MEMORIALS OF THE FAMILY OF SKENE OF SKENE 525 Co/}ies /}rinted. ~tmorial_s of tbc jfamtlp of ~ktnt of ~ktnt FROM THE FAMILY PAPERS WITH OTHER ILLUSTRATIVE DOCUMENTS EDITED BY WILLIAM FORBES SKENE, D.C.L., LL.D. HER MAJESTY'S HISTORIOGRAPHER FOR ScoTI,AND ABERDEEN i@,:ittteti foe tbc Jr,le\u gspaltiing lltluti 1887 S,Ken e . ~be 1Rew $palbtng (tlub. Founded nt!t November, r886. ~atroness: HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN. OFFICE BEARERS FOE 1886-87. Jt)resibent: THE EARL OF ABERDEEN. ll)lce~Preslbents : THE DUKE OF RICHMOND AND GORDON, K.G. THE PRINCIPAL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN, THE EARL OF STRATHMORE, CHARLES ELPHINSTONE·DALRYMPLE, of Kinellar THE EARL OF KINTORE. Lodge. THE EARL OF FIFE, K. T, GEORGE GRUB, LL.D. THE LORD FORBES, ALEXANDER FORBES IRVINE, of Drum, LL.D. THE LORD PROVOST OF ABERDEEN, JOHN WEBSTER, of Edgehill, LL.D. ffiembers of ~ounctl: The Earl of Southesk, K.T. Henry Wolrige•Gordon, of Esslemont. The Lord Saltoun. The Rev. Walter Gregor, LL.D., Pitsligo. The Bishop of Aberdeen and Orkney. Alexander Kemlo, Aberdeen. · Sir Francis VI'. Grant, Bart. of Monymusk. Colonel William Ross King, of Tertowie. Sir George Macpherson•Grant, Bart. of Ballindalloch. The Rev. James Forbes•Leith, S.J., Paris. Sir William C. Brooks, Bart., Glentanar, M.P. George Arbuthnot·Leslie, of Warthill. Sir Mountstuart Elphinstone Grant•Duff, of Eden, David Littlejohn, Sheriff-Clerk, Aberdeen. K.C.S.I. Charles Fraser•Mackintosh, of Drummond, M.P. William Alexander, LL.D., Aberdeen. Hugh Gordon Lumsden, of Clova. Colonel James Allardyce, Aberdeen. James Matthews, of Springhill. Alexander Baird, of Urie. The Rev. John G. Michie, Dinnet. George Burnett, LL.D., Lyon King of Arms. James Moir, Rector of the Grammar School, James A. Campbell, of Stracathro, LL.D., M.P. Aberdeen. The Rev. James Cooper, Aberdeen. Arthur D. Morice, Aberdeen. Peter M. Cran, Aberdeen. Charles Rampini, Sheriff.Substitute, Elgin. John Crombie, of Balgownie Lodge. Alexander Ramsay, Banff. Alexander DaYidson, of Desswood. Major John Ramsay, of Barra. Charles B. Davidson, Aberdeen. Alexander W. Robertson, Aberdeen. The Rev. John Davidson, D.D., lnverurie. Hercules Scott, of Brotherton. Thomas Dickson, LL.D., H.M. General Register William Forbes Skene, D.C.L., LL.D., H.M. House. Historiographer for Scotland. Francis Edmond, of Kingswells, LL.D. The Rev. William Temple, Forgue. John Philip Edmond, Aberdeen. Alexander Walker, Aberdeen. Robert F. 0. Farquharson, of Haughton. George Walker, Aberdeen. 'William Ferguson, of Kinmundy. Robert Walker, Aberdeen. The Rev. James Gammack, LL.D., Aberdeen. John Dove .Wilson, LL. D., Sheriff.Substitute, James Murray Garden, Aberdeen. Aberdeen. $ecreta~: PETER JOHN ANDERSON, 2 East Craihstone Street, Aberdeen. 'll:reasurer: PATRICK HENDERSON CHALMERS, 13 Union Terrace, Aberdeen. PREFACE. HEN the Council of the New Spalding Club asked me W to undertake to compile a history of the ancient Aberdeenshire family of Skene of Skene, which they proposed to issue as the first of a series of histories of ancient northern families, I willingly undertook the task, as I had ample materials at my disposal, the result of researches made by my late father into the Family History .. I felt, however, that there might be a disadvantage in selecting one for this task who was himself among the few remaining male descendants of the family, from a natural tendency to over-estimate the importance of the Skene family, and the consideration in which it was held, fostered as it was in some degree by the language of previousfamily historians; but I have endeavoured to avoid this tendency, and to present a plain historical narrative of the history of the family, so far as it is based on authentic documents. If there had existed only one manuscript history of the family of Skene of Skene, I would have been disposed to follow the example of my late much esteemed friend-Mr. Cosmo Innes_.:. in the family histories edited by him for the original Spalding Club, and to print the family history entire, adding such authentic documents as tended to illustrate it; but I had no fewer than five manuscript histories of the family, written at different dates, at my disposal, and I therefore thought it better simply to insert extracts from them when it was desirable to present viii. PREFACE. the narrative in their language instead of my own, and to add a reference to such authentic documents as confirmed or corrected it. The fact that I was able to refer to so many family histories, written at different periods, has, however, enabled me to shew the gradual growth and development of the traditionary history of the origin of the family. The curious circumstance that in 1 296 John de Skene, the first historic person of the name, bore as a cognizance the head of John the Baptist, while Patrick de