Douglas of Spott
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As far as I can deduce, the Douglases inherited Spott on the death
of George Home, whose daughter Anna married James Douglas in 1578.
I have been unable to trace any descendants beyond Alexander.
Sir James Douglas, Lay prior of Pluscarden, married Anna, daughter
of George Home of Spott. dc1615
Sir Archibald Douglas of Spott, dc1647, son of James
Sir Archibald Douglas of Spott, dc1672, son of Archibald. Sir Robert
Douglas of Makerstoun is named as his tutor.
Alexander Douglas of Spott, son of Archibald
Robert Douglas of Spott, Viscount Belhaven (b c1573, dspl
14th
Jan1639), son of Matthew Douglas, 7th of Mains (abt 1549) and
Margaret Buchanan (dau of George Buchanan of that ilk), married m.
(may 1611) Nicolas Moray (d Nov 1612, dau of Robert Moray of
Abercairney).
Robert and Margaret are the assumed parents of
John Douglas
Susanna Douglas (b c1617, d c1692), who married (2nd
Feb1635/6) Sir Robert Douglas of Blackerstonee
James Douglas of Spottef="../articles/undertakers.htm">Ulster Undertaker
Sir James Douglas, of Spott; Haddington constabulary, 1612.
Commendator of Pluscardine, natural son of James, Earl of Morton,
had a charter, 31 Jan 1577/78 of the lands of Easter Spott, Co.
Edinburgh from George Home, Fiar of Spott
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(Jul. 26. ?1592/3)—An
Act is paffed ' in fauouris of The Erll Bothuill and his compliceis,'
viz. Dame Margaret Douglas Counteffe of Bothuill,2 James Douglas of
Spott, &c. Proclamation is ordered to be made, charging ' all his
hienes liegis, that nane of thame tak vpoun hand to fklander,
murmour, reproche or bakbyte the perfonis abouewrittin or thair
pairt-takaris, or onywayes moleft or perfew thame, in bodyis or
guidis, vpoun quhatfumeuir caus, cullour or cryme bigane.' And that
Letters be directed to relax them from the procefs of horn. (Aug.
8.)—Proclamation, relative to ' ane fchip of Preftoun laitlie
arryvit in this Firth, cum furth of England, quhairin ar lindrie
perfonis and guidis fufpect to be infectit with the peft.' The '
maifteris, fkipparis, marinaris,' &c. are charged ' to addrefle
thame felffis with the faid fchip and guidis being thairin to Sanct
Colmis Inche, and thair loife handle,3 and remane with the fame
fchip and guidis, vnto the tyme pruiff and tryale be had, giff thay
be foule or cleane of this difeafe,' &c. Charge is likewife given to
the liegis, to prevent communication with the fhip.
------------------------------------
It was proposed to
introduce Bothwell and his followers by a back passage, that lay
through the duke of Lennox' stables, who was immediately to seize
the gates, take the keys from the porters, and then to proceed to
the king's chamber, and secure him. As the king was totally
unprepared, and dreaming of no danger, there did not seem the least
risk of the enterprise failing, when the accession of James Douglas
of Spot, an accidental circumstance that should have rendered the
issue more certain, completely defeated it. A few days before,
George Hume of Spot, Douglas' father-in-law, was killed by some
Mersemen of the name of Home, and Sir George Hume, his nephew, the
king's equerry, suspecting Douglas, accused him of being author, or
accessory to the murder, from a dread lest his father-in-law should
bestow upon Sir George, some lands which Douglas claimed in right of
his wife. Upoh this accusation,, some of Douglas' servants were
taken into custody, and confined in the palace, on purpose to be
examined by torture ! The chancellor strenuously opposed this
infamous and unjust mode of procedure, but the king insisted, and
when Douglas, who also lodged in the palace, saw that there were no
means of preventing it, he joined the conspirators. At the hour
appointed, Bothwell and his followers were admitted by his
accomplices, and had already reached the inner court of the palace
without noise, when Douglas, eager to release his servants,
proceeded with a party to force the rooms where they were confined.
The noise of the hammers, in attempting to break open the doors,
gave the first alarm. The king, who was then in the queen's
apartments at supper, on hearing the noise, fled to the tower as a
place of safety. Bothwell, after directing one body of his men to
proceed to the chancellor's room, and secure him, went himself with
the rest to the queen's apartments, where be expected to find the
king; but the chancellor, with a few servants, resolutely defended
his chamber, and the door of the queen's being barricaded, while
Bothwell called for fire to burn them, Sir James Sandilands, one of
the gentlemen of the king's bedchamber, receiving information of the
king's danger, entered through the chapel, and drove the assailants
from the palace, the chief of whom, taking advantage of the
darkness, escaped by the same way by which they had entered. Nine of
the lower order were taken, and hanged next morning.
--------------------------------------------
June 4 1667:
Mr
William Douglas, son of the deceased Laird of Whittingham, was
tried for his concern in an unfortunate duel, in which Sir James
Home of Eccles was killed. The affair took its origin in a quarrel
in a tavern in Edinburgh, ‘after excessive drinking.’—Lam. We learn
from the evidence of a hackney-coachman, that being employed by four
gentlemen—namely, the two who have been mentioned, the Master of
Ramsay, and Archibald
Douglas of Spott—he drove them to a lonely spot on the shore
near Leith, where they all came out, and drawing their swords, ‘went
through other.’ He saw Sir James fall under the thrust of the
accused party. Another person saw the accused standing over Sir
James after he fell, and when the unfortunate gentleman was carried
into Leith, he beard the accused ask him forgivenness. A third
witness observed the Master of Ramsay with his foot on Spott’s neck,
and when he (the deponent) removed the Master, Spott got up, ran at
the Master, and called him ‘cullion!' It seems to have been a
barbarous quarrel barbarously wrought out; and when we see how the
men acted after they began fighting, we cannot but wonder that they
were able to come to the field in one vehicle. William Douglas was
sentenced to have his head stricken off his body three days after at
the Cross of Edinburgh.—
------------------------------------------------------
Lady Isobella, wife of Sir Archibald Douglas of Spott,
By his deposition it appeared that Sir James Douglas of Spott
was ... Whereupon they were desired to pronounce Spott
excommunicated, as one that had made defection from the truth, and
was otherwise suspected of heinous crimes : but they ...
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