Redheugh, Newcastleton, ELLIOT CLAN SOCIETY Roxburghshire TD9 0SB www.elliotclan.com www.elliotclanusa.com New slett er www.elliotclanaustralia.org www.visitnewcastleton.com No. 82 – Spring 2019 Chief: Margaret Eliott of Redheugh “Here’s to all Elliots and Elliot’ bairns And them that lie in Elliots arms.” “Wha daur meddle wi’ me?” NOTICES Dear Kinsmen, This has been a particularly sad new year with the news of AND the deaths of too many friends. NEWS ITEMS Dommie Elliot, a Trustee, was a kind and charming man, a scion of the great Minto line and very proud of his family’s Our New Treasurer, Sandra Inglis, illustrious history. is bringing our UK membership records up to date, so you may well receive a Also, many of you will remember John C. K. Elliott, larger reminder to update your Standing than life and great fun who, with his wife Angela, attended Order Mandates. This has been a rather all the Gatherings since the beginning and gave his time complicated operation and I hope that we have not made any errors. Please, and legal brain to setting up the Sir Arthur Eliott Memorial where possible, put your membership Trust. We will miss them both. number as it is sometimes difficult to identify one Elliott from another !!! Also Janet Danforth, Commissioner South Carolina, who heroically made it to the dinner in North Carolina last Letter in The Times: summer and Carol who organized our visit to Grandfather Sir, I was interested to see that Mountain so beautifully. Both of them became good Frank Wild, Ernest Shackleton’s friends and are a terrific loss. second-in-command, ate penguins while awaiting rescue on Elephant In this issue, plans for a new hardback edition of The Island in 1916, and found that “the legs Elliots with the addition of a brief resume of new taste like mutton and the breast very like hare.” SIR GERALD ELLIOT also ate research on The Origins of the Clan. The dramatic story penguins while wintering over at the of Wee Jock Elliot and an artist called Arthur Elliot who whaling station on South Georgia in the painted Montrealers but of whom I know nothing else. 1960s and when subsequently asked Somebody reading this may be able to fill me in? what they tasted like he replied with his usual straight face that they tasted “not We are starting work on Foulshiels cottage any day now unlike cormorant.” with a view to renting it out for holiday lets. In the next newsletter I hope to be able to report it ‘open for Tour Guide for the Borders : Alistair Cunningham of Clans and business’ !! Castles Ltd is highly recommended. Yours sincerely, Based in Hawick, so he knows his way around the history of the Borders. The website: www.clansandcastles.scot email: [email protected] Margaret Eliott of Redheugh Acquired for the Clan Room Library: “A narrative of the life and death of John Elliot, M.D.’ containing an account of the rise, progress, and catastrophe VISITING THE CLAN ROOM : of his unhappy passion for Miss Mary To avoid disappointment, please warn us if you intend to visit Boydell; a review of his writings. Redheugh. Email or telephone us on the follwing UK number: Together with an Apology, written 013873-75213 or [email protected] by himself . ” Published by Gale Ecco Print Editions. 1 Obituary Mary, Queen of Scots Mary Stuart, 1542-1587, Queen of Scotland and Dowager The Hon. Dominic Elliot Queen of France. Daughter of James V of Scotland and Marie de Guise. Her second marriage was to Lord Darnley who was murdered in very mysterious circumstances. The Earl of Bothwell was suspected of causing his deat h. In the mid 16th century, such was weather and more than once Mary's the level of violence on the border horse stumbled in the bog and only with England and Scotland, that the with difficulty found firm ground. Earl of Bothwell was dispatched On one occasion she lost her watch with a strong force to Liddesdale to along with other possessions. deal with the troublemakers. He For 300 years Mary's watch lay arrived at Hermitage Castle about where she had dropped it, until it the same time as Mary arrived in was picked up by a farm worker Jedburgh to attend court and deal digging a drainage channel. It had with wrongdoers. been well preserved and is now on While attending to her civic duties display at Queen Mary’s House in in Jedburgh, news reached Mary that Jedburgh. Bothwell had been seriously hurt during an encounter with the reivers Later, after being held in captivity by and lay helpless at Hermitage Castle. Elizabeth