Wedderburn book > History

SIR JOHN, FIFTH BARONET OF BLACKNESS. 277
Treason specified iu the said Indictment in manner and form as by the said Indictment is above Part III
supposed and that the said Sir John Wedderburn at the time of his Committing the said High Chap. VII.
Treason or at any time afterwards had no goods or chattels Lands or Tenements to the knowledge
of the said Jurors And thereupon the same Session of Oyer and Terminer and Gaol Delivery is
further adjourned [ut ante, to Thursday Nov. 6, and again to Friday and Saturday Nov. 7 and 8,
Monday Nov. 10 and Saturday Nov. 15] And thereupon at the same Session of Oyer and Terminer
and Gaol Delivery holden by the adjournment last aforesaid ut the Borough of Southvvark aforesaid
in the said County of Surry Ou the said Saturday the said Fifteeuth Day of November in the
Twentieth year aforesaid befoie the said Justices and Commissioners of our said present Sovereign
Lord the King and Others their Fellows aforesaid cometli the said Sir John Wedderburn under the
Custody of the keeper of the said Gaol of the said County of Surry being brought to the Bar here
in his proper person upon which Sir Dudley Ryder Knight Attorney General for our said present
Sovereign Lord the King being now present here in Court for our said present Sovereign Lord the
(sic) prayeth that Judgment may be prononced (sic) and execution awarded by the Court here
against the said Sir John Wedderburn upon the said verdict so given against him as aforesaid And
the said Sir John Wedderburn being thereupon Immediatly asked by the Court here if he hath or
knoweth of anything to say for himself why the Court here should not proceed to pronounce
Judgment and Award Execution against him iu this behalf according to Law He the said Sir John
Wedderburn saith nothing more than what he had before said Whereupon all and singular the pre-
misses being seen and fully understood by the Court here It is considered by the Court here that the
said Sir John Wedderburn do return to the Uaol of the said County of Surry from whence he came
and from thence be drawn to the place of Execution and when he cometh there That he be hanged
by the Neck but not till he dead and that he be therefore cut down alive and that his Bowels be
then taken out and burnt before his Face and that his Head be then severed from his Body and that
his Body be divided into four Quarters and that those be at the disposal of our said present
Sovereign Lord the King. 1 Examined by me Hen : Masterman
Clerk to the Commission.
After this there was still a little delay, but on Nov. 27 it was intimated to Sir John
that the sentence would be carried out the next day. It is said when the fatal news was
brought him by the gaoler he was playing backgammon with Paterson of Carpow, and that
he requested the gaoler to " stand out of the light till the game was over," after which
" he called for wine and drank farewell to his friends "■ (post, p. 282). This may well be so,
but it rests only on tradition. An authentic account of his last hours is given in a letter
from his son James to his sister Margaret, written in the following February, the original
of which is at Craigflower, while a copy is among the Blackness Papers (Bl. 57). Sir
John's answer to his son, in refusing to attempt escape, that "it would be as well to die
now as twenty years after," shows the calm spirit in which he met his fate. His last
evening in life was spent in writing to his wife, his eldest son, his Prince, and' one or two
relatives, who would, he hoped, be ready to assist his unfortunate family. The originals
or copies of all these letters are among the Blackness Papers (Bl. 51-55), 2 and of one of
them, that to his wife, a facsimile is here given.
My dearest,
Be the time this comes to hand I shall be no more I hope God who base given me
patience to bear with a great many hardships hitherto will support me to the last : the
greatest I have now to undergo is the thoughts of parting with you and my Children and
if it is so at this distance it must have been much more so had you been here. I pray
God support you under this affliction. I received yours of the 13th which affected me
much but if you recollect a little you'l be at more then ordinary pains about yourself :
consider if anything ail you what will become of your children. The Presbeterian Mini rs
attestation came to hand but never anything came from that airth without a sting in the
tail of it. I believe it has done me neither good nor harm. As to interest used for me Mr
Wedderburn and his Lady 3 have been at a world of pains and realy procured Great folks
1 The following is the account of Sir John, and his trial is given in the Gentleman's Magazine, vol.
xvi. (1746), p. 572 : — " Nov. 4. Sir John Wedderburn's trial came on ; he produced witnesses to shew
that at the time he was said to be among the rebels, he had been four times taken by force from his
own house by the rebels, and that for the greatest part of that time he was at his own house. But
the counsel for the Crown produced twelve receipts, signed John Wedderburn, for excise collected at
Perth, Dundee, &c, and prov'd to be his handwriting, and some of the witnesses themselves prov'd
the paying of excise to him. It was prov'd also that he own'd himself a volunteer in L d Ogilvie's
2 d battalion, and by an officer who said he was private man in the said battalion. The jury without
going out of Court found him guilty. Sir John's father had a small estate near Dundee, which was
sold to satisfy his creditors ; whence this gentleman being left destitute, was obliged to occupy a small
farm to support a wife and nine children, who were commonly seen to run about the doors of a small
thatch'd cott barefooted ; so that private distress drove him todespair, and that headlong into rebellion. "
- There are two originals, that to his wife and his uncle of Idvies; the rest are copies, and probably do
not accurately reproduce the spelling of the originals.
3 This Mr. Wedderburn is no doubt Sir John's second cousin, Alexander Wedderburn, shipmaster in
London (ante, p. 229), who was the only member of the family then resident in England.