Arthur Elphinstone, 6th Lord Balmerino and 5th Lord Cupar (1688 – 18 August 1746) was a Scottish nobleman and Jacobite, or supporter of the claim of the exiled

House of Stuart The House of Stuart, originally spelt Stewart, was a royal house of Scotland, England, Ireland and later Great Britain. The family name comes from the office of High Steward of Scotland, which had been held by the family progenitor Walter fi ...

to the British throne. As a military officer, he served in both the British and French armies, as well as taking part in Jacobite rebellions in 1715 and 1745, and spent nearly 20 years in exile on the Continent. He was pardoned some years after the first rebellion but following the failure of the latter at Culloden he was taken prisoner, charged with treason, and executed at

Tower Hill Tower Hill is the area surrounding the Tower of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is infamous for the public execution of high status prisoners from the late 14th to the mid 18th century. The execution site on the higher gro ...

. Historians of the 1745 rising often refer to him simply as Lord Balmerino, although he did not inherit the title until January 1746 and was for most of his life styled "the Hon. Arthur Elphinstone".

Biography

Arthur Elphinstone was the son of John Elphinstone, 4th

Lord Balmerino The title of Lord Balmerino (or Balmerinoch) was a title in the Peerage of Scotland; it was created in 1606 and forfeited in 1746 on the attainder and execution of the 6th Lord Balmerino in the Tower of London. The title of Lord Coupar or Cupar w ...

and 3rd Lord Cupar, and of his second wife, Anne Ross or Rose, daughter of Arthur Rose, Archbishop of St Andrews. He was born in Balmerino House in

Leith Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by ''Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world. The earliest ...

and lived there most of his life. The family descended from James (–1612), a younger son of

Robert Elphinstone, 3rd Lord Elphinstone Robert Elphinstone, 3rd Lord Elphinstone (1530-1602) was a Scottish landowner and courtier. Robert Elphinstone was the son of Alexander Elphinstone, 2nd Lord Elphinstone and Katherine Erskine, daughter of John Erskine, 5th Lord Erskine and his w ...

: King

James VI and I James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...

granted the lands of

Balmerino Abbey Balmerino Abbey, or St Edward's Abbey, in Balmerino, Fife, Scotland, was a Cistercian monastic community which has been ruinous since the 16th century. History It was founded from 1227 to 1229 by monks from Melrose Abbey with the patronage ...

in Fife to James Elphinstone in 1605, though by the 18th century a series of lawsuits had reduced the family's properties to the

barony Barony may refer to: * Barony, the peerage, office of, or territory held by a baron * Barony, the title and land held in fealty by a feudal baron * Barony (county division), a type of administrative or geographical division in parts of the British ...

of Restalrig in South

. The Elphinstones were prominent members of the

Episcopalian Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...

minority within Scotland: the burying ground of the ruined church at Restalrig on their estate was used by local Episcopalians throughout the 18th century. Arthur had three half-brothers from his father's first marriage; Hugh, Master of Balmerino, who died in 1708 at the Siege of Lille, James (1675–1746), a lawyer and judge, and Alexander (d. 1733).Campbell, J. (1867) ''Balmerino and Its Abbey: A Parochial History'', Paterson, p.391''The New Peerage'', v. II (1763), R. Davis, p.213 He was not initially expected to inherit the family estate and embarked on a military career, being commissioned a captain in Lord Shannon's regiment in March 1714.Henshaw, V. (2014) ''Scotland and the British Army, 1700–1750: Defending the Union'', A&C Black, p.106. As a north-eastern Episcopalian Protestant, Elphinstone has been described as epitomising the most "ideologically committed" Jacobite supporters.McLynn, F. (1985) ''The Jacobites'', Routledge, p.88. (Many Scottish Episcopalians were conservatives who believed the deposition of the Stuarts to have been a breach of natural order, and who also opposed the 1707 Union of England and Scotland.) During the

Jacobite rising of 1715 The Jacobite rising of 1715 ( gd, Bliadhna Sheumais ; or 'the Fifteen') was the attempt by James Edward Stuart (the Old Pretender) to regain the thrones of England, Ireland and Scotland for the exiled Stuarts. At Braemar, Aberdeenshire, ...

he fought at the inconclusive Battle of Sheriffmuir on the government side but, reportedly finding this "against his conscience", deserted and joined the Jacobites.Henshaw, p.107 The rising subsequently collapsed and he fled the country, possibly to

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

, before joining the French army. In 1733 Elphinstone's father obtained a pardon for him, and he eventually returned to Scotland: about this time he married Margaret Chalmers or Chambers, daughter of a Captain Chalmers of Leith. His half-brother James succeeded to the title of Lord Balmerino on the death of their father in 1736. Elphinstone was one of the first to join

Charles Edward Stuart Charles Edward Louis John Sylvester Maria Casimir Stuart (20 December 1720 – 30 January 1788) was the elder son of James Francis Edward Stuart, grandson of James II and VII, and the Stuart claimant to the thrones of England, Scotland and ...

during his 1745 attempt to recover the British throne for the Stuarts. While his history of Jacobite activity was undoubtedly a factor, some contemporaries also suggested that the family's poor financial standing meant he had little to lose. Alongside

David Wemyss, Lord Elcho David Wemyss, Lord Elcho and ''de jure'' 6th Earl of Wemyss (12 August 172129 April 1787), was a Scottish peer and Jacobite, attainted for his part in the 1745 Rising and deprived of titles and estates. One of the few Jacobites excluded from ...

