Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lindsay, David (1551?-1610)

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629852Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 33 — Lindsay, David (1551?-1610)1893Thomas Finlayson Henderson

LINDSAY, Sir DAVID, of Edzell, Lord Edzell (1551?–1610), eldest son of Sir David Lindsay of Edzell, ninth earl of Crawford, by his second wife, Catherine Campbell, daughter of Sir John Campbell of Lorn, was born about 1551. On the death of his father in 1558 he succeeded only to barony and other estates of Edzell, the earldom of Crawford passing to David Lindsay, son of the 'wicked master' [see under Lindsay, David, eleventh Earl of Crawford]. With his brother, John Lindsay, lord Menmuir [q. v.], he was educated on the continent under the care of John Lawson [q. v.], afterwards colleague of Knox, and in his tastes and accomplishments resembled his brother. 'The sword, the pen, and pruning-hook,' says Lord Lindsay in his 'Lives of the Lindsays,' 'were equally familiar to him; he even anticipated the geologist's hammer, and had at least a taste for architecture and design.' He devoted much attention to the utilisation of the minerals on his estate, and to agricultural improvements.

Edzell was one of those who on 3 May 1578 signed a band in favour of the Earl of Mar as guardian of the young king, James VI (Reg. P. C. Scotl. ii. 691). On 14 June of the same year he appeared as procurator for the sureties of David, eleventh earl of Crawford (ib. p. 705; see under Lindsay, David, eleventh Earl). He was knighted at the creation of Esme Stuart as Duke of Lennox in October 1581. On 27 Aug. 1583 a remission was granted to him and others under the great seal for the murder of Campbell of Lundie. On 2 May 1593 he was, under the title of lord Edzell, admitted a lord of session. His name first appears as a member of the privy council on 16 Nov. 1598 (Reg. P. C. Scotl. v. 495). For conniving at a fray between his son and the young laird of Pitarrow in the High Street of Edinburgh, 17 June 1605, he was for a short time warded in Dumbarton Castle. In 1607, while seeking to revenge the murder of his relative, Sir Walter Lindsay of Balgavie [q. v.], he had the misfortune, at least indirectly, to occasion the death of Lord Spynie [see Lindsay, Alexander, first Lord Spynie]. On 10 Aug. 1609 the privy council fixed 19 Sept. for the trial of him and his son Alexander for the murder, but his prosecutor, David Lindsay, twelfth earl of Crawford [q. v.], having failed to appear, no trial took place (Pitcairn, Criminal Trials, iii. 61). Edzell died on 18 Dec. 1610. By his first wife, Lady Helen Lindsay, daughter of David, tenth earl of Crawford, whom he married without 'tocher or fortune,' he had three sons—Sir David of Edzell, John, and Alexander of Canterland—and a daughter, Margaret, married to David, first earl of Southesk. By his second wife, Isobel Forbes, he left no issue.

[Reg. P. C. Scotl. vols. ii-viii.; Pitcairn's Criminal Trials; Brunton and Haig's Senators of the College of Justice; Douglas's Scottish Peerage (Wood), i. 165-6; Lord Lindsay's Lives of the Lindsays; Lindsay Pedigree, by W. A. Lindsay, in the College of Arms.]

T. F. H.