(605) Bethune of Blebo House

Bethune of Blebo

This family was a branch of the extensive Bethune (often pronounced, and sometimes spelled, Beaton) clan, who had lands in Fife and Angus from the 12th century onwards. The seat of the main line of the family was at Balfour, four miles east of Glenrothes (Fife), which they acquired by marriage in 1360, and where they had a tower house from 16th century. At that time several members of the family were prominent churchmen, the most famous being Cardinal David Beaton, Archbishop of St Andrews, who was murdered at St Andrews Castle in 1546. Not until the 19th century, however, did Balfour House evolve into a country house within the terms of this project, and by then it had passed through the female line to the Drinkwaters (later Bethune-Drinkwaters). It was a large castellated mansion designed by David Bryce, and was blown up in the 1960s. The family had numerous cadet branches, including the Bethunes of Kilconquhar (which had, however, passed by marriage into the Lindesay (later Lindesay-Bethune) family before they built Kilconquhar Castle, and only the Bethunes of Blebo meet the criteria to be treated in this project. The genealogy of the Bethunes of Balfour and several of the other cadet branches will be found in The Red Book of Scotland, to which the reader is referred.

The Blebo branch of the family was founded by Andrew Bethune (c.1602-53), fourth son of David Bethune of Balfour, who was a merchant in Edinburgh and Paris. He seems to have resided in Paris during the Civil War, but returned to Scotland in 1649 and purchased the lands of Blebo and Overmagask (Fife) in that year. When he died his children were all very young, and his widow, Margaret, took as her second husband a controversial Glasgow clergyman, the Rev. Donald Cargill (c.1619-81), who was deprived of his living in 1662 and eventually executed for treason. Margaret, however, died in 1656, and her son Andrew at the tender age of 17 in 1661, when Blebo passed to his younger brother, John Bethune (c.1645-c.1708). John married twice and had at least nine children, with three of his daughters marrying clergymen. His eldest surviving son was James Bethune (1671-1705), who died in the lifetime of his father, and it was therefore the latter's son, John Bethune (1698-1779) who inherited Blebo on the death of his grandfather. In the 18th century, several members of the extended family became surgeons, including John's brother James Bethune (1702-67), who practised at Brentford (Middx), and John's son, George Bethune (d. 1774) of Cupar (Fife), but John's heir was Henry Bethune (d. 1782), who died unmarried. Henry's heir was his sister, Margaret Bethune (c.1729-91), who in many ways is the central figure in the story of this family. In the late 1760s, when she was a spinster of about forty living in the household of her father, she met the romantic figure of Sir William Sharp, 6th baronet, who after being captured, convicted and initially sentenced to death for his part in the 1745 rebellion, escaped and pursued a military career in the French and Portuguese armies. In 1769 he was formally pardoned for his role in the '45 and came back to Scotland to visit his recently widowed mother. Sir William and Margaret Bethune may or may not have married (no record of a marriage has ever been found, but the register for the most likely parish does not survive for most of the 18th century), but they certainly had a child, known later as Alexander Sharp Bethune (1771-1847), who was born after his father had apparently abandoned Margaret and returned to his command in Portugal. There Sir William contracted a further marriage with a Portuguese lady whom he had also made pregnant, and whom he again abandoned before returning to London, where he died in penury in 1780.

Back in Scotland, Margaret Bethune (who had reverted to her maiden name) became aware of Sir William's Portuguese marriage and of his death, and married for a second time, in 1782, to an Edinburgh lawyer, William Chalmers (1744-1807), to whom she made over the Blebo estate for life, with remainder to her son by Sharp. Chalmers subsequently took the name Bethune. The curious thing is that Alexander never claimed or used his father's baronetcy. This could be because he and his mother believed that Sharp's Portuguese marriage predated his Scottish one, and that the latter was therefore bigamous; or it could be because there never was a Scottish marriage, and that Alexander was straightforwardly illegitimate. In 1916, when Alexander's grandson claimed the baronetcy, a committee of the Privy Council took the former view, and allowed the claim on the basis that in Scots law, if either or both parties to a bigamous marriage entered on it in innocence, the children of the marriage would be regarded as legitimate. In the absence of evidence for a Scottish marriage, and in view of the precise wording of Alexander's baptism entry, however, it seems to the present author that the simpler explanation for Alexander's failure to claim the baronetcy is more likely.

Sir William Sharp 'left only debts' at his death, but what Alexander did inherit from him was an aptitude and enthusiasm for the military life. He joined the army in 1789, and rose steadily through the ranks over the next twenty years, retiring on half-pay as a Lieutenant-Colonel in 1814. Before that, he had spent several years as a prisoner of war in France, but I have been unable to establish where he was captured or how long he was held. Soon after his retirement, his stepfather died and he came into the Blebo estate, and it seems likely that the building of the present house followed soon afterwards, although stylistically it could have been built earlier, by his stepfather. In 1820, aged nearly fifty, he married the daughter of a neighbouring landowner, and together they produced two sons and two daughters. The heir to Blebo was his elder son, Alexander Bethune (1824-1900), who after a brief military career and some globetrotting, settled down at Blebo to a life of farming, local public affairs, and sport. The Agricultural Depression of the 1880s seems to have had a devastating effect on the economy of the estate, and by the end of his life he had simply run out of money. His net worth when he died was £244, and the Blebo estate was sold by his executors to clear his debts. His only son, later Sir Alexander Sharp Bethune (1860-1917), 9th bt., became a director of companies owning tea and rubber plantations and somewhat retrieved the family finances. He lived in Surrey, where he died a few months after his success in reviving the baronetcy. The title passed to his only son, Sir Alexander Maitland Sharp Bethune (1909-97), 10th bt., but became extinct on his death.

Blebo House, Fife

Almost certainly, the Bethune family had a house on this estate before the the late 18th or early 19th century, but nothing seems to be known about it; not even if it stood on the present site. The existing building started life as a modest neo-classical house, of three widely-spaced bays by two, and of two storeys above a concealed basement. The date of the building is unclear, but it seems likely to have been built for Alexander Sharp Bethune (1771-1847), after he returned from the Napoleonic wars and was confirmed in his estate by the Prince Regent in 1815. The only external feature of note was a full-height semi-circular bow in the centre of the south (garden) front. The house was built of coursed stone rubble but given a smoother appearance by crisp white harling.

Blebo House: view from the south-east after the additions of 1903, from an old postcard.

Blebo House: the entrance tower and service wing added in 1903-04.

Blebo House: plan after alterations of 1903, 
from The Builder.

The estate was sold in 1900 for £38,000 to William Low, owner of a Dundee-based chain of grocery stores, who extensively enlarged and remodelled it to the designs of James Findlay of Dundee in 1903-04. He extended the house to the north, adding a conspicuous circular entrance tower at the north-east corner and a service wing at the north-west angle, and excavated the land around the Georgian house to expose the basement and give the house a greater presence in the landscape. He also reconstructed the roof of the house, no doubt adding the dormer windows and the balustrading around the top of the Georgian bow. 

Internally, the house was extensively remodelled, although the drawing room retains Adam-style plasterwork, and the sitting room behind the curved bow retains a fine wood and gesso fireplace (which should be painted) and a simple contemporary cornice. Typical of the new interiors, finished in fumed oak and pitch pine, is the dining room, with a beamed and panelled ceiling and dado panelling that steps up to encompass the doorcase and Arts & Crafts mantlepiece. The billiard room below the drawing room is in a similar style.

Blebo House: dining room created in 1903-04.

The grounds were evidently landscaped in the early 19th century, when a short approach drive was laid out from the west, with a Gothick lodge at the gate, and a much longer and more picturesque drive was created, leading north through Kemback Den to the village of Kemback.

Descent: sold to Andrew Bethune (c.1602-53); to son, Andrew Bethune (1644-61); to brother, John Bethune (c.1645-c.1708); to grandson, John Bethune (1698-1779); to son, Henry Bethune (d. 1782); to sister, Margaret (c.1728-91), wife of Sir William Sharp (d. 1807), 6th bt. and later of William Chalmers (later Bethune) (1744-1807) to whom she left it for life, with remainder to her son, Alexander Sharp Bethune (1771-1847); to son, Alexander Bethune (1824-1900), whose executors sold 1900 to William Low (c.1858-1936); to widow, Isabel Sands Low (d. 1950) and daughter, Miss Janet I. Low (d. 1962), who sold 1951 to Margrave Estates Ltd. of Leeds; sold 1952 to Andrew Erskine Orr, veterinary surgeon; sold 1984...Mr & Mrs Ian Myers (fl. 1993)... James Gordon Reid QC (b. 1952); sold 2020.

