Bonnington Park

When he wrote this letter to his father, Alexander Hay Borthwick, my great-grandfather William Borthwick was a boarder at the Bonnington Park Academy, a school for boys established not long before in 1858 at Peebles on the River Tweed in Scotland. The hand is simply exquisite. He was at this not quite thirteen years old.

Bonnington Park

Peebles. 10^th April, 1863

Dear Father,

I received the welcome letter sent to me by my mother, and was delighted to hear in it that you were all quite well. There was a remarkable discovery made in this school on Thursday week. We found in a certain boy named David Barclay an heir to the Scottish throne, but the worst of it is there is no throne in Scotland for him to inherit, so I think it might have been as well that he did not know it, for he may think of raising a rebellion, and if unsuccessful he may be hanged. We got a whole holiday last Friday as it was “Good Friday.” I enjoyed a good game at cricket, and after it was finished some of the boys went out to a walk with one of the tutors to see a small house called the “Black Dwarf’s Cottage.” It is very small, and the door is not quite three and a half feet high. A man showed them the dwarf’s portrait. He has a very large head with a kind of nightcap on it, and a long pole in his hand. His right name is David Ritchie. The first eleven got their cricket things last Friday, but we only got ours last night, and I think they are very good. Mr. Angus, our minister, who is on the continent, is coming home soon. I hope Mother, Alexander, and Janet are quite well. With kind love to all at home,

I am

     Your loving Son

          Willie

Heredity

A single sheet of lined notepaper fluttered out of a folder early this morning, and must have been torn from a notebook long ago—perhaps the sign of larger plans that never came to fruition. It is inscribed on both sides in the fluid cursive of my late grandmother, Helen Borthwick, and headed “Is there anything in Heredity?”

On the 10th November /53, at the Veterinary School Grounds at Parkville, Melbourne, Ronald M. Borthwick, grazier of Sale, Victoria, demonstrated a revolutionary stock cradle, which could have considerable influence on foot rot control in Australia. Over a hundred years ago, his great-uncle J. J. M. Borthwick, who pioneered Tarong Station, Southern Queensland (the subject of several par[agraph]s Bulletin Feb /52) was one of the first men to ship wool from Queensland, as borne out by the records in the Brisbane Museum. Their family, who have played a prominent part in stock breeding in the Border country of Scotland since the seventeenth century, according to family papers, also produced some noted soldiers, the best known of whom, Major-General William Borthwick, was Wellington’s General of Artillery. Ronald Borthwick, the youngest son of the late Colonel Borthwick, who settled in Gippsland in the 80’s, was one of three brothers who served with the 8th Aus. Light Horse A.I.F. One son was killed at Gallipoli [Keith], another lost an arm in Palestine [Lex], while a fourth brother, a permanent soldier in the British Army, died at Aden in 1908 [John Malcolm]. All eligible descendants served in World War Two.

I think that stock cradle invented by Uncle Ron must have been revolutionary in the sense of rotational, rather than epoch-making, though part of me definitely hopes I am wrong about that. Foremost among the eligible descendants, my grandmother must have been thinking with pride of Uncle David and Aunt Anne, Mum’s elder siblings; she and Uncle John were too young to serve. I must track down those stray paragraphs in the Bulletin, which is evidently yet to be digitized by the excellent National Library of Australia in Canberra.

The Late Mr. Thomas Chalmers Borthwick

Aunt Jean preserved an issue of the Eskdale and Liddesdale Advertiser printed on Boxing Day 1888 (a Wednesday), in which the following long and affectionate obituary entitled “The Late Mr. Thomas Chalmers Borthwick” appeared on page three. This is our great-great-great-grandfather, and internal evidence—because I have in my possession the handwritten draft (a draft, that is, and not a copy made post hoc, because: “the following extract from a letter sent the writer of this...confirms...‘In this district there were Covenanters who bore your name’”)—shows that the author was none other than Thomas Chalmers Borthwick’s own son, our great-great-grandfather Alexander Hay Borthwick. It contains numerous intriguing flecks of detail, but as a sketch of character it is, I suppose, supremely partisan. The second half, which is more antiquarian in flavour than the first, does nevertheless hint towards certain aspects of the DNA, not merely the “schowting,” the sternness and firmness in the face of “pronounced vice,” but also the genial hospitality, and, above all, the curious circumstances in which, when they died, the exceedingly old bachelors John Scott and Walter Borthwick bequeathed to each other’s heirs the lease of their respective properties, which is how Hopsrig ultimately passed into the hands of Thomas Chalmers Borthwick, though not to his son. That the place was lost no more than a year before old Thomas’s death in 1888 clearly rankled.

