LAUDER, George of the Bass, cleric, Privy Councillor and Tutor to Prince Henry, Sir ¹

   User ID: Q911

  General Notes:

"Lauder entered the Church, and some deeds and sasines refer to him as Master George Lauder, Rector of Auldcathie in West Lothian.

On 22 October 1561, Master George Lauder, legitimate son of Robert Lauder of Bas, was issued with a Presentation of the Canonicature and Prebendary of Auchindoir in the diocese of Aberdeen, to be Rector and Vicar of Auchindoir, upon the resignation and demission of his uncle, Master John Sinclair, Dean of Restalrig. The Books of the Thirds of Benefices record that the third was calculated by Master John Stewart, in the name and on behalf of Master John Sinclair and Master George Lauder. John Sinclair held the parsonage of Auchindoir at the Reformation and demitted it in October 1561 in favour of George Lauder. Sinclair was Dean of Restalrig, between 1542 and 1566.

On 21 September 1568 George Lauder, parson of Auchindoir, was given the gift of the escheat of the goods of his father Robert Lauder of Bass, who had failed to appear 'at the horn' and for not finding surety to compear before the Justice or his deputies in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh to underlie the law for taking part with Archibald Campbell, 5th Earl of Argyll, Claude Hamilton and others at the battle of Langside in support of Mary, Queen of Scots.

George Lauder's three elder brothers predeceased him and so he became laird of Bass"

from Wikipedia article




"In 1581 King James VI stayed in some comfort in the castle as a guest of the new laird George Lauder of Bass. They became close friends and scarcely a year passes in the public records of the period in which George is not mentioned. He was knighted at the Queen's coronation in 1590 and subsequently became tutor to the young Prince Henry.

In Sir George's testament (he died on 27th June 1611) the great extent of the Lauder estates became apparent. Some of the properties named therein are: The Bass, Balgonie, Tyninghame, Beil, Kirklandhill, Newbarnes, Duchrie, Poppil, Preslaw, Pensheills, Kingsyde, Banbeyth & Mountflourie, Ramersyde, Liehouse, Friardykes, Knowes, Pitcox, and others. His moveable goods alone amounted to £30,000, a considerable sum at that time."

from Summary of the Ancestry & Family of Lauder of Fountainhall




"This is the same Mr. George Lauder of the ' Solangoosifera ' document, who, notwithstanding the lands he and his wife, Isobel Hepburn, Lady Bass, possessed at Beill and Tyninghame, ' Knowis, Kirkhill, Tusche, Wester Lochous, and Wester Spot,' was constantly increasing the number of his creditors. A great part of these lands having been mortgaged to the different persons who had at various times lent the family large sums of money under reversion, which debts Mr. George Lauder, junior, and his mother afterwards inherited, as also their proportionate share of the taxes on these lands for all church and parish expenses."

from The Grange of St. Giles ^{2 3 4}

George married Isobel HEPBURN, daughter of Patrick HEPBURN 6th of Waughton and Isobell HALDEN, after 7 February 1589.¹ (Isobel HEPBURN was born about 1567 and died after October 1635 ¹.)

  Marriage Notes:

"As a further indication of the standing of the Lauders at this time, in a secretive letter to the Lord Treasurer and Sir Francis Walsingham dated 7th February 1589 there is a reference to 'the Duke' who has 'departed to the marriage in [Leven] Fife of young Bass [George Lauder of The Bass], where [Francis Stewart, Earl of] Bothwell is also supposed to be.' It is also said that as a result of this event 'Edinburgh is left with few [Privy] Counsellors.' (Refer: Calendar of Scottish Papers 1547 - 1603, edited by William K. Boyd & Henry W. Meikle, Edinburgh, 1936, p.842.)"

from Ancestry & Family of Lauder of Fountainhall




"Isobel Hepburn, who married after 7th February 1589, Sir George Lauder of Bass(d.1611) Privy Councillor and Tutor to Prince Henry. They had one child, a son, George, born in 1597. She was still alive in October 1635."

from Hepburn of Waughton