CHALMER OF THAT ILK, OR OF GALDGIRTH, IN THE SHIRE OF AYR, CHIEF OF THAT NAME, AND ALSO OF THE ORIGINAL DESIGNATION OF THE BARONY OF GALDGIRTH

"ALTHOUGH the titles of designations of lands are at present much altered, yet the lands or barony possessed by the name of Chalmer in Ayrshire is very ancient by their designations, according to the famous Sir George McKenzie, who, in his defence of the royal line of Scotland, vol. 2d, page 373, says,

"And all this confirmed by Ferarius, a stranger; and to this I may add that, we have to this day a barony called Galdgirth, or the Girth of Galdus, and ten stones in Galloway called King Galdus's monument, marks of antiquity far preferable to any manuscript, as the testimony or consent of a whole nation is to that of one private person; two of which arguments are used by Chalmer of Ormond, in the life of King Galdus, who fought the Romans under the command of Agricola near the Grampian hills, as all our Scots historians relate."

Thus far as to the title or designation of the land or barony of Galdgirth; and as to the name of Chalmer, or Chamber, or de Camera, this last being the name given to Chalmer of Gadgirth, down to the reign of King James VI, in all his old charters; but as those lands or barony of Galdgirth were possessed by that name very long ago, I, therefore, shall give the following account of the name, and how soon it was possessed by them.

Those who have, with the greatest care, diligence, and exactness, inquired into the origin and progress of sirnames with us, are of the opinion, that the sirname of Chalmers in Latin (conform to the old charters of the family) Camerarius or de Camera, when spoke of locally, is derived from the office of Camerarius Regis, or chamberlain to the crown; Herbertus Camerarius Scotiae, one of the ancestors, of this ancient and honourable family, having exercised that great office of chamberlain of Scotland as early as the reign of King David I., and held the same under Alexander I^(a). This Hebertus Camerarius is witness to the deed or grant which King David made Ecclesiae Sancti Kintigerni de Glasgow of the lands of Govan, which became afterwards an endowment for a prebend in the cathedral church; he is also witness to the donation which this devout prince made to the church of Totham. Ecclesiae sancti trinitatis de London, pro salute anima suae, at pro anima Matildis reginae sororis suae Matildis uxoris suae ac Simonis comitis^(b). Besides what possessions this great man had in the west in the shire of Ayr, and district thereof called Kyle, we find from authentic documents that he had the lands and barony of Kinneil in Linlithgowshire; for in a charter by King David II, to Sir David, the son of Sir Walter de Hamiltone, of the lands of Kinneil, they are given him to be held of the crown as fully and as freely as quandam Herbertus Camerarius regis David held the same^(c). At length this great man in his old age took orders, and became abbot of Kelso, in shich station he died.

The descendant of this great man, Reginaldus de Camera, his son, before he was in orders, and sometimes designed, Reginaldus de Camera as a sirname, is possessed of the lands and barony of Gadgirth in the reign of King William, anno 1165, and assumed the sirname of de Camera or Camerarius, from the office of his father, just the same way as the great steward of Scotland took the sirname from his office Senescathis Scotiae.

This Reginaldus de Camera, or Chalmer of Galdgirth, is a frequent witness to the gifts and donations made by Walterus Dapifer regis Scotiae to the monks of Paisley, when he founded that monastery fro Cluniack monks in the year 1160,^(d) out of his estate of Kyle Stewart, in the neighbourhood of the barony of Galdgirth and so could be no other than the ancestor of this ancient family, who, without all contradiction, held then these lands.

The antiquity of the house of Galdgirth is further fortified and established by the writ under the great seal of Scotland in the year 1609, where the crown asserts that Chalmer of Galdgirth had before that time possessed the barony of Galdgirth for upwards of 500 years, and had lived in Ayrshire with great lustre all that while^(e). The words in Latin are, qui quidem Camerarii baronne de Galdgirth, ab annis jam amplius quingentis illius nominis principes claruerunt ut ex authenticis illius demus monumentis constat.

