DOUGLAS, Henry younger, of Lochleven and Lugton, Sir ¹

   User ID: W82.

  Research Notes:

SIR HENRY DOUGLAS OF LOCHLEVEN AND LOGTON

In this site, the designation 'younger' has been attached to this man to distinguish him from his grandfather who was dead by October 1393.

Confusion is rife regarding the status of this Henry Douglas. He is held by some to be the brother of Sir William Douglas, heir to the first Sir Henry Douglas of Lugton, on the strength of a reference in the Douglas Book, (Douglas Book, Vol 3, #63), dated 1 May 1424, where he is referred to as the brother of Sir William of Lochleven.

Sir William did have an illegitimate brother named Henry, who was granted lands by his father, in 1392, but not Lugton, as far as is known. Whereas, Sir William Douglas of Lochleven had a legitimate son and heir, also named Henry. The latter was initially "of Lochleven and Logton", but after the late 1420s usually only "of Lochleven".

The Douglas Book reference mentioned above may have been an error, 'brother' written instead of 'son'; or, it may have been a loose indication of identity: 'of the Lugton family'; or, 'brother Henry's' half-brother, William, may have gifted him part of the Lugton lands, with a reversion to the main line on his death, as was the provision for the Mosshouse land granted by their father to his illegitimate son, Henry, on 6 November 1392 (Reg Hon de Morton, Vol 2, #195 and NRS GD150/69), though no documentary evidence of the third possibility has been found as yet. We do not know when William's half-brother Henry died, or indeed whether he married or had children.

We do know that King James I granted a transfer of mortgage on 13 September 1429 to John of St Michael "of rights in lands of Mosshouses (Moshous, Moshouse, Mosehous) within the barony of Melville (Malewing) within sherrifdom of Edinburgh which had been surrendered to king by reason of mortgage by Henry Douglas of Lugton (Henry de douglas de lugtoune)". This suggests that Mosshouse lands may have reverted to the main line of Douglas of Lugton as, Henry Douglas, the father of Sir William Douglas, had stipulated in his grant of Mosshouse to his illegitimate son Henry..

A timeline for William Douglas and Henry Douglas has been composed by Mike Wade, re-formatted here. Only the 1424 document, as discussed above, suggests that Henry is a brother rather than a son of William. As the line progresses, we can see that Henry is clearly in the line of succession.

"1421 December 10 Sir William of Logton mentioned (Douglas Book, Vol 3, #62) - probably deceased.

1424 May 1 Henry of Logton, brother of Sir William of Lochleven (Douglas Book, Vol 3, #63) (*insufficient information available to assess the significance of this)

1425 June 30 Henry of Logton as a charter witness (RMS V2 #25).

1427 November 9 Henry of Lochleven & Logton as hostage in England (Calendar of Documents Relating to Scotland, Vol 4, #1010).

1430 December 31 Sir Henry of Lochleven and Sir William of Lochleven (dec'd) in charter of Ralston to James, son of Sir William (NRS GD150/96).

1443 April 29 Sir Henry of Lochleven in an Instrument (NRS GD150/14-k).

1455 June 14 Sir Henry of Lochleven, brother of James Douglas, about Ralston in an Instrument (NRS PA7/1-1).

1463 October 16 Sir Henry of Lochleven, father of Robert Douglas (RMS V2 #763).

1464 July 7 Sir Henry of Lochleven, husband of Elizabeth (RMS V2 #796).

1465 April 1 Sir Henry of Lochleven & Logton, father of Robert Douglas (NRS GD150/134).

1475 March 10 Sir Henry of Lochleven, father of Robert Douglas (NRS GD150/158).

1515 June 27 William of Logton (dec'd) as great grandfather of Robert Douglas of Lochleven in a Precept (NRS GD150/765)."

from email cited ^{2 3}

Henry married Elizabeth ERSKINE, daughter of Sir Robert ERSKINE Lord Erskine, 13th Earl of Mar (1st creation) and Elizabeth LINDSAY.¹ (Elizabeth ERSKINE was born about 1409.)

  Marriage Notes:

"His (Sir Henry Douglas's) wife's name was Elizabeth Erskine, said to have been a daughter of Sir Robert Erskine of that Ilk, but of this there is no proof. They had issue"

from Scots Peerage (vol 6)

Note:

The Heraldry of the Douglases also notes 'Sir Robert Erskine of that Ilk' as father-in-law of Henry Douglas of Lochleven.The dates for the Sir Robert Erskine of that Ilk who married Beatrice Lindsay are too early for him to have been Elizabeth's father, but his grandson fits by date and family names, though Elizabeth is not listed as his daughter in volume five of the The Scots Peerage, so this assignment should be treated cautiously. ^{1 4 5}