The Reverend Archibald Riddell, third son of the second baronet, was imprisoned because he would not renounce his Covenanter beliefs. A prominent seventeenth century merchant in Edinburgh, John Riddell, claimed descend from "Galfridus de Reidel". John amassed great wealth from the trade across the Baltic Sea. During the Scottish Civil War his son, who acquired extensive lands near Linlithgow, is said to have intrigued with the forces of Oliver Cromwell and became a close friend of General Monck.