymple, Lord Hailes); died 30 June 1770.
He inherited Tyninghame from his father in 1685 and came of age in 1701. During his minority part of the family estate was sold to reduce the debts on the estate, and Tyninghame was rented out until 1700. In 1722 he also sold his lands at Melrose. He and his wife carried out major landscape and agricultural improvement works in the early 18th century, including planting more than 800 acres of trees.
He died at Newhailes, 28 November 1735 and was buried at Tyninghame; his will was confirmed at Edinburgh, 22 April 1736. His widow died in Edinburgh, aged 90, 19 April 1768, and was buried at Tyninghame.


Charles Hamilton (1697-1732),
Lord Binning. Image: NGS.
Hamilton, Charles (1697-1732), Lord Binning. Elder son of Thomas Hamilton (1680-1735), 6th Earl of Haddington, and his wife Eleanor alias Helen, sister of 1st Earl of Hopetoun, born 1697. He accompanied his father as a volunteer against the rebels to the Battle of Sheriffmuir in 1715, and was afterwards created Knight Marischal of Scotland with a salary of £400 a year, 22 February 1718; an office which had been forfeited by the 2nd Earl of Kintore but which was restored to that family on his death. In 1722 he accompanied his wife's uncle, Lord Polwarth, to the Congress of Cambrai. He was MP for St. Germans, 1722-27, but his principal interests were literary, and he wrote several poems, some of which have been published. He suffered from tuberculosis, and in 1731 went abroad for his health, living for the remaining months of his life in Naples (Italy). He married, 24 August 1717 at Earlston (Berwicks), Rachel (1696-1773), younger daughter and ultimate heir of George Baillie (1664-1738) (q.v.) of Jerviswood and Mellerstain, and had issue:
(1) Lady Grizel Hamilton (1719-1811), baptised at Tyninghame, 7 April 1719; married, 25 July 1745 in London, 2nd Earl Stanhope (d. 1786) and had issue; died 28 December 1811;
(2) Thomas Hamilton (1720-94), 7th Earl of Haddington (q.v.);
(3) The Hon. George Hamilton (later Baillie) (1723-97) (q.v.);
(4) Lady Helen Mary Hamilton (b. 1724), born 8 October and baptised at East Barnet (Herts), 23 October 1724; died young;
(5) Charles Hamilton (b. & d. 1725), born 6 October and baptised at East Barnet, 26 October 1725; died in infancy;
(6) John Hamilton (1726-30), born 22 October and baptised at East Barnet, 24 November 1726; died young and was buried at Clifton, Bristol (Glos), 1730;
(7) The Hon. Charles James Hamilton (1727-1806), born 3 October and baptised at East Barnet (Herts), 29 October 1727; an officer in 1st Dragoon Guards (Lt., 1751; Capt., 1755; Maj., 1762; Lt-Col.; retired 1776); Governor of Blackness Castle, 1792-1806; died unmarried at Tyninghame, 28 September 1806;
(8) Lady Rachel Hamilton (c.1729-97); died unmarried aged 68, 20 October 1797, and was buried at Mellerstain.
He died in Naples in the lifetime of his father, 27 December 1732; his will was confirmed at Edinburgh, 11 June 1734. His widow died at Mellerstain, 24 March 1773.

Hamilton, Thomas (1720-94), 7th Earl of Haddington. Eldest son of Charles Hamilton (1697-1732), Lord Binning, and his wife Rachel, daughter and ultimate heir of George Baillie of Jerviswood and Mellerstain, baptised at Tyninghame, 29 October 1720. Educated at St Mary's Hall, Oxford (matriculated 1737) and Geneva University (admitted 1740), where he studied while undertaking a Grand Tour, visiting Rome and Geneva before returning to Scotland in 1744. He succeeded his grandfather as 7th Earl of Haddington, 28 November 1735. He was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1791, but took no part in public affairs. He married 1st, 28 October 1750 at Redgrave (Suffk), Mary (1725-85), daughter of Rowland Holt of Redgrave Hall and widow of Gresham Lloyd (1715-50), and 2nd, much against the wishes of his family, 6 March 1786 at St Cuthbert, Edinburgh, Anne (1760-1840), eldest daughter of Sir Charles Gascoigne, and had issue:
(1.1) Charles Hamilton (1753-1828), 8th Earl of Haddington (q.v.);
(1.2) The Hon. Thomas Hamilton (1758-74), born 23 September 1758; died young, 1 August 1774;
(2.1) Lady Charlotte Hamilton (1790-93), born 14 March 1790; died young, 3 May 1793.
He inherited Tyninghame from his grandfather in 1735 and came of age in 1742. He landscaped the grounds of the house and removed the village of Tyninghame.
He died 19 May 1794. His first wife died 7 September 1785. His widow married 2nd, 1796, James Dalrymple, and died 21 June 1840.