“On the 16th inst. At Milholm, there passed peacefully away from our midst a scion of a distinguished family in Eskdale in the person of Thomas Chalmers Borthwick, late of Hopsrig. Although little known by the younger generation, Mr. Borthwick occupied a very prominent position in the district until some years ago, when his failing health compelled him to relinquish all public and private business; consequently he was seldom seen, except by his more immediate friends, or when taking a quiet walk in the vicinity of his residence. Born at Sorbie in the parish of Ewes [Dumfries and Galloway] in 1813, where his father then resided, and who at one time farmed in addition to Sorbie, Meikledale, Mosspeeble, and Lodgegill, a few years subsequently acquiring Hopsrig, where he went to reside (or, as it was then called, Bombey Bush), and eventually the extensive farm of Langshawburn [above] and Aberlosk, which Mr. Borthwick succeeded to and occupied up to within a few years of his death. While yet of tender years the management of these fine pastoral farms came into his hands, and latterly Glendinning was taken for a long lease, and then began the tug of war between him and the late Mr. Brydon of Moodlaw (whom he has not survived) for supremacy in the breed of Cheviot sheep. Keenly contesting the honours in our national and local showyards with invariable success, they, along with the late Mr. Elliot of Hindhope, quite farmed the prizes; no other exhibitor in those days having the slightest chance when the stock of those famous breeders were on the field, the fruits of reward being pretty fairly divided amongst them. For many years Mr. Borthwick had the entire management and control of the extensive estates belonging to Sir Frederick Johnstone of Westerhall in Eskdale and Annandale, and throughout the long minority of the present [8th] Baronet [1841–1913, conservative M.P. for Weymouth and Melcome Regis], who was unborn on that April morn when his father, the late Sir Frederic, accompanied by Mr. Borthwick, undertook his fatal journey homewards on horseback to Westerhall from Falford Kennels, which, alas! Sir Frederic was never destined to reach, being found by Mr. Borthwick lying on the Wauchope road, opposite Bloughburnfoot, in an unconscious state, very shortly afterwards breathing his last. Mr. Borthwick now proved in reality a friend in need and in deed, greatly improving the estate by his judicious and prudent outlay (much of it, we believe, advanced out of his own pocket for the time being), and thus ever mindful of the beneficial interest to the proprietor and to the tenants, who had always a cheery, kindly word to speak of Mr. Borthwick, and now revere his memory, as do the shepherds and others who at any time served him, all having had reason to bless his kindly forethought and generosity as a master, and several for substantial support in their declining years when unfit for further service. As a J.P. for the county, throughout a long term of years, his kindly nature ever leaned to mercy when on the bench, yet stern and firm when pronounced vice was brought before him. A sterling friend, benevolent, amiable, and genially hospitable, Mr. Borthwick has passed away, leaving not an enemy behind him, but still many friends to recall his sterling worth. He is survived by his only son, Mr. Alex[ander]. H[ay]. Borthwick, now residing at Milnholm, near Langholm.

“Mr. Borthwick was descended from a family who farmed the pastoral lands on the Border for a long back period. William Borthwick, laird of Raschaw [sic. Raeshaw], Heriot Water, having killed one Pringle, with whom there was a dispute about marches, they fought with swords, and Pringle was killed on the spot. Mr. Borthwick fled to Eskdale, and concealed himself in the woods for a long time. In the meantime his property was seized and everything taken from him. He never returned to that part of the country, but when the duel was forgot, and he had reason to think he was safe from prosecution, he took the farm of Howpaslet, where he died and left two sons, William and Thomas. They kept that farm till the disturbances in Claverholm’s time, when they were advised not to sign [the covenant]. The consequence was that their farm and stock was taken from them, and they had only a few sheep left, which were at grass on the farm of Glendinning, belonging to the Westerhall family. Lady Johnstone had that farm in her own hands. She ordered all the sheep to be put into the fauld, that the sheep that belonged to them might be taken too, but a herd, called John Reive, slipped them over the fauld dyke, and they ran to the hill, and by that means were preserved. Soon after William Borthwick took the farm of Glendinning, and married Janet Scott, sister of David Scott of Merrylaw. In the parish register of Westerkirk for 1701 the marriage of William Borthwick in Glendinning, with Janet Scott is duly registered, his [Thomas’s] great-great-grandfather and mother. David Scott of Merrylaw was descended from ‘Sir Walter Scot of Branxeholme, rescuer of Kinmont Will[ie] [i.e. William Armstrong, the Border reiver and outlaw] from Carlisle Castle with 70 men on the night of the 6th day of April, 1596—this he did with schowting and crying and sound of trumpet,’ and Sir Robert Scot in this way. Sir Walter’s daughter, Margaret Scot, married Sir Robert Scot of Thirlestane, and one of their sons got the lands of Merrylaw.

