# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Drummond, John (d.1519)

​DRUMMOND, JOHN, first Lord Drummond (d. 1519), statesman, ninth successive knight of his family, was the eldest son of Sir Malcolm Drummond of Cargill and Stobhall, Perthshire, by his marriage with Mariot, eldest daughter of Sir David Murray of Tullibardine in the same county. He sat in parliament 6 May 1471, under the designation of dominus de Stobhall. On 20 March 1473–4 he had a charter of the offices of seneschal and coroner of the earldom of Strathearn (Registrum Magni Sigilli Regum Scotorum, ed. Paul, 1424–1513, p. 236), in which he was confirmed in the succeeding reign (ib. p. 372). In 1483 he was one of the ambassadors to treat with the English, to whom a safe-conduct was granted 29 Nov. of that year; again, on 6 Aug. 1484, to treat of the marriage of James, prince of Scotland, and Anne de la Pole, niece of Richard III. He was a commissioner for settling border differences nominated by the treaty of Nottingham, 22 Sept. 1484; his safe-conduct into England being dated on the ensuing 29 Nov. He was raised to the peerage by the title of Lord Drummond, 29 Jan. 1487–8. Soon after he joined the party against James III, and sat in the first parliament of James IV, 6 Oct. 1488. In this same year he was appointed a privy councillor and justiciary of Scotland, and was afterwards constable of the castle of Stirling. In 1489 the so-called Earl of Lennox rose in revolt against the king. He had encamped at Gartalunane, on the south bank of the Forth, in the parish of Aberfoyle, but during the darkness of the night of 11 Oct. was surprised and utterly routed by Drummond (Buchanan, Rer. Scotic. Hist. lib. xiii. c. v.). As one of the commissioners to redress border and other grievances, Drummond had a safe-conduct into England 22 May 1495, 26 July 1511, 24 Jan. 1512–13, and 20 April 1514 (Hardy, Syllabus of Rymer's Fœdera, ii. 729, 743, 745; Letters and Papers of Hen. VIII, ed. Brewer, i. 274, 316, 448, 478, 789). In 1514 Drummond gave great offence to many of the lords by promoting the marriage of his grandson, Archibald Douglas, sixth earl of Angus, with the queen-dowager Margaret. Lyon king-at-arms (Sir William Comyn) was despatched to summon Angus before the council, when Drummond, thinking that he had approached the earl with more boldness than respect, struck him on the breast. In 1515 John, duke of Albany, was chosen regent, but because Drummond did not favour the election he committed him (16 July) a close prisoner to Blackness Castle, upon an allegation that he had used violence towards the herald (Letters &c. of Henry VIII, vol. ii. pt. i. pp. 187, 205, 520). He was tried capitally, found guilty, and his estates forfeited. However, he was not long in coming to terms with Albany. With other lords he signed the answer of refusal to Henry VIII, who had advised the removal of Albany, to which his seal is affixed, 4 July 1516, and in October he announced his final separation from the ​queen's party (ib. pp. 643, 772). He was in consequence released from prison and freed from his forfeiture, 22 Nov. 1516. He died at Drummond Castle, Strathearn, in 1519, and was buried in the church of Innerpeffray. He was succeeded by his great-grandson David. In Douglas's ‘Peerage of Scotland’ (ed. Wood, ii. 361) Drummond is absurdly stated to have married ‘Lady Elisabeth Lindsay, daughter of David, duke of Montrose.’ His wife was Elizabeth Lindsay, daughter of Alexander, fourth earl of Crawford, and by her he had three sons and six daughters. Malcolm, the eldest son, died young; David, master of Drummond, is not mentioned in the pedigrees, but is now believed to have been the chief actor in the outrage on the Murrays at Monivaird Church, for which he was executed after 21 Oct. 1490 (Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, ed. Burnett, vol. x. p. 1, with which cf. Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer, Scotland, ed. Dickson, vol. i. pp. cii–civ); William was living in March 1502–3; and John was ancestor of the Drummonds of Innerpeffray and of Riccarton. Of the daughters, Margaret [q. v.], mistress of James IV, was poisoned in 1501; Elizabeth married George, master of Angus, and was great-grandmother of Henry, lord Darnley; Beatrix married James, first earl of Arran; Annabella married William, first earl of Montrose; Eupheme, the wife of John, fourth lord Fleming, was poisoned in 1501; and Sibylla shared a like fate. Drummond was the common ancestor of the viscounts of Strathallan and of the earls of Perth and Melfort.
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