8th Earl of Haddington
Hamilton, Charles (1753-1828), 8th Earl of Haddington. Only surviving child of Thomas Hamilton (1720-94), 7th Earl of Haddington, and his first wife Mary, daughter of Rowland Holt of Redgrave (Suffk) and widow of Gresham Lloyd, born 5 July 1753. He was an officer in the Duke of Buccleuch's Fencible Regt. (Capt., 1778), but resigned on grounds of ill health in 1781. He succeeded his father as 8th Earl, 19 May 1794 and was elected as a representative Scottish peer in the House of Lords, 1807-12. Lord Lieutenant of East Lothian, 1804-23. He was Hereditary Keeper of Holyrood Park, 1794-1828, but made himself unpopular with the middle class residents of Edinburgh by refusing to allow the park to be developed for public recreation and by quarrying Salisbury Crags for stone used to pave the streets of London. Personally, he was a man of cultivated tastes and an agreeable and amusing companion: Sir Walter Scott recorded that 'his conversation is as witty as a comedy, and his anecdote as correct as a parish register'.* He married, 30 April 1779, Sophia (1759-1813), fourth daughter of John Hope, 2nd Earl of Hopetoun, and had issue:
(1) Rt Hon. Thomas Hamilton (1780-1858), 9th Earl of Haddington & 1st Baron Melrose of Tyninghame (q.v.).
He inherited Tyninghame from his father in 1794 and made some alterations to the house in the later 1790s, apparently to the design of John Baxter.
He died 17 March 1828. His wife died 8 March 1813.
* This, as any experienced genealogist knows, was a less fulsome tribute than was perhaps intended!


9th Earl of Haddington
Hamilton, Rt. Hon. Thomas (1780-1858), 9th Earl of Haddington and 1st Baron Melrose of Tyninghame. Only son of Charles Hamilton (1753-1828), 8th Earl of Haddington and his wife Sophia, daughter of 2nd Earl of Hopetoun, born in Edinburgh, 21 June and baptised at St Giles, Edinburgh, 3 July 1780. Educated at Edinburgh University and Christ Church, Oxford (matriculated 1798; BA 1801; MA 1815); he made no grand tour but visited the Continent (including Rome) in 1826 and 1829. In politics he was a supporter of Pitt and later Canning and Peel, and he sat as Tory MP for St. Germans, 1802-06, Cockermouth, 1807; Callington, 1807-12; St Michael, 1814-18; Rochester, 1818-26 and Yarmouth (IoW), 1826-27. He was sworn of the Privy Council, 29 July 1814, created a peer as Baron Melrose of Tyninghame, 24 July 1827, and succeeded his father as 9th Earl of Haddington, 17 March 1828. As Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel appointed him Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 1834-35, but his appointment was terminated by the incoming Whig government in 1835; when Peel returned to office he was offered the Governor Generalship of India, but declined it on health grounds, and was instead appointed First Lord of the Admiralty, 1841-46 and Lord Privy Seal, 1846. He was the last hereditary keeper of Holyrood Park, an office which he surrendered in return for £40,000 of compensation from the Government in 1843. He was made a Knight of the Thistle, 1853. He married, 13 November 1802 at St Marylebone (Middx), Maria (d. 1861), only surviving child of George Parker, 4th Earl of Macclesfield, but had no issue.
He inherited Tyninghame from his father in 1828, and extensively remodelled the house to the designs of William Burn from 1829.
He died 1 December 1858, when the barony of Melrose of Tyninghame became extinct and the earldom passed to his second cousin, George Baillie (later Baillie-Hamilton) (1802-70); he was buried at Tyninghame, 9 December 1858. His widow died 11 February and was buried at Tyninghame, 19 February 1861.


George Baillie (1723-97)
Hamilton (later Baillie), The Hon. George (1723-97). Second son of Charles Hamilton (1697-1732), Lord Binning, and his wife Rachel, daughter and ultimate heir of George Baillie of Jerviswood and Mellerstain, born 24 June and baptised at St James Piccadilly, Westminster, 18 July 1723. In 1732 he went as part of a family party led by his grandmother, Lady Grisell Baillie, to visit his dying father in Naples (Italy). Educated at St Mary's Hall, Oxford (matriculated 1737). He changed his name to Baillie on inheriting the Jerviswood and Mellerstain estates from his maternal grandfather in 1738. He returned to Italy on his Grand Tour in 1740, travelling with the 7th Earl and an 'amiable and slightly eccentric' tutor, the Rev. John Williamson, and he became part of a very lively set in Geneva known as 'The Bloods' or 'The Common Room Set'. He married, 12 May 1757 at St Michael, Bath (Somerset), Eliza (1735-99), daughter of John Andrews, and had issue including:
(1) Grizel Baillie (1759-1800), baptised at Earlston, 27 February 1759; died unmarried, 18 October 1800 and was buried at Mellerstain;
(2) A daughter (b. & d. 1760?), born 24 January 1760; probably died in infancy;
(3) Elizabeth Baillie (1762-1815), baptised at Earlston, 4 June 1762; died unmarried at Harrogate (Yorks WR), 3 December 1815, and was buried at Mellerstain;
(4) George Baillie (1763-1841) (q.v.);
(5) Ven. Charles Baillie (1764-1820) (q.v.);
(6) Rachel Catherine Baillie (1766-97); died unmarried, 9 January 1797 and was buried at Mellerstain;
(7) Thomas Baillie (b. 1767), baptised at Earlston, 21 April 1767; died in infancy;
He inherited the Jerviswood and Mellerstain estates from his maternal grandfather in 1738, and gained possession on the death of his grandmother in 1746. He built the central block of Mellerstain House to the designs of Robert Adam in 1768-78.
He died 16 April 1797. His widow died 24 April 1799.