Skene, the Clericus, bore on his Seal three Skenes or dirks, and that the Kirktown of Skene belonged to the family, rather indicates that the name of Skene was primarily connected with the Church, and extended from thence to the barony, while the wolves' heads do not then appear as forming part of the cognizanc:e of the family. A circumstance, however, connected with the arms of an ancient English family, throws some light upon this fact. The Plumptons of Plumpton Hall were Hereditary Foresters of the Ancient Royal Forest of Knaresborough, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. In Wharf­ dale, which formed part of the Forest, and was anciently covered with wood, still stands Plumpton Hall, a tower very similar to the old tower of Skene ; and there is still preserved in it an old stone coat-of-arms of the Plumptons, shewing three wolves heads in Jesse, a cognizance indicating, according to tradition, their connection with the Forest, which was infested by wolves, a certain number of which they were bound to kill each year. The only family in Scotland which bore three wolves' heads, besides the Skenes, was that of the Robertsons of Strowan, and they too were connected with a Forest, for their principal pos­ session was the great north;..west Forest of Atholl, called the Forest of Glengarry. The position of this family in the earlier generations was an exact counterpart of that of the Skenes. They possessed the Kirktown of Strowan, took their designation PREFACE. lX. from it-though the smallest of their possessions-and when their lands were erected into a Barony the name.of Strowan was given to the Barony. In like manner the Skene lands were originally part of a Forest. The family, too, possessed the Kirktown of Skene, took their designation from it, and when the lands were erected into a Barony it was termed the Barony of Skene. The Seal of Patrick the Cleri"cus of Skene shews that the cognizance of the name was three Skenes or dirks, and the three wolves' heads borne upon them were no doubt derived from their original connection with the Forest. The combination of the two may have given rise to the tradition of the first Skene having saved the King from a wolf, and presented his head upon a Skene or dirk. In the narrative which I ,have given of the different gener­ ations of the family of Skene of Skene, with its branches, I have not thought it necessary to print at length the Charters and Retours which I have referred to in support of it, but have merely quoted them from the originals in the Charter Chests, or from the Public Records,· as they do n9t in fact possess any interest beyond the proof they afford of the succession of the different heads of the fimily. The chief value of such family histories lies much more in the picttn:.es they afford of the social 1 position and habits of life of such families at different periods, thus illustrating the social development of the country ; and these I have endeavoured to bring out as much as possible, both in the principal narrative and in the documents in the Appendix, which were selected with that view. Thus we can see these ancient Scottish Barons living in a tower "built of three arches or stories, and entered by a ladder on the second story." We can se~ the younger sons having no other resource than either to enter the Church; or to have their names inscribed in the rental books of the family as kindly tenants of some outlying farm, which their descendants, if the laird was embarrassed, x. PREFACE. acquired as property,· or else descended to the condition of ordinary farmers. Then some generations later we see the increasing trade of the country, and the new ideas and new life infused into society by the Reformation, sending the younger sons of such families to seek their subsistence in other fields. We see them now obtaining , a better education in the newly founded Colleges, some of them taking a University degree, and distinguished from their less cultivated brothers by the title of "Mr.," a designation at that time exclusively confined to Masters of Arts; and then sometimes teaching for some years in their College as Regents. We can see those who would have entered the Church becoming Notaries Public, adopting learned professions, or becoming Professors in these Colleges. We can see others breaking through the aristocratic line of demarcation between land and Burgh, and, - becoming burgesses of the County town, whence, if they were prosperous in trade, they again emerged and founded new County families by purchasing land. Add to this the foundation of the College of Justice, and the increasing trade ·between Scotland and the Netherlands and Poland, in which Aberdeen took a large share, and we can see the scions of County families resorting to one or other as an outlet for their energies, and a means of acquiring fame and fortune.