Bestowing charity: war widows and the Privy Council during the Williamite Revolution in Scotland (1688–91)

ABSTRACT

Despite an ongoing war and rumours of treason and brutality, the Scottish Privy Council adopted a widespread charitable effort to repatriate and aid destitute women and children during the Williamite Revolution (1688–91). The contributions of soldiers and sailors to the Scottish armies during the Revolution meant their dependents often had to file for assistance. Wartime demands increased the scope by which women could interact with the central authorities and challenged their conceptions of the power and legitimacy of government. Focusing on the petitionary records contained within the Scottish Treasury register and the Scottish Privy Council records, this article shows women’s interactions with the political process and the process for petitioning for charitable relief. The petitioning process was rigorous, complex, and tied to the administration’s authority. Women’s success in this arena illustrates their understanding and knowledge in maneuvering within the political process.

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 At the time, the High Commissioner was George Melville, first Earl of Melville.

2 Act In favours of Barbara McDonald and the Lord of the theasurie ther precept this 19 May 1690, Exchequer Records: Treasury Vouchers, Commissioners of Treasury: Charity, 1689–1691, E28/470/17, National Records for Scotland, Edinburgh. [henceforth Charity 1689–1691, NRS].

3 R. Mason, ‘Women, Marital Status, and Law: The Marital Spectrum in Seventeenth-Century Glasgow,’ Journal of British Studies 58, (2019), pp. 787–804 at footnote 2 provides a helpful scale for measuring money. Mason states that by 1600 £12 Scots was equivalent to £1 Sterling. Act In favours of Barbara McDonald 19 May 1690, Charity, 1689–1691, E28/470/17, NRS.

4 R. S. Rait, The Parliaments of Scotland (Glasgow, 1924), p. 158; J. R. Young, ‘The Scottish Parliament and the Covenanting Heritage of Constitutional Reform’, in A. Macinnes and J. Ohlmeyer (eds), The Stuart Kingdoms in the Seventeenth Century: Awkward Neighbours (Dublin, 2002), p. 230.

5 Rait, Parliaments of Scotland; J.R Young, ‘The 1689 Convention of Estates and the Parliament of 1689–90 in Scotland: Securing the Williamite Regime in the Context of the War in Ireland’, in A. Soddu and F. Soddu (eds), Assemblee rappresentative, autonomie territoriali, culture politiche (Sassari, 2011), pp. 229–30; J.R. Young, ‘The Scottish Parliament and the War for the Three Kingdoms, 1639–1651’, Parliaments Estates and Representation 21, (2001), p. 104.

6 D. Patrick, ‘People and Parliament in Scotland, 1689–1702,’ (University of St. Andrews, PhD thesis, 2002).

7 For more on the Covenanting era see: Young, ‘Covenanting Heritage,’ pp. 226–51; A.I. Macinnes, ‘The Multiple Kingdoms of Britain and Ireland: The “British Problem,”’ in B. Coward (ed), A Companion to Stuart Britain (Oxford, 2008); A. Shukman, Bishops and Covenanters: The Church in Scotland 1688–1691 (Edinburgh, 2013); J.R. Young, The Scottish Parliament 1639–1661: A Political and Constitutional Analysis (Edinburgh, 1996); Young, ‘Scottish Parliament and the War for the Three Kingdoms,’ pp. 103–23.

8 An Account of the Proceedings of the Estates in Scotland 1689–1690, E. W. M. Balfour-Melville (ed), 2 vols, (Edinburgh, 1954–55), vol. 1 (1954), p. 108.

9 A. Mann, ‘House Rules: Parliamentary Procedure’, in K.M. Brown and A.R. MacDonald (eds), The History of the Scottish Parliament, Volume 3: Parliament in Context (Edinburgh, 2010), p. 125.

10 L. Rayner, ‘The Tribulations of Everyday Government in Williamite Scotland’, in S. Adams and J. Goodare (eds), Scotland in the Age of Two Revolutions (Suffolk, 2014), pp. 193–4.

