Clans of the North-East: House of Burnett
December 2008
The wider family: The chiefly Burnett house is Leys, with others including Burnett of Kemnay, of Crimond, Monboddo and Criggies, while a 17th century purchase of Muchalls Castle saw Burnetts established there too. Septs include Burnet, Burrnette, MacBurnett, Barnet, Barnett, Burnaitt, Bernette, Bernat, Burnit, Burns, Blackhall and Barnard. (Tartan courtesy of Scottish Tartans Authority)
by Gordon Casely
Burnett chiefs of old fought to establish rights for themselves and their folk, befriending king and commoner alike in the quest for prosperity. James Burnett of Leys, today’s chief, in heading a successful business based on Deeside, might be first to suggest that fighting to maintain prosperity in the current economic climate is probably more difficult than raising armies in ancient days.
Early Burnetts entered Scotland around the time of King David I (1124-53), settling in Roxburghshire and becoming known as benefactors of Melrose Abbey. A Borders connection remains to this day, with Burnets of Barns and Burnetland in Peeblesshire. The Burnett move to a Deeside heartland came about through a grant of land by King Robert Bruce in the royal Forest of Drum. By 1446, the lairdly title ‘of Leys’ was in use and remembers the site of a crannog on what was the Loch of Leys; more importantly, what is now the splendid Crathes Castle had become the Burnett messuage.
The creation of Thomas Burnett of Leys as a baronet of Nova Scotia in 1626 added further honour to a family already known for literary patronage and generous endowment of bursaries at Aberdeen University. The knightly title remained in the family until the death without a male heir of Sir Alexander Burnett of Leys, 14th baronet in 1959. The baronetcy is now dormant, with some sources suggesting that heirship lies within the neighbouring family of Ramsay of Balmain.
Jamie Burnett’s recognition in 1966 as “chief of the name and arms of Burnett and Baron of Kilduthie” by Lord Lyon Sir Thomas Innes of Learney boosted the cause of Burnetts throughout the world. By example, Jamie of Leys lives up to one of his two mottoes Alterius Non Sit Qui Suus Esse Potest (Let Not Him Be Another’s Who Can Be His Own… or in plain words “be your own man”) through his efforts in reviving Burnett interest and local business.
Gatherings of the House of Burnett (the family insists that being of Lowland origin it is a house rather than a clan) have become regular features of Deeside life, with the next one due during the week after the Homecoming weekend in Edinburgh this summer (2009). Past events have included lectures, visits, dinners and outings.
Robert Burns and Monboddo’s daughter
The 2009 Burnetts can look forward to five days that include an ambitious staging at Crathes of Monboddo The Musical, a musical play of the life of James Burnett, Lord Monboddo. The production involves Robert Burns and Monboddo’s beautiful daughter Eliza, but centres on Monboddo himself, an educated eccentric who arguably deserves credit later bestowed upon Charles Darwin for theories of evolution.
In terms of organisation, other houses, clans and followings might take a leaf out of the Burnett book. Burnetts boast two comprehensive family histories published in the last decade, as well as a Burnett Room in Crathes Castle, a tower haunt turned entirely over to illustrated lives of noted Burnetts living and dead. Among those mentioned is Charles Burnett, Ross Herald of Arms at the Court of the Lord Lyon, and a noted promoter of heraldry.
In one aspect, Burnetts have an unassailable lead, and that’s in the creation of a railway line. The infant Royal Deeside Railway based at Milton of Crathes now has the first half-mile of track laid in the ambitious plan to establish a three-mile vintage railway. A decade ago, the Royal Deeside Railway Preservation Society was looking for a home for Oldmeldrum Station building; Jamie Burnett offered a site at the Milton, as well as making available the solum of the old Deeside Line.
Dryly, the laird also informed the society that trains may be obliged to stop to collect fishing guests and transport them to higher pools on the beat!
The principle of Burnett lairds at Crathes successfully interfering in the running of the Deeside Line is well established: insistent that all passing trains stopped at Crathes station, an ancestor of the present Burnett chief even managed to force a halt in the special trains carrying government red boxes to and from Queen Victoria – and he went all the legal way to the House of Lords to establish his point.
This is an article from the December 2008 edition of Leopard Magazine. To read much more like this every month, see our subscription details.