10/1/2020 Laurence Oliphant, 4th Lord Oliphant - Wikipedia

Laurence Oliphant, 4th

Lord Oliphant
Laurence Oliphant, 4th Lord Oliphant (1529–1593)
was a Scottish nobleman.

Life
The eldest son of Laurence Oliphant, 3rd Lord Oliphant, by
Margaret Sandilands, in 1543 he was sent to England as a
hostage for his father. After the marriage of Mary Queen of
Scots to Darnley, while Master of Oliphant, he sat as an
extraordinary member of the privy council in August 1565.
In 1565 certain persons accused of serious crimes took over
his house of Berrydale, which they garrisoned and held; but
on 13 April 1566 they were ordered by the council to give it
up to him within 24 hours under pain of being treated as
rebels, i.e. being hang, drawn and quartered upon capture.
He succeeded his father on 26 March of the same year, and
was served heir on 2 May.[1]

Oliphant sat on the assize for the trial of James Hepburn,

4th Earl of Bothwell for the murder of Darnley, signed the
Ainslie Tavern Bond for Bothwell's marriage to the queen,
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and was one of the nine temporal lords present at the

marriage. At the same time as John Hamilton he was
admitted a member of the privy council. He joined the
association on behalf of Mary at Hamilton on 8 May 1568,
and fought for her at the battle of Langside. On this account
he was charged to appear before the regent and lords of the
privy council, and, failing to do so, was on 2 August 1568
denounced a rebel and put to the horn; but on 5 April 1569
he signed a "band for the king", and on 16 June again
appeared as a member of the privy council.[1]

Oliphant was one of sixteen persons appointed by Queen

Mary, at Bolton Castle on 6 March 1569 to act as advisers,
with the Duke of Châtellerault, the Earl of Huntly and Earl
of Argyll, in the difficult circumstances of the Scottish
kingdom. He attended the convention at Perth on 31 July of
the same year, and voted against the queen's divorce from
Bothwell. An attack on him and his servants on 18 July at
the instance of George Sinclair, 4th Earl of Caithness was
the subject of deliberation by the privy council on 12
October and 22 November.[1]

After the death of the Regent Moray in January 1570,

Oliphant met the leaders of the queen's party at Linlithgow,
where they had a conference with the French ambassador.
Henry Killigrew, in a letter to Lord Burghley in 1573,
mentioned that Oliphant had joined the anti-Marian party
after James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton's succession as
regent to James VI; but he had attended a meeting of the
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privy council at Leith in May 1572, while Regent Mar was

still alive. After the retirement of Morton from the regency,
Oliphant attended the meeting of the parliament in Stirling
Castle on 16 July 1578, presided over by the king. In
November 1580 he was charged to answer before the
council for an attack on Lord Ruthven, and on 7 December
caution money was set that he would on the 9th enter into
ward in Doune Castle in Menteith. Subsequently disputes
between him and the Earl of Caithness often came to the
privy council.[1]

There is evidence that the 4th Lord Oliphant added two

floors to the east tower of Kellie Castle in Fife in 1573. The
south elevation bears the initials of his second wife,
Margaret Hay.[2]

Oliphant died at Caithness on 16 January 1593, and was

buried in the church of Wick.[1]

Family
By Lady Margaret Hay, second daughter of George Hay, 7th
Earl of Erroll, Oliphant had two sons and three daughters.
The sons were:[1]

Laurence, Master of Oliphant (d. 1584?). He was

involved in the raid of Ruthven, and for this reason was
in March 1584 exiled, along with his brother-in-law,

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Robert Douglas, son of William Douglas of Lochleven.

They set sail for the continent, but never reached it.[1]
John Oliphant of Newlands.

The daughters were:[1]

Elizabeth, married to William Douglas, 10th Earl of

Angus;
Jean, to Alexander Bruce of Cultmalindie; and
Margaret, to Sir James Johnstone of Westerhall.

Notes
1. Lee, Sidney, ed. (1895). "Oliphant, Laurence (1529-
1593)" (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Oliphant,_Lauren
ce_(1529-1593)_(DNB00)). Dictionary of National
Biography. 42. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
2. National Trust for Scotland (2008), Kellie Castle &
Garden, pp. 4 & 14

Attribution

This article incorporates text from a publication now in

the public domain: Lee, Sidney, ed. (1895). "Oliphant,
Laurence (1529-1593)". Dictionary of National Biography.
42. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

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