Alexander (Irvine) Irvine XIth of Drum (1617 - 1687)

Born 1617 in Drum Castle, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Ancestors

Died 1687 at about age 70 in Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland

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Biography

Alexander (Irvine) Irvine XIth of Drum was born in Scotland.

Alexander (Irvine) Irvine XIth of Drum is a member of Clan Irvine.

Alexander, the 10th laird, was an ardent Royalist supporter of Charles I when most around him were Covenaners, the Scottish equivalent of Roundheads. He, too, was Sheriff of Aberdeen and with him, the family's prosperity and prestige reached its peak. As the Civil War spread, Alexander was away from Drum fighting when the castle was besieged. In the face of General Monroe's heavy siege equipment, Lady Irvine decided to surrender quite rapidly and included a promise that her husband would give himself up. So Drum Castle received a hostile garrison, the first of four it was to endure during the Civil War.

The laird's two soldier sons were also active Royalists: young Alexander was later to become one of Drum's most colorful lairds. He fought for the Marquess of Huntly and was excommunicated by the Church of Scotland for 'popery', with a reward of 18,000 merks put on his head for his capture, dead or alive. He and his brother tried to escape by sea from Fraserburgh, but high winds drove them back to the Scottish coast and capture.

Robert, the younger brother, died a miserable death in the depths of Edinburgh Castle, but Alexander survived there under sentence of death until he was set free after the Marquess of Montrose's victory at Kilsyth. His mother and wife were besieged and captured in Drum, this time by the Marquess of Argyll who turned both women out of the castle with nothing but 'two grey plaids and a couple of work nags'.

This time Drum Castle was completely ransacked. Twice captured, four times garrisoned, Drum and its lands had been severely ravaged during the war. Animals had been killed, crops ruined, silver, jewelry, and furniture stolen and its prosperity destroyed.

When young Alexander, the 11th laird, who had won a small cavalry encounter towards the end of the war, at last succeeded to his impoverished estates he was soon offered a peerage by the newly restored King Charles II. But he turned down the honor when the king refused to provide financial compensation for damage done to the Drum estate while supporting his cause.

So, twice the Irvines had missed becoming great magnates of the crown. The eleventh laird's first wife had apparently been somewhat aristocratically aloof but, after she died, he spotted a young shepherdess on his estates, some forty-seven years his junior. Sixteen-year-old Mary Coutts was not one to sell her virtue short so, despite general disapproval, the two were married and the old laird enjoyed six years of bliss before dying not long before his seventieth birthday in 1687. This story is recorded in the traditional ballad 'The Laird of Drum'. [1]

10th August 1683. Sasine to Alexander Irvine of Drum, son, and heir to Alexander Irvine of Drum, on Hirne. ^[1]

Alexander Irvine born ca. 1646 married Marjory (or Mary) daughter of Forbes of Auchreddie, and died ca. 1687, having had to issue a son who died at birth. ^[2]

The estates at this period had declined considerably; certain parts had been sold to pay fines while the 11th Laird who had appointed his kinsman, Alexander of Murthill as his executor, had further burden the estates with onerous provisions for other members of the family. ^[3]

Alexander died in 1696 when succession went under entail to Irvine of Murthill.^[4]

Sources

1. ↑ Page 162, Forbes Leslie.
2. ↑ Page 1359, Burke.
3. ↑ Page 1359, Burke.
4. ↑ Family Tree, Wimberley. Page 536, MacVeigh. Page 683, Burke, 1832.

Here is a source for the 11th Laird and children.

• Thanage of Fermartyn, pg 340

The 12th Laird died without issue.

• Thanage of Fermatyn, pg 342

• http://clanirwin.org/hdrum.php

• The Irvines of Drum and collateral branch by Jonathan Forbes Leslie, 1798-1877. (Including the letters, deeds, and charters from the Drum Achieves) Pub 1909, Aberdeen.

• Short account of the family of Irvine of Drum in the county of Aberdeen. Author Captain Douglas Wimberley. Pub 1893 Northern Chronicle, Inverness.

• The Scottish Nation or the historical and genealogical account of all Scottish families and surnames, Vol II BAL-MAC, Pages 537 to 544. James MacVeigh, Pub 1889, Dumfries.

• The Peerage - A genealogical survey of the peerage of Britain as well as the royal families of Europe.

• A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain Vol 2 pages 680 to 684, Burke 1835

• Burkes Landed Gentry, Sir Bernard Burke, Pages 1358-60. Editor L G Pine, Pun 1953, 17th Edition.