James Crichton of Frendraught or Frendraucht (1599–1667) was a Scottish landowner and survivor of the Fire of Frendraught in October 1630. Several of his guests were killed at Frendraught Castle and arson was suspected, though the facts of the case were widely disputed and remain unresolved.Robert Chambers, Domestic Annals of Scotland, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1859), pp. 43–50.
Family background James Crichton of Frendraught was descended from William Crichton, 1st Lord Crichton. His parents were James Crichton of Frendraught and Janet Gordon, a daughter of Alexander Gordon of Lesmoir.William, Thanage of Fermartyn (Aberdeen, 1894), p. 144. His aunt, Katherine Gordon, married Alexander Burnett and lived at Crathes Castle.Stephen Jackson, 'The Scottish Caquetoire Chair', Regional Furniture, 35 (2021), pp. 100–101.
After he inherited, Crichton was known as the "Laird of Frendraught" or simply, "Frendraught". Frendraught Castle, now rebuilt, is about east of Huntly, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
He married Elizabeth Gordon, the eldest daughter of John Gordon, 13th Earl of Sutherland, at the Castle of Bog of Gight now called Gordon Castle on 25 February 1619.Robert Gordon, A Genealogical History of the Earldom of Sutherland (Edinburgh, 1813), p. 360. Married women in early modern Scotland did not change their surnames when they married,Jenny Wormald, Court, Kirk, and Community (London, 1981), p. 30.History Workshop, What's in a Surname? Rebecca Mason and she was known as "Elizabeth Gordon, Lady Frendraught" or "Lady Frendraught". Their eldest son, also James Crichton, was created Viscount Frendraught in 1642. His descendants are the present representatives of the Clan Crichton.
Feuds and fire In January 1630, Crichton's followers fought with the Gordons of Rothiemay over the issue of fishing rights on the River Deveron. William Gordon of Rothiemay was fatally injured by gunshot in a confrontation between the banks of the Deveron and Frendraught Castle. He was carried home and died at Rothiemay. George Gordon, a brother of the laird of Lesmoir, also succumbed to his wounds.Robert Gordon, Genealogical History of the Earldom of Sutherland (Edinburgh, 1813), p. 417. In a second feud with the Leslie family, Robert Crichton of Condlaw shot James Leslie in the arm on 27 September.William, Thanage of Fermartyn (Aberdeen, 1894), p. 145. The next month, in October 1630, James Crichton invited several friends and allies of the Gordon family to stay in his tower at Frendraught Castle in Banffshire to protect him and George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly, from their enemies. The house burnt down, killing Lord Aboyne (aka Viscount of Melgum) and the younger John Gordon, laird of Rothiemay, and others.John Spalding, History of the Troubles in Scotland and England, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1828), pp. 5–7. They were unable to escape or jump from the tower because the wooden stair collapsed and the windows were barred with iron stanchions or yetts. The family was accommodated in another part of the house and watched the progress of the fire from the yard.Robert Chambers, Domestic Annals of Scotland, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1859), p. 47: John Spalding, Memorialls of the Trubles in Scotland and England, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1850), p. 18. James Crichton and his wife were suspected of setting fire to their own castle. The day after the fire, Elizabeth Gordon, Lady Frendraught, dressed in a white plaid rode to Gordon Castle with her account of the fire and subsequent deaths, but she was not admitted.John Spalding, History of the Troubles in Scotland and England, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1828), p. 7.
James Crichton lodged his complaints with the Chancellor, George Hay, Viscount Dupplin, at Perth.P. Hume Brown, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, 2nd series vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1902), p. 49. Hay lived at the former Gowrie's Lodging.John Spalding, Memorialls of the Trubles in Scotland and England, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1850), p. 381. Crichton then moved to live in Edinburgh at Gladstone's Land on the Lawnmarket until 1635, where he was able to consult with lawyers including Thomas Hope.A Diary of the Public Correspondence of Sir Thomas Hope of Craighall, 1633–1645 (Bannatyne Club: Edinburgh, 1843), p. 4
His two sons joined him in Edinburgh. His wife, Elizabeth Gordon, Lady Frendraught, gained a reputation as a chief agent in the murder, and it was said she had locked the guests in the tower and dropped the key in a well.Cathryn Spence, 'Inhabitants of Gladstone's Land', Gladstone's Land (Edinburgh: National Trust for Scotland, 2018), pp. 13–16. She also went to Edinburgh, but was allowed to return to the north in December.P. Hume Brown, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, 2nd series vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1902), p. 104. She stayed in the north with her daughters at Kinnairdy Castle on the Deveron while her husband was in Edinburgh.William, Thanage of Fermartyn (Aberdeen, 1894), pp. 147–148. Lady Frendraught was a Catholic and was noted for not attending church at Aberchirder when she lived at Kinnairdy, and again when she returned to Frendraught in 1647.John Stuart, 'Notice of two Ancient Chalices and a Silver Basin belonging to the Parish of Forgue', PSAS (February, 1873), pp. 104–105. She signed the Solemn League and Covenant in June 1650, abjuring "her Poperie", but regretted this by 1652 and would not send her daughters to church or hear preaching.Presbytery Book of Strathbogie (Aberdeen, 1853), pp. xvi–xviii, 104, 146, 193.
