David Beaton of Melgund

David Beaton of Melgund (d. 1598) was a Scottish courtier and landowner.

Melgund Castle

David Beaton was the son of Cardinal David Beaton and Marion Ogilvy. He inherited Melgund Castle.

In June 1562 Mary Queen of Scots requested a "safe conduct", a kind of passport, for Beaton to travel to and from France through England.[1] The English diplomat in Scotland, Thomas Randolph wrote that he was going to represent the queen at the christening of Marie, the daughter of Sébastian de Luxembourg, Vicomte de Martigues. Martigues had fought at the siege of Leith.[2]

On 5 August 1586 he wrote from Dundee to Charles de Prunelé, Baron d'Esneval, a French envoy currently in Scotland, who he had received at court in February and was now about to leave Scotland.[3] D'Esneval had commissioned a copy of a portrait of James VI from a painter in Edinburgh, probably Adrian Vanson, at the request of Mary Queen of Scots.[4]

Beaton was Master of the Household for James VI of Scotland and for Anne of Denmark and audited her household accounts. This position was not as lucrative as he hoped, and in 1592 with a cousin and fellow Master of Household to the queen, Harry Lindsay of Careston, he complained about their arduous roles and low wage compared to other officers, and missing allowances for the meals of ladies in waiting and other courtiers.[5]

Family

David Beaton of Melgund first married Margaret Lindsay, third daughter of the John, 5th Lord Lindsay of the Byres (d. 1563). In 1575 he married Lucretia Beaton (d. 1623), daughter of Robert Beaton of Creich and Jeane de la Ramvell (d. 1577). Lucretia was the sister of Mary Beaton, the attendant of Mary Queen of Scots.[6] Their children included:

  • James Beaton (d. August 1609), feuar of Melgund from 1586, who married Margaret or Helen Menzies, daughter of James Menzies of that ilk (d. 1585) and Barbara Stewart. A stone with their heraldry dated 1604 is built into the wall of Aberlemno church.
  • Dr David Beaton, physician.
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References
  1. CSP Foreign Elizabeth, vol. 5 (London, 1867), no. 163: Labanoff, vol. 1, p. 143.
  2. Joseph Bain, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 1 (London, 1898), p. 635.
  3. Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 8 (Edinburgh, 1914), pp. 590-1 no. 676.
  4. Agnes Strickland, Letters of Mary, Queen of Scots, vol. 2 (London, 1843), p. 172.
  5. Michael Pearce, 'Anna of Denmark: Fashioning a Danish Court in Scotland', The Court Historian, 24:2 (2019) pp. 140, 147.
  6. Margaret Sanderson, Mary Stewart's People (Edinburgh, 1987), p. 19.
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