“As to legend about William and Thomas Borthwick losing their farm and sheep when Claverhouse visited Borthwick Water in 1685, the following extract from a letter sent the writer of this, by the Rev. D. S. Stewart, Hawick, confirms it. October 28, [18]’86—‘In this district there were Covenanters who bore your name. Thomas Borthwick in Howpasley and Isobel Laidlaw, spouse to James Borthwick, were names remitted to the Sheriff for adhering to the Covenanters.’ Seeing that old Sir James Johnstone of Westerhall, called the Persecutor, died in 1699, the probability is that William Borthwick, who was settled down at Glendinning in 1701, may have been a tenant of his. His three sons were William, Thomas, and Walter. William and Walter lived at Enzieholm; the former had Glendinning, and as the tenour of the following advertisement shows that he quited it at Whitsunday, 1753:—‘ADVERTISEMENT. That there is to be sold by public Roup [auction] at Glendinning, in Eskdale, in the Parish of Westerkirk, and shire of Dumfries, on Tuesday, the 22d of May, 1753, William Borthwick’s Stock of Sheep, besides Black Cattle and Goats, upon the said Farm of Glendinning, &c.—the numbers will be as nearly as under— Ewes 820; Quinter Ewes 520; Gimmers 490; Dunmonts 60; Ewe Hogs 500; Wedder Hogs 480; Old tupps 50; Tupp Hogs 40 = 2,960. The Roup will begin at Nine o’clock in the Morning, and it is expected that those who incline to buy will attend punctually at that hour.’

“Thomas, the second son of William and Janet Scott, was the great-grandfather of the late Mr. Borthwick. He in 1732 took the extensive farm of Shaws, in the parish of Yarrow, which he left in 1783; and for one year lived on his led farm at Langshawburn, but the farm of Sorbie in Ewes having become vacant in the meantime, His Grace Henry [i.e. 3rd Duke of Buccleuch and 5th of Queensberry {1746–1812}] gave it to him. There he lived till 1793, when he died. His only son William died in 1792, leaving a family, the eldest son of whom—Alexander Hay Borthwick—then 16, succeeded his grandfather, and was in Sorbie down to 1820, when he left it, going to Hopsrig, where he died in 1837. Beside Hopsrig at the time of his death he had Langshawburn, Mosspeeble, and Lodgegill. His son, Thomas Chalmers Borthwick, got Hopsrig, and Langshawburn. Besides these, he took the farm of Glendinning, which he farmed for one or two leases. Hopsrig and Langshawburn, which had been long in the family, he lost, and removed from at Whitsunday 1887. The way and manner in which the Borthwicks got Boykine and Calkine, now part and parcel of Hopsrig, and Hopsrig itself, is as follows:—‘Sir James Johnstone of Westerhall, Baronet, principal tacksman of these lands of Calkine and Boykine, lets them to William and Walter Borthwick’s brothers, both in Enzieholm, for the space of ten years, if the said [2nd] Duke of Buccleugh [1695–1751] shall live so long, from the term of Whitsunday, 1736, and that for seven hundred and fiftie merks Scots money yearly.’ [1 merk, a silver coin, was worth 13s 4d, exactly ⅔ of a Scottish pound, or about one English shilling.] In the year 1796 John Scott, tenant in Hopsrig, an old bachelor, dying, Walter Borthwick in Enzieholm, still alive, and also an old bachelor, got instruction to leave Enzieholm and go to Hopsrig, which he did, and died there in 1806, aged 96. Lieut. Scott, nephew of old John Scott, Hopsrig, got Enzieholm, and had Fingland, Eskdalemuir, as a led farm. At Whitsunday, 1887, when Mr. T. C. Borthwick lost Hopsrig, he and his progenitors had farmed it for 91 years, and the pertinents Boykine and Calkine for 151 years.”

