Barony of Fulwood
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The Barony of Fulwood (Feulwood) can be traced back to the 14th century. It is mentioned several times in the Register of the Great Seal of Scotland.
Fulwood is situated about 5 miles (8 km) west of Glasgow Airport, in the parish of Houston and Killalan. The surrounding area is fertile and rich farming land. The Statistical Account of 1791 mentions Fulwood: "about 40 years ago there were 16 farms in the Barony of Fulwood, there are only eight at present. At that time the yearly rent of that estate was little above 3,000 merks and when lately sold, the rental, by improvement of the land, was 700 Pounds Sterling". The Account also states that, whilst rents had been six to seven shillings an acre (74 to 86 £/km²) 40 years ago, "there is now none of it below twenty shillings" (247 £/km²). It was part of the lands of the Flemings, Earls of Wigtown (or Wigtoun). The first of this line, Sir Malcolm Fleming was created Earl in 1341. He was one of the few to escape death at the Battle of Halidon Hill near Berwick, on July 19, 1333. The English had invested Berwick and during the battle seven Scottish Earls were slain on the spot, along with 900 knights, 1,400 gentlemen, and 15,000 common soldiers. The castle at Berwick was defended by Sir A Seton, but was surrendered the next day. King Edward III annexed Berwick forever to the Crown of England.
As a result of the defeat, King David II fled to France. He was assisted by Sir Malcolm and he, for this service, was created Earl, with remainder to the heirs male of his body. King David returned to Scotland in 1341 but was taken captive in 1346 at the Battle of Neville’s Cross, near Durham. Here the Scots again suffered heavy losses of over 20,000 men to an English army commanded by Queen Phillipa and the Archbishop of York. Malcolm, Earl of Winton, was also captured and imprisoned in the Tower of London. He was relapsed with King David for the ransom of 100,000 marks, only three-quarters of which was paid.
The repercussions of this were to be felt in Scotland for a long time. The cost of the ransom led to the Scottish parliament establishing checks on the actions of the King. Malcolm, Earl of Winton, died in 1365 having married the foster-sister of King David II. He was succeeded by his grandson, Thomas, to whom the first grant of Fulwood (Foulwood) was made. In a charter of 1374, he was styled "Thomas Flemynge Wigton, he later transferred it to Archibald Douglas, later 3rd Earl of Douglas, for a "notable" sum of money, he died without heir after 1382.
The Barony then passed to the Semple family, who held the title in the 15th century. They transferred it to John Porterfield in 1679, who passed it to his son, Alexander, the following year. The title was re-confirmed by a charter granted by Charles II, dated February 10, 1688. The title passed to his grandson, also Alexander, who transferred it in 1774 to John McDowall. He then transferred the Barony of Fulwood to Alexander Speirs in 1777. Alexander Speirs was a prominent and wealthy tobacco merchant. He, along with a few other merchants in Glasgow, handled almost all of the tobacco trade in Britain and, indeed, Europe. In an official return of 1772, his name topped the list of 46 tobacco merchants, and he was handling one-eighth of the total tobacco entering Glasgow and one-fifteenth of the total entering Britain.
He acquired many estates in Renfrewshire and was granted, by Crown Charter, in 1770 the Barony of Elderslie. He resided at the finest house in Glasgow of its day, Virginia Mansion. It stood at the top of Virginia Street, which still exists in Glasgow. He married, firstly, in 1746 in Virginia, Sarah Carey, who died in 1752 without producing children. He married his second wife, Mary, daughter of Peter Buchanan of Silverbank, in 1755. He had by her four sons, the eldest of whom died in adolescence. Alexander and his descendants were great collectors of relics supposed to have belonged to William Wallace. Wallace led the Scots resistance to English rule and won an impressive victory over the English at Stirling in 1297. He lost at Falkirk the next year, and was executed in 1305. The interest of the Spiers family stemmed from the myth that Wallace had hailed from Elderslie. The family acquired the estate from Helen Wallace, who believed herself to be descended from William. Over the years the Spiers family collected several items connected with Wallace, many of apparently dubious provenance, including one of the several two-handed swords he was claimed to have wielded in battle. The life of William Wallace was portrayed in the film Braveheart starring Mel Gibson.