11 Skelmorlie’s family seat in Ayrshire was an area of great importance due to the local reaction during the revolutionary period. Skelmorlie was also a leader of the Club which battled with William’s royal agenda over religion and the Lords of the Articles. John Dalrymple was later made Lord Advocate and one of the Secretaries of State for Scotland who had an intimate role in bringing about the end of the Highland War in 1691. Skelmorlie and John Dalrymple were also two of the three representatives sent to offer the Scottish crown to William and Mary. Patrick, ‘People and Parliament,’ p. 175; K. Brown et al. (eds), The Records of the Parliaments of Scotland to 1707 (University of St. Andrews, 2007–22), www.rps.ac.uk, 1689/3/20, 16 March 1689 [hereinafter RPS], RPS 1689/3/25, 18 March 1689, RPS 1689/3/74, 28 March 1689.

12 B.J. Harris, ‘Women and Politics in Early Tudor England’, Historical Journal 33 (1990), pp. 259–81.

13 P. Lake and S. Pincus, ‘Rethinking the Public Sphere in Early Modern England’, Journal of British Studies 45, (2006), p. 290; A. Blakeway and L. Stewart, ‘Writing Scottish Parliamentary History c.1500–1700,’ Parliamentary History 40, (2021), p. 105.

14 See S. Talbott, ‘Scottish Women and the Scandinavian Wars of the Seventeenth Century’ in Northern Studies 40, (2007), pp. 102–27; S. Murdoch and K. Zickermann, ‘“Bereft of all Human Help?”: Scottish Widows during the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648),’ Northern Studies 50, (2019), pp. 114–34; H. Worthen, ‘Supplicants and Guardians: the petitions of Royalist widows during the Civil Wars and Interregnum, 1642–1660,’ Women’s History Review 26, (2017), pp. 528–40, and I. Peck, ‘The Great Unknown: The Negotiation and Narration of Death by English War widows, 1647–60,’ Northern History 53, (2016), pp. 220–35. Graeme Millen has most recently used the Dutch widows petitions in his research about the Anglo-Dutch Brigade’s make-up and service in the Highland War (1689–1691), ‘The Scots-Dutch Brigade and the Highland War, 1689–1691,’ (University of Kent, PhD thesis, 2022).

15 K. Cullen, Famine in Scotland – the 'Ill Years' of the 1690s (Edinburgh, 2010), p. 96.

16 K. Bowie and T. Munck, ‘Early Modern Petitioning and Public Engagement in Scotland, Britain and Scandinavia, c.1550–1795,’ Parliaments, Estates & Representation 38 (2018), pp. 271–8.

17 RPS, 1689/3/108, 11 April 1689.

18 The role of the High Commissioner as the monarch’s representative in the parliamentary chamber was to give royal approval or ascent to acts of parliament; effectively the high commissioner served as custodian of the crown’s agenda and was the head of government in the monarch’s absence.

19 Cullen, Famine in Scotland, p. 96.

20 RPS 1649/1/192, 1 March 1649.

21 A. Mann, ‘The Law of the Person: Parliament and Social Control’, in The History of the Scottish Parliament, volume 3: Parliament in Context, 1235 to 1707, p. 210 especially footnote 81.

22 Mann, ‘Law of the Person,’ p. 210.

23 For more information see legislation ‘Concerning the ward, relief and marriage of those that shall happen to be slain in our sovereign lord's service in defence of his majesty's authority’ see: RPS 1571/8/20, 28 August 1571.

24 The Scottish Parliament had legislated for the relief of victims of warfare and war widows of Covenanters in 1644. An Act in favor of Lamed Soldiers was passed on 29 July 1644 meant wounded and maimed soldiers were to be supplied by the public purse and part of the financial package agreed between the Scottish and English Parliaments. Young, ‘The Scottish Parliament and the War for the Three Kingdoms, 1639–1651,’ p. 110; D.J. Appleby, ‘Unnecessary Persons? Maimed Soldiers and war widows in Essex, 1642–1662,’ Essex Archaeology and History 32, (2001), p. 210.

