Vicisti, Galtere, tui sunt signa triumphi
Deppa, Locoveris, Alacris mons, Butila, Molta, &c.
He had some trouble with Pope Innocent III in 1198 for allowing William de Chemillé to exchange the see of Avranches for that of Angers.
On Richard's death he invested John with the sword of Normandy, and received his oath to preserve the church and its dignities. John soon afterwards confirmed the exchange of Dieppe, Louviers, &c., for Andely. He took part in the meeting between Vernon and Andely for bringing about peace between England and France; he was appointed by the pope to settle the quarrel between the Archbishop of Tours and the Bishop of Dol, and he quieted the strife between the chamberlain of Tancarville and the abbey of Le Valasse. On the loss of Normandy by John he had no difficulty in transferring his allegiance to Philip, and he invested Philip with the sword of the duchy as he had Richard and John. He died 16 Nov. 1207, soon after dedicating Isle Dieu, and was buried in Rouen Cathedral.
Excepting Devizes, as mentioned above, all the chroniclers speak well of him; Giraldus (iii. 303) speaks of his handsome behaviour to him. He gives two curious anecdotes of his influence over animals (iv. 409). Richard had evidently the greatest confidence in him, as may be seen in the letters he wrote to him on the capture of Acre (Epist. Cant. ccclxxv. p. 347) and on the battle of Arsouf (a letter preserved by Wendover; Matt. Paris, ii. 376, 377). He obtained the title of ‘Magnificus’ in his own diocese.
There are many letters to him in the regesta of the various popes from Alexander III to Innocent III; in the letters of Peter of Blois, the ‘Acta Roberti de Monte’ (ii. 333, Delisle); besides those preserved by and to him in Diceto and the other chroniclers. He is said to have written a treatise ‘De Peregrinatione regis Ricardi,’ and one ‘De Negotiis Juris.’
[The authorities for the life of Walter de Coutances have been chiefly indicated above, viz. Richard of Devizes, Gervase of Canterbury, Benedictus Abbas, Hoveden, William of Newburgh, the Epistolæ Cantuarienses, all of which, excepting the first, have been published in the Rolls Series of Chronicles and Memorials. There is a slight sketch of him by Giraldus Cambrensis in his Vita S. Remigii, cap. xxv., and in his Vita Galfridi Arch. Ebor. ii. cap. x. (ed. Brewer, iv. 407). For modern sources see Gallia Christiana, xi. 51–9; Foss's Biographical Dictionary of the Judges of England, p. 184; and especially Bishop Stubbs's Preface to the third volume of his edition of Hoveden, pp. lix–xcviii, ciii; see also the note, iii. 96.]
COUTTS, JOHN (1699–1751), merchant and banker, and lord provost of Edinburgh, eldest son of Patrick Coutts, a tradesman in Edinburgh, and formerly of Montrose, by his wife, Christina Smith, was born on 28 July 1699. He entered into business as commission agent and dealer in grain, and rapidly acquiring capital became a negotiator of bills, a business which the banks had not yet taken up. In 1730 he entered the town council, and in 1742 was elected lord provost, when he sustained the dignity at great expense, conducting the banquetings in his own dwelling. He held office till 1744, having been once re-elected. He was a great encourager of the fine arts. He died at Nola, near Naples, in 1751, at the age of fifty-two. By his wife Jean Stuart, who died in 1736, he had five sons and a daughter, his two sons James and Thomas [q. v.] being founders of the banking house of Coutts & Co. His portrait, painted by Allan Ramsay, belonged to the Baroness Burdett-Coutts.
[Rogers's Genealogical Memoirs of the Families of Colt and Coutts, 1879, pp. 16, 18–21.]
COUTTS, THOMAS (1735–1822), founder with his brother James of the banking house of Coutts & Co. in the Strand, was the fourth son of Lord-provost John Coutts of Edinburgh [q. v.], and was born on 7 Sept. 1735. He was educated at the high school of Edinburgh. On the death of his brother James in 1778 he remained sole partner of the banking house in the Strand. He became the banker of George III, and of a large number of the aristocracy. He was a gentleman of wide accomplishments, and very charitable. While admitted into the highest circles, he was of economical habits, and amassed a fortune to the value of about 900,000l. He died on 24 Feb. 1822. By his first wife, Susan Starkie, a servant of his brother, he had three daughters: Susan, married in 1796 to George Augustus, third earl of Guilford; Frances, married in 1800 to John, first marquis of Bute; and Sophia, married in 1793 to Sir Francis Burdett, bart. [q. v.] Three months after the death of his first wife, in 1815, he married Harriet Mellon, an actress, to whom he bequeathed the bulk of his property (cf. Notes and Queries, 6th ser. v. 108, 152). She married the ninth Duke of St. Albans, and died in 1837.
[Rogers's Families of Colt and Coutts, 1879, pp. 22–6; Life of Thomas Coutts, 1822; Gent. Mag. new ser. xxxi. 382; F. G. H. Price's London Bankers, pp. 44–5; Chambers's Eminent Scotsmen (Thomson), i. 389–90.]
