Sir John Lauder, 1st Baronet

Sir John Lauder, 1st Baronet, of Newington and Fountainhall, (1595 - 2 April 1692) was a notable Scottish baillie and Treasurer of the City of Edinburgh, who was raised to a Nova Scotia baronetcy in 1688. [ "Analecta Scotica", Edinburgh, 1834]

Antecedents

Lauder was born at Melville Mill and baptised August 17, 1595 at Lasswade church, the son of Andrew Lauder of Melville Mill, Lasswade (d.June 1658) and his first wife, Janet (d. April 1617), daughter of David Ramsay of Polton and Hillhead. [ Riddell, John, Advocate, "Remarks upon Scotch Peerage Law", Edinburgh, 1833: 204] His son, Sir John Lauder, Lord Fountainhall, recorded his ancestry in his "Holograph Notes". [ Stewart-Smith, J., "The Grange of St Giles", Edinburgh, 1898:407-8] . He gives the 1st baronet's father as Andrew Lauder, and his father as William Lauder, a "second brother of [Robert] Lauder of that Ilk", sons of Richard Lauder, younger, of that Ilk (k. June 1567).

As John Lauder of Newington he matriculated Arms with the Lord Lyon King of Arms c. 1672 as descended of a second son of Lauder of that Ilk. [ Nisbet, Alexander, "Systems of Heraldry", Edinburgh, 1722]

Merchant career and estates

Lauder, mentioned in his mother’s Testament, [ Edinburgh Commissariot, National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh] became a highly successful merchant-burgess in Edinburgh, being admitted as a Burgess on November 23, 1636. [ Scottish History Society, publishers, "Roll of Edinburgh Burgesses 1406-1700", Edinburgh: 298] He served as Treasurer of the City of Edinburgh in 1652, and as bailie from 1657 to 1661. [ Hume Brown, P., editor, "The Privy Council Registers of Scotland", Edinburgh, 1908: 61] He purchased (before 1672) the estate of Newington, Edinburgh, and subsequently (June 10, 1681) the lands of Woodhead and Templehall, which along with others in Edinburghshire and Haddingtonshire, were erected by Crown charter into the feudal barony of Fountainhall on August 13, 1681. [ National Archives of Scotland, ref: GD41/153] He later purchased the lands of Idingtoun (now Edington) near Chirnside, Berwickshire, from his third father-in-law, George Ramsay of Idingtoun. [ Books of Council & Session, National Archives of Scotland, ref: RD3/78, p.121: Signed on the 1st July and August 20, 1690, a long Deed was entered into between George Ramsay of Idingtoun and his son and heir William, to sell irredeemably the lands and barony of Idingtoune [Edington] in Berwickshire, to Sir John Lauder, 1st Baronet of Fountainhall, commonly referred to as Bailie Lauder.]

Marriages

Lauder married thrice: (1) November 20, 1639, at Edinburgh, Margaret (1618 - 1643) daughter of James Speirs by his wife Catherine née Curie; (2) July 17, 1643 at Edinburgh, Isabel (July 27, 1628 - February 2, 1669), daughter of Alexander Ellis of Mortonhall and Stanhopmilnes by his wife Elisabeth, daughter of Nicol Edward, Dean of Guild in Edinburgh; (3) February 15, 1670, Margaret, daughter of George Ramsay of Idingtoun (of the Dalhousie family), by his wife Margaret Seton. After Lauder's death his widow married William Cunninghame, younger of Brounhill, sometime Provost of Ayr.

Baronetcy

On July 17, 1688, he was created a baronet, of Fountainhall, East Lothian in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia, with special remainder to the eldest surviving male heir of his "third" marriage. This patent was successfully contested and "reduced" (cancelled) on February 19, 1692 having been replaced on January 25 1690 with a new Letters Patent altering the succession to include his eldest surviving son from any marriage.

He died on April 2, 1692, in his 97th year and was interred in the Lauder vault within Greyfriars Kirk. [ Brown, James, "Monumental Inscriptions in Greyfriars Churchyard", Edinburgh, 1864, pps: 301 - 302, gives the burial vault within the church of the family of Lauder of Lauder, and all who are contained therein.] He had, in all, twenty-four children by his three wives and was succeeded in the baronetcy by his eldest surviving son (of his second marriage) Sir John Lauder, 2nd Baronet, later Lord Fountainhall.

References

*"Burke's Peerage & Baronetage", London, 8th edition, 1845, and 32nd edition, 1870, under 'Lauder'.
*"The Grange of St.Giles", by J.Stewart Smith, Edinburgh, 1898.
*"Journals of Sir John Lauder, Lord Fountainhall, 1665-1676", edited by Donald Crawford, Scottish History Society publication, Edinburgh, 1900, where Sir John gives his ancestry.
*"The Complete Baronetage", by G.E.Cockayne, Exeter, 1904, under 'Lauder', pps: 360-363. (GEC is erroneous in his remarks in the genealogical preamble. He cites as his authority a funeral escutcheon he viewed which he states in the footnote on p.360 as being that of the 1st baronet. It is, in fact, the escutcheon of the 2nd baronet, John Lauder, Lord Fountainhall, the Lyon Office not holding one for the 1st baronet).