Glenbuchat Heritage

3 Mr James Barclay

MR JAMES W. BARCLAY.

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From Mr Burra's trustees, the estate was purchased in 1901 by Mr James William Barclay, who at once adopted a policy of improvement, alike by planting, renewing buildings, and giving encouragement to the tenants to adopt advanced methods of farming. Mr Barclay was a direct descendant of the Barclays who possessed the lands of Mathers in Kincardineshire for three hundred years, dating from the early part of the fourteenth century, and the following notes on his more immediate forebears may prove of interest. David Barclay, twelfth laird of Mathers, born in 1580, married, first, Elizabeth, daughter of (Sir John, according to Playfair) Livingstone of Dunipace; and, secondly, Margaret, eldest daughter of Alexander Keith of Benholm, and widow of Guthrie. (Acts and Decreets, Vol. 504, p. 42.)" Besides a daughter, who married John Douglass, younger of Tilwhilly, he had five sons—
John; Alexander; David, first of Urie; Robert, rector of the Scots College in Paris; and James, an officer in the army, who fell in battle.

David Barclay, senior, through extravagance in living much about Court, was obliged, in 1633, to surrender the old family estate of Mathers, and to take up his residence at "Lunane." He also suffered the indignity of being " put to the horn." (Ibid.) David Barclay, the third son, born in 1610, entered the army, and served as an officer on the Continent under Gustavus Adolphus. Returning to this country on the outbreak of the Civil War, he became Colonel of a regiment of horse, and did good work on the side of the King. On Cromwell’s party gaining the ascendancy, however, he retired from active service, and, in 1648, purchased from William., seventh Earl Marischal, the estate of Urie, near Stonehaven. He founded a family, and many genealogists (misled by the inaccurate and incomplete ' ' Genealogical Account of the Barclays of Urie," drawn up, and published in or about 1740, by Robert Barclay of Urie) name him as the chief of the family of Mathers, and brush aside John and Alexander, his two elder brothers, with the simple remark that they " died young and unmarried."

That statement is incorrect, for neither died young or unmarried. Alexander, the younger of the two, born about 1608, appears in December, 1631 (Ibid., 442, p. 319) as pursuer—in conjunction with his wife, Anna Ross, and others — against David Barclay of Mathers, his father, for 6000 merks paid " in the first end of the tocher." As James, Archbishop of Glasgow; and Gabriel Cunningham, Provost of Glasgow, are named, with others, as trustees under the marriage settlement (Ibid., p. 282, etc.), the presumption is that Anna Ross belonged to Glasgow, in the neighbourhood of which she and her husband settled. John Barclay, the eldest son of David Barclay, last of Mathers, born between 1604 and 1607, was old enough in 1619 to witness a deed executed by his father. (Kincardineshire Sasines, I., p. 109.) In 1633 he appears as defender in an action by William Keith of Bruntoune to have ‘'transumed" a charter of the kirklands of Aberluthnot—otherwise Marykirk—by David Barclay of Mathers, dated 17th January, 1628. (Acts and Decreets, Vol. 460, p. 311.)

Again, reference is made to a bond granted, 6th June, 1628, by " David Barclay of Mathers and John Barclay, his eldest lawful son and heir apparent.'' Unfortunately, John Barclay allowed himself to become involved in his father’s obligations, and diligence was done against him. He is named as defender in a process which was before the Court of Session on :23rd February, 1643. (Court of Session Acts and Decreets, Vol. 521, p. 168.) From that time, he lived a retiring and unobtrusive life, and appears to have taken no part in the transactions which followed his father's death. He married, and had at least one son—George—who was born in or about 1660. This George Barclay repeatedly visited his aunt at Tilwhilly, and married, 20th August, 1704 (Banchory-Ternan Registers), Anna, daughter of Thomas Reid in Eslie. second son of Rev. Robert Reid, of Biruess and Balnakettle, minister of Banchory-Ternan, descended from the old family of Reid of Pitfodels—her mother being Jean Burnett, daughter of Burnett of Campfield. Thomas Reid had considerable wealth, among his debtors on herit- able bonds being his kinsman, Sir Peter Fraser of Durris. George Barclay (in- correctly named John in the New Spalding Club's' Family of Burnett of Leys," p. 64) and his wife lived with the latter's parents at Eslie till after 1723, when the parents removed to Pilmuir, retaining, however, the wadset rights over Eslie, to which their son, Dr George Reid, and their grandsons, David Reid in Gellan and Rev. Thomas Reid, minister of New Machar, had sasine in 1750. (Reid Family Papers.) George Barclay and his wife had at least two sons and a daughter —Thomas, baptised 2nd March, 1706; Lewis, baptised 9th January, 1708; and Jean, baptised 1st February, 1710. (Banchory-Ternan Registers.) The last- mentioned married, 2nd December, 1731, Robert Burnett, laird of Sauchen, Cluny (Ibid.), and died in 1780. Thomas Barclay, the eldest son, received a liberal education, and studied law. Preferring farming, however, he, in 1737, became tenant of Letterbeg, Strachan. On 8th November, 1733, he married Margaret, daughter of John Lumsden, in Ardhuueart, Kildrummy (Lumsden, whoso wife was Helen Shirrefs, traded extensively with Turkey, acquired means, pur- chased the estate of Towie in Clatt, and became known as " The Grand Turk " or "The Old Turk"), and died in December, 1764, aged 58.