25 T. Harris, Revolution: The Great Crisis of the British Monarchy, 1685–1720 (London, 2006); T. Harris and S. Taylor (eds), The Final Crisis of the Stuart Monarchy: The Revolutions of 1688–91 in their British, Atlantic and European Contexts (Woodbridge, 2013); S. Pincus, 1688: The First Modern Revolution (New Haven, 2009); C. Jackson, Restoration Scotland 1660–1690: Royalist Politics, Religion and Ideas (Woodbridge, 2003); A. Raffe, The Culture of Controversy: Religious Arguments in Scotland, 1660–1714 (Woodbridge, 2012); G. Gardner, The Scottish Exile Community in the Netherlands, 1660–1690: ‘Shaken together in a Bag of Affliction’ (Edinburgh, 2004); Adams and Goodare (eds), Scotland in the Age of Two Revolutions.

26 L. Stewart, ‘Introduction: Publics and Participation in Early Modern Britain,’ Journal of British Studies 56, (2017), p. 712.

27 R. Weil, A Plague of Informers: Conspiracy and Political Trust in William III’s England (New Haven, 2013), pp. 8–10; M. Knights, Representation and Misrepresentation in Later Stuart Britain: Partisanship and Political Culture (Oxford, 2005).

28 Whiting, Women and Petitioning, p. 2.

29 Weil, Plague of Informers; Blakeway and Stewart, ‘Writing Scottish Parliamentary History,’ p. 105.

30 Hudson, ‘Negotiating for Blood Money,’ pp. 146–69.

31 Worthen, ‘Supplicants and Guardians,’ pp. 528–40; Appleby, ‘Unnecessary Persons,’ pp. 209–21; Peck, ‘Great Unknown,’ pp. 220–35; J.R. Young, ‘Escaping Massacre: Refugees in Scotland in the aftermath of the 1641 Ulster rebellion’, in D. Edwards, P. Lenihan and, C. Tait (eds), Age of Atrocity: Violence and Political Conflict in Early Modern Ireland (eds) (Dublin, 2007), pp. 219–41; A. Button, ‘Royalist Women Petitioners in Southwest England, 1655–1662,’ The Seventeenth Century 15, (2000), pp. 53–66.

32 Murdoch and Zickermann, “‘Bereft of all Human Help?”’, pp. 114–34.

33 Adam Fox has argued that boundaries between forms of communication including reading, writing, and speech were thoroughly permeable, A. Fox, Oral and Literate Culture in England 1500–1700 (Oxford, 2000), pp. 5–6, 36, 39.

34 Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, of the Reign of William and Mary. May 1690-October 1691, W.J. Hardy (ed), (London, 1898), p. 332 [hereinafter CSPD 1690–1691].

35 ‘May 1647: An Ordinance for Relief of Maimed Soldiers and Mariners, and the Widows and Orphans of Such as have Died in the Service of the Parliament During these Late wars’, in C.H. Firth and R.S. Rait (eds), Acts and Ordinances of the Interregnum, 1642–1660 C.H. Firth and R.S. Rait (eds), (London, 1911), pp. 938–40. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/acts-ordinances-interregnum/pp938-940 [accessed 10 July 2023].

36 Captain Thomas Windram later died and was replaced by Dr Adam Frier as intendant for the invalids in April 1690. The Register of the Privy Council for Scotland, ed Henry Paton, Third Series, Vol. XIII A.D. 1686–1689 (Edinburgh, 1932), p. 545 [hereinafter RPCS 1686–1689].