Bethune family of Blebo House

Bethune, Andrew (c.1602-53). Fourth son of David Bethune of Balfour (Fife) and his wife Margaret, daughter of Andrew Wardlaw of Torrie, born about 1602. He was apprenticed to William Dick of Edinburgh, merchant, 10 July 1616, and after completing his apprenticeship became a successful merchant in Edinburgh and Paris (France). He married, c.1640, Margaret (d. 1656), daughter of Nichol Brown of Edinburgh, merchant, and had issue:

(1) David Bethune (b. 1641), baptised at Edinburgh, 1 October 1641; probably died young and is unlikely to be the man of this name apprenticed to Charles Charteris of Edinburgh, merchant, 21 July 1669;

(2) Margaret Bethune (b. 1643), baptised at Edinburgh, 11 January 1643; married, 4 December 1663 at Kemback, James Lundie of Clatto, and had issue;

(3) Andrew Bethune (1644-61), baptised at Edinburgh, 10 April 1644; was served heir to his father in the lands and barony of Blebo, 9 June 1657; died unmarried at Bandon, 16 May, and was buried at Kemback, 28 May 1661;

(4) John Bethune (c.1645-c.1708) (q.v.);

(5) Mary Bethune; married, c.1664, William Bethune of Craigfoodie, Dairsie (Fife), advocate, second son of Robert Bethune of Bandon, and had issue five sons and four daughters;

(6) Elizabeth Bethune (fl. 1656); died unmarried;

(7) Catherine Bethune (b. 1647), baptised at Edinburgh, 17 October 1647; died young.

On his return to England from France, he purchased the lands of Blebo and Overmagask from Peter Hay of Blebo in 1649.

He died 3 June, and was buried at Kemback (Fife), 6 June 1653.  His widow married 2nd, about 11 August 1655, Rev. Donald Cargill (c.1619-81), minister at Glasgow (deprived 1662), who was later one of the founders of the Cameronians or Reformed Presbyterians and was executed for treason; she died 12 August 1656.

Bethune, John (c.1645-c.1708). Third son of Andrew Bethune (c.1602-53) and his wife Margaret, daughter of Nichol Brown of Edinburgh, merchant, born about 1645. He married 1st, 1668 (contract 11 February) at Edinburgh, Katherine, daughter of George Home (d. 1650) and sister of George Home of Wedderburn, and 2nd, 1676, with 6,000 marks, Alison (b. 1657), youngest daughter of James Cheap of Ormiston and Rossie, and had issue:

(1.1) Andrew Bethune (b. 1669), baptised at Kemback, 6 January 1669; died young;

(1.2) George Bethune (b. 1670), baptised at Kemback, 28 January 1670; died young;

(1.3) James Bethune (1671-1705) (q.v.);

(1.4) Katherine Bethune (b. 1672), baptised at Kemback, 1 March 1672; probably died young;

(1.5) John Bethune (1673-1714), baptised at Kemback, 10 June 1673; collector of customs at Kirkcaldy; married, 15 November 1696 at Edinburgh, Jean, daughter of Sir James Smollett, kt., of Bonhill (Dunbartons.), and had issue one son and two daughters; died November 1714; will confirmed at St Andrews, 30 March 1715;

(2.1) Mary Bethune (fl. 1705); married, 13 August 1705 at St Andrews and St Leonards (Fife), as his second wife, Rev. William Pitcairn (c.1673-1722), minister of Collessie (Fife), and had issue two sons and five daughters;

(2.2) Henry Bethune (fl. 1711); 'heir of provision' to his father;

(2.3) Elizabeth Bethune (d. 1763); married, 19 March 1707, Rev. William Knox (c.1678-1746), minister of Dairsie, son of Rev. Simon Knox, and had issue seven sons and five daughters; died 22 December 1763;

(2.4) Katherine Bethune (d. 1770); married, 2 December 1707, Rev. John Stark (d. 1748) of Ballindean, minister of Logie, and had issue six sons and one daughter; died 29 January 1770.

He inherited the Blebo House estate from his elder brother in 1661, and was infest in the lands, 3 July 1662.

He died about 1708. His first wife died in or before 1676. His second wife's date of death is unknown.

Bethune, James (1671-1705). Third, but eldest surviving son of John Bethune (c.1645-c.1708) and his first wife, Katherine, sister of George Home of Wedderburn, baptised at Kemback, 2 February 1671. He married, 23 December 1696 at Abbotshall (Fife), Margaret (d. by 1711), eldest daughter of Sir James Wemyss, 1st bt., of Bogie, and had issue:

(1) John Bethune (1698-1771) (q.v.);

(2) Henry Bethune (d. 1769) of Clatto; married, 11 May 1723 at St Andrews (Fife), Margaret, daughter of John Craigie of Dunbairnie, and had issue three sons and three daughters; died at St. Andrews (Fife), 2 December 1769;

(3) James Bethune (1702-67), baptised at Abbotshall (Fife), 2 November 1702; apprenticed to Robert Hope of Edinburgh, surgeon, 9 January 1719, and became a surgeon in Brentford (Middx); acquired the lands of Nydie, which he entailed on his brothers and their children, 1747; married Sarah [surname unknown] and had issue one daughter; died September 1767 and was buried at Brentford, 9 October 1767; will proved in the PCC, 2 October 1767;

(4) Alison Bethune (fl. 1767); married, 5 June 1731, John Drew (d. by 1767); living as a widow in St. Andrews (Fife), 1767;

(5) Margaret Bethune (d. 1754); married, as his second wife, John Corstophine of Nydie, and had issue; died 14 March 1754.

He died in the lifetime of his father, July 1705. His widow married 2nd, 15 July 1706, as his second wife, Philip Hamilton (b. c.1669) of Kilbrackmont (who m3, 1711 (contract 22 December), Helen, daughter of Thomas Fotheringham of Ballindean and widow of Andrew Coupar of Lochblair), and died in or before 1711.

Bethune, John (1698-1779). Eldest son of James Bethune (c.1670-1705) and his wife Margaret, eldest daughter of James Wemyss of Bogie, baptised at Abbotshall (Fife), 19 January 1699. He married, 1 November 1724 in Edinburgh, Janet (d. 1778), daughter of Henry Scrimgeour WS of Edinburgh, and had issue:

(1) Henry Bethune (d. 1782) (q.v.);

(2) George Bethune (d. 1774), of Kingusk (Fife), which he sold to Sir Robert Anstruther of Balcaskie (Fife); probably the man of this name apprenticed to Peter Adie of Edinburgh, surgeon, 5 July 1758 and later a physician at Cupar (Fife); died 1774;

(3) Margaret Bethune (c.1729-91) (q.v.);

(4) Agnes Bethune (fl. 1747);

(5) Elizabeth Bethune (fl. 1747);

(6) Janet Bethune (fl. 1747).

He inherited the Blebo estate from his grandfather in about 1708 and came of age about 1719.

He died at Blebo, 16 December, and was buried at Kemback, 20 December 1779. His wife died at Blebo, 7 March 1778.

Bethune, Henry (d. 1782). Elder son of John Bethune (c.1698-1771) and his wife Janet, daughter of Henry Scrimgeour WS of Edinburgh. He was unmarried and without issue.

He inherited the Blebo estate from his father in 1779.

He died at Blebo, 3 February, and was buried at Kemback, 8 February 1782.

Bethune, Margaret (c.1729-91). Eldest daughter of John Bethune (1698-1779) and his wife Janet, daughter of Henry Scrimgeour WS, born about 1729. She is said to have married 1st, about 1770, Sir William Sharp* (1729-80), 6th bt., of Scotscraig, and 2nd, 25 August 1782 at Blebo, William Chalmers WS (1744-1807) of Raddernie, Principal Clerk of Session, who took the name and arms of Bethune of Blebo. She had issue:

(1.1) Alexander Sharp (later Bethune) (1771-1847) (q.v.). 

She inherited the Blebo estate from her brother in 1782 and in 1783 settled it on her husband for life and their issue, with remainder to the son of her first marriage. 

She died in Edinburgh, 26 January 1791. Her first husband is said to have 'died alone, in a lodging house' in London, 'leaving nothing but debts', 13 February 1780, and was buried at St. Marylebone. Her second husband  married 2nd, 29 March 1792 at Bellfield, Isobel (1760-1830), daughter of James Morrison of Naughton (Fife), and had issue one daughter; he died 28 February and was buried at Kemback, 4 March 1807.