By the various accidents that hath happened to this ancient family, as well as many others who have had the same fate, their first and most ancient charters of their estate are lost, at least are amissing, which occassions a hiatus in the line and succession of the family till the reign of King John Baliol, that we find Willielmus de Camera amongst the rest of the freeholders in Kyle, swearing allegiance to King Edward I of England, as superior of the Kingdom of Scotland, in that bond extorted by concussion, commonly called the Ragman Roll^(f). But however he might think himself bound by his oath to this invader of the liberties of his country, yet it is plain and evident that his son, Reginald Chalmer of Galdgirth, did not think himself bound by his father's oath or deed to maintain or support the illegal or unjust encroachments the English then made upon the honour and independancy of Scotland; for we find no sooner King Robert Bruce took the field, with a view to retreive the honour of the crown, and the freedom and independancy of his country, than he resorted to him, and stuck inviolably by him in all the vicissitudes of fortune thet befel him; so that how soon he was established in the throne after the battle of Bannockburn, that he began to reward the loyalty and merit of such of his subjects as had at all times adhered to him with inviolable fidelity; he, among others, gave this worthy patriot^(g) a charter under the great seal of his own esate of Galdgirth, under the title of Reginald de Camera terrarum de Galdgirth

The charter wants a date, a very usual thing in ancient writes; but by the best conjecture I could make it is about 1320, much about the time that the famous letter was sent by Pope John XXII wherein the honour and independancy of Scotland is so strongly asserted.

The son and successor of this Reginald Chalmer of Galdgirth, as appears by chronology and concurring circumstances that have been examined very carefully, was William de Camera or Chalmer, who we find is the head and representative of this ancient family in the reign of King David Bruce, the son and successor of that immortal hero King Robert: he retained the same loyal and inviolable attachment to King David which his father had to King Robert; for having adhered to him in all the turns of the times, and when that monarch's affairs were at the lowest ebb of fortune, he manifested his unshaken loyalty in the most eminent and exemplary manner; for which we find that after the King's releasement from his long captivity in England, that brave prince rewarded this gentleman's faithful services by making him Clerk Register and Justice Clerk benorth of the River of Forth, ex boreali parte aquae de Forth, when at that time the kingdom, with respect to the cicuits of justiciary, was divided into two districts of south and north of the river of Forth; his commission for the office is still extant in the public archives of Scotland, anno 1369^(h)

The son and successor of this William was another Reginald de Camera of Galdgirth, who had a grant of a charter from King Robert II of the lands of Craiginfeuch within the barony of Renfrew, for his good and faithful services to that prince, as the charter bears, dated in the year 1375⁽ⁱ⁾. And I have seen the charter of alienation of the lands of Craigenfeuch to the Lord Semple by the Laird of Galdgirth in the hands of the Earl of Dundonald, anno 1507, which is in the reign of King James IV. And in the rolls of the shire of Renfrew are called Craiginfeuch Chalmer to this very day. Of this Reginald Chalmer of Galdgirth I have seen nothing farther memorable, but that he was succeeded in his estate by Sir John Chalmer of Galdgirth, his son, who in several authentic documents that are still extant is called Lord of Galdgirth. This designation of Lord of Galdgirth and dominus de Galdgirth, plainly imports that this ancient family were then considered as great barons who had hereditary seats in Parliament virtute tenurae, by virtue of their tenures, or holding their baronies immediately of the crown; and that they had a right to continue their seats in Parliament even long after the act of Parliament by King James I dispensing with the attendance of the smaller barons, who being vassals of the crown, were obliged to give attendance in parliament, and which was only dispensed with in the 1427^(k) And this shews that the feudal dignity of a barony did make a lord of Parliament without nomination by the sovereign, and that the great barons, such as the Laird of Galdgirth was, were considered in the rank and character of the proceres and the magnates regni from the earliest of times.

