Lesmahagow

After this cruel sentence was passed, the King was made acquainted with the process, and a letter arrived, dated February 24th, bearing that his Majesty had lately received an account of their proceedings against William Lawrie of Blackwood, now prisoner, and condemned to die for treason, and was well pleased therewith, and particularly with their ordering the advocate to pursue him criminally, and gave them thanks. Thereupon he was reprieved to the end of March, and after several other respites, upon the 12th January 1684, on a petition being presented by the Marquis of Douglas, the Council interceded with the King for a remission of the sentence. Lawrie was finally pardoned, but the effect of his original sentence was to spread consternation among the gentlemen of the Western shires, because it established the outrageous principle, that simple converse with persons not actually in arms, nor found guilty of rebellion, and with whom every one openly conversed and dealt, inferred the crime of treason.

We have dwelt thus fully upon the trial of Mr. Lawrie for the purpose of throwing additional light upon Covenanting times, and as affording a remarkable instance of the rancour with which an upright and honourable man was persecuted by a misguided policy on the part of the nation's rulers. In the same year (24th March 1684) the Privy Council issued an order, "That Captain Cleiland's troop be put in the houses of Covington and Blaikwood, till Strevan be ready." It was subscribed by "Aberdein Chancellor, I.P.D." The original document, containing this arbitrary order, is preserved amongst the curiosities of Adam Sim, Esq. Of Cultermains.

The Revolution of 1688 gave relief to Lawrie, and honours were soon after heaped upon him and his family. He was named a Commissioner of Militia and of Supply (Act Parl., ix. 28, 70, 139), and in 1690, was not only included in the general Act rescinding all fins and forfeitures since 1685, but had a special Act passed in his favour, reversing his attainder, and declaring his conviction in 1683 null and void. (Ibid.., ix 164,216.) His son was knighted by William III., and along with his grandson, named a Commissioner of Supply. (Ibid., xi. 141; ix. 374) Catharine Weir, only child of the latter, was heiress of Blackwood, and married in 1733 the Honourable Charles Hope, second son the second Earl of Hopetoun, who had acquired the estate of Craigiehall, by his marriage with Lady Henrietta Johnston, only daughter of William, first Marquis of Annandale.

Their eldest surviving son, William Hope of the 1st Dragoon Guards, for some time Muster Master-General of the Forces in North Britain, succeeded to the family estates of Blackwood and Craigiehall, and adopted the name of Vere. He was succeeded by his son James, who died in 1811, and was in turn succeeded by his son James Joseph, born in 1785, who married Lady Elizabeth Hay, fourth daughter of the Marquis of Tweeddale. His son William Edward Hope Vere, born in 1824, and for some time an officer of the Grenadier Guards, is now in possession of the estates. He married, in 1857, Lady Mary Emily Boyle, youngest daughter of the late Viscount Dungarvan, and sister to the Earl of Cork, and has heirs.