* No record of this marriage has ever been found, and it may never have taken place, although as no register of marriages for the estate church at Kemback survives between 1703 and 1787, this cannot be proved. Sir William was among the Jacobite rebels sentenced to death for their part in the 1745 rebellion; after representations by his professors at St Andrews University, he was repreived on account of his tender years and interned. In 1747 he escaped and joined the French army, in which he rose to be a captain. In 1761 he resigned his commission and returned to Britain, where he contrived to join a group of experienced officers being assembled to assist the Portuguese army (Maj., 1762; Col., 1763; Brig., 1765; Maj-Gen., 1775). In 1769 he obtained an official pardon for his part in the '45 and returned to Scotland to see his widowed mother. There he met Margaret Bethune and is said to have married her prior to the birth of their son. In 1916 it was held that he had previously contracted a marriage with a Portuguese lady who survived him, and had issue a daughter, and that his marriage to Margaret was therefore biagmous, but that under Scots Law where a marriage turned out to be null because of such a pre-existing impediment, the children would nevertheless be legitimate if either or both of the parents was in honest ignorance of the existence of the impediment. However it is now known that Sir William's marriage to Ana Francisca da Gama Lobo, daughter of Lt-Col. Francisco Xavier da Silva Lobo did not take place until 1777. It therefore seems likely that his son Alexander failed to claim the baronetcy not because he believed he was illegitimate as the child of a bigamous union but more simply because his parents had never been married, and that the decision of the baronetcy committee of the privy council in 1916 was founded on inaccurate information.

Sharp (later Bethune), Lt-Gen. Alexander (1771-1847). Only son of Sir William Sharp (1729-80), 6th bt., of Scotscraig, and his wife or partner Margaret Bethune, baptised at Blebo, 20 August 1771. He believed he was not entitled to succeed his father as 7th baronet of Scotscraig, and never claimed or used the title. An officer in the army (Ensign, 1789; Lt., 1792; Capt. 1793; Maj., 1802; Lt-Col., 1809; retired on half-pay, 1814; Col., 1819; Maj-Gen., 1830; Lt-Gen., 1841), he was wounded in 1801 and held as a prisoner of war for several years during the Napoleonic wars. In 1815 he had royal licence to take the name and arms of Bethune in lieu of Sharp. He married, 20 April 1820 at Clatto (Fife), Maria (d. 1886), daughter of Robert Low of Clatto, and had issue:

(1) Susan Bethune (1821-1908), born 18 June and baptised at Kemback, 29 June 1821; married, 3 May 1840 at Kemback, David Gillespie (1814-99) of Kirkton and Mountquhanie (Fife), and had issue three sons and one daughter; died 6 December 1908;

(2) Margaret Bethune (1823-99), baptised at Kemback, 31 January 1823; married 1st, 26 March 1857 at Edinburgh, George Patton (1803-69)* of the Cairnies (Perths.), MP for Bridgwater, 1866 and then Lord Justice Clerk as Lord Glenalmond, third son of James Patton of the Cairnies, sheriff-clerk of Perthshire, but had no issue; married 2nd, 2 January 1871 at Edinburgh, Maj. Robert Malcolm of Royal Engineers; died 7 November 1899 and was buried at Monzie (Perths.);

(3) Alexander Bethune (1824-1900) (q.v.);

(4) Robert Bethune (1827-1904), born 29 July and baptised at Kemback, 30 August 1827; an officer in the army (Ensign, 1845; Lt., 1846; Capt. retired as Maj., 1859), who served in the Crimean War and in India (twice mentioned in despatches), and later in the Fife Militia; after retirement, lived at Nydie (Fife); married, 24 January 1865 at Tunbridge Wells (Kent), Mary Louisa (1840-1920), daughter of Capt. William Amherst Hale (1809-44), and had issue three sons and five daughters; died in Earl's Court, London, 27 July 1904; will proved 22 September 1904 (estate £4,645).

He inherited the Blebo estate on the death of his stepfather in 1807 and was confirmed in his estate by the Prince Regent in 1815. He was probably responsible for building the present house at Blebo around 1815.

He died at Blebo, 28 December 1847. His wife died at Edinburgh, 24 January 1886.

* He committed suicide on 20 September 1869 being badly upset by the death of his brother, Thomas Patton WS of Glenalmond; the press had mistakenly announced his death instead of that of his brother.

Bethune, Alexander (1824-1900). Elder son of Lt-Gen. Alexander Sharp (later Bethune) (1771-1847) and his wife Maria, daughter of Robert Low of Clatto, baptised at Kemback, 11 August 1824. An officer in the army (Lt., 1842; retired 1848), and later in the Cupar Rifle Corps. He believed he was not entitled to succeed to the baronetcy of Scotscraig, and never claimed or used the title. An ardent Liberal in politics, he took an active part in local government and was a Commissioner of Supply and JP for Fife, and from 1854, also a DL for Fife. In the 1880s, he was also chairman of the committee to elect H.H. Asquith for the Fife East constituency. He was an all-round sportsman, being a capital shot, enthusiastic curler and billiards player. In his younger years he was keen on hunting, but after leaving the army he took up golf seriously. He was a member of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club at St. Andrews from 1842, and played regularly, as well as arranging some famous professional matches. As a young man, he travelled to America and Canada and is said to have been one of the first Englishmen to extensively explore the Rocky Mountains. His obituarist described him as 'a gentleman of striking personality... independence of speech... and originality'. He married, 18 September 1849, at Dundee, Margaret (1826-90), fourth daughter of John Maxwell MD, and had issue:

(1) Mary Elizabeth Bethune (1851-1932), born 12 February 1851; lived at 39 High St., Elie (Fife); died unmarried, 28 May 1932 and was buried at Kemback, where she is commemorated on the family gravestone; will confirmed 29 July 1932 (estate £3,422);

(2) (Katherine) Maria Bethune (1855-1938), born 13 September 1855; said to have spent several years in Germany before her marriage and to have travelled 'quite extensively' with her husband later on; she married, 22 July 1880 at Cupar Episcopal Church, her cousin, David Gillespie (1841-1911) of Montquhannie (which he sold 1906), sheriff substitute; as a widow she lived at Aberfoyle (Perths.) and later at St. Andrews, where she built a new house for herself; died without issue at St Andrews, 9 July 1938;

(3) Sir Alexander Sharp Bethune (1860-1917), 9th bt., born 21 March 1860; chairman of Associated Tea Estates, Ceylon, and a director of Hidden Streams Rubber Syndicate Ltd and Karak Rubber Co. Ltd; built Russet House, Tadworth (Surrey); chairman of the Imperial Defence Council; successfully petitioned to be recognised as legitimate heir to the Sharp of Scotscraig baronetcy, December 1916, although consideration of this case was probably founded upon incorrect information about his great-grandfather's marriages; he married, 8 November 1889 at St John, Kensington (Middx), Elizabeth Carnegie (1864-1935), third daughter of Frederick Lewis Maitland-Heriot of Ramornie, and had issue one son and three daughters; died at Tadworth (Surrey), 31 March, and was buried at Kingswood (Surrey), 4 April 1917; will confirmed 17 July 1917 (estate £32,900).

He inherited the Blebo estate from his father in 1847, but after the death of his wife he retired to Elie (Fife). His executors sold the estate in 1900.

He died at Castlandhill, Inverkeithing, 10 May, and was buried at Kemback, 14 May 1900; his will was confirmed 17 September 1900 (estate £244). His wife died at Bideford (Devon), 10 May 1890.

Principal sources

G. MacGregor, The Red Book of Scotland, 2018, vol. 1, pp. 523-31; The Builder, 24 March 1906; J. Nicoll, Domestic architecture in Scotland: illustrations of Scottish domestic work of recent years, 1908, pl. 20; J. Gifford, The buildings of Scotland: Fife, 1988, p. 101;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_William_Sharp,_6th_Baronet; 

Location of archives

Bethune of Blebo: deeds, estate and family papers, 1457-1900 [National Records of Scotland, GD7]; account book of John Bethune, 1720-40 [University of St Andrews Libraries & Museums ms38095]

Coat of arms

Azure a fess chequy Or and Gules between three lozenges of the second.

Can you help?

• Can anyone provide additional information about the ownership of Blebo House after 1951?
• Does anyone know where Alexander Sharp Bethune (1771-1847) was captured by the French and how long he was a prisoner of war?
• Can anyone provide photographs or portraits of the people whose names appear in bold above, for whom no image is currently shown?
• If anyone can offer further information or corrections to any part of this article I should be most grateful. I am always particularly pleased to hear from current owners or the descendants of families associated with a property who can supply information from their own research or personal knowledge for inclusion.

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 18 June 2025 and was updated 22 June 2025.

