52 Ancestors - Week 13 - Homestead - William King
On 28 January 2011, you may be surprised to learn that King Robert the Bruce of Scotland gained a new "Kindly Tenant of Lochmaben".
My uncle, aged 93, had passed away and my brother inherited the title - if that's what you would call it - and a very small piece of land in the South West of Scotland. The area known as the "Royal Four Towns" includes the villages of Heck, Smallholm, Hightae and Greenhill, and is close to Lockerbie where Pan Am Flight 103 exploded on 21 December 1988. The land itself is a small, stony field and I remember standing with my uncle looking over the gate at the brambles. There was no dwelling or homestead, but a pile of rocks suggested there may have been a tiny cottage in the distant past.
Firstly, you may be interested in the history of "Kindly Tenants" and how they could exist in 2018. Over seven hundred years ago, in June 1314, Robert the Bruce led an army of maybe 10,000 Scottish soldiers to capture Stirling Castle held by the English King, Edward II, at the Battle of Bannockburn. My ancestors from the Lochmaben area would have been in that army and in gratitude and in perpetuity, were granted small portions of land at a peppercorn rental, access to common land and to the resources of the woods and the water. In return, the "King's Kindly Tenants" had to supply provisions and garrisons when the king or his representatives were present at Lochmaben Castle. Over the years, those feudal rights have been challenged through the Scottish courts, but the rulings have always been in the tenants' favour. When my uncle inherited the land from my grandmother in 1975, he fought to get it made freehold and to stop squatters taking it over. Since 2000, those "Kindly Tenant" rights have been enshrined in Scottish law: the land is now freehold and the only remaining right, to fish for salmon on the River Annan, is attached to the land title.
Secondly, you may wonder why this blog is headed "William King". My brother was recently in Scotland, and it dawned on me that I had no idea why my grandmother, Mary King, inherited this land. After all, she was a girl and land was generally inherited by males like my uncle and younger brother. However, she was an only child. It was therefore most likely that she inherited it from her father, Sandy King, a monumental mason, rather than her mother Jean, who came from another part of Scotland. Research showed that Sandy was not the eldest son, and had an elder brother called David. Sadly, David King passed away in 1896 and I have yet to establish if his children survived him. It is likely that his wife, Mina, re-married and moved away. David and Sandy's father was William King, born in Lochmaben, and he passed away in 1897. His wife, Jeannie, was not local, so William born about 1830, looks the best bet as the previous "Kindly Tenant".
Earlier than that, research gets messy despite the obvious King name. A family tree with some sourcing suggests that William's father was also William King, but unfortunately he was born in Ireland. His wife was Isabella Johnston, a more obviously Scottish name, and her parents are suggested as James Johnston and Elizabeth Smith. However, if this tree is to be believed, Isabella, too, had brothers, at least one of whom lived to adulthood. It makes me wonder if inheritance through a male line was not important, and if the "Kindly Tenant" rights were bestowed on someone in the area.
Without a lot of additional research, I don't suppose I'll ever know what the inheritance patterns were. While "homestead" may well be an exaggeration, there is something rather special knowing that in the time of King Robert the Bruce, an ancestor was one of his loyal supporters.
My uncle, aged 93, had passed away and my brother inherited the title - if that's what you would call it - and a very small piece of land in the South West of Scotland. The area known as the "Royal Four Towns" includes the villages of Heck, Smallholm, Hightae and Greenhill, and is close to Lockerbie where Pan Am Flight 103 exploded on 21 December 1988. The land itself is a small, stony field and I remember standing with my uncle looking over the gate at the brambles. There was no dwelling or homestead, but a pile of rocks suggested there may have been a tiny cottage in the distant past.
Firstly, you may be interested in the history of "Kindly Tenants" and how they could exist in 2018. Over seven hundred years ago, in June 1314, Robert the Bruce led an army of maybe 10,000 Scottish soldiers to capture Stirling Castle held by the English King, Edward II, at the Battle of Bannockburn. My ancestors from the Lochmaben area would have been in that army and in gratitude and in perpetuity, were granted small portions of land at a peppercorn rental, access to common land and to the resources of the woods and the water. In return, the "King's Kindly Tenants" had to supply provisions and garrisons when the king or his representatives were present at Lochmaben Castle. Over the years, those feudal rights have been challenged through the Scottish courts, but the rulings have always been in the tenants' favour. When my uncle inherited the land from my grandmother in 1975, he fought to get it made freehold and to stop squatters taking it over. Since 2000, those "Kindly Tenant" rights have been enshrined in Scottish law: the land is now freehold and the only remaining right, to fish for salmon on the River Annan, is attached to the land title.
Secondly, you may wonder why this blog is headed "William King". My brother was recently in Scotland, and it dawned on me that I had no idea why my grandmother, Mary King, inherited this land. After all, she was a girl and land was generally inherited by males like my uncle and younger brother. However, she was an only child. It was therefore most likely that she inherited it from her father, Sandy King, a monumental mason, rather than her mother Jean, who came from another part of Scotland. Research showed that Sandy was not the eldest son, and had an elder brother called David. Sadly, David King passed away in 1896 and I have yet to establish if his children survived him. It is likely that his wife, Mina, re-married and moved away. David and Sandy's father was William King, born in Lochmaben, and he passed away in 1897. His wife, Jeannie, was not local, so William born about 1830, looks the best bet as the previous "Kindly Tenant".
Earlier than that, research gets messy despite the obvious King name. A family tree with some sourcing suggests that William's father was also William King, but unfortunately he was born in Ireland. His wife was Isabella Johnston, a more obviously Scottish name, and her parents are suggested as James Johnston and Elizabeth Smith. However, if this tree is to be believed, Isabella, too, had brothers, at least one of whom lived to adulthood. It makes me wonder if inheritance through a male line was not important, and if the "Kindly Tenant" rights were bestowed on someone in the area.
Without a lot of additional research, I don't suppose I'll ever know what the inheritance patterns were. While "homestead" may well be an exaggeration, there is something rather special knowing that in the time of King Robert the Bruce, an ancestor was one of his loyal supporters.
Comments
Post a Comment