Eleventh
laird of Inchbrakie and Aberuthven, and twelfth in line
from the first Earl of Montrose and
twenty-seventh in line from the founder, is the only son of Major George
Drummond Graeme
of Inchbrakie and the Honourable
Marianne Jane Drummond his wife.
Born
1849,
educated privately and at Harrow, he
graduated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and entered H.M.’s army
joining the 79th Cameron Highlanders, and afterwards settling in Canada.
In
1870 great rejoicings
took place on the estate when he
came of age, which will long be remembered by the people of Aberuthven.
Unfortunately he
entered on his properties already in
a heavily encumbered condition and by 1882 the burdens placed on them
for fifty years
necessitated their sale; the estate
of Inchbrakie was purchased by Mr Charles S. Home Drummond Moray of
Abercairny. Much of
the family connection between the
Abercairnys, the Inchbrakies and the Blair Drummonds has already been
alluded to, it is
therefore only necessary here to
state that in 1539 Inchbrakie’s sister the Lady Nicola Graeme had
married John Moray,
Great Baron of Abercairny. A hundred
years later Annas Graeme of Inchbrakie had married Sir Robert Moray of
Abercairny; two
of their daughters had married
Graemes of the Fintry and Garvock branches; and a grand daughter married
a grandson of Inchbrakie.
Sir Robert Moray’s descendant,
Colonel Charles Drummond Stirling Moray of Abercairny bought the estate
of Inchbrakie
in 1882; it is a matter of regret he
pulled down the house of Inchbrakie which had been built in 1733-39,
and largely added
to in 1839-42; on its site however
he erected a kindly memorial which bears the following inscription:-
"Memorial Erected 1888with the stones and on the site of
the last House of
Inchbrakie,
The Property having
been purchased in 1882
From Patrick Graeme
the
12th
Laird of Inchbrakie
by Charles S.H.D.
Moray, 19th Laird of Abercairny
5th
in descent from Anne, Daughter of
Patrick Graeme, 5th Laird of Inchbrakie"
This gentleman is now represented by his son William Augustus Drummond-Moray,
20th of Abercairny and now 2nd of
Inchbrakie. He succeeds his
father in those estates in 1891, is
D.L. and Captain in the Scots Guard; he married in 1899 his second
cousin the Honourable
Gwendolyn Edwards, eldest daughter
of William, 4th Baron Kensington, and
Grace Johnstone Douglas
(granddaughter of the Marquis of
Queensberry) his wife. Colonel and the Honourable Mrs H.D. Moray have a
son James William,
born 8th November 1900, and a daughter Anne Grace Christian.
The
greater part of
Aberuthven including the crest of
Craig Rossie was purchased by the present Lord Rollo; the rest by J.
Stevenson, Esq.
Thus
ends the history
of the lands of Inchbrakie and
Aberuthven, but not of the race; there are still young and gallant
scions left to carry on
a family for which their descendants
have, in the long roll of their names, rarely had cause to blush.
In
the old church of
St Kattans at Aberuthven lie the
sacred dead; that hallowed ground is still Inchbrakie’s own, and the
memory of those
who lie there, who have graven their
names on the pages of history by their swords and their lives, cannot
but inspire their
descendants to follow in their
footsteps for all time, and carry on the line from the 28th in
descent from William Graeme in 1128.
