John Gordon of Lochinvar
Sir John Gordon of Lochinvar and Kenmure (died 1604), was a Scottish courtier and landowner.
He was the son of Sir James Gordon of Lochinvar and Margaret Crichton. His father was killed at the battle of Pinkie in 1547
His home was Kenmure Castle. On the 14 June 1568, because he was a supporter of Mary, Queen of Scots, Regent Moray sent the Laird of Wedderburn to ask him to surrender, but he refused. On 16 June Kenmure was demolished by Moray's soldiers. Lochinvar himself was in Dumfries with Lord Maxwell, and the Lairds of Johnston and Cowhill with 1000 men, but they didn't fight.[1]
In October 1568 he was appointed by Mary, Queen of Scots to be one of her representatives in England at the York Conference, where her opponents led by Regent Moray presented evidence against her including the Casket letters.
He wrote to Sir Patrick Vans of Barnbarroch about the town of Kirkcudbright. The townspeople, burgesses and merchants, had complained about chapmen in Galloway, travelling salesmen and pedlars, who undercut prices in Kirkcudbright market. This was a crime called "forestalling". Lochinvar wrote in favour of the chapmen, he considered they had "been used since the beginning, and never stopped by no man to this hour, and no way it can prejudice the merchants, but rather to their help." He though their trade from town to country was a benefit, and they were unlikely to get together capital to trade by sea cargo and thus compete with the merchants. He also argued that the merchants had their origin in "chapmancraft".[2]
In September and October 1592 he hosted the Chancellor John Maitland and his wife Jean Fleming at Kenmure and Drumlanrig.[3]
In 1599 he was involved a feud of the Kennedy families. He was imprisoned in June 1602 and made to pay 500 merks.[4]
Family
He married firstly, Juliana Home, daughter of David Home of Wedderburn and Alison Douglas. Their daughter was Margaret Gordon, who married Hugh Maxwell of Terrinzeane. He married secondly, Elizabeth Maxwell, daughter of John Maxwell 4th Lord Herries. Their children included:
- Robert Gordon of Lochinvar and Kenmure, who was knighted at the coronation of Anne of Denmark on 17 May 1590.[5] He married Elizabeth Ruthven, daughter of William Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie. Their eldest son was John Gordon, 1st Viscount of Kenmure.
- Grisel Gordon, who married Alexander Stewart, 1st Earl of Galloway
References
- ^ Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1563-1569 (Edinburgh, 1900), pp. 444, 445.
- ^ Robert Vans Agnew, Correspondence of Sir Robert Waus of Barnbarroch, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1887), pp. 414-5.
- ^ Joseph Bain, Calendar of Border Papers, vol. 1 (London, 1894), pp. 411-2.
- ^ Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1597-1603, vol. 13 (Edinburgh, 1969), pp. 576, 1003.
- ^ Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1589-1593, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 300.