Margaret Stewart, Mistress of Ochiltree

Margaret Stewart, Mistress of Ochiltree (d. 1627) was a courtier in the household of Anne of Denmark and looked after her children Prince Henry, Princess Elizabeth, and Charles I of England

This article is about the courtier to Anne of Denmark. For the wife of John Knox, see Margaret Knox.

Margaret was the daughter of Henry Stewart, 1st Lord Methven and Janet Stewart, daughter of John Stewart, 2nd Earl of Atholl and Lady Janet Campbell.

Her three siblings were; Henry Stewart, 2nd Lord Methven (died 3 March 1572), Dorothea Stewart, Countess of Gowrie, and Joan Stewart, Countess of Argyll.

Margaret Stewart was called the "Mistress of Ochiltree" after she married Andrew Stewart, Master of Ochiltree in 1567, eldest son of Andrew Stewart, 2nd Lord Ochiltree and Agnes Cunningham. After his death in 1578 she married Uchtred Macdowall of Garthland, but was still called, and signed her name, "Margaret, Mistress of Ochiltree". Margaret Stewart the second wife of the minister John Knox, was her sister in law.

She had a long running dispute with Lord Robert Stewart, commendator of Whithorn over Cruggleton Castle and its lands.[1] In August 1579 she was awarded the goods of John Douglas, chamberlain of Whithorn, who refused to surrender the castle to her.[2]

She was friendly with Patrick Vaus of Barnbarroch, and wrote to him in 1583 calling him "brother", and asking him to pay her debt to an Edinburgh tailor, Nicoll Spens. She called him "brother" as a member of the extended family of Janet Stewart, daughter of the Earl of Atholl, who had married four times, so making Margaret Stewart a relative of the Ruthvens, the Kennedys of Girvanmains, and the Gordons of Sutherland.[3]

On 1 February 1591 she was listed as a member of the household of Anne of Denmark with her daughters Mary, Martha, and Jean. Margaret had a male and a female servant and a page.[4]

On 11 October 1603 Margaret Stewart was given a royal pension of 300 and later 700 merks annually for her service to Anne of Denmark and her children from 1590 to 1603, and especially for looking after Lady Margaret, Duke Robert, and Prince Charles before he was put in the keeping of Alexander Seton, 1st Earl of Dunfermline.[5]

Family

Her children formed links at court, especially as ladies in waiting in the household of Anne of Denmark, where she was the senior lady in waiting. Her second son Josias Stewart sided with the rebel Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell, but was pardoned for his treason. Her children were;

  • Andrew Stewart, who became the 3rd Lord Ochiltree, and then by an exchange of titles, Baron Castle Stuart.
  • Josias Stewart of Bonington, who was a supporter of Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell. In 1595 he revealed information to the Privy Council of Scotland about a band or league between the Earl and the Catholic rebel Northern earls.[6] He was the executor and administrator of the estates of his sister Jean Stewart, Lady Bargany and her son Thomas Kennedy.[7]
  • Mary (or Margery) Stewart (d. 1606) was a lady in waiting in the household of Anne of Denmark, she married Sir Roger Aston an English favourite of James VI who had appointed him Gentleman of the Bedchamber in 1587, and in 1596 keeper of Linlithgow Palace, where two of her daughters were born.
  • Anne Stewart, married Andrew Kerr, Lord of Jedburgh, who had been Captain of the King's Guard.[8]
  • Jean Stewart, also a maiden in the household of Anne of Denmark, married Gilbert Kennedy younger of Bargany. The wedding was celebrated at court with food and music and King James gave her clothes.[9] It was said that James VI compelled the Laird of Bargany to arrange the marriage without a dowry, because he had sided with kirk ministers against him. The queen arranged a loan for the dowry.[10]
  • Margaret Stewart, also a maiden in the queen's household, who married in January 1596 Sir John Stewart younger of Traquair.[11] Their son John Stewart of Traquair inherited, and was made Lord Stewart of Traquair, and Earl of Traquair in 1633.[12]
  • Martha Stewart, who married Nicholas Rutherford of Hundalee.
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References
  1. Correspondence of Sir Patrick Waus of Banbarroch (Edinburgh, 1882), p. 215.
  2. Gordon Donaldson, Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland: 1575-1585, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1966), p. 330 no. 2009.
  3. Correspondence of Sir Patrick Waus of Banbarroch (Edinburgh, 1882), pp. xxix-xxx, 276-7.
  4. James Thomson Gibson-Craig, Papers Relative to the Marriage of King James the Sixth of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1836), Appendix pp. 27-28, 35
  5. Register of the Privy Council of Scotland: 1625-1657, 2 ser. vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1899), p. 201: National Records of Scotland Privy Seal Register, NRS PS1/74 f149r and f201r.
  6. David Masson, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland: 1592-1599, vol. 6 (Edinburgh, 1882), pp. 114, 132, 207.
  7. James Paterson, History of the County of Ayr, vol. 1 (Ayr, 1847), pp. 380-2: Will NRS ECC9/7/17 pp. 227-232.
  8. Register of the Privy Council of Scotland: 1625-1657, 2 ser. vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1899), pp. 201-202.
  9. Letters to King James the Sixth from the Queen, Prince Henry, Prince Charles (Edinburgh, 1835), p. lxxii-iii.
  10. Chronicle of the Kings of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1830), p. 156: Michael Pearce, 'Anna of Denmark: Fashioning a Danish Court in Scotland', The Court Historian, 24:2 (2019), p. 148.
  11. Michael Pearce, 'Anna of Denmark: Fashioning a Danish Court in Scotland', The Court Historian, 24:2 (2019) p. 148.
  12. Balfour Paul, Scots Peerage, vol. 8 (Edinburgh, 1911), p. 403.
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