Crichton went to Privy Council asking for justice in November 1630.John Spalding, Memorialls of the Trubles in Scotland and England, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1850), p. 381.P. Hume Brown, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, 2nd series vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1902), pp. li–liii, 49. On Sunday 12 December he argued and fought with John Leslie, Bishop of the Isles, in the "Little Kirk" of St Giles. The Bishop, with a "boasteous countenance", tried to punch him on the head with his "neiff" or "nefe", the Scots word for fist.'Nefe', DOST/DSL But the Bishop missed, instead dashing Crichton's hat to the ground, he "dang aff his hatt in publict view and sight of the haill people conveened in the Kirk". It was said that Crichton had been standing in the Bishop's way.P. Hume Brown, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, 2nd series vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1902), pp. lv, 88–90. The conflict was probably connected with the feuds in the north, the fire, and the shooting of James Leslie.Alfred Johnson, 'No Small Inconvenience: Violence at church in Scotland, 1550–1650', Natasha Hodgson, Amy Fuller, John McCallum, Nicholas Morton, Religion and Conflict in Medieval and Early Modern World (Routledge, 2021), pp. 105–106.
The Scottish Privy council appointed commissioners who visited the ruins of Frendraught in April 1631 and considered the fire was started in three places inside a vaulted space. Charles I wanted the commission to torture suspects for information, but the Privy Council explained that authorising such measures in Scotland was its role.John Spalding, Memorialls of the Trubles in Scotland and England, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1850), pp. 381–383.P. Hume Brown, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, 2nd series vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1902), p. liv. Three of Crichton's servants were accused of murder and arson, John Meldrum, his master of household John Tosch, Toshe, or Toash, and a female servant, Margaret Wood, a daughter of the laird of Colpnay (Colpy at Culsalmond). The servants were questioned in Edinburgh. Orders were given for the arrest of Frendraught's steward, Thomas Jose, the gardener John Gib, and the cook, Robert Bewlie. The chamberlains of Frendraught, John Horne and James Clerk, were also questioned.P. Hume Brown, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, 2nd series vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1902), pp. 74, 94. Magdalene Innes and George Spense said that the Laird and Lady of Frendraught grabbed their clothes and went down to the barnyard when they were wakened by cries of fire, thinking that the outlaw James Grant was attacking. George Spense said that Lord Melgum probably died from the "reik" (smoke inhalation) before the fire reached him.P. Hume Brown, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, 2nd series vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1902), pp. 610–611. Spense's testimony was particularly significant because it was said that Lord Melgum and John Gordon of Rothiemay had cried for help from a tower window and made declarations of faith.John Spalding, History of the Troubles and Memorable Transactions in Scotland, vol. 1 (Aberdeen, 1792), p. 10.
Margaret Wood Margaret Wood was tortured with the boot but escaped execution. After her information proved unreliable, further "slight and spaire" torture was prescribed by the Privy Council.P. Hume Brown, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, 2nd series vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1902), pp. 93–94. Lady Frendraught's opinion was sought during her questioning.P. Hume Brown, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, 2nd series vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1902), p. 140. Margaret Wood had initially pretended to be her sister, Jean Wood, a former servant of John Leslie, Laird of Pitcaple, and his wife Agnes Ramsay, and had made false allegations about the fire to incriminate a "baron and gentleman of good quality", meaning the Laird of Pitcaple, and her employer, Lady Frendraught.P. Hume Brown, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, 2nd series vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1902), pp. 141, 597, 611. In the days after the fire she had visited Elizabeth Strathauchin or Strachan, Lady Blackhall, and been offered employment by Lady Blackhall's mother, but had already found a job in the winter months with Thomas Cheyne of Ranystoun, an Aberdeen lawyer.P. Hume Brown, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, 2nd series vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1902), pp. 607–608.
She confessed to stealing money from James Crichton's "bulgett" or purse. Some of her testimony suggests she acted out of fear of Lady Frendraught. She was asked under torture if Lady Frendraught had given her three fistfuls of silver dollars, each worth five shillings. The word for fist was "neiff".P. Hume Brown, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, 2nd series vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1902), pp. 611–616.
Margaret Wood was found guilty of perjury for her questionable testimony after being counselled to confess by clergy including William Struthers, a neighbour of Crichton at Gladstone's Land. This was at the instance of Lady Frendraught.P. Hume Brown, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, 2nd series vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1902), pp. 616–617. She was whipped through Edinburgh and banished.John Spalding, Memorialls of the Trubles in Scotland and England, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1850), p. 20.P. Hume Brown, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, 2nd series vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1902), pp. liii, 141, 143, 200. John Toash was accused by Henrietta Stewart, Marchioness of Huntly, and tortured with the boot. He was held at the Tolbooth, and then in Edinburgh Castle.P. Hume Brown, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, 2nd series vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1902), p. 136. Henrietta Stewart and her companions wore mourning clothes to bring her complaints to Charles I when he was at Holyroodhouse for his Scottish coronation in July 1633.John Spalding, History of the Troubles in Scotland and England, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1828), pp. 7–8, 21–22, 24–25.
John Meldrum