Volume 1

The Scottish nation, or, The surnames, families, literature, honours, and biographical history of the people of Scotland / by William Anderson.

Date:: 1863

Credit: The Scottish nation, or, The surnames, families, literature, honours, and biographical history of the people of Scotland / by William Anderson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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$Adam de Gordon, and other leading bai-ons, were sureties to Edwai-d for the good behaviour of William de Lambyrton, bishop of St. Andrews. [_Ri/mer's Fcedera, tome iii. p. 82.] The same indi\'idual was appointed by Edward warden of the country between the Forth and the mountains of Scot- land, 15th June, 1310. [/i/rf. tome hi. p. 211.] His eldest daughter Margaret w.as man'ied to John Stewart, earl of An- gus, who got with her the barony of Abernethy, the superior- ity of which is still possessed by the family of Douglas, (now Hamilton,) as representatives of the earl of Angus. To the famous letter to the Pope, drawn up by the barons of Scot- l.^nd at the parliament of Aberbrothic 6th April, 1320, appears the n.ame of William de Abemethy, lord of Saltoun. He was the son of the first Sir William de Abernethy of Saltoiui. His son, also named Sir William, appears in the list of noble persons who fought at the battle of Halidon hill, 19th July, 1333, [Hailes' Annals, vol. ii. p. 307,] from which disastrous field he appears to have escaped. He had from David II. a grant of the lands of Rothiemay in Aberdeenslui-e. George Abemethy of Saltoun, his son, was taken prisoner at the fatal fight of Durham, 17th Oct., 1346. At the battle of Harlaw 24th July 1411, William Abernethy, son and heir to the Lord Saltoun, was one of the principal leaders, and was slain. But although he is called the worthy Lord Saltone, and of his death it is said in the popular ballad, And on the other side war lost Into the field that dismal day, Chief men of worth of mickle cost. To be lamented sair for aye. The lord Saltone of Rothiemay, A man of micht and mickle main. Great dolour was for his decay That sae unhappily was slain; yet the peerage was not confen'ed upon the family till 28th June, 1445,-34 years later,— in the person of Lam-ence Abernethy of Saltoun and Rothiemay, created Baron Saltoun of Abemethy, and as the said William Abernethy predeceased his father, he was called the Lord Saltone only by comtesy. This Lam-ence Abemethy of Saltoun and Rothiemay, first Lord Saltoun, was the twelfth in descent from Onn the founder of the family. Margaret, the eldest daughter of the seventh Lord Saltoun, married Sir Alexander Fraser of Phil- orth in Abeixleenshire, and their son. Sir Alexander Fraser, became the tenth Lord Saltoun, and his descendants suc- ceeded to the title. The brother of his mother, John, eighth Lord Saltoun, sold the estate of Rotliiemay. The family of Abernethy is now represented by the Frasers of Philorth, lords Saltoun.—See Saltoun. — The parish and village of Abemethy are of gi-eat antiquity. The latter was at one period the capital of the Pictish kings. It is named by various English writers and by Fordoun as the place where Malcolm Canmore concluded a peace with Wil- liam the Conqueror in 1072, delivered to him hostages, and did homage to him for the lands which he held in England. But although now a mean village, it would appear,says Dr. Jamieson, that it was a royal residence in the reign of one of the Pictish princes who bore the name of Nethan or Neotan. The Pictish chronicle has ascribed the foundation of Aberne- thy to Nethan I., in the third yeai- of his reign, coiTesponding with A.D. 458. The Register of St. Andrews, with gi-eater probability, gives it to Nethan II. about the year 600. We find that while the church of Abemethy was granted by William I. in 1178, to his foundation of the abbey of Aber- brothock, Orme, abbot of Abemethy, granted the half of the tithes of the property of himself and his heb-s to the same institution. The other half belonged to the Culdees, as in ancient times Abernethy was a principal seat of the Culdees, who had a univex-sity at Abemethy, which in 1273 was turned into a priory of canons regular of St. Augustine. It is a burgh of bai-ony, and has a charter from Aaxhibald, earl of Angus, lord of Abemethy, dated November 29, 1628. The title of Lord Abernethy was confeiTed on the earl of Angus when created marquis of Douglas in 1633, and is now one of the inferior titles of the duke of Hamilton as representative and cliief of the illustrious house of Douglas.—See Hamilton. ABERNETHY, John, an eminent physician of Loudon, was born in 1763 or 1764, at Abernethy in Perthshire,it is believed; although Londonderry in Ireland is also mentioned as his birth-place. When very young, liis parents removed to Lon- don, where he was apprenticed to the late Mr. (afterwards Sir) Charles Blick, surgeon of St. Bartholomew's Hospital. He was the pupil and friend of the celebrated John Hunter. In 1780, on being elected assistant-surgeon to St. Bartho- lomew's, he began to give lectures in the hospital on anatomy and surgerj'. On the death of Sir Charles Blick he succeeded him as surgeon to the Hospital. In 1793 he published 'Surgical and Physiological Essays.' In 1804 appeared ' Surgical Observations,' volume first, relating to tumours, and two years afterwards, volume se- cond, treating principally of the digestive organs. Having been elected anatomical lecturer to the Royal College of Surgeons, he published in 1814 the subject of his first two lectures, under the title of' An Enquiry into Mr. Hunter's Tlieory of Life,' elucidatory of his old master's opinions of the vital processes. In 1809 appeared his ' Sur- gical Observations on the Constitutional Origin and Treatment of Local Diseases, and on Aneu- risms,' in wliich are detailed his memorable cases of tying the iliac artery for aneurism ; a bold and successful operation, which at once established his reputation. He was the author of several other popular medical works. In chemistiy, we owe to liim in conjunction with Mr. Howard, brother of the duke of Norfolk, the discover}' of the fulmi- nating mercury, the force of which, as an explo- sive power, is greater than that of gunpowder. He died on the 20th of April, 1831, at his house at Enfield. Many amusing anecdotes are related of his eccentricities. He attributed most com- plaints to the disordered state of the stomach, and his chief remedies were exercise and regulation of tlie diet. Once he prescribed a skipping rope to a$