Alexander’s second son, Archibald, was one of the nine original partners in the Renfrewshire Bank. He was also chairman of the Board of Management of the Forth and Clyde Canal and presided over the opening ceremony in 1790. He had five sons and nine daughters and died in 1832. He was succeeded by his son, Alexander who became Lord Lieutenant of Renfrewshire and was Member of Parliament for Richmond in Surrey. He died in 1844 and was succeeded by his son, Captain Archibald. He served in the Scots Fusilier Guards and was MP for Renfrew from 1865-8. He married Anne, daughter of the 4th Earl of Radnor, and died of typhoid contracted from the Clyde in December 1868 leaving a posthumous son, Alexander Archibald Speirs. At about the same time, one of Anne’s sisters Lady Mary Bouverie, married David Maitland Makgill Crichton, the previous baron’s great-grandfather.
Following the death of her husband, Lady Anne moved with the infant Archie to Houston, close to the Barony of Fulwood. They settled in the remains of one of the wings of the old castle at Houston that had been converted into a hunting lodge. Lady Anne gradually enlarged the house in the Scottish baronial style. Traces of the corbelling of the old castle battlements can still be seen today.
Archie died without issue in about 1959 and the estates passed to David Crichton Maitland. The Maitland family can trace its descent from Charles Maitland, 6th Earl of Lauderdale who died in 1744. Charles was Lord Lieutenant and Sheriff of Midlothian and Captain-General of the Mint. His son, James, was Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow in 1780-81 and served for 20 years as Lieutenant colonel in the army.
James first son, Valdave, died in early childhood, his second son, also James, succeeding to the title. He was created, in 1806, Baron Lauderdale of Thirlestane. He was Joint commissioner to France in that year and was for a short time, Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland. He died, at the age of 94, in 1856. His son, also James, the 9th Earl, was the MP for Richmond, Camelford and Appleby for the Whig, and in the case of the latter place, the Tory parties. He died unmarried in 1860.
Captain Frederick Lewis Maitland, a grandson of Charles, 6th Earl Lauderdale, accepted the surrender of Napoleon on board the Bellerophon on July 15, 1815. He rose to be Commander-in-Chief-of the East Indies and China.
James’ brother, Anthony, succeeded the title and was, again, both a Whig and Tory MP during his lifetime. He was seriously wounded in the attack on the Boulogne flotilla in 1801 and finally became Admiral of the Red. He died, unmarried, in 1863. At this point the Barony of Lauderdale of Thirlestane became extinct. The Earldom passed to his cousin, Thomas. He was an extremely distinguished naval commander, serving during the Spanish Civil War (for which he was made a Knight of the Spanish Order of Charles III in 1837), Malabar (1838), the Persian Gulf (1839) and China. He was Commander of the Fleet in the Pacific Ocean from 1860-62 and was promoted to Admiral in 1868. He died in 1878 without male issue.
He was succeeded by his second cousin once removed, Charles Barclay-Maitland. He met a sudden death, being struck by lightning on Braidshaw Rigg moor in 1884. He had, like several of his predecessors, no male heir and his third cousin, Francis Henry Maitland, inherited the title. Francis reunited the Earldom with the titles of viscount of Lauderdale, Viscount Maitland, Lord Maitland of Thirlestane, and Viscount Thirlestane and Boltoun. He was the grandson of the fourth son of Charles, the sixth Earl of Maitland. He was a representative peer for Scotland in the parliaments between 1889 and 1901. He died in 1924. It was then inherited by the father of the previous baron.
[edit] The Barony of Dirleton
The Barony of Dirleton lies in East Lothian a few miles west of North Berwick, the land comprising the Caput of the Barony are today only a little over 40 acres, including the Island of Lamb, North and South Dogs in the east coast of Scotland. Its ruined castle, two triangular greens and the buildings are grouped in the traditional style of a medieval township. Dirleton Castle was built in the middle of the twelfth century by a branch of the Anglo-Norman family of De Vaux, a family with its origins in Rouen, Normandy, which had settled in Dirleton during the reign of King Malcolm IV (1153-1165). The original castle was modeled on contemporary French castles, in particular Coucy la Chateaux north of Paris. Dirleton Castle was strenuously defended against the invading army of Edward I of England in June 1298, but eventually fell to Anthony Beck, the fighting Bishop of Durham. In 1311 the castle was recaptured by the Scots and Robert the Bruce ordered that it be reduced to eliminate the possibility of it being occupied by the English in the future. Dirleton was in the hands of the De Vaux family for about two centuries.