Baillie, George (1763-1841). Elder son of The Hon. George Hamilton (later Baillie) (1723-97) and his wife Eliza, daughter of John Andrews, born 8 October and baptised at Earlston (Berwicks), 24 October 1763. Educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge (admitted 1784). An officer in the Hopetoun Fencible Regt. (Capt., 1793). MP for Berwickshire, 1796-1818. Master of the Mellerstain Foxhounds. He married, 13 July 1801 at Stichill House, Mary (d. 1865), youngest daughter of Sir James Pringle of Stichill, 4th bt., and had issue:
(1) George Baillie (later Baillie-Hamilton) (1802-70), 10th Earl of Haddington (q.v.);
(2) Lady Elizabeth Baillie (1803-61), born 29 June 1803; granted rank of an earl's daughter, 1859; married, 23 November 1821, John Campbell (1796-1862), 2nd Marquess of Breadalbane, but had no issue; died 28 August 1861 and was buried at Killin (Stirlings);
(3) The Hon. Charles Baillie (1804-79), Lord Jerviswood, of Dryburgh House, St. Boswell's (Roxburghs), born at Mellerstain, 3 November 1804; granted rank of an earl's younger son, 1859; admitted an advocate, 1830; sheriff of Stirlingshire, 1853; solicitor general, 1858; lord advocate general, 1858-59; MP for West Lothian, 1859; a Lord of Session as Lord Jerviswood, 1859-74; married, 27 December 1831, Anne (d. 1880), fourth daughter of Hugh Hepburne-Scott of Harden, 6th Lord Polwarth and had issue; died 23 July 1879 and was buried at Mellerstain; will confirmed 23 October 1879;
(4) James Pringle Baillie (1806-42), born 30 January 1806; an officer in the 50th and later 81st regiments of foot (Ensign, 1827; Lt., 1829; Capt.); died unmarried, 14 May 1842; will confirmed 5 October 1842;
(5) The Hon. Robert Baillie (1807-88) of Dryburgh Abbey (Roxburghs), born 25 June 1807; granted rank of an earl's younger son, 1859; an officer in 72nd regiment of foot (Ensign, 1825; Lt., 1830; Capt., 1835; Maj.); ADC to Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 1835; he was a man of strictly conservative views in politics and religion, and was for many years a member of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland; died at Humbie House, 28 August 1888 and was buried at Mellerstain; will confirmed 14 September 1888;
(6) Rev. The Hon. John Baillie (1810-88), born 3 January 1810; educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1830; BA 1834; MA 1853); ordained deacon, 1833 and priest, 1834. Vicar of Wetwang with Fimber (Yorks), 1833-37; Vicar of Lissington (Lincs), 1837-52; Rector of Nunburnholme (Yorks), 1852-54; Rector of Elsdon with Otterburn and Horsley (Northbld), 1854-76; Canon Residentiary of York Minster, 1854-88; perpetual curate of Cupar (Fife), 1879-88; granted rank of an earl's younger son, 1859; married, 4 April 1837 at St Michael-le-Belfry, York, Cecilia Mary (1815-1903), eldest daughter of Canon Charles Hawkins, and had issue two sons and six daughters; died in York, 7 August 1888; will proved 14 November 1888 (effects £7,071);
(7) Adm. The Hon. Thomas Baillie (1811-89), born 30 May 1811; an officer in the Royal Navy (entered navy, 1827; Lt., 1837; Cmdr, 1841; Capt., 1845; Rear-Adm., 1863; Vice-Adm., 1870; Adm. 1877; retired 1873); he fought at the battle of Navarino and commanded the British fleet in the White Sea during the Crimean War; granted rank of an earl's younger son, 1859; in retirement, he lived at Eildon Hall, then Maxpoffle, and finally Dryburgh Abbey; he was keen on bowling and curling and was president of the Border Bowling Tournament; died at Kelso, 31 July 1889; will confirmed 15 August 1889;
(8) Lady Mary Baillie (1814-1900), born 11 August and baptised at Earlston, 24 August 1814; granted rank of an earl's daughter, 1859; married, 5 November 1840, George John James Hamilton-Gordon (1816-64), 5th Earl of Aberdeen, and had issue three sons and three daughters; died at Kennet House, Alloa (Clacks), 3 April 1900; will confirmed 10 July 1900 (estate £15,751);
(9) Lady Georgina Baillie (1816-59), born 20 July and baptised at Earlston, 10 August 1816; granted rank of an earl's daughter, 1859; married, 11 November 1835, Henry Francis Hepburne-Scott (1800-67), 7th Lord Polwarth, and had issue two sons and one daughter; died at Nice (France), 2 April 1859;
(10) Lady Katherine Charlotte Baillie (1819-94), born 10 May and baptised at Earlston, 18 June 1819; granted rank of an earl's daughter, 1859; married, 8 January 1840, Bertram Ashburnham (1797-1878), 4th Earl of Ashburnham, and had issue seven sons and four daughters; died 6 February 1894; will proved 3 April 1894 (effects £10,112);
(11) Lady Grisell Baillie (1822-91), born 4 April 1822; granted rank of an earl's daughter, 1859; lived at Dryburgh Abbey with her bachelor brothers; was the first female deaconess in the established church in Scotland, 1888; died unmarried, 20 December 1891; will confirmed at Jedburgh Sheriff Court, 14 May 1892 (estate £28,346).
Prior to his marriage, he had two illegitimate children, firstly by an unrecorded mother:
(X1.1) Janet Baillie (b. 1793), born at Coldstream, 12 March 1793 and baptised there the following day; according to an unverified internet source she married Robert Scott, a gamekeeper on the Mellerstain estate who was tried and executed for murder in 1823, and had five children by him;
and secondly by Catherine Sangster (later Mrs. Harvey):
(X2.1) Lockhart Baillie alias Harvey (1799-1879), born 8 July and baptised at Kelso episcopal chapel, August 1799; excise officer; married 1st, 4 June 1823 at Linlithgow (West Lothian), Margaret Blanchfield (d. 1823); he subsequently married or cohabited with Margaret McLaren and Margaret (1801-81), daughter of Thomas Telfer, plasterer, and had issue one son and one daughter; died 28 February 1879.
He inherited the Jerviswood and Mellerstain estates from his father in 1797.
He died 11 December and was buried at Mellerstain, 18 December 1841; his will was confirmed at Duns Sheriff Court, 4 and 25 August 1842. His widow died at Eildon Hall, Melrose, 23/28 October 1865; her will was confirmed at Duns Sheriff Court, 6 January 1866.