, he was given command of a troop of Charles' "Life Guard"; unlike nearly all other senior Jacobites, he escaped any criticism in the post-rising memoirs by various participants.MacKenzie Annand, A. "The Life Guards of Prince Charles Edward", ''Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research'', Vol. 73, No. 293 (Spring 1995), 14–15. John Daniel, a colleague in 1745, recorded that Elphinstone's "sole and predominant passion" was "hard drinking", but paid tribute to his loyalty, courage, and gift for languages, noting that "his memory for his years was wonderful". He became the 6th Lord Balmerino on 5 January 1746 following his half-brother James's death, but in April of the same year he was taken prisoner at the

Battle of Culloden The Battle of Culloden (; gd, Blàr Chùil Lodair) was the final confrontation of the Jacobite rising of 1745. On 16 April 1746, the Jacobite army of Charles Edward Stuart was decisively defeated by a British government force under Prince Wi ...

. Balmerino was tried before Parliament, along with

William Boyd, 4th Earl of Kilmarnock William Boyd, 4th Earl of Kilmarnock (12 May 170518 August 1746), was a Scottish peer who joined the 1745 Jacobite Rising, was captured at Culloden and subsequently executed for treason on Tower Hill. His family were supporters of the government ...

and

George Mackenzie, 3rd Earl of Cromartie George Mackenzie, 3rd Earl of Cromartie (c. 1703 – 28 September 1766) was a Scottish nobleman. Life He succeeded his father John, the 2nd earl, in February 1731. In 1745, he joined Charles Edward Stuart and he served with the Jacobites until ...

. Given his history and previous pardon, he represented himself and offered little in the way of a defence, joking that he only pleaded not guilty in order "that so many ladies might not be disappointed of their show". He was found guilty, attainted and beheaded on the same day as the Earl of Kilmarnock.''The Gentleman's Magazine'' Published by F. Jefferies, volume 156 January–June 1834
p. 133
quoting the Letters of

Horace Walpole Horatio Walpole (), 4th Earl of Orford (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian, and Whig politician. He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twi ...

to Sir Horace Mann. Balmerino went to his execution unrepentant, stating "If I had a thousand lives, I would lay them all down in the same cause". His insouciant attitude at the time of his trial and execution -joking with bystanders and insisting on taking the axe in his carriage so that Kilmarnock would not be bothered by it - was widely reported in the media of the time.McKenzie, A. "Martyrs in Low Life? Dying "Game" in Augustan England", ''Journal of British Studies'', Vol. 42, No. 2 (April 2003), 167–205.

, in a letter, described him as "the most natural brave old fellow I ever saw ..at the bar he behaved like a soldier and a man: in the intervals of form, with carelessness and humour". Balmerino's execution is sometimes reported to have taken three blows, though "the first certainly took away all sensation". Like Kilmarnock, he was buried in the

Church of St Peter ad Vincula The Chapel Royal of St Peter ad Vincula ("St Peter in chains") is the former parish church of the Tower of London. It is situated within the Tower's Inner Ward, and the current building dates from 1520, although the church was established seve ...

in the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...

: reportedly, at his request, alongside William Murray, Marquess of Tullibardine. His home, Balmerino House in Leith, was confiscated by the Crown, which also took over his patronage of

South Leith Parish Church South Leith Parish Church, originally the Kirk of Our Lady, St Mary, is a congregation of the Church of Scotland. It is the principal church and congregation in Leith, in Edinburgh. Its kirkyard is the burial place for John Home (author of ''Do ...

. The Crown sold Balmerino House to

James Stuart, 8th Earl of Moray James Stuart, 8th Earl of Moray KT (1708 – 5 July 1767) was the son of Francis Stuart, 7th Earl of Moray. In 1741, he was elected as one of the 16 Scottish Representative peers who sat in the post-1707 British House of Lords, a position ...

in 1755. He sold it on to Lady Baird of Newbyth, and in 1762, on her death, it passed to her brother, General St. Clair of St. Clair. After being purchased by William Sibbald, a Leith merchant, it was sold to the Catholic Church in 1848 for £1800 to build a convent and Roman Catholic church in its extensive grounds.

Family

He was married to Margaret Chalmers daughter of Captain Chalmers of Leith but they had no children.Cassels Old and New Edinburgh vol.6 ch.24

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balmerino, Arthur Elphinstone, 6th Lord 1688 births 1746 deaths Lords of Parliament Jacobite military personnel of the Jacobite rising of 1745 Scottish Jacobites People of the Jacobite rising of 1715 People executed by the Kingdom of Great Britain Executions at the Tower of London Scottish politicians convicted of crimes