Wedderburn book > History

ALEXANDER, FIRST OF KINGENNIE. 125
clerk's merits aud his constant intimacy with his sovereign are thus recorded by Edward, Part H.
the historian of Angus (J.W. 107), and minister of the parish of Murroes in which cha P- I1E
Kingennie is situated : — "Ex perantiqua Wedderburnorum stemmate (he writes in 1678)
Alexander Wedderburn pullulavit, qui in prudentia politica salutarrima tantus evasit, ut
ilium rex serenissimus Jacobus sextus ad intima maximique momenti consilia saepius
invitatum, ultimum amplectaretur, regalliterque remuneratum demitterat " (J.W. 107). 1
He was again commissioner for Dundee in 1606 and 1607 (D.C.B. 31 ; A.P.S. 8, 9), in which
year, 20 Jan., he was summoned to appear before the Privy Council re the municipal troubles
in Dundee (R.P.C. 34) ; and in 1609 aud 1612 he was also in parliament, and on different
commissions anent penal statutes, taxation, and women (D.C.B. 33; R.P.C. 36; A.P.S.
10-12). In 1613, June 29, the town council elected him their only commissioner before
the Privy Council in regard to a claim by one Patrick Gordon, aud also commissioner for
them at the next general convention (D.C B. 37). In 1616 we find him, again com-
missioner for Dundee, named as reporting to the King on wool manufacture (R.P C. 48),
and also re the roads between Perth and Dundee (ib. 49) ; while in the next year, 1617-18,
he is on commissions for verifying weights and measures, for the plantation of kirks, and
re disputes with foreign vessels (R.P.C. 52, 54 ; A.P.S. 13). The last year in which he is
named as in parliament is 1621, when. 1 June, he is on commissions for the plantation of
kirks and " anent moneyis " (A.P.S. 14), and, 25 July, votes in favour of the ratification of
the five articles of the General Assembly of the Kirk in 1618, in favour of kneeling at the
sacrament, private communion, baptism, confirmation of the bishops, and the observance
of certain days as holidays.
His political duties must have taken him a good deal away from the burgh, and it
may be for this reason that, in 1604, July 17, he obtained a gift of the clerkship to his
second son James in event of his own death or inability (D.C.B. 28), 2 upon which
he to some extent acted 14 Nov. 1617, when being " employed to attend the winter session
in his Majesty's service," and being "careful that in his absence his office be served," he
appoints his son James as his depute and substitute " (D.C.B. 44). 3
There are, however, many references to him as clerk and otherwise in close connection
with the affairs of his burgh and country. Thus, 15 March 1603, there is an action v.
him and another as procurators fiscal for Forfar (R.A.D. 46) ; 16 May 1604, he is one of
several inhabitants of Dundee named in a bond of caution (R.P.C. 28) ; 7 Feb. 1614, he
is on assize (D.B.R. 388) ; and, 30 May 1617, he receives the King on his visiting Dundee
with a speech in English (R P.C. 51). There are also several entries in regard to actions
against him in his capacity of clerk for the production of documents, e.g., 6 March 1594,
24 Nov. 1599, 29 July 1600, 19 July 1613, 6 Feb. 1616, and 4 July 1618 (R.A.I). 31,
37, 40, 62, 65, while precepts are occasionally directed to him, e.g., 21 March 1621,
to infeft Sir John Scrymgeour of Dudope as heir to his grandfather in Kirktoun of
Stradichty (P.B.N. 5). 4 He was also, 13 Sept. 1620, appointed by the Privy Council a
commissioner with Lindsay of Pitscandlie to hold a Court in Brechin for the trial of
Andrew Taylor for witchcraft (R.P.C. 56 ). 5
1 Among various papers in possession of the late Mr. A. C. Lamb of Dundee was a copy of a letter
addressed by one James Wynrame to Kingennie, which shows the influential position he occupied. It
is as follows : — Sir, — I humlie intreat you to furdir my Lo : Carnegy heir to accept this vacant place
whereof his Ma tie thinkis him most worthie and has send him his patent. I cannot tell you how
angrie my M r is of his Lordship's (slowness ?). This in haste, rests your obbed 1 Serv' James Wynrame.
This penult June 1616. Addressed : — " To y e Ryt Hon bl ° M 1 ' Alex r Wedderburne of Kyngany, Clerk
of Dundie, y is in haste." There is another letter, 3 Nov. 1619, from Kingennie to the Laird of Edzell
in the Earl of Crawford's Charter Chest of which I have no copy.
2 A letter from the King to the commissioners of burghs, 29 March 1604, re the nomination of his eldest
son Alexander as clerk in event of his death, which is given in full post, p. 142-43, seems somewhat
inconsistent with this (S.W. 158). Perhaps, as his fortune increased, Kingennie determined to
divide property and office between his two elder sons.
■• He had on a previous occasion. 19 April 1614, appointed Mr. John Dynmuir, notary, his substitute
(D.C.B. 29).
■* On this, as on many other occasions, he is called " elder " in distinction from his son. See also P.B.N. 6 ot b.
Minor references to him occur, 1 Aug. 1604, when he is cautioner ; 24 June 1614, discharge to him ;
28 May 1618, he ratifies an alienation by David, Lord Scone (R.D. 10, 44, 64). Maelaren in his History
of Dundee, pp. 251-53, gives a list of provosts including " 1598 — Wedderburn," but this is an error.
5 He is also named 13 May 1618, when he and his eldest son are curators to the children of James
Nicolsone, parson of Megill (D.B.R. 405); 4 July 1618, when there is an action v. him by the
Stewarts of Orchiltree, and Peter Balmanno of Torlonzie, for the production of writs in his
custody (R.A.D., vol. 319, s.d. orig. record) ; and 16 May 1620, when he is a tutor testamentar to
• the children of Thomas Bruutfield (S.W. 206).