Baillie-Hamilton, Ven. Charles (1764-1820). Younger son of The Hon. George Hamilton (later Baillie) (1723-97) and his wife Eliza, daughter of John Andrews, born 27 November and baptised at Earlston (Berwicks), 7 December 1764. Educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge (matriculated 1786; BA 1789; MA 1795). Ordained deacon, 1789 and priest, 1790. Rector of Colton (Norfk), 1796-99 and Lofthouse (Yorks), 1799-1802; Vicar of Stainton (Yorks), 1801-20 and Rector of Middleton--in-Teesdale (Co. Durham), 1802-20; Archdeacon of Cleveland, 1806-20. He married, 16 April 1797, Lady Charlotte Sophia (1773-1866), third daughter of Alexander Home, 9th Earl of Home, and had issue:
(1) Sir George Baillie-Hamilton (1798-1850), kt., born 4 October 1798; educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1816; MA 1818); entered diplomatic service and was Secretary of Legation in Belgium, 1833-35 and Prussia, 1835-46 and Minister Plenipotentiary to Grand Duke of Tuscany (Italy), 1845-50; knighted 3 August 1831 and appointed KCH the same year; inherited the Rumbletonlaw estate from his father in 1820 but conveyed it to his brother Charles in 1837; died unmarried in Florence (Italy), 3 August 1850 and was buried there;
(2) Charles John Baillie-Hamilton (1800-65), born 4 January 1800; purchased Rumbletonlaw from his elder brother in 1837; Conservative MP for Aylesbury, 1839-47, and stood unsuccessfully as a candidate for Buckinghamshire, 1857; married, 23 January 1821 at Wytham Abbey (Berks), Lady Caroline (d. 1870), daughter of Willoughby Bertie, 4th Earl of Abingdon, and had issue including two sons and two daughters; died at Ronco near Genoa (Italy), 25 August 1865; will proved 16 February 1866 (effects under £18,000);
(3) Adm. William Alexander Baillie-Hamilton (1803-81), born 6 June 1803; an officer in the Royal Navy (entered navy, 1816; Lt., 1823; Cmdr., 1826; Capt., 1828; retired 1828; Rear-Adm., 1855; Vice-Adm., 1862; Adm., 1865); private secretary to his cousin, the 9th Earl of Haddington as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 1835 and as First Lord of the Admiralty, 1841-45; Second Secretary to the Admiralty, 1845-55; married 17 May 1836 at Lambeth Palace, Lady Harriet Hamilton (1812-84), daughter of James Hamilton, Viscount Hamilton, and sister of 1st Duke of Abercorn, and had issue four sons and two daughters; died at Portree, Isle of Skye, 1 October 1881, and was buried at Greyfriars church, Edinburgh;
(4) Ker Baillie-Hamilton (1804-89), born 13 July 1804; educated at Royal Military Academy, Woolwich; an officer in 21st Native Infantry, Bengal Army (Cadet, 1821; Ensign, 1823; struck off, 1824); colonial administrator in Mauritius and Cape of Good Hope; Clerk of the Council, Cape of Good Hope, 1839-45; Lt-Governor of Grenada, 1845-51, administrator in Barbados & Windward Islands, 1851-52, Governor of Newfoundland, 1852-54, and the Leeward Islands, 1855-67; appointed CB, 1862; author of Our Saddle Horses (1865); married, 19 April 1834 at Rondebosch church near Cape Town (South Africa), Emma (c.1811-90), daughter of Charles Blair, and had issue six daughters; died at Tunbridge Wells (Kent), 6 February 1889; will proved 7 March 1889 (effects £1,716);
(5) Thomas Baillie-Hamilton (1805-38), born 1805; an officer in 1st Regiment of Light Cavalry in Bengal Army (Capt.); married, 18 April 1838 at Christ Church, Bombay (India), Anne Maria (1815-89) (who m2, 30 March 1843, Maj. Joseph Scott Phillips and had issue one son and one daughter), second daughter of William Reynolds of Milford House (Hants), but had no issue; died at Bombay (India), 30 October 1838;
(6) Gerard Baillie-Hamilton (1808-86), born 17 March 1808; an officer in 7th Foot (Ensign, 1827; Lt. 1828; Capt., 1836); Receiver of Admiralty rights and perquisites for the West Indies, 1844; married, 23 September 1833 at Palace Chapel, Malta, Augusta (1807-80), fourth daughter of Col. Anderson Morshead of Widey Court (Devon) and had issue six sons (from the eldest of whom descend the Buchanan-Baillie-Hamilton family of Arnprior) and five daughters; died at Swilly (Devon), 2 February 1886; will proved 9 June 1886 (effects £866);
(7) Adm. Cospatrick Baillie-Hamilton (1817-92), born 27 February 1817; an officer in the Royal Navy (entered navy, 1831; Lt., 1840; Cmdr. 1844; Capt., 1847; retired 1857; Rear-Adm., 1865; Vice-Adm., 1871; Adm. 1877); appointed a knight of the Turkish order of Medjidie; married, 10 April 1849, Mary (1825-97), artist (whose views of the Mediterranean were published in 1857), only child of Thomas Grove of Wincombe Park (Wilts) and had issue two daughters; died 27 January 1892; will proved 1 March 1892 (effects £46,346);
(8) Eleanor Sophia Baillie-Hamilton (1801-53), born 7 July and baptised 17 July at Swingrove (Yorks); married, 24 July 1833 at Hove (Sussex), Rev. the Hon. William Hugh Scott (1801-68), rector of Maiden Newton (Dorset) and third son of Hugh Hepburne-Scott, 6th Baron Polwarth, and had issue one son and four daughters; died 4 September 1853;
(9) Charlotte Augusta Baillie-Hamilton (1802-22), born 25 July and baptised at Eston (Yorks), 21 August 1802; married, 9 August 1821 at Mellerstain, Evan Baillie (1798-1883) of Dochfour, but had no issue; died 25 March 1822 and was buried at Greyfriars Cemetery, Edinburgh;
(10) Clementina Baillie-Hamilton (1812-94), born 16 May and baptised at Stainton in Cleveland (Yorks NR), 17 July 1812; Maid of Honour to HM Queen Victoria, 1840; married, 10 July 1845, as his second wife, the Rt. Rev. Edward Denison DD (1801-54), Bishop of Salisbury, but had no issue; died 12 May 1894.
He inherited Rumbletonlaw near Duns (Berwicks) from his father in 1797.
He died at Stainton (Yorks), 19 June 1820; his will was proved in the PCC, 18 July 1820. His widow died aged 93, 4 December, and was buried at Maiden Newton (Dorset), 12 December 1866; her will was proved 23 March 1867 (effects under £1,500).

