Clan Ruthven

History

Ruthven is a name taken from land, but sources differ on which land. Scotland.org and the Scots Peerage place the Ruthven lands in Perthshire, and Electric Scotland points to Ruthven in Rannoch. The Scottish Register of Tartans names an old barony of Ruthven in Angus. Several accounts give it a Norse origin. The Scots Peerage traces it to a Thor who witnessed royal charters under David I. Scotland.org says they began in East Lothian and were settled in Perthshire before the 12th century was out.

The early generations are hazy. Between 1188 and 1199 Swein, son of Thor, granted land at Tibbermore to Scone's monks. Scotland.org names Swein's grandson Walter as the first to take the Ruthven surname. Walter's son William is said to have aided Wallace at Perth, yet twice gave his oath to Edward I, in 1291 and 1296. Sources differ on how the family came to hold the sheriffdom of Perth. Scotland.org credits Robert the Bruce, while the Scots Peerage records a charter of the office from Robert III. A later William spent 1424 to 1427 in England, held as surety for James I's ransom.

The Scots Peerage dates the creation of the first Lord Ruthven to 29 January 1487-88, an old-style date, which is why accounts give both 1487 and 1488. Their home was the Place of Ruthven near Perth, two tower houses built very near each other. Historic Environment Scotland suggests they may have been built for two sons legitimised in 1480. The elder, the Master of Ruthven, was killed at Flodden in 1513. His son William, 2nd Lord, became Provost of Perth and a judge, and Scotland.org says he backed Protestantism early on. Dirleton Castle came to the family through his marriage to Janet Halyburton.

Violent politics followed. Patrick, 3rd Lord, was one of the men who killed David Rizzio at Holyrood on 9 March 1566. He fled to England and died at Newcastle that June. His son William was made Earl of Gowrie in 1581. In August 1582 Gowrie and other Protestant lords took the boy king, James VI, and kept him for about ten months. This was the Raid of Ruthven. He was beheaded for treason at Stirling in 1584.

The worst blow fell on 5 August 1600. James VI came to Gowrie House in Perth, and in the struggle that followed John, 3rd Earl, and his brother Alexander were killed. In Historic Environment Scotland's blunter telling, the earl was executed on the king's orders. Officially, the brothers had plotted to murder the king. No one has ever proved what really happened. Parliament branded the brothers traitors. Their estates were forfeited, and the Ruthven name and arms were banned. The Place of Ruthven, handed to the Murrays of Tullibardine, took the name Huntingtower.

The name came back slowly. Electric Scotland says a 1641 Act let the Ruthvens of Balindean take it up again. In 1651 Sir Thomas Ruthven of Freeland was made Lord Ruthven. Alexander Hore-Ruthven won the Victoria Cross in the Sudan in 1898 and became Governor-General of Australia in 1936. In 1945 the old title returned when he was created Earl of Gowrie. COSCA still names an Earl of Gowrie as chief, but the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs does not list Ruthven.