Thor

This is our first cousin twice removed, Thornton Borthwick Macklin, who lies buried with his grandparents, our common ancestors, at Melrose in the Scottish borders, roughly half way between Edinburgh and Alnwick in Northumberland. Thor’s mother and our great-grandfather Borthwick were sister and brother. As much of his story as I know is set out in the long inscription on their splendid headstone, and for understandable reasons Aunt Jean, who throughout her life kept in touch with the Macklin family in England, held onto this charming carte de visite photograph. The inscription does not mention the Indian dhaye or bearer, so we shall almost certainly never know his name. Chaziabad, now known as Ghaziabad, is in the modern state of Uttar Pradesh, approximately twelve miles north-east of New Delhi.

In Memory
of
ALEX.R HAY BORTHWICK
WHO DIED AT LADIESYDE
MELROSE, 28TH AUGUST 1901
AGED 83 YEARS
ALSO HIS WIFE
JANE MURRAY
WHO DIED 9TH JAN.Y 1910
AGED 90 YEARS
THORNTON BORTHWICK MACKLIN
“THOR”
GRANDSON OF THE ABOVE
AND ELDEST SON OF T. THORNTON MACKLIN, M.D.
BORN AT CHAZIABAD, INDIA
26TH DEC.R 1886
DIED AT WHALLEY, LANCASHIRE
27TH FEB.Y 1909, AGED 22 YEARS

Mosspeeble

According to the meticulous notes left to us by our great-great-grandfather, Alexander Hay Borthwick, his forebear, William Borthwick of Glendinning, married in 1701 a Miss Janet Scott of Merrylaw.

His son and namesake took over that farm, and married a Miss Elliot of Borthwickbrae, near Hawick in the same Dumfriesshire border country with which the family had been closely connected since the fifteenth century.

After a ruinous stock sale of 1753, Mr. and Mrs. William Borthwick retired to the coastal town of Irvine in North Ayrshire, where, in somewhat reduced circumstances, he practiced, it is said, as a “tide waiter” or coastal customs inspector.

Of their three daughters and two sons, the eldest, another William, joined the British army, attained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, and was present with his own son, inevitably also William, at the Great Siege of Gibraltar in 1782–83. This younger William prospered in the army, became a general, and went on to assume senior commands in the Peninsular War. Major-General William Borthwick was wounded in the Siege of Cuidad Rodrigo, and died in comfortable retirement at Cheltenham.

However, it is Thomas, the second son of William and Janet Borthwick of Glendinning, that concerns us here. “In 1732 Thomas Borthwick took the farm of Shaws in the Parish of Yarrow (Ettrick to be correct). He got Langshawburn [Glenkerry, Dumfries and Galloway] in 1760, after his elder brother failed in Cassock, as a led farm [i.e. he lived elsewhere]. He also held land in England. He left Shaws in 1783, and for one year he lived at Langshawburn and then came to Sorbie in the Parish of Ewes, where he died in December 1793, aged 85 years.”

Thomas Borthwick married a Miss Jean Elliot of Borthwickbrae—who was in fact the niece of his own brother William’s wife (her brother’s daughter).

Undeterred by the immense confusion arising from so many Williams, Thomas and Jean Borthwick decided to name their eldest son William also. Aged only forty-two, this William died in Edinburgh in 1792, a year before his father. He married Elizabeth, the only daughter of Alexander Hay, Portioner of Inveresk, and a Burgess of the City of Edinburgh.

Upon his grandfather’s death, our great-great-great-grandfather, Alexander Hay Borthwick, the eldest son of William Borthwick and Elizabeth Hay, inherited the farms of Sorbie and Langshawburn, and scooped up his younger brother Walter’s property called Hopsprig farm, as well as Meikledale, Mosspeeble (above), and Lodgegill. He married Agnes, the eldest daughter of Thomas Chalmers, and died at Hopsprig on February 16, 1837.

In a curious twist, Alexander Hay Borthwick was for a period factor to Sir Frederick Johnstone, Bart., of Westerhall, a descendant of the doughty Lady Johnstone who tried her best to confiscate our crafty Borthwick ancestor’s sheep.

As a young man, Alexander Hay Borthwick’s fourth son and namesake was factor to the fifth Earl of Hopetoun at Queensferry. After his father’s death in 1837 he farmed Mosspeeble and Lodgegill until 1866, when he retired, went to live at Melrose, and drafted his family’s proud but curious border history, presumably for the benefit of his son, our pioneering great-grandfather William Borthwick of Bald Hills at Fulham, near Sale in East Gippsland.