Broun Baronets

The Broun Baronets are a branch of the ancient Broun of Colstoun family whose estate near Haddington, East Lothian, remains to this day in the possession of a cadet family.

Origins

Early in the twelfth century a Walterus le Brun flourished in Scotland [cite book|title=The Scottish Nation|author=William Anderson|location=Edinburgh|year=1867|volume=II|pages=383] . He was one of the barons who witnessed the inquisition of the possessions of the church of Glasgow made by Earl David in 1116, in the reign of his brother, Alexander I of Scotland. Sir David le Brun was one of the witnesses, with King David I of Scotland, in laying the foundation of Holyrood Abbey on May 13, 1128. He devised to that abbey certain "lands and acres in territories de Colstoun" for prayers to be said for "the soul of (King) Alexander, and the health of his son."

Colstoun pear

cquote|Possibly the most well-known thing about this family is not their glorious history of service to Scotland, but the famous "Colstoun Pear", which Hugo de Gifford of Yester (d.1267), famed for his necromantic powers, described in "Marmion", was supposed to have invested with the extraordinary virtue of conferring unfailing prosperity on the family which possessed it. - William Anderson, 1867 [cite book|title=The Scottish Nation|author=William Anderson|location=Edinburgh|year=1867|volume=II|pages=383] George Broun of Colstoun married Marion Hay (d.1564), second daughter of Sir John Hay, 2nd Lord Hay of Yester, ancestor of the Marquess of Tweeddale, and she brought with her the "pear" as dowry. Lord Yester, in handing over the "pear" told his new son-in-law that as long as it was preserved the family would flourish until the end of time. Accordingly the "pear" has been carefully preserved in a silver box as a sacred palladium. Many writers comment upon the "pear": Lord Fountainhall relates that in September 1670 he called upon the Brouns "who talk much of their antiquity and "pear" they preserve." Fountainhall's descendant, Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, refers to the story of the "pear" as something "which we cannot pass over" and mentions that "one of the ladies of the family took a longing for the forbidden fruit while pregnant and inflicted upon it a deadly bite", following which a period of dire financial crisises affected the family and the pear turned rock hard, the teeth-marks still preserved. Martine also mentions it: "the legend of the Colstoun enchanted "pear", still preserved, has been long known in the history of the Brouns of Colstoun.""

Baronetcy

George Broun, feudal baron of Colstoun in the reign of King Charles I, married a daughter of Sir David Murray of Stanhope and had, with a younger son George (ancestor of the present-day baronets), to whom he granted by charter the barony of Thornydyke, an elder son - Sir Patrick Broun, 1st Baronet, who was created a Baronet of Nova Scotia on February 16, 1686, with a remainder to his heirs male forever.

His eldest son and heir Sir George Broun, 2nd Baronet, (d.1718), married a daughter of George Mackenzie, 1st Earl of Cromartie, and left an only daughter who inherited the estate, while the baronetcy went to the male heir.

The family thus became split between the heirs male and the heirs of line, the title devolving upon the Broun of Thornydyke family in Berwickshire, and the estates upon the heiress who married George Broun of Eastfield, again uniting older strands of the same family.

Incumbents

*Sir Patrick Broun, 1st Baronet c.1630-1688
*Sir George Broun, 2nd Baronet d.1718
*Sir George Broun, 3rd Baronet d.1734
*Sir Alexander Broun, 4th Baronet d.1750
*Sir Alexander Broun, 5th Baronet d.1776
*Sir Richard Broun, 6th Baronet 13 Dec 1781
*Sir James Broun, 7th Baronet 12 Mar 1768-30 Nov 1844
*Sir Richard Broun, 8th Baronet 22 Apr 1801-10 Dec 1858
*Sir William Broun, 9th Baronet Jul 1804 -10 Jun 1882
*Sir William Broun, 10th Baronet 18 Dec 1848-23 Oct 1918
*Sir James Lionel Broun, 11th Baronet 1875-8 Aug 1962
*Sir Lionel John Law Broun, 12th Baronet 25 Apr 1927-10 Aug 1995
*Sir William Windsor Broun, 13th Baronet 11 Jul 1917
*Sir Wayne Broun, 14th Baronet

Footnotes

References

*cite book|title=The Scottish Nation|author=William Anderson|location=Edinburgh|year=1867|volume=II|pages=383
* "Fourteen Parishes of the County of Haddington", by John Martine, Edinburgh, 1890, p.128.
* "Scottish Rivers", by Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, Bt., London, 1890 reprint, pps:333-4.
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