LAUDER, Robert of the Bass, Sir ²

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  General Notes:

"In Balfour's Annals (c1548) we read that 'Sir Robert Lauder of Basse, with the French garisone of Dunbar Castle, takes the English provisione going from Berwick to Haddingtone; kills many shouldiors and takes the Governor of Haddington, named Wilford, prissoner.'

This was after the Battle of Pinkie, in which Sir Robert is noted, with his kinsman Sir Alexander Lauder of Haltoun, in the cavalry. Unfortunately Sir Alexander was killed. This Sir Robert built Lauder's Hospital in North Berwick and died in 1561. His son, another Sir Robert (d.1576), husband of Elizabeth Hay of the Yester family, was at Carberry Hill with Queen Mary to whom he had loaned £2000, never recovered."

from The Lauders of Bass




"Deeds (RD1/4 f.147; RD1/6 f.376; RD f.76) dated 4th May 1556, 23rd August 1563 and 21st June 1565 are all signed by Robert Lauder of that Ilk. The first two concern his son and heir-apparent Richard's marriage contract and subsequent implementation, and the last is a new marriage contract for his son Richard, his first wife having died. Pitcairn's Ancient Criminal Trials in Scotland under date 7th November 1565 has, appearing as 'procurator' for Gilbert Lauder of the Whitslaid (cadets of Haltoun) family, 'The Laird of Lawder'." ²

Robert married Alison CRANSTOUN 'of Cranstoun'.¹ (Alison CRANSTOUN 'of Cranstoun' was born about 1495 and died after 1 March 1567.)

  Marriage Notes:

" Sir Thomas Dick Lauder of Fountainhall, Bart., to Mr. Crawford, W.S. The Grange House, 18th December, 1847.

.... the family of Lauder of Lauder Tower and the Bass, continued to be the same until the time of the Indenture I sent you. The Bass then went into a junior branch of the family, and, as the shortest way of explaining this, I may quote from the Burke Peerage and Baronetage the matter taken from our family documents: ' Sir Robert Lauder of Bass, so designed in a curious indenture between him and the preaching friars of Dundee, of date 1531, which document was also robbed from the charter-chest, by the house-breaker, in 1836, and never recovered. Down to this Sir Robert, the titles of Lauder and of Bass were indiscriminately used by the family, and it is his armorial bearings that are given as those of Lauder of Bass in the works of Lindsay of the Mount. He 'married Alison or Mariotta Cranstoun, and died in 1561 (see Note below). Besides his eldest son, Richard Lauder of Lauder, who was his successor, he left a son Robert, to whom he gave the Bass, and other East Lothian lands, thus creating a separate family with that title.' "

from Family of Lauder

Note:

1561 is an error as year of death for this Robert Lauder of that Ilk and of the Bass:

"Robert Lauder of that Ilk, &c.(2) (d. July 1567) Burke's Peerage 1847 and 1878 editions, Notes on Historical references to the Scottish Family of Lauder (edited by James Young, Glasgow 1884) and The Grange of St. Giles (by J. Stewart-Smith, Edinburgh, 1899) all incorrectly state that this fellow is Robert Lauder of The Bass and that he died in 1561, but cite no evidence."





"Robert Lauder of that Ilk married Alison, daughter of Sir William Cranstoun of that Ilk, Smailholm, &c., by his wife Margaret Home, ancestor of the Lords Cranstoun."

from Electric Scotland




'We frier John Gregory Provincial of ye friers Predicators within ye Realme of Scotland, Prior and Observant of ye place of ye said ordo of ye Burgh of Dundee, to all & sundry quhais knowledge in Christs salvation. Greeting in God everlasting. Amen.

Forasmeikle as ane nobill man, Robert Lauder of Bass.....' In witness hereof we have houng our Priory sele, togidder with our subscriptions manual to ye Predicators Indentures, and it to remain with ye said Robert Lauder and his airse, and that by part to remain with us and our successors for them & theirs information of this our present bond & obligation.

'At our said place of Dundee ye twenty aught day of November ye zeir of God Ane thousand fyve hundred & thretty ane zeirs...'

Robert Lauder, the granter and holder of this curious old document, was a great supporter of the Queen-Regent, Mary of Guise, doing good service for her in East Lothian against the English, and also in upholding her authority in opposition to the Lords of the Congregation. He married Alison Cranstoun of Cranstoun, and from deeds extant he must have had four sons - William, John, Robert and Alexander; but it is also very clear from the same source that John the second son was illegitimate, and not the son of Alison Cranstoun; for, on the 15th February 1531, James V. granted 'letters of legitimation to John Lauder, natural son of Robert Lauder of the Bass,' in order that he might eventually inherit a portion of his father's estate, which as a bastard he could not do. Sir Robert had evidently made provision for the separating of the Lauder lands from the Bass estate long before his death, desiring to apportion each of his sons therein, leaving Lauder Tower and the Forest to his eldest son William as chief, and the Bass estate with the East Lothian lands to his second son. That this son was called John, and not Robert, is clearly evidenced by the charter itself, which Sir George Mackenzie distinctly affirms bore, 'Joannii Lauder, filio secundo genito de Lauder Tower' and in after years, when a dispute arose as to which should take precedence, Lauder Tower or Bass, this charter was brought forward to prove that, of the two branches after the division which took place in 1561 upon the death of Sir Robert Lauder, the last Baron of Lauder and Bass combined under one representative, Lauder Tower was chief and Bass younger, which fact was also manifested by the junior branch changing the supporters of the arms, taking angels in lieu of the two white lions of the chief, and the new motto:'Sub umbra alarum tuarum!"

from The Grange of St Giles ^{1 2}

Robert had a relationship with Unnamed PARTNER. (Unnamed PARTNER was born about 1495.)

  Marriage Notes:

" He (Sir Robert Lauder) married Alison Cranstoun of Cranstoun, and from deeds extant he must have had four sons - William, John, Robert and Alexander; but it is also very clear from the same source that John the second son was illegitimate, and not the son of Alison Cranstoun; for, on the 15th February 1531, James V. granted 'letters of legitimation to John Lauder, natural son of Robert Lauder of the Bass,' in order that he might eventually inherit a portion of his father's estate, which as a bastard he could not do. "

from The Grange of St Giles ¹