37 RPCS 1686–1689, p. 570.

38 RPCS 1689, pp. 20–21; RPCS 1689, p. 54; RPCS 1689, p. 153.

39 RPCS 1689, pp. 267–268.

40 John Young has explored the Scottish administration’s reaction to the siege in Londonderry. For more information see: J.R. Young, ‘The Scottish Response to the Siege of Londonderry’, in W. Kelly (ed), The Sieges of Derry (Dublin, 2001), pp. 53–74; RPS 1689/3/198, 29th April 1689.

41 RPCS 1686–1689, p. 410.

42 RPCS 1686–1689, pp. 416–17.

43 RPCS 1686–1689, pp. 483–84.

44 All of those elected to the committee for inspection also served as parliamentary commissioners for the shires. Sir John Maitland of Ravelrig represented Edinburgh, Archibald Murray of Blackbarrony represented Peebles, James Brodie of Brodie represented Elgin, and Adam Cockburn of Ormiston represented Haddington. Ormiston was a high-profile individual who had served as commissioner for Haddington in 1681–2 and 1689 and served as the Justice Clerk in 1692. The Register of the Privy Council for Scotland ed. Henry Paton, Third Series, Vol. XIV A.D. 1689 (Edinburgh, 1933), pp. 229, 361 [hereinafter RPCS 1689].

45 RPCS 1689, p. 500.

46 Mason, ‘Women, Martial Status, and Law,’ p. 788.

47 A. Whiting, ‘“Some women can shift it well enough”: A legal context for understanding the women petitioners of the seventeenth-century English Revolution,’ Australian Feminist Law Journal 21, (2004), p. 87.

48 Natalie Zemon Davis has also pointed out that in French pardon tales of the sixteenth century, the language used suggests that ‘the shaping choices of language, detail, and order are needed to present an account that seems to both writer and reader true, real, meaningful, and/or explanatory.’ N. Zemon Davis, Fiction in the Archives: pardon tales and their tellers in sixteenth-century France (Cambridge, 1987), pp. 2–3; Worthen, ‘Supplicants and Guardians,’ p. 529.

49 Petition of Widow Makeld, 1690, Charity, 1689–1691, E28/470/25, NRS.

50 Whiting, Women and Petitioning, p. 233.

51 Act In favours of Anthony Bruce 19th august 1690, Charity, 1689–1691, E28/470/24, NRS.

52 Petition of Widow Makeld, 1690, Charity, 1689–1691, E28/470/25, NRS.

53 Appleby, ‘Unnecessary persons,’ p. 214.

54 For a more elaborate discussion on the invocation of scripture in petitionary culture, see Whiting, Women and Petitioning, Chapter 4, pp. 133–208; M. Schoenfeldt, Prayer and Power: George Herbert and Renaissance Courtship (Chicago, 1991); G. Koziol, Begging Pardon: Ritual and Political Order in Early Medieval France (Ithaca, 1992); C. Garret, ‘The Rhetoric of Supplication: Prayer Theory in Seventeenth-Century England,’ Renaissance Quarterly 46, (1993), pp. 328–57; N. Smith, Perfection Proclaimed: Language and Literature in English Radical Religion, 1640–1660 (New Haven, 1994).

55 Tim Harris, ‘Introduction’. in T. Harris (ed), The Politics of the Excluded c.1500–1850 (London, 2001), p. 10. This also parallels with a similar phenomenon in Huguenot historiography, specifically in strongly confessional and parochial hagiographies of Protestant martyrs which intentionally use the language of the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre. See, H. Baird, History of the Rise of the Huguenots 2 vols (London, 1880) and S. Smiles, The Huguenots in France (London, 1991).

56 J. Woodburn, The Ulster Scot: His History and Religion (London, 1914), p. 147.

57 Young, ‘The Scottish Response’, p. 61.

58 Young, ‘Scottish Response’, p. 65.

59 RPS 1689/3/28, 18 March 1689.

60 The Accounts of the Proceedings of the Estates complains of the inconsistent reports of James’ whereabouts and the conflicting reports of events in hand from Ireland. RPS 1689/3/28, 18 March 1689; Account of the Estates, p. 17.