I of England, she said She decided to go to Hermitage "Would that I had died in Jedburgh." there and then to attend to him. Mary was executed at Fotheringay The route took the party over huge Castle on the orders of Queen tracts of open moorland and bog. Elizabeth in 1587. It is said that she Trustee of the Clan Elliot It was difficult terrain and foul died with dignity and great courage. Society, he died peacefully on 3rd October 2018 aged 87. Much loved husband of Jane, beloved father of Alexander, Esmond, Violet and George and grandfather to Lara, Alice, and Flora. After a funeral in Salisbury, he was interred at Minto Churchyard in the Borders. He was a prominent society figure in the 1950s and 1960s and was a frequent escort of Princess Margaret and later a member of the Mustique set. He was born in 1931, son of the 5th Earl of Minto, by his wife the former Marion Cook; married firstly in 1962 to Countess Marianne Esterházy, and married a 2nd time in 1983 to Jane Caroline Reeve. Dommie loved the Borders where he grew up and was British artist Arthur Elliot sketched The winter months, in particular, a great supporter of the dozens of lively pictures of were of interest to Elliot, who Clan Society and gave Montréal, Canada, during his visit recorded the various sleighs and the encouragement whenever he there from September 1881 to winter dress of Montréalers, and could. He had great charm and March 1882. He had a sharp eye for painted charming watercolours of was proud of his family’s the details of daily life and recorded skating carnivals and of children history. them with an equally sharp wit. sledding on city streets. 2 James Hepburn 1st Earl of Bothwell had been Wha daur appointed by Mary, Queen of Scots as Lieutenant of the Middle March and Keeper of Liddesdale, meddle responsible for law and order on the frontier between England and Scotland. wi’ me Bothwell was eager to take on Jock was not seriously injured but the mission as it was a chance to feigned death while watching as Ma castle is aye ma ain, display his courage and loyalty to Bothwell approached. Bothwell An' herried it never shall be, the queen. At this stage there was misjudged the ground and slipped For I maun fa' ere it's taen, no hint of romance between becoming “so hurt that he An' wha daur meddle wi' me? them as both were married to swooned.” Jock, despite being Wi' ma kit i' the rib o' ma naig, other people. In his capacity as shot in the thigh, summoned the Ma sword hingin' doon by ma knee, Keeper he used Hermitage Castle strength to attack Bothwell with For man I am never afraid, as his base for overseeing the rule a two-handed sword causing three An' wha daur meddle wi' me? of law in the area and he had wounds – one in the body, one in managed to round up some the head and one in the hand. Wha daur meddle wi' me? Armstrongs and put them under Bothwell was left for dead, Wha daur meddle wi' me? strong guard in the Castle. Oh, ma name it's wee Jock Elliot, bloodied and lying in the heather, On an October day Bothwell had An' wha daur meddle wi' me? until his troopers caught up and ridden out with a company and discovered him badly, but not Fierce Bothwell I vanquished clean, came across John Elliot on his own mortally, wounded. He was Gar'd troopers an' fitmen flee; – more commonly called Wee dragged back to Hermitage Castle By my faith I dumfoondert the Queen, Jock Elliot (As is the way of on a sledge. An' wha daur meddle wi' me? nicknames, he was probably a very However, this was not the end big fellow - Ed) . As Bothwell had Alang by the dead water stank, of his problems and on their the superior mount he had ridden Jock Fenwick I met on the lea, return he found the imprisoned ahead of his group and came But his saddle was toom in a clank, Armstrongs had escaped and across Wee Jock. A struggle ensued An' wha daur meddle wi' me? overpowered their guards. They in which Jock was sent sprawling refused Bothwell entrance to his Wha daur meddle wi' me? and Bothwell, seeing this as an own Castle. Wha daur meddle wi' me? opportunity not to be missed, Oh, ma name it's wee Jock Elliot, dismounted and approached the It was Robert Elliot of the Shaws An' wha daur meddle wi' me? apparently lifeless reiver. who stepped in and negotiated terms with the Armstrongs letting them go as free men and in return allowing access for the wounded man. In return for this service Robert Elliot was awarded the rents and duties of the lands of Blackgrave.