Family Discord and the 1703 Entail

The story begins with Sir James Carnegie (d. 1707), who was a son of the Earls of Northesk. In 1703, he took the drastic step of executing an entail that bypassed his eldest son, Charles, in favour of his second son, 

James. This decision was driven by Charles’s health; he had suffered a severe stroke around 1702, which left him with significant speech and mobility impairments. Charles did not accept his disinheritance quietly. He challenged the entail in the Court of Session in 1707. A compromise was eventually reached: Charleswould hold the baronial title for his lifetime, while James would effectively manage the estate. Upon Charles’s death in 1712, James became the full Laird of Finhaven. (Finavon)

Charles died, unmarried and without issue at Whitewalls in Tanadice in 1712, the castle impossible for him to live in.  James lived at the House of Finavon.  This is confirmed in the trail records at Carlisle 1716. 

James was twice married.  M1 Margaret Bennet whom he had two daughters Jean and Margaret and then Violet Naesmyth whom with he had a son James and daughter Barbara.  The map below shows Finavon House and the old Castle which at this time was now in ruins.  Roy's maps where military maps and the markings of property showed places of hospitality for the soldiers and also landmarks.  It is clear on this map that the ruin castle is on the wrong side of the Lemno Burn.  It sits south east of the burn in reality.

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​​Roy Maps 1747-52  Image courtesy of the National Library of Scotland.

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The Jacobite Trial at Carlisle: A Story of Resistance and Principle

For centuries, the story of James Carnegie of Finhaven (d. 1765) has been overshadowed by a single, tragic afternoon in a Forfar street. But as the restoration of the House of Finhaven reveals the layers of its stone, new research reveals a much more remarkable man: a strategic loyalist who used his wits and his home to survive the most dangerous years of Scottish history.

The Great Evasion: The 1715 Rebellion

James’s early tenure was a battle for survival. Long misidentified as a willing Jacobite, newly uncovered records from The National Archives (SP 35/6/47) prove he was a committed Loyalist who spent months physically resisting the 1715 Uprising.

The "smoking gun" in his defense is a chilling letter from his brother-in-law, Patrick Lyon of Auchterhouse, notarized in Edinburgh. Lyon warns James that his refusal to join the rebellion has "enraged" his kin and explicitly threatens that the only way to "preserve your house and land from being burnt" was to report to the rebel camp at Perth immediately.

Facing the destruction of his home and family, James engaged in a quiet war of evasion. His valet, Andrew Ferrier, and housemaid, Margaret Fenton, later testified that James used what was then known as the House of Finhaven as a tactical fortress; utilizing a "back private entry," ground-floor windows, and the garden to dodge rebel recruiters. At one point, James was effectively kidnapped by the Earl of Southesk’s servants and taken to Kinnaird to be admonished and threatened with total and absolute ruin.

In a final, desperate act of defiance, James faked a severe illness at Cupar Angus and Inchture to avoid marching. Though he was eventually dragged to Perth and guarded to prevent further escape, he never submitted his tenants to the cause. As soon as the opportunity arose, he fled the rebel camp and rode 40 miles to Aberdeen to voluntarily surrender to the Duke of Argyll—seeking the Crown’s protection and a chance to prove his loyalty in a court of law. 

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A House Built on Conviction

James’s 1716 vindication allowed him to return to Finhaven, where he likely built his deepest convictions into the house itself. While his public life was one of a "Whig" loyalist, the architecture of the Milton suggests a secret, spiritual hope.

 Learn More

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​The Sunrise Wooden Fanlight Milton of Finavon House.