But that we may advance nothing here without a sufficient document to vouch the fact, there is in the custody of the Faculty of the University of Glasgow a charter of mortification By Margareta Senaschall Domina de Craigrie in sua pura viduitate of the sum of ten merks sterling, out of her estate, fratibus predicatorum de Glasgow, that is, to the convent of the Blackfriars, pro salute anima suae &c. To this deed, which is dated the 6th of April 1399, there are witnesses these great men, nobilus viris at Dominus Willielmus de Cunningham Deminus de Kilmaurs, Gilbertus de Kennedy Dominus Dunwhoore, Joannes de Camera Dominus de Galdgirth; and the designation of de Camera given to the family long after they have used the designation of Galdgirth shews plainly, yea demonstrably, that all the several ancestors of the house of Galdgirth in the registers of Paisley &c. are all the ancestors of this ancient family.

This Sir John Chalmer, Lord of Galdgirth, as he is designed, was succeeded by another John Chalmer of Galdgirth, his son, we find designed Dominus de Galdgirth. He was one of thses Brave and valiant Scotsmen who went over to France with the Scots auxiliaries in the year 1419 to the assistance of Charles VII against the English, under the conduct of the Earls of Douglas and Buchan, in the reign of King James I where, at the battle of Vernoil, he behaved with great resolution, bravery, and courage, where the English army, under the Duke of Clarence, received a signal overthrow; whereupon, as a lasting testimony of the favour of the crown of France, he had a flower-de-luce, a part of the royal bearing of France added to his coat of arms, which a lion held in his dexter paw, which the family ever since have been in use to carry as their crest, which before this time was a hawk volant, with bearing the motto [Spiro]. And some of the eldest cadets and branches of the family have the same bearing, with a mark of cadency, both in France, province of Normandy, and the ancient family of Strichen in the north of Scotland; of which family the learned David Chalmers of Ormond, Chancellor of Ross, and one of the Senators of the College of Justice, Chancellor to Queen Mary and King James VI was a son, viz. to Andrew Chalmers of Strichen. He was a very learned man, and wrote a curious history of the Kings of Scotland, dedicated to Queen Mary to whom he adhered, which is extant in the libraries of the curious; but althoough the Lord Ormond was of Aberdeenshire by birth^(l) yet there's an authentic document I have seen, written to a namesake of his own in France, Monsieur Chalmer, Baron de Tartas that the Lord Galdgirth or Baron of Galdgirth, in Scotland, was the chief of the line, and of the name of Chalmer.

The testimony of so learned a man must go very far to convince every body that he was in the right, and that no other family had any the least pretension to the chiefship of the name but the house of Galdgirth. Thinking this more honourable than the former bearing of the family, it seems they relinquished the quartered coat, the mollet, and fess checkie, and wore the lion issuing out of the fess in the shield as their principal bearing, although it is certain that on the old seals of the family the bearing is quarterly first and fourth, a mollet in the centre of the field, second and third, a fess checkie, the very principal bearing of the illustrious family of the Stewarts, and which is constantly asserted they got by their alliance with that illustrious family before they came to the crown; and the coat of arms, as above described, is still the achievment of this ancient family. There is a constant tradition that this Laird of Galdgirth was slain at the battle of Herring in France, where so many brave men of Scotland lost their lives, and which is the more confirmed, that after the 1429 there is no mention of him in the records or archives of the family; but it is plain he was succeeded by

Sir John Chalmer of Galdgirth, his son, who appears to have been very young at his father's death: he had the honour of Knighthood conferred upon him by King James III, with whom he seems by the monuments that are remaining of him to have been in a considerable degree of favour; and being a gentleman of parts and reputataion for wisdom, conduct, and prudence, we find him called by the crown to sit and vote in Parliament, a right the crown reserved to itself when the act first passed, dispensing with the attendance of the smaller barons in the year 1427; and it is a very eminent indication of the character of the person so called by the king's writ and special precept, that the persons were men of distinguished parts, and the heads and representatives of the most considerable families, from the records and registers of Parliament in our public archives. It appears by the rolls of the Parliament 1484, the first Parliament of King James IV that there is found sitting Dominus de Galdgirth; and he is placed and ranked inter Dominum Ker at Dominum de Balcomy, two of the greatest barons of Scotland, and he has then the same character, being ranked after the one and before the other^(m). This Sir John Chalmer of Galdgirth, who, as in the writs of the family, Dominus Joannes Chalmer de Galdgirth miles, married Dame Elizabeth Hamilton⁽ⁿ⁾ daughter to James the first Lord Hamilton by Dame Janet Livingstone, his wife, a lady of the Livingstons of Callender, by whom he had John Chalmer of Galdgirth, his son and heir, whom I find designed in the records of that time, filius at heres Domini Joannis Chalmer de Galdgirth militis, where he gets a charter of the lands of Newtown of Strathaven, anno 1491^(o)

