Wedderburn book > History

MONUMENTS IN THE HOWFF OF DUNDEE.
417
(a) In the centre are the Duncan and Wedderburn arms impaled, the latter with a Part v -
fleur-de-lys shown on the cheveron. Beneath these are the letters K.V., and beneath the chap - '
former (a cheveron between two cinquefoils in chief and a hunting horn in base) the
letters W.D. Below these arms runs —
HlC • DOBMIT • HOBORABILIS " VIE ■ GVLIELMUS DVNCANE ■ MED1CVS " CIVIS - DE ■ DVNDE ' QVI -
OBIIT • DIE . . . MAII " MENSIS ' ANNO ■ 1608 " ^ETATIS ■ SVAE ■ 52.
(b) Heir • lyis • alsva • ane ■ godlie ■ and • honorabil ■ voman ■ Katherin " Vedderbvrn ■
SPOVS ' TO • VILLIAME " DVNCANE ' QVHA ■ DEPARTIT ' THIS • LYIF ■ YE . . . DAY ■ OF . . . 16 . . 0.
The following mottoes were also once legible on the tomb, which is marred by
the words, cut in modern letters to the left of the arms, "1213. Kevised by James
Neil of Woodhill,"
dlsoite ab exemplo, mobtales, discite nostbo.
Mors sola fatetob quantula sunt hominum corpuscula. 1
In the next lair (1214), according to Mr. Millar, lies a son of Katherine Wedderburn
and her husband, beneath a stone inscribed—
Heib lyis ane godly honest man, John Duncan, Meeghant, Burgess of Dondie, who died
the 16 of octob. his age 4 — . the memorial of the just shall be blised, bot the name of the
WICKED SHALL ROOT " (sic)J
(15) Tomb of Elizabeth Wedderburn and her husband, Alexander Blyth. See ante, p. 85.
(No. 694 in the 1834 Survey).
The inscription on this stone ran thus : —
Here lyis Alexander Blyth shipmaster Boeges in Dundee who depabted this life ye 4th
of febby 1624 of his age 44 ; and his spouse Elizabeth Weddebburn who died ye 24th of October
1643, hee age 78.
Here lyes George Smith, Clokemaker in Dundee, who departed this life the 10 of
August 1719 and of his age 52.
This tomb is now much defaced. In the Book of the Howff it is claimed by the
"heirs of Samuel Bell, Architect."
(16) One more sculptured mention of the name of Wedderburn must be pointed out
before going to three comparatively modern monuments.
The old west wall of the Howff, part of which still stands, was built in 1602, and
seems to have had a sort of cornice, one member of which was sculptured with inscriptions.
On this cornice the words
IACOBVS WEDDERBURN DEO . .
are still legible, the last word being cut short by the once elaborate monument erected to
Trovost Duncan of Lundie in 171S.
These words mark the grave in the ground below of James Wedderburn, fourth son
of Alexander Wedderburn and Janet Myln, who d. 1644 (ante, p. 116). This is shown
by an entry (D.C.B. 138) 1693, April 11, reciting leave given by the town council to
Alexander Duncan of Lundie to bury " the deceist Anna Drummond his Ladie her corps
1 Roll of Eminent Burgesses of Dundee, A. H. Millar 1887, p. 29, and see ante, n. 121, n. 1.
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