The Swintons of that Ilk, by A. Campbell Swinton. 337 



with, so much deliberation, there were two sons, John the 

 heir, and George, of whom nothing is known, and eight daughters. 

 Of the daughters, two only seem to have been married ; 

 the one, Janet, to Mr John Nicolson, an eminent lawyer, from 

 whom are descended the Nicolsons of Lasswade and Carnock ; 

 the other, Elizabeth, to Matthew Sinclair of Longf ormacus. Their 

 grandson, John Sinclair, was the first Baronet of Stevenson, 

 having obtained that dignity from Charles I., in 1636. 



XVI. The eldest son of John Swinton and Marion Home was, 

 like so many of his predecessors, Sir John. He was among the 

 barons, who in 1567, signed the bond for the protection of the 

 young king, James VI., against the Earl of Bothwell, on the 

 marriage of the latter to Queen Mary. He married in 1552, as 

 usual by Papal dispensation, his cousin, Katharine Lauder, 

 daughter of Robert Lauder of Bass, and died in December, 1579. 

 The two younger sons of this marriage, Alexander and George, 

 are mentioned as having respectively obtained from their mother, 

 liferents of the lands of Greenrig and Bittrickside. 



XVII. The eldest son, Robert, styled by Douglas " a man of 

 good parts and great activity," was served heir to his father in 

 1585. He was twice married. His first wife was Katharine 

 Hay, daughter of William Lord Hay of Yester, who had 

 acted as one of his Curators along with George Lauder of 

 Bass, John Swinton of Inverkeithing, George Swinton of Clo- 

 vay, and the well-known Thomas Craig, Advocate, author of 

 the " Jus Feudale." By Katharine Hay, Robert Swinton 

 had a son John, and a daughter Katharine. Katharine married 

 Sir Alexander Nisbet of that Ilk, a devoted Royalist, whose 

 estates were forfeited for his adherence to Charles I. They had 

 five sons. The eldest son, Sir Philip, following his father's 

 example, was celebrated for his successful defence of Newark, 

 of which place he was lieutenant governor, and was ultimately 

 taken prisoner at the battle of Philiphaugh, and executed at 

 Glasgow on the 20th of October, 1646. Alexander, the second 

 son, and Robert, the third, both fell in the field under the Mar- 

 quis of Montrose. The fourth and fifth, John and Adam, were 

 also gallant soldiers on the same side. The last was the father 

 of Alexander Nisbet, the well known author of " The Heraldry 

 of Scotland," in whom the ancient family of Nisbet of that Ilk, 

 became extinct. Robert Swinton married secondly, in 1597, 



