Berwickshire or Merse

Berwickshire, in the south-eastern corner of Scotland, was separated from England only by the River Tweed. Berwickshire’s strategic importance gave it a distinctive, marcher character. The town of Berwick had been in English hands since the middle ages, and although remaining the most important economic centre in the area, it became isolated from the social and political life of the shire. Without its county town, Berwickshire fell under the sway of powerful noble interests, encouraged by a Scottish crown concerned for the security of its southern border. The lordship of March (or Merse) was the largest of these, followed by Lauderdale in the western part of the shire. The area was thick with castles, notably along the road north to Edinburgh, and was commanded by the three fortified towns of Eyemouth (on the coast), Duns and Lauder. Even after the union of the crowns in 1603, the shire was governed by a handful of marcher families including the Maitlands, earls of Lauderdale, and the extensive Home interest, led by the earls of Home. Atlas Scot. Hist. 24, 27, 204. The heads of these families fared badly during the civil wars. The 1st earl of Lauderdale (whose wife was a sister of the 2nd earl of Home) had been a leading covenanter, but had supported the 1st duke of Hamilton and the royalist Engagers in 1648. Captured as Worcester in 1651, he spent the rest of the decade in prison in England. His estates in Lauderdale were parcelled out to English soldiers, with part ending up in the hands of the leading Berwickshire gentleman (and Scottish councillor), John Swinton* of Swinton. Bodl. Rawl. A.58, f. 11v; NRS, GD12/206, 207, 213. James, 3rd Earl of Home, had supported Charles I after 1640, and went on to command the Berwickshire regiment at Preston in 1648; as a result his estates were also sequestered in the 1650s. CP.

Despite this ill-fortune, the Homes, in particular, were able to exercise considerable influence over Berwickshire throughout the 1640s and 1650s. Of the 11 commissioners elected to the Scottish Parliament for the shire between 1639 and 1651, six were Homes, and at least a further three were related to the family. Young, Parliaments of Scot. ii. 585, 688-90, 790. The importance of the Homes continued after the Cromwellian conquest. When tendering their assent to the union with England in 1652, the gentlemen of the shire chose as deputies John Home of Renton and Sir Alexander Swinton of that ilk (whose wife was a Home of St Bathans). Later in the year Renton was sent to London to represent the shire in the union negotiations, accompanied by Swinton’s son and heir, John Swinton. Cromwellian Union, ed. Terry, 18-19, 183. The younger Swinton, who was appointed commissioner for the administration of justice in the same year, was the most influential of the Berwickshire gentlemen during this period; but he was not the only local landowner to cooperate with the new regime. From 1653 the collector of assessments for the shire was Captain John Home, and although the tax was regulated by an outsider – the sheriff, Captain William Ross* – he was assisted by a committee of local gentlemen. Worcester Coll. Oxf. Clarke liii, ff. 12v, 27; xlv, unfol.: 21 Nov. 1653, 1 Mar. 1654.

Relations between Home and Rosse were never very good. As early as September 1654, Home had attracted attention by levying the full rate of taxation on the tenants of Lauderdale (whose lands were now owned by Major-general John Lambert* and other senior officers), and in retaliation he was investigated for corruption by Rosse and others. Worcester Coll. Oxf. Clarke xlvi, unfol.: 21 Sept., 9 Dec., 13 Dec. 1654. The gentlemen of the shire reacted angrily to this, forcing the commander-in-chief, George Monck*, to reassure them that ‘for aught the general knows Captain Rosse hath done [no] ill offices to Mr Home, collector of Berwickshire’. Worcester Coll. Oxf. Clarke xlvi, unfol.: 17 Jan. 1655. In March 1655, Monck again supported Rosse, warning Home that he would be removed from his post if he continued to act unfairly, and instructing the governor of Berwick to investigate the matter. Worcester Coll. Oxf. Clarke xlvi, unfol.: 21, 26 Mar. 1655. The Berwickshire gentry stood by their man, however, and in May 1655 they still had not sent in Home’s accounts, as requested by Monck six months before. Worcester Coll. Oxf. Clarke xlvii, unfol.: 10 May, 7 June 1655. The dispute rumbled on for the next few months, and Home’s fate is not clear. Rosse, however, had lost the confidence of the local gentry, and by the end of 1656 he had been replaced as sheriff by a Berwickshire landowner, Alexander Donne, with Robert Sinclair of Longformacus as his commissary. Worcester Coll. Oxf. Clarke xliii, ff. 81v, 82. The row between Home and Rosse demonstrates the unity of the Berwickshire gentry in the face of intimidation, and also the importance of local men taking up posts within the shire. It was also appropriate that the champion of the shire in the mid-1650s should be a Home.

The continuities within Berwickshire can be seen in the justices of the peace appointed in 1656. These included not only the officers of Berwick garrison and the serving judge, John Swinton, but also six members of the Home family, including the disgraced earl of Home, who had made his peace with the Cromwellian regime by the end of 1654. Scot. and Protectorate ed. Firth, 310; Worcester Coll. Oxf. Clarke xlvi, unfol.: 16 Dec. 1654, 20 Mar. 1655. Of the 18 local lairds appointed to the commission of the peace, nine are known to have been active as magistrates, working with two officers from the Berwick garrison. NRS, JC26/22, ‘Bundle 4’, no. 19; JC26/23, unfol.; JC26/24, ‘Bundle 2’, nos. 10, 11, 13; JC262/26, untitled bundle; NRAS 482 (Pringle of Torwoodlee), box 13, unfol. The assessment commission for Berwickshire, appointed in June 1657, again saw a strong local presence, including former parliamentary commissioners such as Sir William Cockburn of Langton and John Home of Blackadder, as well as the earl of Home and (in all) seven members of his extended family. By this time, the military presence in the local administration had been reduced. Apart from the honorific appointment of Monck, all the assessment commissioners were men of local origin. A. and O. ii. 1146. There is little evidence for disorder in Berwickshire, and Monck rarely had cause to intervene in the local administration. The few exceptions usually involved local ministers: in December 1656 the magistrates were instructed to ensure that the minister of Coldingham, David Home, was not disturbed; and in May 1658 Monck responded to a petition from the assessment commissioners by giving them more time to collect money owed by the ministers of the shire. Worcester Coll. Oxf. Clarke xlviii, unfol.: 2 Dec. 1656, 5 May 1658. As the last example suggests, relations between occupiers and occupied remained cordial in the late 1650s. It was also typical that, during the long wait at Coldstream in December 1659, Monck received a letter from the Berwickshire gentry, assuring him of their obedience and good behaviour in the days to come. NRAS 482 (Pringle of Torwoodlee), Box 13, bundle 2.

The gentry’s good relations with the Edinburgh government, and their relatively high level of self-determination, may have an influence on the parliamentary elections for the Berwickshire seat, held in 1654, 1656 and 1659. John Swinton was returned on each occasion, and although there is little doubt that he enjoyed official support from the government in Edinburgh, he was also a man with strong local connections, not least with the Homes. In the absence of an election indenture, the nature of the Berwickshire electorate cannot be known for certain, but it seems likely that Swinton was returned with the support of the local lairds, hopeful that his standing with the government would reap further benefits for the shire. With the return of Charles II, the reinstatement of the earl of Lauderdale and the disgrace of John Swinton, Berwickshire reverted to its pre-civil war state. In the elections for the Scottish Parliament of 1661 the seats were divided up, with a former royalist, Sir Robert Douglas of Blackerston, sitting alongside a member of the Home interest – Colonel John Home of Prendergast. Young, Parliaments of Scot. i. 189, 354.