Baillie (later Baillie-Hamilton), George (1802-70), 10th Earl of Haddington. Eldest son of George Baillie (1763-1841) and his wife Mary, youngest daughter of Sir James Pringle of Stichill, 4th bt., born 10 April 1802 at Mellerstain. In 1829 he was second in a duel at Kelro racecourse to his brother-in-law, Mr. Pringle. He succeeded his second cousin as 10th Earl of Haddington, 1 December 1858, and took the surname Baillie-Hamilton for himself and his younger children by royal licence, 24 March 1859. A representative peer for Scotland in the House of Lords, 1859-70; Lord High Commissioner of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, 1867-68; a Lord in Waiting (Government Whip) in the House of Lords, 1867-70. He was an officer in the Berwickshire Yeomanry (Capt., 1825), a member of the Royal Company of Archers and Vice-President of the Council of the Company, 1860-66. He married, 16 September 1824 at Bolton Percy (Yorks WR), Georgina (d. 1873), daughter of the Ven. Robert Markham, Archdeacon of York, and had issue including:
(1) Lady Mary Baillie (later Baillie-Hamilton) (1825-1904), born 24 July and baptised at Earlston, 13 November 1825; married, 7 June 1855, Rev. the Hon. Henry Douglas (1822-1907), rector of Hanbury (Worcs), 1855-77, vicar of St Paul, Worcester, 1877-1904 and canon of Worcester Cathedral, third son of George Sholto Douglas, 17th Earl of Morton, and had issue one daughter; died 29 March 1904;
(2) George Baillie (later Baillie-Hamilton-Arden) (1827-1917), 11th Earl of Haddington (q.v.);
(3) The Hon. Robert Baillie (later Baillie-Hamilton) (1828-91), born 8 October 1828 and baptised at Earlston (Berwicks), 3 January 1829; an officer in the 44th Regt. (Ensign, 1847; Lt., 1851; Capt., 1855; Br. Maj., 1861; retired, 1864); ADC to Commander-in-Chief, India, 1863-64; MP for Berwickshire, 1874-80; JP and DL for Berwickshire; married, 18 July 1861 at St George, Hanover Square, London, Mary Gavin (1832-1912), daughter of Sir John Pringle of Stichill, 5th bt., but had no issue; died 5 September 1891; will confirmed 28 November 1891 (estate £45,752);
(4) Frances Baillie (1829-1919), baptised at Earlston, 4 January 1830; died unmarried at Malvern (Worcs), 22 November 1919; will proved 11 April 1923 (estate £2,500);
(5) Clifton Baillie (1831-57), born 5 March and baptised at Earlston, 10 July 1831; cadet in the Royal Navy, 1847-52 (retired 1852); died at Sydney, New South Wales (Australia), 2 April 1857;
(6) The Hon. Henry Baillie (later Baillie-Hamilton) (1832-95), born 20 August 1832 and baptised at Earlston, 1 March 1833; an officer in the Royal Navy (Lt., 1858; Cdr.), served in Black Sea during Crimean War (severely wounded); awarded knighthood of Turkish order of Medjidie; married, 17 October 1872, his cousin, the Hon. Harriet Frances Scott (1845-1925), third daughter of Henry Francis Hepburne-Scott, 7th Lord Polwarth, and had issue six daughters; died 20 November 1895; will confirmed 28 March 1896 (estate £18,125) and sealed in London, September 1896;
(7) Percy Baillie (b. & d. 1834), born 10 October and baptised at Bolton Percy, 18 October 1834; died in infancy at Bolton Percy, 19 October 1834;
(8) Rev. the Hon. Arthur Charles Baillie (later Baillie-Hamilton) (1838-1910), born 16 February and baptised at Earlston, 13 June 1838; educated at Durham Univ. (BA 1859; MA 1862); ordained deacon, 1861 and priest, 1863; vicar of Ridgmont (Beds), 1865-83; rector of Coombs (Suffk), 1883-95 and vicar of Badley (Suffk), 1884-95; inspector of schools for diocese of Norwich, 1885-94; retired 1895; JP for Suffolk; married, May/Jun 1866 at St Peter, Eaton Square, London, Alice Anne (1826-1908), youngest daughter of Sir David Baird of Newbyth, 2nd bt., and had issue one daughter; died 11 May 1910; will proved 10 December 1910 (estate £12,081);
(9) Lady Georgina Sophia Baillie (later Baillie-Hamilton) (1839-1928), born at Mellerstain, 20 October 1839; married, 17 October 1861, Sir Harry Foley Vernon, 1st bt. (1834-1920) of Hanbury Hall (Worcs) and had issue two sons and one daughter; died 17 January 1928.
He inherited the Jerviswood and Mellerstain estates from his father in 1841 and Tyninghame from his second cousin in 1858.
He died in London, 25 June, and was buried at Tyninghame, 5 July 1870; will confirmed 26 April 1871. His widow died 26 February and was buried at Tyninghame, 7 March 1873; her will was confirmed 28 June 1873 (effects under £9,000).