(599) Bertram of Nisbet and Kersewell

Bertram of Kersewell

William Bertram (fl. 1622) seems to have acquired the lands of Nisbet in Lanarkshire in the early 17th century, and established his family as minor gentry. His grandson, also William Bertram (d. 1685), expanded the estate and bequeathed it to his son, Alexander Bertram (d. 1742). The genealogy below begins with his son, William Bertram (c.1675-1759), who by virtue of being Chamberlain to the 1st Duke of Douglas and buying the Kersewell estate at Carnwath in 1702, took the family a step up the social hierarchy. It was William Bertram who rebuilt Kersewell as a modest, five-bay country house. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Archibald Bertram (1714-68), whose younger brothers became merchants in Edinburgh. Archibald married the daughter of an Edinburgh advocate, and they had four sons and four daughters. His eldest son, William Bertram (1754-1819), inherited Kersewell and was probably responsible for enlarging it into the seven bay house that existed later. The second son pursued a career in the colonies, which took him to Tobago and Bengal, but it is not clear whether he was a soldier or a merchant. The third son was educated at Edinburgh University and became a physician and surgeon, for many years based in Hull. The youngest son was, rather surprisingly, apprenticed to a Lancashire hatter, and after serving his articles became a hatter in Rochdale.

William Bertram was only fourteen when his father died. After reaching manhood, he spent ten years in the 7th Dragoon Guards, retiring in 1783, and a few years later, during the invasion anxiety of the 1790s, he was one of the moving spirits behind the formation of the Lanarkshire corps of fencible cavalry, of which he became Lieutenant Colonel. He seems to have initiated the military tradition in subsequent generations. At the end of his life he was appointed Secretary of the Order of the Thistle, but he died less than a year into this role. In 1777 he married his first cousin, Jean Lockhart (d. 1822) and they had eleven children. Tragically, his eldest son, Maj. Archibald Bertram (1780-1806) died during his father's lifetime, when the troop ship he was on sank in the Gulf of St Lawrence in Canada. Kersewell therefore descended to his second son, William Bertram (1788-1839), who was an officer in the East India Company's Bengal army from 1803 and retired as a major in 1829. It seems likely that Kersewell was rented out in the 1820s, although he may have lived there after leaving India. He married twice while in India, and died comparatively young, and his widow, who survived until 1897, seems to have spent her long widowhood in the milder climate of Ilfracombe (Devon). Their only surviving son, William Bertram (1826-1905), inherited as a minor and was briefly in the army before settling down at Kersewell to the archetypal life of a Victorian country squire. After his first wife died in 1882, however, he seems to have let Kersewell and gone to live in Ilfracombe with his mother. His eldest son, William Bertram (1859-1915), had a career in the army, and though he retired in 1899 he returned to service as a volunteer during the Boer War in 1900. He then commanded the Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers for some years, and at the start of the First World War he returned to his former regiment as an instructor, but died suddenly soon afterwards. Kersewell was let during his ownership, and burnt down in 1912, but although he rebuilt it he lived more modestly in St. Andrews (Fife). His widow moved to England and lived latterly in London and at Eggington House (Beds.), which she leased. Kersewell descended to their elder son, Lt-Col. William Robert Bertram (1888-1970), who continued to let the house. After service in the First World War, he and his wife lived in Australia for about ten years, although he returned to Britain in 1932. He finally sold the estate in 1944, when it was bought by Lanarkshire County Council for use as an agricultural college.

Kersewell House (now Bertram House), Carnwath, Lanarkshire

There was a tower house here in the 16th century, which was replaced soon after William Bertram bought the estate in 1702, by a five bay hipped-roof house with chimneystacks in the gable ends. The house was built of harled rubble stone, and had two storeys and attics on the north-west side, though the fall of the land exposing the basement on the south-east front gave that elevation an extra storey. The new house was extended to the north, perhaps in the late 18th century, by a two-bay block the same height as the main building and with matching windows, but having a separate roof. Rather later, the house was also extended to the south with a two-storey block that was given a bowed south end in the mid 19th century. The existence of the gable-end chimneystacks makes improbable the suggestion in The buildings of Scotland that the additions were enlargements of small wings contemporary with the main house. Later in the 19th century, a heated conservatory was built against the southern part of the north-west (entrance) front.

Kersewell House: the east front of the house shortly before the fire of 1912, from an old postcard.

In April 1911, when the house was tenanted, it was extensively damaged by a fire which is thought to have originated in sparks from the conservatory chimney setting fire to the upper floors of the main block. The contents of the lower floors were largely saved, but those upstairs, including many pictures, were completely lost. Restoration was put in hand to designs by J.M. Dick Peddie and work began on site early in 1912, being sufficiently advanced for the house to be reoccupied in May 1913. In rebuilding, considerable changes were made to the design and plan: the north-west (entrance) front was given a new porch and the conservatory was replaced by a new shallowly-projecting wing. The harling was removed from the whole house - much to the detriment of its appearance - and a new hipped roof with dormers was constructed over the main block and the wing to its north, visually uniting the two for the first time.

Kersewell House: entrance front from the south-west, as rebuilt after the fire of 1912. Image: RCAHMS.

In 1944 the estate was acquired by Lanarkshire County Council for use as an agricultural college. After this closed in the late 1980s, it was sold a pharmaceutical research company, and when they moved to larger premises in 2004, the house was converted to flats to the designs of Drew Deans Design of Moodiesburn, and the adjacent land was developed for housing. The building is now known as Bertram House.

Descent: sold 1702 to William Bertram (c.1675-1759); to son, Archibald Bertram (1714-68); to son, William Bertram (1754-1819); to son, William Bertram (1788-1839); to son, William Bertram (1826-1905); to son, Col. William Bertram (1859-1915); to son, Lt-Col. William Robert Bertram (1888-1970); who sold 1944 to Lanarkshire County Council; sold c.1988 to PPD Development; sold 2004 for conversion to flats.

Bertram family of Kersewell House

Bertram, William (c.1675-1759). Only son of Alexander Bertram (d. 1742) of Nisbet (Lanarks) and his first wife Helen, daughter of Adam Murray of Cardon, born about 1675. Chamberlain to Archibald Douglas (1694-1761), 1st Duke of Douglas, of Douglas Castle (Lanarks). He married, 1 April 1705 at Edinburgh, Cecilia, daughter of Gilbert Kennedy of Auchtyfardle, Lesmahagow (Lanarks), and had issue:

(1) Euphan alias Euphemia Bertram (1706-62), baptised at Lesmahagow, 15 August 1706; married, 3 June 1731 at Edinburgh, George Baillie of Hardington; said to have died in 1762;

(2) Archibald Bertram (1714-68) (q.v.);

(3) Alexander Bertram (b. 1717), baptised at Douglas, 23 April 1717; perhaps died young;

(4) Gilbert Bertram (1720-76), baptised at Douglas, 31 January 1720; apprenticed to John Coutts, Lord Provost of Edinburgh; merchant and banker in Edinburgh and London; admitted a burgess of Edinburgh, 1743; died unmarried and was buried at Bunhill Fields Cemetery, London, 14 December 1776;

(5) William Bertram (c.1719-95), born about 1719; apprenticed to Patrick Manderson, merchant in Edinburgh, 1740; became a merchant in Edinburgh in his own right; married, 21 June 1767 at Edinburgh, Grisel (c.1732-1822), daughter of John Hay of Hayston, and had issue three sons and two daughters; died at Fountainbridge, 15 January, and was buried at Edinburgh, 16 January 1795;

(6) Anne Bertram (1722-97), baptised at Douglas, 30 April 1722; married, 30 September 1747 at Symington (Lanarks), Rev. John Brown (d. 1771) of Cultermains, minister of Culter (Lanarks), and had issue; died 11 October 1797;

(7) Cecilia Bertram (d. 1773); married, 10 August 1755 at Edinburgh, Hugh Mossman (1716-73), writer to the signet; said to have been killed, with her husband, by the collapse of their house in Edinburgh, 20 January 1773; they were both buried in Greyfriars Cemetery, Edinburgh, 22 January 1773;

(8) Jane Bertram (fl. 1766); married, 10 February 1766 at St Mary Abchurch, London, as his second wife, Henry Ferguson.

He purchased the Kersewell estate in 1702 and rebuilt the house there soon afterwards.

He died 23 May 1759. His widow's date of death is unknown: one account says she died in 1773 or 1774, but this may be a confusion with her daughter and namesake.

