Drummond History
It is traditionally believed
that the founder of this clan was the admiral who
transported Margaret the Atheling’s sister
from her exile in Hungary long before she became
the second wife of Malcolm Canmore, King of
Scots. But the earliest historical evidence
suggests a noble Celtic origin, for the earliest
certain ancestor is Maelcolm Beg, Little Malcolm,
who appears in charters from about 1225 as
Seneschal of the Lennox. He took the surname by
which the clan is now called from Drymen, a place
which lies to the west of Stirling, and is
associated also with the Highland Mores and the
Buchanans. To this day the name of the Chief is
An Drumanach Mor. The Great Man of Drymen,
Malcolm of Drymen’s son Malcolm was twice
captured during the wars of independence against
Edward I of England, and his grandson, the third
Malcolm Drummond, fought at Bannockburn. Thus
Drummonds were among the clans which increased in
prosperity through having backed the winner. In
about 1345 John, the Drummond Chief, married the
heiress of Stobhall, the beautiful mediaeval
mansion in which his descendant, David Drummond,
17th Earl of Perth, lives today.
John Drummond of
Stobhall’s sister Margaret married David II,
son of the Bruce, but they left no heirs.
However, his daughter Annabella Drummond married
the second of the Stewart Kings, Robert III, and
was the mother of the poet-King James I. Her
brother Sir John Drummond became Justiciar of
Scotland and his great-grandson was created Lord
Drummond in 1488. It seemed likely that Margaret,
daughter of the 1st Lord Drummond, might become a
third Queen of Scots of this family, so violent
was the affection of the young King James IV for
her. But Margaret and her three sisters all dies
in mysterious circumstances - it was generally
believed that they had been poisoned - and James
IV made his dynastic marriage with Margaret Tudor
which led to the Union of England and Scotland.
Two years after the marriage had taken place in
1503, the 4th Lord Drummond was created Earl of
Perth.
The most distinguished member
of his clan at this time was William, son of Sir
John Drummond of Hawthornden, a Gentleman Usher
to James VI descended from the Drummonds of
Carnock who were cadets of Stobhall. William was
born in 1585, and inherited on his father’s
death in 1610 the estate of Hawthornden. Here
William lived his literary life, shunning the
opportunities which his family connections
offered him.
In 1618 Ben Johnson made the
long winter journey to Hawthornden and William
scribbled his rough draft of the English
poet’s malicious comments on his
contemporaries, his strictures on Shakespeare and
Donne, on Michael Drayton and Sir John Harington
and Sir Walter Ralegh. After the Restoration his
eldest son William was knighted by Charles II.
An Drumanach Mor remained
loyal to the Catholic religion and to the Stewart
dynasty. The 4th Earl of Perth was James
VII’s Lord Chancellor; the 5th commanded the
Jacobite cavalry at Sheriffmuir in the 1715
uprising; he escaped to France and his lands were
forfeited. The 6th died at sea in his flight from
Culloden. In 1853 George Drummond, Duc de
Melfort, Compte de Lussan and Baron de Valrose in
the peerage of France, was restored by Act of
Parliament to the title of Earl of Perth,
together with various subsidiary titles. The 16th
Earl of Perth was the first Secretary General of
the League of Nations. John Drummond, 17th Earl
of Perth (b. 1907) is the present Chief.
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Drummond