61 Account of the Estates, vol. 1, p. 107.

62 John Dalrymple, Memoirs of Great Britain and Ireland: From the Dissolution of the Last Parliament of Charles II. Until the Sea-battle off La Hogue. By John Dalrymple, Bart. 3 vols (Edinburgh, 1771–1790), vol. 2, part II book II, p. 371.

63 RPCS 1691, pp. 516–17.

64 Young, ‘Escaping Massacre,’ pp. 220–1.

65 Petition for Catherine Sanderson To the Lords Thesaurie 1690, Charity, 1689–1691, E28/470/18, NRS; RPCS 1690, p. 384.

66 Petition ffor poor Katherin Crewkshanks & her four Children 1690, Charity, 1689–1691, E28/470/26, NRS.

67 Act In favoures of Margret Lessly and Margaret Campbell 28 August 1690, Charity, 1689–1691, E28/470/21, NRS.

68 Act in favour of Catherine Bruice 10 September 1690, Charity, 1689–1691, E28/470/22/1, NRS.

69 Millen, ‘The Scots-Dutch Brigade and the Highland War, 1689–1691,’ p. 138.

70 The Register of the Privy Council for Scotland, E.W.M. Balfour-Melville (ed), Third Series, Vol. XV A.D. 1690 (Edinburgh, 1967), p. 556 [hereinafter RPCS 1690].

71 Warrant to Sir Patrick Murray to pay 6 pund Starl to 5 dutchwumen that had their husbands kild in the war 1689, 24 August 1689, Charity, 1689–1691, E28/470/4, NRS; RPCS 1689, p. 98; Treasury Register 1688–1689, 24 August 1689, Exchequer Records E7/5 f.178, NRS; Cathrine Laflour [SSNE 8272], Issobell Greenlands [SSNE 8273], Catherine Stivensone [SSNE 8274], Magdallen Addeross [SSNE 8276], and Mary Walker [SSNE 8275], in S. Murdoch and A. Grosjean (eds), The Scotland, Scandinavia and Northern European Biographical Database (SSNE), (1995–2021) University of St Andrews, St Andrews, www.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/ssne/ [hereafter SSNE].

72 Warrand for a precept In favors of Clara Keselin for 4 rix dallars and paid by Sr Patrick Murray this 16 September 1689, Charity, 1689–1691, E28/470/6, NRS.

73 Warrand for a precept for 4 rix dollars to Anabie Webb upon Sr Patrick Murray this 19 September 1689, Charity, 1689–1691, E28/470/6, NRS; RPCS 1689, p. 280; Treasury Register 1688–1689, 18 September 1689, Exchequer Records E7/5, f.215, NRS; Annabie Webb [SSNE 8284] in SSNE, www.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/ssne/.

74 RPCS 1689, pp. 225–6.

75 Warrand for a precep for 3 dutchwoomen paid by Sr Patrick Murray this 7 October 1689, Charity, 1689–1691, E28/470/13, NRS; RPCS 1689, p. 379; Treasury Register, 1688–1689, 7 October 1689, Exchequer Records E7/5, f. 233, NRS; Elizabeth Martize [SSNE 8288], Elizabeth Stevenson [SSNE 8288], Janerus Milne [SSNE 8286], SSNE, www.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/ssne/.

76 Order for a precept In favour of Margaret Henrick for 5 rex dollars upon Sr Patrick Murray this 9 September 1689, Charity, 1689–1691, E28/470/5, NRS; RPCS 1689, p. 232; Treasury Register 1688–1689, 9 September 1689, Exchequer Records E7/5 f.186, NRS; Margaret Henrick [SSNE 8281], in SSNE, www.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/ssne/.

