Elphinstone family book of the Lords Elphinstone, Balmerino and Coupar > Memoirs, etc.

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TABULAE GENEALOGY OF THE ELPHINSTONES. LORDS BALMEEINO.
IV.— JOHN, FOURTH LORD BALMERINO, bom 26th December 1652, was a man of
exceptional ability and talents, being an able lawyer, and taking an active part in
parliamentary affairs. He was made a privy councillor on 16th August 1687, and
succeeded his father in 1704 by royal letter. Though he vigorously opposed the
union of the parliaments he was elected one of the sixteen representatives of
the Scottish peerage at the general election in 1710, and was re-elected in 1713. In
1710 he also received the office of general of the Mint, and was appointed sheriff of
the county of Edinburgh, and next year was chosen one of the commissioners for
executing the office of lord chamberlain. On the accession of King George the First,
however, he lost all these appointments, and was not again returned one of the six-
teen peers. Retiring into private life he died at his home in Leith on 13th May 1736,
aged eighty -three, and was buried at Restalrig. He married, on 16th February 1672,
Lady Christian Montgomery, third daughter of Hugh, seventh Earl of Eglinton,by
whom he had four children ; and, secondly, on 7th June 1687, Anne, daughter of
Arthur Ross, the last archbishop of St. Andrews, and by her had issue two sons
and a daughter.
James, born
Maegaeet.
23rd February
born 29th
1655, died in
January
infancy.
1657,
died in
infancy.
James, born
12th April
1660, died in
infancy.
Hugh,
Master
op Bal-
merino,
officer in
the army,
was killed
at the
siege of
Lisle in
1708.
V. L— JAMES, fifth
LORD BALME-
RINO, born 24th
November 1675
(Edinburgh Regis-
ter), studied law and
was called to the bar
in 1703. He was
appointed a lord of
session, and took his
seat on the bench on
5th June 1714, as-
suming the style of
Lord Coupar, which
had been first adopted
by his great-grand-
unele. 'in 1736 he
succeeded his father,
and after a peaceful
and amiable life he
died at Leith on 5th
January 1746, at
the age of 71, leav-
ing no issue. His
wife was Lady Eliza-
beth Carnegie, daugh-
ter of David, fourth
Earl of Northesk,
who survived till
21st September 1767.
He was succeeded in
the title of Balmer-
ino by his brother
Arthur.
I I I
Margaret, mar- V. 2.— ARTHUR, sixth LORD BALMERINO, born
ried, 16th Feb- in 168S. During the reign of Queen Anne he com-
ruary 1692, Sir manded a company of foot in Lord Shannon's regi-
John Preston ment, but on the accession of George the First he
of Prestonhall, resigned his commission and threw his energies
and had issue. into the Jacobite cause, joining the Earl of Mar,
under whom he fought at Sheriffmuir. Escaping
Jean, married to France he remained there in the French service
Francis, eighth till the death of his brother Alexander, in 1733,
Earl of Moray, when his father obtained a pardon for him, and
by whom she he returned home after about twenty years of
had issue, and exile. On the arrival of Prince Charles Edward
died in May in Scotland in 1744 he hastened to his standard
1739. and was given the command of a troop of life
guards, going with the Jacobite army into Eng-
land. On the death of his brother James, the
fifth Lord, in 1746, he became sixth Lord Bal-
merino, and fought at Culloden, where he was
taken prisoner, and after a short confinement in
the Tower was tried at Westminster on 29th July
1746, sentenced to death on 1st August along with
Earls Kilmarnock and Cromartie, and beheaded
on Tower Hill on 18th August 1746, his courageous
and indomitable spirit evincing itself even on the
scaffold. He married Margaret, daughter of
Captain Chalmers, who died at Restalrig on 24th
August 1765, but had no issue. At his death the
male line of this branch of the Elphinstone family,
after a short but most remarkable and chequered
career of about a century and a half, became
extinct.
I I
Hon.
Alex-
ander,
died un-
married
at Leith,
1st
October
1733.
Anne,
died un-
married.
Arms of the Elphinstones, Lords Balmerino — Argent, on a chevron, sabh, between three boars'
heads, erased, gules, three buckles of the field. Crest — A dove argent, with a snake, proper,
linked about its legs. Supporters — Two griffins, proper, beaked and armed, or. Motto —
Prudentia Fraudis Nescia.