 

In his dining room a plaque on the fire place shows a farming scene.  A plough, twelve heads of barley, a sickle, a space and fork, a pitch fork and in the top right a thistle and in the bottom left a single rose and on each side of the stem a branch with three leaves on each, six in total.   Is this just a farmers fireplace or is it something far more?  A profound statement of James Carnegie’s post-1715 identity. Utilising symbols of agricultural abundance and improvement, it celebrates the 'Peace of the Plough' over the chaos of rebellion. It stands as physical proof of his survival—where once there was a threat of fire, there is now a hearth celebrating the prosperity of a house preserved

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The Dining Room Fire Surround Plaque Milton of Finavon House

 

The Accidental Killing of the Earl of Strathmore 1728 Trial

James's life took its most dramatic turn on 9 May 1728, following the funeral of Patrick Carnegie of Lour's daughter in Forfar. After heavy drinking, Lyon of Brigton bullied and insulted James and his sister Lady Margaret of Auchterhouse.  James went to leave and he Lyon pushed James into a kennel (open sewer) on Castle St. It took his servant and that of the Earl of Strathmore to get him out. Enraged and humiliated, James drew his sword and swagger mortally drunk toward Brigton. The 6th Earl of Strathmore, James' second cousin attempting to play the peacemaker, stepped between them and was accidentally run through. He died two days later.

The subsequent trial in Edinburgh became a landmark for several reasons:  He was tried for the murder of the Earl.

• The Argument for Jury Nullification: James's counsel, 

  Robert Dundas of Arniston, faced a difficult task, as the fact that James had killed the Earl was indisputable. At the time, Scottish juries were only meant to decide if the "facts" were proven, which would have meant certain death for James. Dundas successfully argued that the jury had an "ancient right" to judge the law as well as the facts—specifically, whether the intent for murder was present.

• The "Not Guilty" Verdict: The jury returned a verdict of "Not Guilty". This established the right of Scottish juries to return one of three verdicts—Guilty, Not Guilty, or Not Proven—a unique feature of the Scots law that remains a subject of debate today.

 

Living at Milton of Finavon

James is believed to have resided as a single man of majority at Milton of Finavon House. A man was expected to set up his own home at that point. It appears to have always been the dower house for the estate. The house still stands today and is thought to retain some of the original 18th-century decorations from James’s time. After James's death in 1765, the estate eventually passed to his daughter, Barbara Douglas, as his only son, died unmarried in Lisbon in 1777.

Barbara sold the estate in 1779 to the Earls of Aboyne for £19,500.

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James Carnegie Character

Interesting in the Trails James' character is well testified as a well liked man and a man of principle.  He was owed a great deal of money via various bonds and in particular he had a quarter share was a debt owed by the Earls of Strathmore.  This would tally that James could live a comfortable life in which he could afford the 5 years of building works on his home. 

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The old castle collapsed unexpectedly sometime around 1740. The remains of a surveyor where reportedly found in 1954 under some rubble with his draft board close by, so it sounds like the castle was in need to some works.  The Lemno burn runs West East directly below the castle, but it is likely that the collapse was caused by development after development on non load bearing walls. It is also thought that James did not moved back to the castle after his older brother died in 1712, but used the Castle as his Lairds seat and ran the estate from there. Keeping his home away from the day to day running of his obligations and duty to the parish. Lairds has financial obligations to the parish, the minister and the Kirk funds.  

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The Man Behind the Stone

It is easy to look at the symmetry of our Palladian facade or the quiet order of the terrace and see only the 'rich laird' of a bygone era. For too long, the story of James Carnegie of Finhaven has been flattened into a caricature—the central figure in a tragic, drunken brawl. But if you spend enough time within these walls, a very different man begins to emerge.

The James we know from the records wasn't a man of excess, but a man of surprising resilience and deep-seated duty. He was a second son who stepped up to run this estate while ensuring his incapacitated brother kept his title; a man who survived the political fires of the 1715 Rising only to face a nightmare in a Forfar street that nearly cost him his life.

The 'misfortune' of 1728—the accidental death of his friend, the Earl of Strathmore—didn't define his character, but it did define Scottish law. When a jury of his peers looked at the facts and the man, they did something revolutionary: they judged his intent. By returning a 'Not Guilty' verdict, they didn't just save James; they gave every Scottish citizen the right to a fair trial.

James didn’t hide away after his vindication. He returned to this house and these gardens, living here for another thirty-seven years as a respected neighbour and a steady steward of the land. We invite you to look past the old assumptions and meet the real man of Finhaven—a man of principle who navigated a life of extraordinary consequence with his dignity intact.

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Sources and Further Reading click here 

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