This John Chalmer of Galdgirth, the younger, in the year 1491 married Marion Hay daughter to Peter Hay of Minzon, brother of John Lord Yester, ancestor to the Marquis of Tweddale,^(p) by whom he had a son, James, and three daughthers, -Margaret, married to George Campbell of Cesnock; Helen to Robert Mure of Polkelie; and Martha, who was married to Sir William Cunningham of Cunningham-head; and Isabel, married to William Dalrymple of Stair; which family of Stair have been under singular obligations to the succeeding lairds of Galdgirthsince that time, and particularly, James first Viscount of Stair, as appears by his letter to James Chalmers of Galdgirth, a copy whereof is annexed hereto.

James Chalmer, the next Baron of Galdgirth, was infeft or had investiture of his estate upon a precept directed furth of the Chancery for that effect, the first October 1501. He married ----- Steuart, daughter of Alexander Stuart of Galstown, brother to John the first Earl of Lennox and Darnley, the paternal ancestor of our kings of the Stuartine line, by whom he had a son, Robert, his successor, and a daughter Margaret who was married to Robert Cunningham of Cunningham-head, and had issue.

Which Robert Chalmer of Galdgirth married Margaret, daughter of Sir Hugh Campbell of Loudoun, by Dame Isabel, his wife, daughter of Sir Hugh Wallace of Craigie^(q) by whom he had issue, James, his son and heir, Andrew Chalmer of Nether Burntshiel, and a daughter, Margaret, who was married to Alan Cathcart of Charletoun, and had issue.

James Chalmer of Galdgirth, his son, at the time of the Reformation from popery and of our falling off from the Church of Rome, was a most zealous reformer, and has the character from our historians, paricularly Archbishop Spottiswood and Mr. Knox of being one of the most bold and daring men of any on the side of the Reformation.^(r). He had several charters under the great seal of parts and particles of the estate in the year 1548, both in the shires of Ayr and Wigtown.^(s). He married Annabella, daughter of John Cunningham of Caprintown, by Annabella, his wife, daughter of John Campbell of Wester Loudoun and widow of David Boswell of Auchinleck, by whom, he had James, his successor, and three daughters; Annabella, married to James Crawford of Auchinames; ---- Margaret to James Boyd of Trochreg, Archbishop of Glasgow, mother by him to the learned and celebrated Dr. Robert Boyd of Trochregg, so famous for piety and learning throughout the reformed churches; Marion the third daughter of this James Chalmers of Galdgirth, was married to Thomas Kennedy of Ardmillan.

James Chalmer, the next Baron of Galdgirth, married Marion, daughter of John Fullerton of Dreghorn by Alison, his wife, daughter to John Muir of Rowallan, by whom he had James, his son and heir, also four daughters; Annabella, who was married to William Dunbar of Enterkine, and had issue; Mary to John Gordon of Earlestoun, and had issue; Isobel to George Corrie of Hillwood; Agnes to William Stuart of Halrig.