Baillie (later Baillie-Hamilton-Arden), George (1827-1917), 11th Earl of Haddington. Eldest son of George Baillie (later Baillie-Hamilton) (1802-70), 10th Earl of Haddington, and his wife Georgina, daughter of the Ven. Robert Markham, Archdeacon of York, born 26 July and baptised at Earlston, 1 October 1827. He took the additional names of Hamilton and Arden by royal licence in 1858, after his wife succeeded to the estates of the Arden family in Cheshire. He succeeded his father as 11th Earl, 25 June 1870, and was a representative peer for Scotland in the House of Lords, 1874-1917. He was an officer in the East Lothian Militia (later Lothian & Border Horse) (Lt-Col. commanding, 1872-94; Hon. Col., 1894-1917); Yeomanry ADC to HM Queen Victoria, 1893-1901 and to King Edward VII, 1901; Captain of the Royal Company of Archers; Lord Lieutenant of East Lothian, 1876-1917; Vice-Lieutenant of Berwickshire; JP for Cheshire and High Sheriff of Cheshire, 1871. Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1886-92; Grand Master of Scottish Freemasons, 1897-98; President of Royal Highland & Agricultural Soc., 1897-98. He was appointed a Knight of the Thistle, 1902. He married, 17 October 1854 at St Paul Episcopal Chapel, Edinburgh, Helen Catherine (1834-89), daughter of Sir John Warrender, 5th bt. of Lochend, and had issue:
(1) Lady Ruth Baillie-Hamilton (1855-1941), born 4 September 1855; after the death of her parents, lived with her younger brother at Arderne Hall; died unmarried, 27 January, and was buried at Tarporley, 31 January 1941;
(2) George Baillie-Hamilton (1856-1917), Lord Binning (q.v.);
(3) The Hon. Richard Baillie-Hamilton (1858-81), born 28 August 1858; an officer in 77th Regt. (Sub-Lt., 1876) and Rifle Brigade (2nd Lt., 1878; Lt., 1880); died of diphtheria at Poona (India), 12 August 1881;
(4) Isabel Henrietta Baillie-Hamilton (b. & d. 1859), born 8 November 1859; died in infancy, 17 November 1859;
(5) Lady Grisell Arden Baillie-Hamilton (1861-1957), born 23 April 1861; after the death of her parents, lived with her younger brother at Arderne Hall; died unmarried, 27 April 1957, aged 96; will proved 1 July 1957 (estate £29,945);
(6) The Hon. Henry Robert Baillie-Hamilton (later Baillie-Hamilton-Arden) (1862-1949), born 4 October 1862; educated at Radley and Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1881); served in Coldstream Guards (Lt., 1885; Capt., 1897; retired on half-pay, 1897) and in Cheshire Volunteers (Capt., 1917; resigned 1918); JP for Cheshire; assumed the additional surname Arden by deed poll, 1918; died unmarried, 14 March 1949; will proved 9 August 1949 (estate £251,609);
(7) Lady Cecely Arden Baillie-Hamilton (1868-1950), born 13 July 1868; after the death of her parents, lived with her brother at Arderne Hall; died unmarried, 24 October 1950; will proved 6 April 1950 (estate £23,155).

He inherited Tyninghame, Jerviswood and Mellerstain from his father in 1870. His wife inherited the Utkinton Hall and Alvanley Hall estate in Cheshire in 1857, and they built a new house there, known as Arderne Hall, in 1863.
He died 11 June 1917. His wife died 29 May 1889.

