File:Kenmure Castle (19) The Jacobite 6th Viscount (4183870647).jpg

The boar's heads of Gordon again, this time over the former doorway in the south wing.

(Cont. from last photo) Alexander, fifth viscount of Kenmure, visited the abdicated monarch, James VII, at his court in exile at St. Germains, but was not well received there. He died in August 1698.

His only son, William, sixth viscount, took an active part in the rebellion of 1715, and was the hero of the stirring ballad beginning,

“O Kenmure’s on and awa, Willie,

O Kenmure’s on and awa,
And Kenmure’s lord’s the bravest lord,
That ever Galloway saw.”

He had received a commission from the Earl of Mar to raise the Jacobites in the south of Scotland, and first appeared in arms, at the head of 150 horse, on the 11th October, at Moffat, where he proclaimed the chevalier as James VIII. Next day he proceeded to Lochmaben, where he also proclaimed the Pretender. He advanced within two miles of Dumfries, but being informed that military preparations had been made to receive him, he did not venture to enter the town, but for some days kept a body of rebel troops on Amisfield moor, ready for action, to the dismay of the loyal burgesses.

He next marched to Ecclefechan, where he was joined by Sir Patrick Maxwell of Springkell, with fourteen horsemen, and thence to Langholm, and afterwards to Hawick, where he proclaimed the Chevalier. On the 17th October he marched to Jedburgh, and there also proclaimed him. He next intended to proceed to Kelso, for the same purpose, but learning that that town was well protected, he crossed the border, and joined the rebel army under Forster, in Northumberland.

Returning with Forster’s forces and his own united, he took possession of Kelso, on the 22nd October, and was joined there, the same afternoon, by a large party of Highlanders, under Brigadier Macintosh of Borlum. Of these troops Lord Kenmure had the command while in Scotland, although from his mild and gentle disposition and non-military experience, he was altogether unqualified for such a post. With the rebel forces he marched into England, and was present at the battle of Preston in Lancashire, on 13th November 1715

On the defeat and surrender of the Jacobite rebels, he was conveyed a prisoner to the Tower of London. His trial for high treason took place before the House of Lords on 19th January 1716, when he pleaded guilty, and on 9th February, with the other rebel lords he received a sentence of death, and his estates and titles were forfeited to the crown.

On the morning of the 24th February, he was beheaded on Tower hill, after the earl of Derwentwater had undergone the same fate. He was attended on the scaffold by several friends and two clergymen of the Church of England, of which church he was a member. He displayed great firmness and resolution, and observed that he had so little thought of dying so soon that he had not provided a black suit; that he was sorry for this, as he might have died with more decency. He expressed his regret for pleading guilty to the charge of high treason, and prayed for “King James.” He presented the executioner with eight guineas, and on laying his head on the block, that functionary struck it off with two blows. Shortly after, a letter which he had written to the Chevalier was published, wherein he expressed his hope that the cause for which he died would flourish after his death, and maintained the title of “the person called the Pretender, whom he believed to be the true son of James the Second.”

(I presume the last bit refers to the rumour that persists to this day, that the Old Pretender was not the son of James II, and that he was smuggled into the Queen's bedchamber in a warming pan!)