Lord Carlyle is an extinct title in the peerage of
Scotland, conferred in 1473 by King James the Third, on Sir John Carlyle
of Torthorwald, knight. The first of this name in Scotland was one of
the English colonists brought by Robert de Brus into Annandale, when he
obtained a grant of that district from King David the Second. The
surname appears to be local, and was probably assumed from the town of
Carlisle in Cumberland. In the reign of King William the Lion, one Eudo
de Carlyle was witness to a charter of mortification, by Eustace de
Vescy, of twenty shillings per annum out of the mill of Sprouston to the
monastery of Kelso, about 1207. Adam de Carleolo had a charter of
several lands in Annandale, from William de Brus, who died in 1215.
Gilbert de Carlyle was one of the Scottish barons who swore fealty to
King Edward the First in 1296. Sir William de Cairlyle obtained in
marriage the lady Margaret Bruce, one of the daughters of Robert earl of
Carrick, and sister of King Robert the Bruce, as appears by a charter of
that monarch to them of the lands of Crumanston, in which she is
designated “our dearest sister.” Their son, William Carlyle, obtained a
charter from Robert the First, under the name of William Karlo, the
king’s sister’s son, of the lands of Culyn, now Collin, in the county of
Dumfries. He also possessed the lands of Roucan in the vicinity. There
are now two villages bearing these names in the immediate neighbourhood
of Dumfries.
William Carleil was one of the numerous train of
knights and esquires, who attended the princess Margaret of Scotland,
daughter of James the First, into France, on her marriage to Louis the
dauphin, in 1436.
Sir John Carlyle of Torthorwald, the first Lord
Carlyle, was active in repelling the invasion of the banished Douglases
in 1455, when James earl of Douglas, at the head of a considerable
force, entered Scotland by the west marches, and being met in Annandale
by the earl of Angus, the lord Carlisle of Torthorwald, Sir Adam
Johnstone of Johnstone, and other barons, at the head of their vassals,
sustained a total defeat; Archibald, earl of Moray, one of his brothers,
was killed, and Hugh earl of Ormond, another of them, was taken prisoner
by Lord Carlyle and the laird of Johnstone, for which service King James
the Second granted to them the forty pound land of Pettinain in
Lanarkshire. He sat as Lord Carlyle of Torthorwald in the parliament of
November and December 1475. He was subsequently sent on an embassy to
France, and in recompense for the great expense attending it, he had
several grants from the crown in 1477. Among others he received a
charter of the lands of Drumcoll, forfeited by Alexander Boyd. On the
accession of James the Fourth these lands were claimed by the king, as
pertaining to him and his eldest son, and his successors, by letters of
annexation made of Drumcoll, perpetually to remain with the kings and
princes of Scotland, their sons, previous to the grant of the same to
Lord Carlyle, and on 19th January 1488-9 the lords auditors decreed that
the said lands of Drumcoll were the king’s property. His lordship died
before 22d December, 1509. He was twice married. By his first wife,
Janet, he had two sons, John and Robert, and a daughter, married to
Simon Carruthers of Monswald. His second wife, Margaret Douglas, widow
of Sir Edward Maxwell of Monreith, had also two sons to him, namely,
John and George. John, master of Carlyle, the eldest son, died before
his father, leaving a son, William, second Lord Carlyle, who was one of
the three persons invested with the honour of knighthood, 29th January
1487-8, when Alexander, second son of King James the Third, was created
duke of Ross. By Janet Maxwell, his wife, daughter of Robert Lord
Maxwell, he had two sons, James, third lord, and Michael, fourth lord
Carlyle. The latter signed the bond of association for the support of
the authority of King James the Sixth in 1567, and was the only peer
signing it who could not write his name. He was obliged, in consequence,
to have recourse to the assistance of a notary. Soon after, however, he
joined Queen Mary’s party, and entered into the association on her
behalf, at Hamilton, 8th May 1568. He had three sons, namely, William,
master of Carlyle; Michael; and Peter. His eldest son died in 1572, in
the lifetime of his father, leaving an only child, Elizabeth Carlyle,
who married Sir James Douglas of Parkhead, slain by Captain James
Stewart, on the High Street of Edinburgh, 31st July, 1608. On the death
of his eldest son, Lord Carlyle granted a charter of alienation of the
barony of Carlyle, &c., in favour of Michael, his second son, dated at Torthorwald, 14th March, 1573, to which Adam Carlyle of Bridekirk,
Alexander Carlyle his son, John Carlyle of Brakenquhat, and Peter
Carlyle, the third son of his lordship, were witnesses. Of the family of
Bridekirk, here mentioned, the late Dr. Alexander Carlyle of Inveresk, a
notice of whom follows, was the male representative. The above
settlement of the estate was set aside, after a long litigation at a
ruinous expense, and the barony of Carlyle was, on the death of the
fourth lord in 1580, found to belong to his grand-daughter, Elizabeth,
already mentioned, who thus succeeded to the peerage, in her own right.
A charter was granted to George Douglas, second legitimate son of
George
Douglas of Parkhead, of the barony of Carlyle, &c., in the counties of
Dumfries and Lanark, dated on the last day of February, 1594. It is
supposed that he had acquired that estate from his brother Sir James,
who, as above stated, married the heiress of the title and estates, and
had three sons, Sir James, Archibald, and John, the two latter of whom
died without issue.
Sir James Douglas, the eldest son, was, in
right of his mother, created Lord Carlyle of Torthorwald, in 1609. He
married, first, Grizel, youngest daughter of Sir John Gordon of
Lochinvar, by whom, it is said, he had a son, William, who sold his
estate, and died abroad without issue; secondly, Anne Saltonstall, and
by her he had a son, James, baptized at Edinburgh, 2d January 1621.
According to Crawford, James, Lord Carlyle, resigned his title in 1638,
to William earl of Queensberry, who had acquired his estate.
In
1730, William Carlyle of Lochartur, in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright,
was served heir to Michael, fourth Lord Carlyle, as descended from
Michael, his second lawful son. This William Carlyle died about 1757,
and was succeeded by his brother, Michael Carlyle of Lochartur, who, on
his death, left his estate to the heir-male of the family. By a decree
of the House of Lords in 1770, the heir-male was found to be George
Carlyle, whose ancestor had settled in Wales. In him also it was thought
lay the right to the peerage; but after dissipating his estate at
Dumfries, in a few years he returned to Wales. The Rev. Joseph D.
Carlyle, professor of Arabic in Cambridge university, who died in 1831,
was understood to have been the next heir.
Lords Carlyle
of Torthorwald (c.1473–1638)
John Carlyle, 1st Lord
Carlyle (d. 1501)
William Carlyle, 2nd Lord Carlyle (d. 1524)
James Carlyle, 3rd Lord Carlyle (d. 1526)
Michael Carlyle, 4th Lord
Carlyle (d. 1575)
Elizabeth Douglas, 5th Lady Carlyle née Carlyle(?)
(d. c.1605)
James Douglas,
6th Lord Carlyle, 2nd Earl of Queensberry (d. 1671) (surrendered
1638, succeeded as earl 1640)
See also:
• Notes on
the
Douglases of Torthorwald
• Torthorwald
Tower
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