Bertram, Archibald (1714-68). Eldest son of William Bertram (c.1675-1759) and his wife Cecilia, daughter of Gilbert Kennedy of Auchtyfardle, Lesmahagow (Lanarks), baptised at Douglas, 4 February 1714. An elder of the Church of Scotland, summoned to General Assemblies of the church in 1762 and 1767. He married, 24 February 1751, Marion (c.1729-1814), daughter and co-heir of John Porterfield of Fulwood (Renfrews.), advocate, and had issue including:

(1) Jean Bertram (1752-1838), born 24 May 1752 and baptised at Carnwath the same day; married, 10 August 1770 at Kersewell, Allan Lockhart (d. 1805) of Cleghorn (Lanarks), and had issue at least one daughter; died at Cleghorn, 13 May 1838;

(2) Cecilia Bertram (b. 1753), born 6 August 1753; probably died young*; 

(3) William Bertram (1754-1819) (q.v.);

(4) John Bertram (d. 1784); on the island of Tobago by 1777; died in Bengal (India), about April 1784;

(5) Alexander Bertram (1757-1836), born 21 June 1757; educated at Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh, 1772-76 and Edinburgh University (MD, 1777); surgeon to the 2nd Regiment of Dragoons, 1778-80 and later a physician in Hull (Yorks ER), Manchester and Edinburgh; appointed physician to the Manchester Infirmary, Dispensary, Lunatic Hospital and Asylum, 1794; admitted an honorary Member of the Royal Medical Soc. of Edinburgh, 31 January 1789; married 1st, 5 December 1780 at Greenwich (Kent), Mary Duke (d. 1804) and had issue one son and one daughter; married 2nd, 15 February 1827 at Smyllum Park, Lanark**, Mary, daughter of Patrick Honeyman of Graemesay (Orkney); died in Edinburgh, 19 December 1836;

(6) Mary Bertram (1761-1846), born at Carnwath, 26 November 1761; died unmarried at Westport, Lanark, 17 September 1846;

(7) Marion Bertram (b. 1764), born 5 April and baptised at Carnwath, 8 April 1764; probably died young before 1768;

(8) Archibald Bertram (1766-98), born 20 February 1766; apprenticed to John Fletcher of Oldham (Lancs), 1781; a hatter in Rochdale (Lancs) by 1788; married, 23 February 1792 at Edinburgh, Cecilia (d. 1833), daughter of Adam Keir, baker, and had issue one son; died, probably of tuberculosis, and was buried at Cross St. Presbyterian Church, Manchester, 26 April 1798.

He inherited the Kersewell estate from his father in 1759. In 1768 he made provision for his surviving children by a Bond of Provision, in which he assigned £600 to each of his sons and £1,000 to each of his daughters when they reached the age of 21.

He died in London, 25 September 1768. His widow died 11 December 1814.

* The Red Book of Scotland states she died unmarried, 1840, but I have not been able to trace any corresponding records.

** The banns were read, and the marriage recorded, at St Cuthbert, Edinburgh.

Bertram, William (1754-1819). Eldest son of Archibald Bertram (1714-68) and his wife Marion, daughter and co-heir of John Porterfield of Fulwood (Renfrews.), born 25 August and baptised at Carnwath, 26 August 1754. He succeeded his father in 1768 and was served heir to his grandfather, William Bertram of Nisbet, 28 March 1780, in half the lands of Nisbet (including the manor house). An officer in the 7th Dragoon Guards (Cornet, 1773; Lt., 1775; Capt-Lt., 1779; Capt., 1779; retired 1783) and later in the Lanarkshire corps of fencible cavalry (Capt., 1794; Lt-Col., 1796). Secretary to the Order of the Thistle, 1818-19. He married, 30 August 1777 at St Cuthbert, Edinburgh, his first cousin, Jean (d. 1822), daughter and heiress of Sir William Lockhart (d. 1758), 3rd bt., of Lockhart Hall, Carstairs (Lanarks), and had issue:

(1) Katherine Bertram (b. 1778), born 17 July 1778; died young, in or before 1786;

(2) Archibald Bertram (1780-1806), born 2 April 1780; an officer in army (Ensign, 1795; Lt., 1795; Capt., 1800; Maj., 1805); died unmarried in the lifetime of his father when a troop ship with 300 men of his regiment (the 100th foot) foundered on ice in the Magdalen Islands, Gulf of St Lawrence (Canada) and was lost with all hands, on or about 15 November 1806;

(3) Mary Bertram (1783-1827), born 20 October 1783; married, as his second wife, Thomas Brown of Symington (Lanarks); died 17 June 1827 and was buried at Symington;

(4) Marion Bertram (1785-1869), born 30 August 1785; lived with her spinster sisters at 21 Rutland Sq, Edinburgh; died unmarried in Edinburgh, 25 June 1869;

(5) Katherine Bertram (1786-1860), born 5 November 1786; lived with her spinster sisters at 21 Rutland Sq, Edinburgh; died unmarried in Edinburgh, 3 April 1860; will confirmed in Edinburgh, 3 July 1860;

(6) William Bertram (1788-1839) (q.v.);

(7) John Bertram (1789-1800), born 4 September 1789; died young and was buried at Edinburgh, 19 May 1800;

(8) Ann Bertram (1791-1853), born 10 April and baptised at Carnwath, 2 May 1791; lived with her spinster sisters at 21 Rutland Sq, Edinburgh; died unmarried in Edinburgh, 4 June, and was buried at Carnwath, 10 June 1853;

(9) Allan Bertram (1792-1834), born 14 July  and baptised at Carnwarth, 21 July 1792; an officer in the Royal Navy (Lt., 1815; Cdr., 1827); died of a virulent fever at sea, off the Berry Islands (Bahamas), while commanding HMS Tweed, 29 July 1834;

(10) Jean Lockhart Bertram (1794-1825), born 8 January 1794; died unmarried in Edinburgh, 14 January 1825;

(11) Cecilia Bertram (1799-1870), said to have been born 31 October and baptised at Carnwath, November 1799; married, 27 July 1826 at Edinburgh, as his second wife, James MacAllan (1792-1868), writer to the signet, son of Thomas MacAllan of Edinburgh, excise officer, and had issue five sons and four daughters; died 7 June 1870 and was buried at St John's Graveyard, Edinburgh.

He inherited the Kersewell estate from his father in 1768.

He died at Kersewell, 18 July 1819, and was buried at Carnwath. His widow died at Kersewell, 8 November 1822.

Bertram, William (1788-1839). Second, but eldest surviving son of William Bertram (1759-1819) and his wife Jane, daughter and heiress of Sir William Lockhart, 3rd bt., of Lockhart Hall (Lanarks), born 11 July 1788. An officer in the East India Company's Bengal Army (Cadet, 1803; arrived in India, 1805; Ensign, 1805; Lt., 1805; Capt., 1823; Maj., 1826; retired 1829). He married 1st, 16 June 1811 at Meerut (India), Maria Raymus (d. 1823), and 2nd, 6 July 1825 at Meerut, Louise Caroline Clementine Delie Bertrand (c.1807-97), daughter of Dr Arnaud de Lapeijre, of Port Louis (Mauritius), and had issue:

(1.1) Marion Bertram (c.1812-69), 'eldest surviving daughter' when she died unmarried in Edinburgh, 25 June 1869;

(1.2) Henrietta Bertram (1813-81), born 10 April 1813 and baptised at Carnwath, 22 February 1814; married, 24 December 1840, as his second wife, George Crow Molle (1814-53), son of William Molle WS of Edinburgh, but had no surviving issue; died 19 October 1881; will confirmed 9 December 1881 (effects £645);

(1.3) Jane Cecilia Lockhart Bertram (1815-89), born in Calcutta (India), 22 September 1815 and baptised at Carnwath, 22 February 1818; died unmarried at Droylesden (Lancs), 25 January 1889; will confirmed at Edinburgh, 13 June 1889 (effects £1,808);

(2.1) William Bertram (1826-1905) (q.v.);

(2.2) Louisa Cecilia Evelina Bertram (1828-29), born in the Île de France (France), 6 September 1828 and died in infancy at sea on the Countess of Harcourt, 24 April 1829;

(2.3) Allan Arnaud Bertram (1829-42), born in Edinburgh, 14 October 1829 and baptised at Carnwath, 9 November 1829; said to have died young in London, 1842.

He inherited the Kersewell estate from his father in 1819 and was served heir general 23 July 1830. His widow lived latterly at Ilfracombe (Devon).

He died in Edinburgh, 11 June 1839. His first wife died at Purneah (India), 19 February 1823. His widow died aged 89 on 19 January, and was buried at Holy Trinity, Ilfracombe (Devon), 23 January 1897; her will was proved 5 March 1897 (effects £1,917).