Baillie-Hamilton, Brig-Gen. George (1856-1917), Lord Binning. Eldest son of George Baillie-Hamilton (later Baillie-Hamilton-Arden), 11th Earl of Haddington, and his wife Helen Catherine, daughter of Sir John Warrender, 5th bt., born 24 December 1856. Educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1876; BA 1879). An officer in the East Lothian Militia (Capt., 1879) and Royal Horse Guards, 1880-1907 (2nd Lt., 1880; Lt., 1881; Capt., 1887; Maj. 1894; Br. Lt-Col., 1895; Lt-Col., 1899 commanding, 1899-1903; retired on half-pay 1903; resigned 1907); he took part in the Egyptian campaign, 1882; the Sudan, 1884-85 and the Black Mountain expedition, 1889; ADC to Viceroy of India, 1888-89 and Governor of Madras, 1889-90. He  served again in the First World War with the Lothian & Borders Horse (Lt-Col.; temp. Brig-Gen. while brigade commander, 1916-17). He was appointed CVO, 1902 and CB, 1904. JP and DL (from 1831) for Berwickshire; Lord Lieutenant of Berwickshire, 1900-17. He married, 21 September 1892, Katharine Augusta Millicent (d. 1952), art and antiques collector, only child of William Severin Salting of Heath End, Ascot (Berks), and had issue:
(1) Lady Helen Baillie-Hamilton (1893-1959), born 10 October 1893; granted the rank of an earl's daughter, 26 January 1918; in 1949 she inherited from her uncle the Arderne Hall estate in Cheshire, which passed on her death to her son; married, 23 April 1925, Col. the Hon. Henry Barnaby O'Brien MC (1887-1969), youngest surviving son of 14th Baron Inchiquin, and had issue two sons; died 17 September 1959;
(2) George Baillie-Hamilton (1894-1986), 12th Earl of Haddington (q.v.);
(3) The Hon. Charles William Baillie-Hamilton (1900-39), born 22 May 1900; granted the rank of an earl's younger son, 26 January 1918; educated at Eton (head boy) and University College, Oxford; Conservative politician; private secretary to Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin; MP for Bath, 1929-31; married, 17 July 1929 (div. 1932, on the grounds of her adultery with the actor, John Loder), Wanda, only daughter of Norman Holden, but had no issue; died 24 April 1939; administration of his goods granted 6 July 1939 (estate £5,852).
His widow purchased Fenton House, Hampstead (Middx) in 1936 and at her death left it to The National Trust as a setting in which to display her collection of porcelain, furniture and needlework.
He died of illness contracted in action at Ypres (Belgium) in the lifetime of his father, 12 January 1917, and was buried at Tyninghame, 16 January 1917; his will was proved May 1917 (estate £54,889). His widow died 23 February 1952; her will was proved 11 July 1952 (estate £372,467).

12th Earl of Haddington
Baillie-Hamilton, George (1894-1986), 12th Earl of Haddington. Elder son of Brig-Gen. George Baillie-Hamilton (1856-1917), Lord Binning, and his wife Katharine Augusta Millicent, only child of William Severin Salting, born 18 September 1894. Educated at Eton and RMA Sandhurst. Served as an officer in the 2nd Dragoons (Royal Scots Greys) in First World War (2nd Lt., 1914; Lt., 1916; wounded; Capt., 1920), the Lothians and Border Horse Armoured Car Co. (TA) (Capt., 1921; Maj., 1934; resigned 1941), the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (PO, 1941; FO 1942; Sq. Ldr, 1942; retired as W/Cmdr, 1945), and the Royal Company of Archers (Brig. by 1937; Capt., 1953; retired 1974); ADC to Governor General of Canada, 1923. He succeeded his grandfather as 12th Earl, 11 June 1917, and was a representative Scottish peer in the House of Lords, 1922-58. Lord Lieutenant of East Lothian, 1952-70 (DL 1929-46; Vice-Lt., 1946-52); JP (from 1952) and DL (from 1929) for Berwickshire and JP for East Lothian. He was made a Knight of the Thistle, 1951; was awarded the MC, 1917; and an honorary degree by Glasgow University (LLD, 1957). He was a trustee of the National Library of Scotland, 1963-86, Chairman of the Trustees of the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland, and President of the Scottish Georgian Society, 1957-58. He married, 10 October 1923 at the RC Archbishop's Palace, Montreal (Canada), Sarah (1903-95), pianist, charity worker, and one of the pioneering promoters of the Edinburgh Festival in 1947, youngest daughter of George William Cook of Westmount, Montreal, and had issue:
(1) Lady Mary Baillie-Hamilton (1934-2022), born 13 January 1934; a maid of honour at the coronation of HM Queen Elizabeth II; married 1st, 21 July 1954 at St James RC Church, Marylebone (Middx) (div. 1965), John Adrian Bailey, glass company director, elder son of Ronald Graham Bailey of London, and had issue two sons and one daughter; married 2nd, 1 October 1965, as his second wife, David Vernon Russell of Combe Manor, Hungerford (Berks), landowner, son of Brig. Hugh Edward Russell DSO, and had further issue one son and one daughter; died 18 September 2022;
(2) John George Baillie-Hamilton (1941-2016), 13th Earl of Haddington (q.v.).
He inherited the Tyninghame, Jerviswood and Mellerstain estates from his grandfather in 1917, but sold Jerviswood c.1920-25.
He died 17 April 1986. His widow died aged 92, 14 December 1995.