James Chalmer, son and heir to the former James, was infeft in his estate as heir to his father, anno 1580^(t). He married Isabel, daughter to Sir Patrick Houston of that Ilk, by Dame Janet, his wife, daughter to Gabreil Cunningham of Craigens, by whom he had James his successor; also daughters; Jean married to John Brisbane of Bishoptoun, or of that Ilk, and had issue; Helen to John Crawford of Crawfordland, and had issue; Jean to William Wallace of Ellerslie, and had issue; which James so succeeding, married Isabel, daughter to John Blair of that Ilk, by Grizel, his wife, daughter to Robert Lord Semple; by her he had a son, John, his successor; Margaret, who was married to David Crawford of Kers, and again to Ferguson of Craigdarroch; Jean to William Gordon of Craichlaw; Elizabeth to McCubin of Knockdolean; Janet to Wallace of Cairnhill; Annabella to Mr. John Schaw of Drumgrange. He also had three younger sons, Reginald of Polquhairn; David of Elsick in Galloway, Brice and Robert Chalmer. This James Chalmer of Galdgirth was, by the special favour of King Charles I, made sherriff-principal of Ayrshire anno 1632, when the crown acquired that heritable jurisdiction from lord Loudon. His commission is still extant in the charter-chest of the family.

John Chalmer, the next in succession of the line of this ancient family, married Mary, daughter to Sir Dougal Campbel of Auchinbreck Bart., by Dame Helen, his wife, daughter to Alexander Colquhoun of Luss, by whom he had John, his son and heir; William Chalmer of Blackcraig; Allan Chalmer of Sauchrie.

John Chalmer of Galdgirth, his son, married Margaret, the eldest daughter to Colonel James Montgomery of Coilsfield, second son to Alexander Earl of Eglintoun. This Colonel James Montgomery married Margaret, daughter to Alexander McDonald of Isla, with whose daughter, Margaret, John Chalmer of Galdgirth had first John, his son and heir, a second James, a third Hugh, who, while scarce 17 years of age, was killed in the battle of Malplaquet er Mons near the town of that name in the Austrian Netherlands, in the month of September 1709; also three daughters, Mary, Anna and Elizabeth.

John, the eldest son, betook himself to the army at the age of 16, entered to the service of the States-General of the United Provinces, as a volumteer in the regiment of foot commanded by Lieutenant-General George Hamilton, where, for his service, he was preferres to a captian's commission, and the command of a company, in which he continued till November 1714, when, by the generalreduction of the army, that regiment was broke, and continued upon the establishment of British half-pay till December 1726, when he was preferred to the command of a company in the regiment commanded by the Right Honourable the Earl of Delorain, which he at present enjoys.

The affairs of the family went into disorder anno 1692, occasioned in the great measure, by the great debts contracted through the family's firm adherence to King Charles I during the troubles of that reign, and the great advances of money lent to his friends; under which debts the family continued struggling till the year 1692, that adjudications were carried on against the estate.

Some short time thereafter, viz in April 1695, James Viscount of Stair, Hugh Earl of London, (who married his grand-daughter), the Lady Crichton, daughter of the said Viscount, and Mr. David Cunningham of Milncraig, (afterwards Sir David), married to another of the said Viscount's daughters, entered into a contract amongst themselves, whereby certain proportions of the estate were alloted to each by one another at 16 years purchase, of which they became bound to make effective payment by purchasing the preferable debts affecting the same.

By this contract, a small proportion of the estate was reserved to the heir of the family, who was the present Captain John Chalmer, then within pupilarity, and of which alone the Captain is presently in possession.

The Captain ann. 1725 having taken advice about the affairs of the family, and, particularly, about the foresaid contract 1695, was advised that the rate of the purchase was too low; and, therefore, before he would accede to the same, he insisted that two years purchase might be added thereto, which, accordingly, the parties contractors, or their representatives, having agreed to, he ratified the contract 1695.

Notwithstanding that Sir James Cunningham, now of Milncraig, was himself a party to the contract 1725, yet he refused to implement his father's part of the article 1695, with the addition consented to by himself. This obliged the Captain to insist against Sir James in an expensive process to make good the foresaid articles; and is thus endeavouring to retrieve the ancient family of his predecessors.