Bertram, William (1826-1905). Elder and only surviving son of William Bertram (1782-1839) and his second wife, Louise Caroline Clementine Delie Bertrand, daughter of Dr Arnaud de la Peyjere of Port Louis (Mauritius), born in Mauritius, 23 April 1826 and baptised at Carnwath, 12 December 1827. An officer in the army (Ensign, 1844; Lt., 1846; retired c.1850) and later in the Royal Lanarkshire Militia (Capt., 1854) and Corps of Volunteers. JP and DL (from 1874) for Lanarkshire. He married, 1 October 1858 at Harperfield (Lanarks), Adelaide Mary (1832-82), daughter of John Batman alias Bateman (one of the founders of Melbourne (Australia)) and widow of John Daniel Collyer (1821-55) of Torrumbarry (Australia), and 2nd, 18 September 1886 at Rosneath Castle (Dumbartons.), Jessie Merry (c.1835-87), daughter of Robert Forrester. accountant, and widow of John Matheson of Cordale, and had issue:

(1.1) William Bertram (1859-1915) (q.v.);

(1.2) Adelaide Mary Bertram (1861-1944), born 25 April 1861; married, 21 October 1896 at Darjeeling (India), Percival Hennessy (1868-1929) of Narayanpur (India), indigo planter, third son of James Hennessy; as a widow, lived latterly at Bournemouth (Hants) and Bosham (Sussex); died at Bosham, 11 April 1944;

(1.3) Archibald Douglas Bertram (1862-1926), born at Kersewell, 17 October 1862; emigrated to Australia and died in Sydney (Australia), 1 December 1926 and was buried at Rookwood Cemetery there;

(1.4) Allan Lockhart Bertram (1864-1914), born 7 July and baptised at St Helier (Jersey), 3 August 1864; emigrated to Australia and died in Perth, Western Australia, 25 February 1914;

(1.5) Eliza Violet Bertram (1866-1929), born at Honfleur (France), 7 March 1866; died unmarried at Vanguard Farm, Sutton Valence (Kent), 7 February 1929; will confirmed, 25 May 1929 (estate £2,148);

(1.6) John Ross Bertram (1870-72), born 21 September 1870; died in infancy at Croydon (Surrey), 19 July 1872.

He inherited the Kersewell estate from his father in 1839 and came of age in 1847. After the death of his wife he seems to have let the house and moved to Ilfracombe (Devon), where his mother was living, but he was evidently living at Kersewell again before his death.

He died at Kersewell, 24 September 1905. His first wife died at Kersewell, 25 May 1882. His second wife died in Glasgow, 10 June 1887; her will was confirmed in October 1887 (effects £20,066).

Col. William Bertram (1859-1915) 

Bertram, Col. William (1859-1915). Eldest son of William Bertram (1826-1905) and his wife Adelaide Mary, daughter of John Bateman and widow of John Daniel Collyer, born in Edinburgh, 11 December 1859. Educated at Repton. An officer in the 2nd Lanarkshire militia (Lt., 1877) and then the Manchester Regiment (Lt., 1878; Capt., 1888; Maj., 1898; retired 1899 but volunteered for service in South Africa, 1900); he subsequently joined the Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers (Maj., 1905; Lt. Col., 1905; hon. Col. 1907; retired 1908) before rejoining the Manchester Regiment at the outbreak of the First World War (Maj., 1914). Appointed a Commissioner of Supply for Lanarkshire, 1886. He married, 24 January 1888 at St Stephen, Gloucester Rd., Kensington (Middx), Ethel Angell (1857-1931), daughter of Robert Beckwith Towse, solicitor, and had issue:

(1) Lt-Col. William Robert Bertram (1888-1970) (q.v.);

(2) Grizel Ethel Bertram (1890-1982), born at Prestwick (Ayrs.), 20 September 1890; served in First World War as a Red Cross nurse; died unmarried, aged 91, on 15 September 1982;

(3) Ian Anstruther Bertram (1897-1962), born 25 December 1897 and baptised at Ilfracombe (Devon), 18 February 1898; educated at Osborne and Royal Naval College, Dartmouth; an officer in the Royal Navy and later the Royal Air Force (Sq. Ldr.); married, 25 August 1925 at Christ Church, Lanark (Lanarks.), Dorothy Cecil, only daughter of Maj. Robert Henry Eliott-Lockhart of Cleghorn, and had issue one son; lived latterly at Golden Hills (Co. Tipperary); died 16 June 1962; will proved 18 February 1963 (estate in England, £1,577).

He inherited the Kersewell estate from his father in 1905 and rebuilt the house after a fire in 1912. He leased the property and lived latterly at St Andrews (Fife). His widow lived in London and later at Eggington House (Beds), where her daughter occupied the lodge.

He died suddenly at the Red Lion Hotel, Grantham (Lincs), while commanding a unit training in Belton Park (Lincs), 18 February 1915; his will was confirmed at Cupar (Fife), 18 January 1916 (estate £1,708). His widow died 5 November 1931.

Bertram, Lt-Col. William Robert (1888-1970). Elder son of Col. William Bertram (1859-1915) and his wife Ethel Angel, daughter of Robert Beckwith Towse, born in Edinburgh, 3 December 1888. Educated at Wellington and Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. An officer in the British army (2nd Lt., 1907; Lt., 1908; ret. 1911). Civil engineer, who emigrated to Canada before the First World War and served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1915-18 (Capt., 1914; Maj. 1915; Lt-Col., 1918; demobilised, 1919; mentioned in despatches, 1916, 1918; awarded DSO, 1917; CMG, 1919; and Belgian and French Croix de Guerre, 1918 and 1920). After the war, he and his wife settled in New South Wales (Australia), but he returned to England in 1932. He married, 6 October 1917 at Rotherfield Greys (Oxon) (but perhaps sep. c.1932), Zoë Weldon L'Estrange (1894-1979), second daughter of Col. William L'Estrange Eames CB CBE of Newcastle, New South Wales (Australia), and had issue:

(1) Mary Elizabeth Bertram (1920-67), born 24 June 1920; married, 13 December 1941 at St Mark, Darling Point, New South Wales, James Allnutt Walker, grazier, second son of Thomas Walker of Coolootai, Warialda, New South Wales; died in Sydney (Australia), 20 August 1967;

(2) Barbara L'Estrange Bertram (1922-2018), born 1 September 1922; air hostess; married, August 1951, Martin Martin (1922-82), real estate agent, son of George Martin (1893-1961) of Sydney, and had issue one son; died aged 95 in Sydney, 7 February 2018;

(3) Zoë Bertram (b. 1925), born 17 December 1925;

(4) Helen Rowan Bertram (b. 1931), born December 1931; married John Hinton Bassett Christian PhD AO (1925-2024), Australian microbiologist and science administrator, and had issue two sons and three daughters.

He inherited the Kersewell estate from his father in 1915, but leased it until he sold it in 1944.

He died in Penzance (Cornw.), 8 August 1970, was cremated at Penmount Crematorium, Truro (Cornwall) and his ashes were buried at Coulter (Lanarks). His widow died in Sydney, New South Wales (Australia), 26 September 1979.

Principal sources

Burke's Landed Gentry, 1952, p. 169; R. Close, J. Gifford & F.A. Walker, The buildings of Scotland: Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire, 2016, pp. 127-28; G. MacGregor, The Red Book of Scotland, 2022, vol. 1, pp. 682-91.

Location of archives

Bertram of Nisbet and Kersewell: deeds, estate and family papers, 16th cent-1886 [National Records of Scotland, GD5]

Coat of arms

Gules, on an inescutcheon or, between eight crosses pattée argent, an anvil proper.

Can you help?

• Can anyone provide portraits or photographs of the people whose names appear in bold above, for whom no image is currently shown?
• If anyone can offer further or more precise information or corrections to any part of this article I should be most grateful. I am always particularly pleased to hear from current owners or the descendants of families associated with a property who can supply information from their own research or personal knowledge for inclusion.

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 9 April 2025.

(595) Berry of Tayfield

Berry of Tayfield

The story of this family begins with the unusually long-lived John Berry (1725-1817), whose origins seem to be rather obscure. He is said to have been born in Aberdeenshire but was in Fife by the 1760s. His first marriage was cut short by the death of his wife soon after giving birth to their first child, and when he married again, eight years later, it was to a representative of an ancient Fife family which had died out in the male line a couple of generations earlier. It is not known how he made money, but by 1787 he was possessed of sufficient means to buy some of the lands which his wife's family had enjoyed in earlier centuries at Newport-on-Tay, and to build a modest three-bay villa there, which he called Tayfield. His only son, William Berry (1774-1852), was apprenticed to Edinburgh lawyers and admitted a Writer to the Signet in 1798. A professional career probably filled William's time until his father's death, but after he came into possession of Tayfield he expanded the estate, was involved in commercial salmon fishing in the Tay, and developed theTay ferry. He also greatly enlarged Tayfield House, effectively creating the building that exists today. He did not marry until 1823, when he was nearly fifty, although he did then produce two sons and four daughters. His eldest son and successor was John Berry (1824-77), and since then the eldest son and heir of the family has been John or William, alternately, down to the present day. 

