Mark Kerr, 1st Earl of Lothian
Mark Kerr(orKer),1st Earl of Lothian(1553 – 8 April 1609) was aScottishnobleman and politician. He became the firstEarl of Lothianin 1606.[1][2]
Family background
[edit]He was a member of the "famous border family" of Ker of Cessford.[3]He was the son ofMark Kerr,abbot ofNewbattle Abbey,Midlothian,andHelen Leslie,sister of theEarl of Rothes.[4]The House of Kerr was of Anglo-Norman and Norse lineage, and the Kerrs of Fernihirst settled in Scotland in the 13th century.[5]Kerr and his family lived inNewbattle Abbey,a mansion occupying the site of a Cistercian abbey founded in 1140.[1]
Career
[edit]Kerr was namedVicarofLintonin 1567. He was appointedMaster of Requestsin 1577, a role he held until 1606. He was a gentleman of the king's chamber in 1580.[6]In 1581, he succeeded his father as Commendator of Newbottle.[4]
Like his father, Mark Kerr was anExtraordinary Lord of Sessionunder king[3]beginning in 1584, with his lands at Newbattle made into a Barony.[4]
On 28 October 1587, he was made aLord of Parliamentas Lord Newbottle, or possibly 15 October 1591.[4]In 1587 he was made a baron andPrivy Counsellor.
In December 1593, Kerr was appointed to a committee to audit the account of money spent by theChancellor,John Maitland of Thirlestane,on theroyal voyages.The funds in question came from theEnglish subsidyand the dowry ofAnne of Denmark.[7]
In 1604 he acted as interim Chancellor. He was created Earl of Lothian on 10 July 1606,[4]and resigned the office of Master of Requests in the same year.[4]
An English list of the Scottish nobility states his residences were "Morphele" andPrestongrange.[8]
Marriage and family
[edit]He married Margaret Maxwell, a daughter ofJohn Maxwell, Lord Herries.Kerr and his wife were said to have 31 children.[4]Their children included:
- Robert Kerr, 2nd Earl of Lothian
- Anne Kerr
- Margaret Kerr, who marriedJames Hay, 7th Lord Hay of Yester
- Janet Kerr, who marriedWilliam Cunningham, 8th Earl of Glencairn
- Jean Kerr, who married (1) Robert Boyd, Master of Boyd, (2)David Lindsay, 12th Earl of Crawford,(3) Thomas Hamilton of Robertoun. In 1623 King James made steps to help the dowager Countess of Crawford and her children, because she had been a faithful servant toAnne of Denmark.[9]
Death
[edit]He died on 8 April 1609.[4]
His wife Margaret Maxwell was accused of causing his death through witchcraft.[10]She died atPrestongrange Houseon 8 January 1617.[4]
He was succeeded by his son Robert, 2nd Earl of Lothian.[10]The second earl had no sons, and the title passed to his daughterAnne Kerr, Countess of Lothian.In 1631 her husband was createdWilliam Kerr, 1st Earl of Lothian.[11]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^abColin McWilliam, Christopher Wilson,McWilliam, Colin; Wilson, Christopher (1978).Lothian, Except Edinburgh, page 345.Penguin.ISBN9780140710663.Retrieved17 May2019.
- ^Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage.Burke's Peerage Limited. 1914. p. 1254.
- ^abOne or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Chisholm, Hugh,ed. (1911). "Lothian, Earls and Marquesses of".Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 18.
- ^abcdefghiCokayne, George Edward (1893).Complete Peerage.G. Bell & sons. p. 144.
- ^Lodge, Edmund (1840).Genealogy of the Existing British Peerage: With Sketches of the Family Histories of the Nobility.Saunders. p. 304.
- ^Boyd, William (1907).Calendar of State Papers Scotland: 1574-1581.Vol. 5.Edinburgh.p. 531.
{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^Miles Kerr-Peterson & Michael Pearce, 'James VI's English Subsidy and Danish Dowry Accounts, 1588-1596',Scottish History Society Miscellany XVI(Woodbridge, 2020), p. 6.
- ^Charles Rogers,Estimate of the Scottish Nobility(Grampian Club, 1873), p. 71
- ^HMC Mar & Kellie(London, 1904), p. 118.
- ^abBernard Burke (1914).Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage.Burke's Peerage Limited. p. 1254.
- ^David Laing,Correspondence of Sir Robert Kerr, first Earl of Ancram,vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1875), pp. xlviii, li.