Among Thomas Barclay's debtors for loans were James Grant of Grant, Francis Farquharson of Finzean,James Lumsden of Cushnie, John Chalmers,and John Douglass, senior, of Tilwhilly.

He had two sons and three daughters —John ; George (John Lumsden, his maternal uncle—known as " The Young Turk "—son of the above-mentioned John Lumsden and Helen Shirrefs, sold Towie and bought Blairmormond, otherwise known as Knowsie, which estate he left to this George Barclay, who, thereupon, dropped the name of Barclay, and assumed that of Lumsden-Shirrefs, John, the elder brother, being cut off with a single shilling through umbrage taken at his threat to take the testator's nose in the tongs for speaking harshly to his sister, John's mother) ; Margaret, who married James Wood, some time in Kirktown, Fetteresso (it was through this marriage that the Barclay family afterwards had a claim to the movable estate in the protracted Woodburnden succession case, which claim they compromised for about £10,000) ; Helen, and Jean, who died in youth before their father. John Barclay, the eldest son, served an apprenticeship as a ship carpenter in Leith, but took to farming, and occupied successively Curran in Strachan, Bleriedryne in Durris, Burnhaugh in Fetteresso, and Easter Tilburies in Maryculter. He married, 21st September, 1777, Isabel, daughter of Alexander Hogg (brother of Rev. James Hogg, D.D., minister of Skene), then deceased, and of his wife, Christian Scroggie, who continued the farming of Bleriedryne. He was looked upon by his neighbours as a highlyeducated man, but by others was accused, along with Thorn of Banchory, of being versed in " the black art." When at Burnhaugh (1782-88), he was frequently visited by Mr Robert Barclay (Barclay Allardice) of Urie, who correctly claimed with him the relationship of third cousin once removed. Mr Barclay of Urie was in the habit of carrying a long pike-staff, on which, before starting on his visit, he marked the height of his son " Rob ' ' (the famous Captain Barclay) to compare it with that of his fourth cousin, John, eldest son of his host, both lads being then under ten years of age.

John Barclay, senior, died at Easter Tilburies in 1828, aged 88. He had five sons and three daughters—John above mentioned, Robert, George, James, Alexander, Margaret, Isabella, and Jean. John, the eldest son, occupied the farm of Quoshes, and died without issue. Robert, the second son, married Miss Scroggie, occupied the farm of Blaikiewell, Maryculter, and had a large family, of whom male descendants survive in Australia. George Barclay, the third son, married Margaret, daughter of Alexander Massie, Maryculter. He became a builder and valuator at Cults, and died 29th May, 1858, aged 73. He had five sons and three daughters—George, who married Marion Roy and died in December, 1896, leaving issue one son and three daughters; John, who died at the age of 10; Alexander, sometime builder in Aberdeen, who died 6th March, 1907, in his 80th year, survived by his wife, Barbara Stewart, and a family of two sons and three daughters; James William; Morison, agricultural implement maker, Aberdeen, who married Elsie Adams, Auchinhove, and died 16th March, 1906, survived by four daughters; Isabella, who married Alexander Hepburn, Cults, and died 23rd August, 1889, leaving a family of three sons (George, consulting engineer and naval architect, Liverpool ; Alexander, consulting engineer and naval architect, Newcastle-on-Tyne, who died in December, 1889; and John Barclay, now managing director of The Liverpool Engineering and Condenser Company, Limited) and five daughters; Jane, who died, unmarried, 3rd July, 1885, aged 61; and Margaret Campbell, who is unmarried. James William Barclay, the fourth son before mentioned, was Member of Parliament for Forfarshire from 1872 to 1892. He married, first, in 1862, Jane, daughter of John Smith, Strathdon (they had one daughter—Florence, who married George Milne, younger of Kinaldie, shipowner, now proprietor of Logie—and one son, James Smith, who died 9th June, 1875, from the effects of a fall from a tree) ; secondly, Lillian Alice Novelli, daughter of A. H. Novelli, a Spanish merchant, whose father came from Milan and made a fortune in the Manchester export and calico printing trade ; and, thirdly, Agnes Clifford, daughter of Rev. Henry Smith, H.M. Inspector of Schools. Mr Barclay died suddenly while on holiday in Algeria, 26th February, 1907, his remains being brought home and interred at Glenbuchat. His daughter, Mrs Milne, has succeeded as proprietrix.