Clan Kennedy

History

The Kennedys are a family of Carrick, the southern third of Ayrshire. The family's early history is thin. A Gilbert mac Kenedi witnessed a charter of Carrick land to Melrose Abbey in the reign of William the Lion, and a Gillespie Kennedy is named as steward of Carrick in the following century. Some accounts derive them from the native lords of Galloway or from Duncan, Earl of Carrick. That is likely enough, but it cannot be proved.

Firm ground begins with John Kennedy of Dunure in the mid fourteenth century. He built up a large estate, including Cassillis, and in 1372 Robert II confirmed him as head of his kindred and bailie of Carrick. His descendant James Kennedy married Mary, a daughter of Robert III. That royal marriage made the family. One of their sons, Gilbert, became the first Lord Kennedy in the 1450s and served as a regent for the young James III. Another, James, became Bishop of St Andrews, advised James II, and founded St Salvator's College there in 1450. He died in 1465.

David, third Lord Kennedy, was created Earl of Cassillis in 1509 and died with James IV at Flodden four years later. By then the Kennedys were the dominant family in Carrick. They did not always use that power gently. Around 1570 the fourth earl had Allan Stewart, the commendator of Crossraguel Abbey, carried to Dunure and roasted over a fire until he signed away abbey lands. Stewart complained to the Privy Council and the earl was ordered to pay him a pension in compensation, though he seems to have kept the land.

The family also fought itself. The earls' main rivals were their own cousins, the Kennedys of Bargany. In 1601 the two sides met near Maybole, and the laird of Bargany was killed. The feud left Cassillis without a serious challenger in Carrick. The sixth earl served as Lord Justice General around 1650.

When the eighth earl died without children, the succession was disputed between the heir male and the heir general. In 1762 the House of Lords decided for Sir Thomas Kennedy of Culzean. His brother David, the tenth earl, brought in Robert Adam, who turned the old tower on the cliffs at Culzean into one of the great houses of Scotland between 1777 and 1792. The earldom then passed to a cousin, Archibald Kennedy, a naval captain. His son became Baron Ailsa in 1806 and Marquess of Ailsa in 1831.

In 1945 the family gave Culzean to the National Trust for Scotland, asking that an apartment at the top of the house be set aside for General Eisenhower in thanks for his wartime command. He stayed there four times. The castle and its country park remain the place most visitors will meet the Kennedys. There was also a northern branch of the name: the Register's notes on Kennedy tartan refer to Kennedys settled in Lochaber.