William
Douglas of Egilsay
William Douglas of Egilsay, Orkney (and of Spynie?) (c. 17th Century) was a Burgh
commissioner for Shetland in 1667.
Egilsay Community
Association list on their history page that:
'As part of the
Bishopric estate the whole of Egilsay was feued to the Monteith
family in the 16th Century. On the marriage of Marjorie Monteith to
William Douglas, Chamberlain of Orkney, commemorated in the
initialled skewputt, the island passed to the Douglas family.'
There remains the Douglas house on Egilsay, named Howan House,
and the Buildings At Risk register notes the following: "The
skewputt to the north east is initialled WD MM for William Douglas
and his wife Marjorie Monteith, 17th century owners and heirs to the
Island of Egilsay. The interior of the house retains a carved lintel
on the south wall inscribed 16.AMICUS.ET.GENO.81., decorated with a
heart and fleur-de-lis transforming into roses and thistles. A badly
weathered stone fireplace with fluted jambs sits in the west gable"
Marjorie Monteith was the daughter and heiress of Patrick Mentieth
of Egilsay
It is possible
that his father was Alexander Douglas of
Spynie in Elgin
(himself the eldest son of Alexander
Douglas, Bishop of Moray in 1606)
It was his son,
Alexander, who became MP for Orkney and Shetland.
Its pre-eminence is confirmed by a 1668 sasine by which William
Douglas of Egilsay disposed of Tafts to his son 'with the priviledge
of the uppa thereof as the samen has been in use in all times bygane
past memorie of man'.6 The uppa, ... Snippet from The little general
and the Rousay crofters: crisis and conflict on an Orkney crofting
estate
Any contributions to this item will be
gratefully accepted
Errors and Omissions
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