John and his brother Robert were both sent to university, with Robert going to Cambridge and then the Inner Temple before returning to Glasgow, where he eventually became Professor of Roman and Scots Law. John was admitted an advocate in 1849, but inherited the Tayfield estate only three years later. His eldest son and heir, William Berry (1864-1954) was sent to Eton and Cambridge, and maintained the family legal tradition, being admitted an advocate in 1889. Like several of his predecessors, he married late, in 1906, but tragically his wife died of peritonitis soon after giving birth to their only child. This was Dr. John Berry (1907-2002), a committed ecologist and nature conservationist, who held several important positions in the field during the course of his long life, and who was also Press Censor for Scotland during the Second World War. By his wife, the Hon. Bride Fremantle, daughter of Lord Cottesloe, he produced a daughter and two sons. The elder son, William Berry (b. 1939) returned to the family's traditional legal occupations, becoming the senior partner of a firm of Edinburgh solicitors, but also playing a full part in the public life of Scotland through active involvement in the national institutions and St Andrews' University. Dr Berry made over Tayfield to him in 1989 and moved into a house in the grounds, and in 2018 he built a new house in the grounds for his wife and himself, and made over Tayfield itself to his elder son, John Berry (b. 1976), who is an investment manager with an Edinburgh financial services firm.

Tayfield House, Newport, Fife

Tayfield House: north front, largely of 1788-90.  Image: © RCAHMS

The house began as a modest harled three bay villa of two storeys over a high basement, built in 1788-90 for John Berry (1725-1817), who had bought the estate in 1787. It was apparently designed by Robert Anderson, for drawings and specifications for the house are accompanied by a note entitled 'Explanation of the Plan by Robt. Anderson'. The character of the building is now evident only on the north side, where two curved bows survive. These originally had Venetian windows on the piano nobile, only one of which still exists in its original form. The new house was taxed on fourteen windows in 1791 and 1798.

William Berry inherited the estate in 1817 and in 1829-30 he brought in George Smith, then just establishing himself as an architect in Edinburgh, to double the depth of the house to the south, and to unify the sides behind a neo-Elizabethan veneer. The north front seems to have been largely exempted from the makeover, but the tops of the bows were decorated with fanciful gablets and a corbelled gable was inserted between them.

Tayfield House: view from the north-east. Image: Newport History Group. Some rights reserved.

The asymmetrical new south front is entirely Smith's work, and has a narrow gabled projecting bay faced in stone which contains the Tudor-arched front door under an oriel. Rather cleverly, the contrast with the harled walls, combined with the slight projection and the extra height of the gable means this has the same compositional impact as a projecting porch. To the left of this bay is a chimney stack corbelled out at roof level, and to the right a similarly corbelled gablet. On the west front, Smith provided gables and bay windows for both his addition and the older part of the house; the east front has another bay window on the new work but only a corbelled gablet on the older part.

Tayfield House: south-facing entrance front. Image: © RCAHMS

The interior of the house was almost entirely remodelled by Smith. A straight flight of stairs from the front door leads to the hall on the piano nobile, where the walls are decorated with plaster casts of the 16th century oak bosses carved with portraits in the King's Presence Chamber at Stirling Castle, and there are further plaster heads from the same source in the oak-grained library to the right of the hall. In the billiard room (which had been the 18th century drawing room and has more recently been a bedroom) is a large white marble chimneypiece of 1830. Smith's plain dining room, with a black marble chimneypiece, is in the south-west corner of the house. What had been the 18th century dining room, in the north-west corner, became the drawing room in 1830, when a second bay window was added on its west side, and it was given contemporary plasterwork with a deep frieze and a white marble chimneypiece.

Tayfield House: the grounds as shown on the 1st edition 6" Ordnance Survey map of 1854.

The grounds show evidence of early 19th century landscaping, although it is apparent that some of the planting and decorative features shown on the earliest Ordnance Survey plan of 1854 have been lost over the years, and a small part of the estate east of the policies was lost for the building of the A92 approach road to the Tay road bridge. Happily, the estate's two lodges survive: the South Lodge, probably by Smith, c.1830, with a broad canted front projection and stone canopies over the windows, and the pretty North Lodge by James Gillespie Graham, 1821, with broad eaves, a semi-octagonal end and lattice glazing.

Descent: built for John Berry (1725-1817); to son, William Berry (1774-1852); to son, John Berry (1824-77); to son, William Berry (1864-1954); to son, Dr. John Berry (1907-2002); to son, William Berry (b. 1939); to son, John Berry (b. 1976).

Berry family of Tayfield

Berry, John (1725-1817). Only son of William Berry (b. 1698) of Claymire, Alford (Aberdeens.), born 17 January 1725. He married 1st, 17 January 1761, Janet Fraser (1731-62), and 2nd, 1770, Isabella (1739-1807), daughter of Maj. Mungo Law of Pittillock (Fife), and granddaughter and representative of Magdalene Nairne, last of Sandfurd, and had issue:

(1.1) Elizabeth Berry (b. 1762), baptised at Leslie (Fife), 30 April 1762; married her cousin, Capt. John Smith of Forfar & Kincardine militia, and had issue at least one son and two daughters, who all died unmarried;

(2.1) Isabella Berry (1772-1838), born 7 May 1772; married, 11 December 1791 at Kirkcaldy (Fife), James Heggie of Pitlessie (Fife), and had issue one daughter; said to have died 25 March 1838;

(2.2) William Berry (1774-1852) (q.v.);

(2.3) Margaret Berry (1776-80?), born 17 May 1776; died young and was possibly the person of this name buried at Cupar (Fife), 17 March 1780;

(2.4) Agnes Berry (b. 1778), born 17 July 1778;

(2.5) John (f.) Berry (b. 1779), born 3 December and baptised 21 December 1779; married, 7 March 1806 at Forgan, Archibald Torry (b. 1778) of Edinburgh, cloth merchant, and had issue four sons and two daughters;

(2.6) Margaret Berry (1781-1864), born 17 September and baptised 24 September 1781; died unmarried, 15 April 1864 and was buried at Forgan with her parents;

(2.7) Sarah Craufurd Berry (1782-1880), born 18 October and baptised 30 October 1782; died unmarried and 97 on 9 April 1880, and was buried at Forgan with her parents.

In 1787 he purchased the lands of Tayfield, Wester Bogie, Prinlaws, Kinnaird and Innerdovat (Fife), some of which had belonged to his second wife's Nairne ancestors, and he built Tayfield House in 1788-90.

He died aged 92 on 14 October 1817. His first wife died 13 June 1762 and was buried in the Old Kirkyard at Leslie (Fife). His second wife died 11 June 1807.

Berry, William (1774-1852). Only son of John Berry (1725-1817) and his second wife, Isabella, daughter of Maj. Mungo Law of Pittillock (Fife), born 23 March and baptised at Abbotshall (Fife), 26 March 1774. Apprenticed to Laurence Hill WS and Harry Davidson WS, and subsequently admitted Writer to the Signet, 16 January 1798. He was chiefly responsible for the development of the Tay ferry at Newport-on-Tay, and was also a partner in a firm renting salmon fishing in the river Tay (Berry & Ball) which became bankrupt in 1824; he remained engaged in moves to improve the economics of salmon fishing for the rest of his life. He married, 20 September 1823, Isabella (1791-1877), daughter of Sir Robert Bruce-Henderson (1762-1833), 6th bt., of Fordell and Earslhall (Fife), and had issue:

(1) John Berry (1824-77) (q.v.);

(2) Robert Berry (1825-1903), born 18 November 1825; educated at Edinburgh Academy, Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1844; BA 1848; MA 1850), Glasgow University (MA 1851; LLD) and the Inner Temple (admitted 1847; called 1853); barrister-at-law; admitted an advocate in Scotland, 1 December 1863; Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, 1850-58; Professor of Roman and Scots Law at Glasgow University, 1867-87; Secretary to the Royal Commissions on the Scottish Universities, 1858-63, 1876-78; Sheriff Principal of Lanarkshire, 1886-1903; DL for City of Glasgow; married, 17 August 1864, Mary (d. 1917), daughter of John Miller WS of Stewartfield (Roxburghs.), and had issue two sons and three daughters; died 17 January 1903; will confirmed, 6 April 1903 (estate £117,277);

(3) Isabella Wilhelmina Berry (1827-1905), born 22 June 1827; married, 7 July 1852 at Forgan (Fife), John Purvis (c.1820-1909) of Kinaldy (Fife) and had issue; died 15 October 1905 and was buried at Dunino (Fife);

(4) Margaret Georgina Berry (1828-1906), born 26 June 1828; lived at Abercraig, Newport-on-Tay; died unmarried, 17 December 1906; will confirmed 3 May 1907 (estate £7,349);

(5) Frances Berry (1829-1900), born 25 December 1829; married, 17 January 1854 at St Cuthbert, Edinburgh, John Kirk WS (1820-89), director of HM Chancery for Scotland, 1873-89, and had issue at least six sons and two daughters; died 13 February 1900; will confirmed 20 October 1900 (estate £709);

(6) Sarah Berry (1832-78), born 14 February 1832; married, 19 April 1858 in Edinburgh, William Mudie Paton (1824-98) of Dundee, and had issue four sons and two daughters; died 23 March 1878.

