Series 1 > Memoirs of the life of Sir John Clerk of Penicuik, baronet, Baron of the Exchequer

ADDITIONAL NOTES
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who, on her death, in 1688, bequeathed Cammo to her husband ; who built a
mansion-house, and in 1710 sold the ‘estate to Sir John Clerk of Pennycuick,
a gentleman whose antiquarian knowledge has been much and justly celebrated.
. . . His long residence at Cammo, and his connection with Sir John Inglis,
were the means of enriching his museum with innumerable coins and other
remains of antiquity found at Cramond.’
In 1726 Sir John sold Cammo for ^4333, 6s. 8d. to John Hog of Ladykirk,1 in
Berwickshire (nephew of Sir Roger Hog of Harcarse, Senator of the College of
Justice), who, in 1741, sold it for ^4252, 10s. to James Watson of Saughton,
who changed its name to New Saughton ; and who was succeeded in 1778 by
his only surviving son, Captain Charles Watson of Saughton.
For the more recent history of Cammo I am indebted to Mr. Archibald
Steuart, W.S. :—Charles Watson was succeeded by his eldest son James, who
was infeft in 1805 ; James was succeeded in 1833 by Charles his eldest son, who
was followed in 1837 by William Ramsay Watson, and in 1841 by Helen
Watson, afterwards Lady Aberdour. She, in 1851, was succeeded by her only
child, the Honourable Sholto George Watson Douglas, Lord Aberdour, who
sold the property in 1873 to the late Alexander Campbell, Esq., of 6 Charlotte
Square, Edinburgh, by whose trustees it is now held. In the same year Mr.
Campbell acquired by purchase from Lady Aberdour’s trustees and added to
the estate the adjoining lands of Braehead Mains.
NOTE L, pp. 108 and 113. The Rev. Alexander Moncrieff of Culfargie.—The
Rev. Alexander Moncrieff of Culfargie was the son of Matthew Moncrieff of
Culfargie, a grandson of the Rev. Alexander Moncrieff, minister of Scoonie, a
prominent ecclesiastic in the 17th century, who narrowly escaped with his life
after the Restoration.
Moncrieff was bom in 1695, and studied at St. Andrews and Leyden, and at
the latter University distinguished himself. He was licensed in 1717, and
ordained minister of his native parish of Abernethy in 1720. In 1732, he,
along with three other ministers, including Ebenezer Erskine, took up an an¬
tagonistic position towards the majority of the Church, which led to their
suspension and the formation of the Associate Synod.
His wife, Mary Clerk, died within a few years of her marriage, and their only
surviving issue was a son, Matthew, who afterwards succeeded to the estate of
Culfargie, and who became a minister of the sect which his father had assisted
in founding. Alexander Moncrieff married a second time, in 1728, Jean Lyon
(daughter of the Rev. William Lyon of Ogil, minister of Airlie), by whom he
had a very large family. He died in 1761. He was the author of numerous
pamphlets and sermons, chiefly of a controversial nature.
Sir John Clerk seems to have had but little sympathy with his brother-in-
law’s ‘seceding scheme,’ and endeavoured to bring him to a more reasonable
mind. In notes of a letter dated June 28, 1739, preserved at Penicuik, the
worthy baronet complains that although Culfargie comes to preach in the neigh-
1 See page 116 above; where tfce date of the sale is given as the summer of 1724, and the price
received as ‘4200 lib. ster., or thereby.’ John Hog’s son, of the same name, died in 1744, and
his widow, second daughter of Sir Christopher Musgrave of Edenhall, Cumberland, married,
in 1749, the Right Hon. John Idle, Chief Baron of the Court of Exchequer. See page 133
above, and note 1 there.