John Haliburton, second son of Sir Adam Haliburton, married the daughter and co-heiress of William de Vaux, Lord of Dirleton. One of the first things he did was to order the reconstruction of the castle of Dirleton. John was later killed at the battle of Nisbet in 1355, a battle between the English forces from Morham Castle on the Tweed and local landowners including Halyburton. Haliburton’s son John inherited Dirleton and from around 1382 is known as Sir John Haliburton of Dirleton. Sir John married Margaret, daughter of Sir John Cameron of Ballegarno and the couple had three children, the eldest, Walter, being the heir to the lands and title. Walter Haliburton of Dirleton appears in various charters dating from the reign of Robert III. This Walter married Isobel, daughter of the Duke of Albany. Their son, Sir Walter Haliburton of Dirleton, was a hostage in England on behalf of King James I. In 1403 he married Mary, daughter of Archibald the third Earl of Douglas, and widow of David, Duke of Rothesay the eldest son of King Robert III. In 1438 he was appointed Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, and in 1441 was created Lord Dirleton or Halyburton of Dirleton. The couple had several children of whom John, the eldest, succeeded by 1447. This John, Lord Haliburton, was appointed Sheriff of Berwick. He married Janet, sister of Lord Seton, and they had two sons Patrick and George. Patrick duly became the second Lord Haliburton of Dirleton. He was granted a charter of the Barony of Dirleton in 1451, and another of the dominical lands of the said barony and castle in 1452. On his death in 1459 the land and titles went to his brother George. George, the third Lord Haliburton of Dirleton, had a wife named Mariota and three sons.
The eldest Archibald had a charter of Dirleton but he is thought to have been killed, along with his father, at the battle of Sauchie on June 11, 1488. He and his wife were the parents of James who then became the fourth Lord Haliburton of Dirleton. Lord James died unmarried in 1503 and was succeeded by his uncle Patrick. Patrick, fifth Lord Haliburton of Dirleton, had three daughters by his first wife Margaret Douglas, and on his death the title and lands passed to their daughter Janet. Janet, Baroness Haliburton of Dirleton, married William second Lord Ruthven, and when she died around 1560 the titles fell to her son Patrick, the third Lord Ruthven. Patrick was implicated in the murder of David Rizzio, the favorite of Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1566. Patrick’s son William, Lord Ruthven and Dirleton, was created Earl of Gowrie in 1581 but was attainted and subsequently executed in 1582, and all honors forfeited. In 1586 his son James was restored to all honors, including the Barony of Dirleton, but when he was found guilty of treason through his part in the Gowrie Conspiracy the honors were again forfeited. The Ruthven Raid or Conspiracy was an attempt by a group of disaffected noblemen led by William Ruthven to replace the government of Arran-Lennox with one more favorable to the Reformers, and to kidnap the king.
During the Ruthven period various additions were made to the castle, some of which can still be seen. In particular they added the Ruthven Range, the stables, a beehive shaped doocot, and a surrounding barmkin wall. The Ruthvens also created a formal garden which can still be viewed. A feature today is the long herbaceous border measuring 215 meters, and containing around 300 different types of plant.
The estate was then granted to Thomas Erskine of Gogar, as a reward for saving the life of King James VI during the assassination attempt known as the Gowrie Conspiracy. In 1601 Thomas Kellie became a Privy Councillor, and in 1604, by then a knight and Prefect of the Royal Guard, was created him Baron Erskine of Dirleton. He accompanied the king to England and became captain of the Yeoman of the Guard, an office he held until 1632. Thomas Erskine, Lord Dirleton, became Viscount of Fenton in 1606, by 1610 he held a charter of novodamus of Dirleton and other lands, and on March 12, 1619 he was created Earl of Kellie. In 1625 he sold it to Sir James Douglas.