He inherited the Tayfield estate from his father in 1817 and remodelled the house in 1829-30.

He died 9 December 1852. His widow died 27 January 1877.

Berry, John (1824-77). Elder son of William Berry (1774-1852) and his wife Isabella, daughter of Sir Robert Bruce-Henderson, bt., of Fordell and Earslhall (Fife), born 7 November 1824. Educated at Edinburgh Academy and Edinburgh and Glasgow Universities. Admitted an advocate, 14 July 1849. He married, 15 November 1858, Margaret Higgins (c.1831-1915), third daughter of John Burn-Murdoch of Neuck and Coldoch (Stirlings.), and had issue:

(1) Annie Maule Berry (1859-1956), born 6 October 1859; died unmarried aged 96 on 29 July 1956;

(2) Isabella Sybil Berry (1861-1939), born 8 July 1861; died unmarried, 4 February 1939;

(3) William Berry (1864-1954) (q.v.);

(4) John James Archibald Berry (1865-66), born 29 August 1865; died in infancy, 4 November 1866;

(5) Robert Alexander John Berry (1868-1960), born 22 April 1868; educated at Eton; JP for Fife; civil engineer with Madras and South Mahratta Railway, 1896-1913; served in First World War with Northumberland Fusiliers, 1914-18 (wounded 1916); lived at Chesterhill, Newport-on-Tay; married, 3 March 1902 at All Souls, Langham Place, Marylebone (Middx), Dorothy (1878-1952), daughter of Arthur Bryans of Woodmansterne (Surrey), tea broker; died aged 91 on 27 February 1960;

(6) Arthur Alexander Nairne Berry (1870-71), born 22 June 1870; died in infancy, 12 June 1871.

He inherited Tayfield House from his father in 1852.

He died 17 December 1877; his will was confirmed, 24 April 1878 (estate, £20,622). His widow died 8 August 1915; her will was confirmed, 12 October 1915 (estate £3,730).

Berry, William (1864-1954). Eldest son of John Berry (1824-77) and his wife Margaret Higgins, third daughter of John Burn-Murdoch of Neuck and Coldoch (Stirlings.), born 9 May 1864. Educated at Eton, Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1883; BA and LLB 1886) and the Inner Temple (admitted 1885). Admitted an advocate, 18 July 1889. JP and DL for Fife. Chairman of Fife War Pensions Committee, 1916-49; Chairman of Joint Disablement Committee for Central Scotland, 1917-23. Appointed OBE, 1920. He married, 24 July 1906, Wilhelmina (1880-1907), third daughter of Allan Graham Barns-Graham of Lymekilns and Craigallian, and had issue:

(1) John Berry (1907-2002) (q.v.).

He inherited Tayfield House from his father in 1877.

He died aged 89 on 18 April 1954 and was buried at Forgan (Fife). His wife died of peritonitis, 28 August 1907, and was also buried at Forgan, where they are commemorated by a headstone.

Berry, John (1907-2002). Only child of William Berry (1864-1954) and his wife Wilhelmina, third daughter of Allan Graham Barns-Graham of Lymekilns and Craigallian, born 5 August 1907. Despite suffering from dyslexia, he was educated at Eton, Trinity College, Cambridge (BA 1929; MA 1931); and St Andrews University (PhD, 1935). A lifelong passionate nature conservationist, he was Director of the Salmon Fishery Board for Scotland, 1937-39 (Researcher, 1931-37); Senior Press Censor for Scotland, 1940-44; Biologist and Information Officer, North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board, 1944-49; Director of the Nature Conservancy for Scotland, 1949-67; Conservation and Fisheries Adviser, South of Scotland Electricity Board 1973-89; Vice-President of Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, 1959-2002; DL for Fife (from 1969); appointed CBE, 1968. Author of The Status and Distribution of Wild Geese and Wild Duck in Scotland (1939). He received honorary doctorates from the Universities of Dundee (LLD, 1970) and St. Andrews (DSc, 1991), and was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh from 1936. He married, 20 August 1936, Hon. Bride Faith Louisa (1910-2003), second daughter of Thomas Francis Fremantle (1862-1956), 3rd Baron Cottesloe, and had issue:

(1) Margaret Wilhelmina Berry (b. 1937), born 23 August 1937; married, 4 April 1962, Ronald Lindsay Alexander ARIBA, architect, second son of George Alexander of Edinburgh, and had issue one son and one daughter; living in 2018;

(2) William Berry (b. 1939) (q.v.);

(3) Peter Fremantle Berry (b. 1944), born 17 May 1944; educated at Eton and Lincoln College, Oxford (BA 1966; MA); with Harrisons and Crosfield plc, 1966-73; the Anglo-Indonesian Corporation plc, 1973-82 and Crown Agents Ltd from 1982-2007 (managing director, 1988 and later Chairman); director and later chairman of Thomas Tapling & Co., 1987-date; Kier Group plc, 1997-2007; Martin Currie Portfolio Investment Trust plc, 1999 (chairman, 2000); a trustee of the Charities Aid Foundation; appointed CMG, 1998 and received Japanese Order of the Rising Sun, 2008; Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts; married, 26 February 1972, Paola, daughter of Giovanni Padovani, and had issue one son and two daughters; now living.

He inherited Tayfield House from his father in 1954, and made it over to his son in 1989.

He died in 2002. His widow died in 2003.

Berry, William (b. 1939). Elder son of Dr. John Berry (1907-2002) and his wife, the Hon. Bride Faith Louisa, second daughter of Thomas Francis Fremantle, 3rd Baron Cottesloe, born 26 September 1939. Educated at Eton, St. Andrews University (MA 1961) and Edinburgh University (LLB 1963). Solicitor and Writer to the Signet since 1965. Senior partner of Murray Beith Murray LLP (retired 2000), notary public, and director of several financial services companies. Depute Chairman of Edinburgh Festival Society, 1985-89; board member of Royal Botanic Garden (Edinburgh) and Museum of Scotland and many local charities; Senior Governor, 2002-07, and later Chancellor's Assessor, 2004-10, of St. Andrews University. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He married, 15 December 1973, Elizabeth Margery, only daughter of Sir Edward Redston Warner KCMG OBE of Blockley (Glos), and had issue:

(1) John Berry (b. 1976), born 22 February 1976; educated at Edinburgh University (MA) and Oxford Brookes University (MSc); investment manager with Baillie Gifford, Edinburgh; married, by 2007, Dr. Megan Louise Bastick (b. 1975), a lawyer working with security institutions to promote gender equality, and had issue two sons;

(2) Robert Edward Alexander Berry (b. 1978), born 15 July 1978; educated at Bristol University (BA 2001); married, by 2009, Catriona Campbell and had issue one son and one daughter.

He took over the Tayfield House estate from his father in 1989 and undertook a major restoration before moving into it in 1991. In 2018 he built a new house in the grounds of Tayfield House to which he moved on handing the estate over to his son John.

Now living. His wife is now living.

Principal sources

Burke's Landed Gentry, 1952, pp. 167-69; Burke's Landed Gentry of Scotland, 2001, pp. 64-66; Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 2003, pp. 919-20; J. Gifford, The buildings of Scotland: Fife, 1988, pp. 337-38; 

https://www.newportontayhistory.org.uk/people/tayfield-estate-1-the-estate-the-house-the-family

Location of archives

Berry of Tayfield: deeds and estate papers, 18th-19th cents [University of St Andrews Special Collections, msdep133]; legal papers of William Berry, 1785-1842 [University of St Andrews, Special Collections, msDA817.B4]. Additional deeds, estate and legal papers, personal correspondence, diaries and accounts remain in private custody [Enquiries to National Register of Archives for Scotland].

Coat of arms

Quarterly, 1st and 4th, vert a cross-crosslet argent (for Berry); 2nd and 3rd, per pale argent and sable, on a chaplet four mullets counter-changed (for Nairne).

Can you help?

• Can anyone provide portraits or photographs of the people whose names appear in bold above, for whom no image is currently shown?
• If anyone can offer further or more precise information or corrections to any part of this article I should be most grateful. I am always particularly pleased to hear from current owners or the descendants of families associated with a property who can supply information from their own research or personal knowledge for inclusion.

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 12 January 2025.