The Captain imputes the ruinous state of the family in the year 1692 very much to Sir David Cunningham, who was from 1680 sole agent, and thereafter ordinary advocate for the family; and thereby had access to the writs, and possibly suffered the affairs of the family to go into confusion, (the late Galdgirth being an indolent man), that he might have opportunity to get part of the estate at his own price; and accordingly, we find him, in the year 1693, entering into a solemn treaty with the most considerable creditors for the barony of Martenham, &c. no small portion of the estate, and which he got ascertained to him by the subsequent articles 1695, wherein he associates the other honourable persons for other parts of the estate.

Here follows a copy of the letter by James Viscount of Stair to James Chalmer of Galdgirth, dated Galsgow, may 27th., 1641 and directed as follows. -

"To the Right Honourable and his most respected Captain the Laird of Galdgirth,

Right Honourable,

The fervencyof my affection, and the sense of duty I owe, could not suffer me to let this occasion slip without representing to you that most adherent respect and intirrest service which the lustring rays of your worth so oft refelxed upon me, though, in nothing else, yet in that happy and obnumberating shade of your favour, wherewith I have so long been circumcepted, hath produced in this heart, which no tearing teeth of time or forgetfulness shall be able to make shorter than the yondmost periods of my subsistence,since then only as yet I am able to pay the first fruits of my due oblidgements. But least I should seem as with a compliment to confirm that which I hope you shall never call in question, my pen being unable to express my wishes and these my thoughts, and all being inferior to what they should be, I must in this let all resolve such as I wish with all my heart to you and yours, even such moet those be which God bestoweth upon myself. I am glad of any hopes I hear of your relief from that your toilsome and troublesome desease: As for me in that only I am discontent, that I neither had your advice and approbation through the celerity of the occasion to this alteration of my course, nor your opinion since; so not daring to take up any more of that time which is appointed for better ends, with remembrance of your lady and children, I must take leave, and remain,

Your most addicted servant and respective Cousin,

Glasgow, 27th 1641, JA. DALRYMPLE

This letter was wrote by the Viscount of Stair immediately upon his leaving the army, where he had served as a captain, and his being admitted one of the Professors of Philosophy in the College of Glasgow. He had received from the lair of Galdgirth diverse marks of favour, whereof he here declares his due sense in the strongest terms, and which he was never to forget; whether the partition of the setate, concluded by the same Viscount and others anno 1695, was an evidence of his indelible friendship for the family, the world must judge.

It is possible the teeth of time, as the Viscount expresses it, might have worn out his impressions of affections to the family before the year 1695, notwithstanding of his strong resolutions to the contrary anno 1641. But the captain, who knows not the particularr motives to these measures, shall make no difinitive judgement upon them.

NOTE as the Family of GALDGIRTH from the death of Captain CHALMER to the present time, 1815.

Captain Chalmers never married; and dying intestate, that portion of the lands of Galdgirth which the creditors allowed him to obtain possession of fell to this three sisters, Mary, Anna, and Elizabeth; the former married the Reverend Mr. Steele, but had no issue; the second married Mr. Farquhar of Townhead, and also had no isse; and the third married Mr. John Muir of the town of Ayr, and had several children. Their eldest son, John Muir, was bred to the law, and admitted as a writer to the signet. He, upon the death of his parents, obtained that portion of the lands of Galdgirth which was his mother's; and his aunt, Anna, desirous of perpetuating the name Chalmer, engaged, in her lifetime, to make over her share of the estate upon his assuming the family name; which he, accordingly, did, under royal authority. This John Chalmer intermarried with Miss E. Farquhar of Edinburgh, and by her had issue, all of whom are dead except one son, named George, and a daughter, Anna. The former was bred in the navy, and served as a lieutenant in the American war. But when peace came he went to India; and having applied himself to the profession of the law, was admitted an advocate in the courts of judicature at Madras, in which situation he realized, with a highl honourable character, a very competent fortune, and returned to Britain; and being married, has issue one son, Francis, and two daughters, Anna and Eliza; the former an officer in the First Dragoon Guards."