In 1631 James Maxwell acquired the estate. James Maxwell was the third son of Robert Maxwell of Kirkhouse and Crustanes. As a young man he was a member of the Royal Household of King James VI of Scotland, later King James I of England. On 4 June 1631 he was granted a charter of the lands and barony of Fenton, Dirleton, and others, including the lands of Kingston and Elbotle, and had Dirleton erected into a burgh of barony. He, and some colleagues, were also granted a charter granting the right of trading on the west coast of Africa; presumably he was a partner in the Scottish Guinea Company of that period. On March 27, 1646 as James Maxwell of Dirleton he made a tailzie of certain lands, failing male heirs of his own body, on the second, third, fourth, and eldest sons of his eldest daughter Elizabeth by her husband William, Duke of Hamilton, whom failing, on James Maxwell alias Cecil, second son of Viscount Cranbourne, husband of Diana, the granter’s second daughter, he taking the surname and arms of Maxwell. In 1674 this James was Earl of Salisbury. James Maxwell married Elizabeth Buson de Podolsko, and they had two daughters Elizabeth, and Diana. Elizabeth married (1) William, Duke of Hamilton, and (2) Thomas Dalmahoy of that Ilk. Diana married Charles Cecil, Viscount Cranbourne, son of William, Earl of Salisbury. James Maxwell was succeeded by his second daughter Diana and her son James became Lord Salisbury on the death of his grandfather. In late 1646 James Maxwell had been created Earl of Dirleton, Lord Kingston and Elbotle. On his death in 1650 the property fell to his grandson James who sold Dirleton to Sir Robert Fletcher in 1658 and he sold it to Sir John Nisbet in 1663. It was during the reign of the Maxwells that Dirleton Castle was besieged and severely damaged by the Cromwellian Army in 1651.
In 1687 Sir John Nisbet of Dirleton bequeathed the property to his cousin William Nisbet, (1666-1724), son of Alexander Nisbet of Craigtinnie. William married (1) Jean, daughter of Sir William Bennet of Grubett, and (2) Jean, daughter of Robert Bennett, Dean of the Faculty of Advocates. His son William then succeeded and on his death in 1733, Dirleton passed to his son William, a staunch Jacobite. In 1747 William married Mary, daughter and heiress of Alexander Hamilton of Pencaitland, and heiress of Lord Belhaven. On January 12, 1784 William Nisbet was served heir to his father William, who had died in March 1783, in the barony of Dirleton with its fortalice, also in Fentontower, and others in East Lothian, later in March 1784 he was also served as heir to the barony of Grubbet in Roxburghshire. William, (1747-1822), an army officer, married Mary Manners, daughter of Lord Robert Manners, and grand-daughter of the Duke of Rutland. Their only child, Mary, (1777-1855), married (1) Thomas Bruce, Earl of Elgin and Kincardine in 1799, and (2) Robert Ferguson of Raith in 1808. Lady Mary accompanied Lord Elgin on his travels around 1800 when he collected the ‘Elgin Marbles’. Mary Hamilton Nisbet or Ferguson of Raith, was served as heir to her father William Hamilton Nisbet, who died on July 17, 1822, on November 6, 1822. Lady Lucy Bruce, child of the first marriage, inherited Dirleton. She married John Grant of Kilgraston in 1828, and their son Charles Thomas Constantine Grant of Kilgraston duly inherited the title and property. He married Janet Matilda Hay, daughter of William Hay of Duns Castle, Berwickshire, and on their deaths they were succeeded by their son Lieutenant Colonel John Patrick Hamilton Grant of Biel, East Lothian.
[edit] The Baron of Fulwood and Dirleton
The Barony of Fulwood was bequest to the present Baron in 1999 and it was re-confirmed on behalf of the Crown by warrant of the Court of The Lord Lyon King of Arms, dated 18 March 2005, effective from 21 September 2000 in favor of Camilo Agasim-Pereira of Fulwood and his heirs. The Barony of Dirleton was bequest for favor and affection to the present Baron in 2002, by Patrick Hannigan of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. It was re-erected by on behalf of the Crown by warrant of the Court of The Lord Lyon King of Arms, dated 22 April 2002, in favor of Present Baron of Dirleton and his heirs. The recognized heir to the Barony of Fulwood is Elio Gabriel Samuel Agasim-Pereira of Fulwood. The recognized heiress to the Barony of Dirleton is Yaalit Naomi Maria Agasim-Pereira of Fulwood and Dirleton. The current Baron is married to Maxine Ann Agasim-Pereira of Fulwood, and they reside between Florida in the United States, and Scotland. The Baron of Fulwood was appointed the Honorary Consul of Mozambique, a Notary Public at-large for the Sate of Florida, a Patron of The Royal Academy of Arts in London, The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Museum in South Africa. He has also worked as an Art Dealer and as a farmer.
The Barony was bequest for favor and affection to the present Baron in 2002, by Patrick Hannigan of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil and it was re-erected by the on behalf of the Crown by Registers of Scotland on 22 April 2002, favor of Present Baron of Dirleton and his heirs. The present day caput (seat of the Barony) is the Lamb Island, near Edinburgh.