13th Earl of Haddington
Baillie-Hamilton, John George (1941-2016), 13th Earl of Haddington. Only son of George Baillie-Hamilton (1894-1986), 12th Earl of Haddington, and his wife Sarah, youngest daughter of George William Cook of Westmount, Montreal (Canada), born 21 December 1941. Educated at Ampleforth, University of Tours (France), Trinity College, Dublin and the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester. As a young man he was a champion slalom skier, and he worked as a photographer with a studio in London. He had a strong interest in the paranormal, and was at one time patron of the Centre for Crop Circle Studies. After inheriting the family estates he became a practical farmer, and devoted himself to the improvement of the house and gardens at Mellerstain. He was an enthusiastic bee-keeper and founder of Save Our Songbirds, 1998, for which he was the writer, editor and publisher of the magazine Bird Table. His other interests included ballooning and engineering, a field in which his skills allowed him to built a hovercraft on which he explored part of the Amazon basin. He was a member of the Royal Company of Archers, and in 1975 saved the Border Bows company from liquidation and provided it with premises at Mellerstain. He married 1st, 19 April 1975 (div. 1981), Prudence Elizabeth, daughter of Andrew Rutherford Hayles of Bower Chalke (Wilts) and 2nd, 8 December 1984, (Susan) Jane Antonia (b. 1953), second daughter of John Heyworth of Bradwell Grove (Oxon), founder of the Cotswold Wildlife Park, and had issue:
(2.1) George Edmund Baldred Baillie-Hamilton (b. 1985), 14th Earl of Haddington (q.v.);
(2.2) Lady Susan Moyra Baillie-Hamilton (b. 1988), born 15 July 1988;
(2.3) Lady Isobel Joan Baillie-Hamilton (b. 1990), born 16 June 1990.
He inherited the Tyninghame and Mellerstain estates from his father in 1986. To pay the death duties owed, Tyninghame House was sold in 1989 and divided into apartments; further parts of the Tyninghame estate were sold in 2003. Mellerstain House was transferred to the Mellerstain Trust.
He died 5 July 2016; his will was proved in 2017 (estate £33,896,376). His first wife is now living. His widow is now living.


14th Earl of Haddington

Baillie-Hamilton, George Edmund Baldred (b. 1985), 14th Earl of Haddington. Only son of John George Baillie-Hamilton (1941-2016), 13th Earl of Haddington, and his second wife (Susan) Jane Antonia, second daughter of John Heyworth of Bradwell Grove (Oxon), born 27 December 1985. Educated at Eton and Glasgow University. He married, 2021, (Angelique) Constanza Anne, artist, daughter of Simon James Francis Dessain of Lawton House, Inverkeilor (Angus), and had issue:
(1) Sullivan Simon Baillie-Hamilton (b. 2022), Lord Binning.
He inherited the Mellerstain and Tyninghame estates from his father in 2016.
Now living. His wife is now living.


Sources

Burke's Peerage & Baronetage, 2003, pp. 1712-16; R. Scott-Moncrieff, The household book of Lady Grisell Baillie 1692-1733, Scottish History Soc., 1911; M. Girouard, 'Mellerstain House', Country Life, 28 August and 4 September 1958; C. McWilliam, The buildings of Scotland: Lothian, 1979, pp. 456-59; J. Gifford, William Adam, 1689-1748, 1989, pp. 76, 98-99; D. King, The complete works of Robert and James Adam, 1991, pp. 160-62; K. Cruft, J. Dunbar & R. Fawcett, The buildings of Scotland: Borders, 2006, pp. 529-33; R. Close, J. Gifford & F.A. Walker, The buildings of Scotland: Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire, 2016, pp. 353-54;
http://canmore-pdf.rcahms.gov.uk/wp/00/WP004774.pdf;
http://redbookofscotland.co.uk/baillie-of-jerviswood

Location of archives

Baillie, Hamilton and Baillie-Hamilton families, Earls of Haddington: deeds, registers of title, settlements, legal, family and estate papers, maps and plans, correspondence, diaries, accounts and genealogical papers, 14th-20th cents [Private Collection: enquiries to National Register of Archives (Scotland) ref NRA(S) 104]; official correspondence and papers of 9th Earl, 1834-46; letter book of King James V, 1529-42, and selected correspondence, 16th-19th cents. [National Records of Scotland, GD249]; correspondence and papers of Hall family as agents for Lady Grizell Baillie, 1712-50 [National Records of Scotland, GD206/2/262-67]; legal and antiquarian papers of 1st Earl of Haddington, 1400-1622 [National Library of Scotland, Advocates' MSS. 712, 918-19, 1481]; estate accounts of 7th Earl [National Library of Scotland, MSS 14833-4]; Cheshire estate deeds and papers, 13th-20th cents [Cheshire Record Office, DAR; John Rylands University Library, Manchester, ARD]

Coat of arms

Quarterly:  1st and 4th grandquarters, quarterly:  1st and 4th, Gules on a Chevron between three Cinquefoils Argent a Buckle Azure between two Ermine Spots all within a Bordure Or charged with eight Thistles Vert (for Hamilton of Byres);  2nd and 3rd, Argent a Fess wavy between three Roses Gules barbed and seeded proper (for Melrose);  2nd and 3rd grandquarters, Sable the Sun in his Glory between nine Stars three two three and one Argent (for Baillie of Jerviswood & Mellerstain)

Can you help?

Here are a few notes about information and images which would help to improve the account above. If you can help with any of these or with other additions or corrections, please use the contact form in the sidebar to get in touch.
  • Does anyone have an illustration of the house at Tyninghame before it was remodelled by William Burn, or of the old tower at Mellerstain which was demolished in the 1720s?
  • Can anyone provide portraits of members of this family whose names are given in bold in the genealogy above, and who are not currently illustrated?
  • Can anyone provide additional genealogical details or career information for any of the people mentioned above? 

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 4 March 2018 and was updated 18 March and 3 May 2018, 20 March 2020, 28-31 March 2022, 28 December 2023 and 18 September 2024. I am most grateful to Lesley Abernethy and Penny Kidd for corrections, and to Dart Montgomery for additional information.

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