77 RPCS 1689, p. 556.

78 Warrand for precept for 5 rix dollars to Marg Rupeertze upon Sr Patrick Murray this 18 of October 1689, Charity, 1689–1691, E28/470/12, NRS; RPCS 1689, p. 351; Treasury Register, 1688–1689, 1 October 1689, Exchequer Records E7/5, f. 223, NRS; Margaret Ripertze [SSNE 8285] in SSNE, www.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/ssne/.

79 Act in favour of Mary Mauld fir paying her 6 rix dollars this 20 Sept 1689, Charity, 1689–1691, E28/470/9, NRS; RPCS 1689, p. 317; Treasury Register, 1688–1689, 20 September 1689, Exchequer Records E7/5, f. 217, NRS; Mary Mauld [SSNE 8293], in in SSNE, www.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/ssne/.

80 Act in favour of Mary Clemens, 14 lbs :10 Septr 1689, Charity, 1689–1691, E28/470/11, NRS.

81 Warrand for A precept in favor of Agnes Lindsay & Willimine Lausone for 10 rex dollars this 12 October 1689, Charity, 1689–1691, E28/470/14, NRS.

82 Precept to the Relict of Tho. Baine Souldier, who wes killed by the Lord Bellenden in July 1689, Charity, 1689–1691, E28/470/16, NRS.

83 L. Stewart, ‘Petitioning in early seventeenth-century Scotland, 1625–51,’ Parliaments, Estates & Representation 38, (2018), p. 315.

84 RPS 1689/3/133, .

85 Valour and service could often influence the reception of the petition at the council or treasury level. Margaret Turnbull asked for four months and got three. For more petitions see: RPCS 1689, p. 379; RPCS 1689, pp. 381–2; RPCS 1689, p. 382; RPCS 1689, p. 423; RPCS 1689, pp. 442–3.

86 Warrand for a precept to the seamens wyfes in the Pelican and Jannet, 1689, 150lb Scotts, Western frigates 1689–90: Forces: Commissioners of Treasury, E28/444/4/8, National Records of Scotland, Edinburgh [hereinafter Western frigates 1689–90]; RPCS 1689, pp. 381–2.

87 RPS 1689/3/74, 28 March 1689.

88 Precept to pay Agnes Byrkmyke for Andrew Hodges mariner western friggatts 30^lbs Scots 28 Jany – 1690, Western frigates 1689–90, E28/444/9/1, NRS.

89 Act in favour of Hew Montgomerie, 1689, 235 lbs 19p 7 oz, Western frigates 1689–90, E28/444/2, NRS.

90 Precept to pay to 3 women yt hade yr husbands either killed or taken prisoners when Capt: Hamilton & Broune ffriggats wer taken 12lbs: 5s: Sterl: 1689, Western frigates 1689–90, E28/444/4/2, NRS; RPCS 1689, p. 81.

91 Warrand for a precept for Bessie Tofts and Jean Young, 1689, Western frigates 1689–90, E28/444/4/5, NRS; RPCS 1689, p. 324.

92 Ffriggotts. Margaret Draiden Marie Montgomerie & Janet Tulloch 90: Scots 1689, Western frigates 1689–90, E28/444/4/6, NRS; RPCS 1689, p. 278.

93 RPCS 1689, p. 277.

94 RPCS 1690, p. 469.

95 Act In favor of Catherine Lochrig 1690, 19 August 1690, Charity, 1689–1691, E28/470/23, NRS; RPCS 1690, p. 398.

96 RPCS 1691, p. 4.

97 RPCS 1691, p. 655.

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Gillian Sarah Macdonald

Gillian Sarah Macdonald is an Assistant Professor of History and Associate Director of LEADR (Lab for the Education and Advancement of Digital Research) in the Department of History at Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Her research interests include the Revolution of 1688-90 in Scotland, post-Revolution Scottish politics and the 1707 Act of Union between Scotland and England. She has published on the interactions of spy networks during the Scottish Revolution: ‘Black-boxes, flying packets, and espionage: the information trade and Scottish governance, 1689-1691,’ Parliaments, Estates & Representation 40, (2020). She thanks the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions.