Hume, Patrick, 1st Earl of Marchmont (1641 -1724)

Patrick Hume (or Campbell), 1st Earl of Marchmont, was born 13 January 1641, the eldest son of Sir Patrick Hume of Polwarth in Berwickshire, and Christina, daughter of Sir Alexander Hamilton of Innerwick. He succeeded his father in the baronetcy in April 1648, and after his education in Scotland, he went to Paris to study civil law. He was elected to the Scottish Parliament for Berwick in1665, soon after his return and opposed the government’s extreme measures against the Covenanters. In 1675 he refused to pay the levy to support the garrison of his shire. He was imprisoned but liberated in July 1679 by order of the King. Realising that he could not safely remain in Scotland, he went to England where his friendship with the Duke of Monmouth laid him under suspicion of being involved in the Rye House plot, probably wrongly. He fled to Scotland and took refuge in the family vault under the church at Polwarth. Going abroad he joined Argyll’s plot against James II in support of the Protestant succession, and became a propagandist for William of Orange. In 1688 he came over with William and accompanied him on his march to London. In November 1689 he was made a Scottish peer as Lord Polwarth and granted as an augmentation of honour to his arms - An orange proper ensigned of an imperial crown. In November 1693 he was made an extraordinary Lord of Session and on 2 May 1696 Lord Chancellor of Scotland. In April 1697 he was created Earl of Marchmont. He died at Berwick upon Tweed 1 April 1724. He married Grizell, daughter of Sir Thomas Ker of Cavers, with whom he had four sons. The eldest, Patrick, died in 1710, Robert, a Captain in the Army had died earlier, and the earldom passed to his eldest surviving son Alexander Hume (or Campbell).