Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 42.djvu/31

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Ogilvy
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Ogilvy


king's man (ib. i. 163), and he also prevailed upon the Viscount Aboyne not to join his father in the south (ib. p. 173). Shortly afterwards, along with Aboyne, he took measures for his defence, and after Aboyne broke up his forces he still continued in arms (ib. pp. 161, 182). Learning in May of a projected rendezvous of covenanters at Turriff, he proposed that an attack should be made on them, and, with Sir John Gordon of Haddo, he was appointed joint general of the forces, 'both of them of known courage, but Banff [Ogilvy] the wittier of the two, and Haddo supposed to be pliable to Banff's council and advice' (Gordon, Scots Affairs. ii. 256). Early in the morning of 13 May the covenanters were surprised in their beds, and completely defeated (ib. p. 257; Spalding, i. 185), the incident being known locally as the 'Trot of Turriff.' On the 15th Ogilvy and other barons entered New Aberdeen with eight hundred horse, and took possession of the town, the covenanters taking to flight (Spalding, i, 186-7). On the 22nd the barons left the town, and marched towards Strathbogie, on arriving at which they learned of the proposed expedition of the northern covenanters to join Montrose at Aberdeen. Thereupon they resolved to bar their way. and, crossing the Spey under the leadership of Ogilvy, drew up on elevated ground within two miles of Elgin. This led to a parley, and both parties came to an agreement to lay down their arms (ib. i. 194; Gordon, Scots Affairs, ii. 263). On 30 May Ogilvy and others took ship at Macduff, with the intention of proceeding south to the king (Spaulding, i. 198); but meeting a ship in which were Aboyne and other loyalists returning to the north, they were persuaded to change their purpose. They landed on 6 June — Ogilvy being then prostrated by fever — at Aberdeen, where Aboyne proclaimed his lieutenancy in the north (ib. pp. 204-5). Montrose having left Aberdeen for the south, the northern royalists had an opportunity of retaliation, and Ogilvy joined Aboyne and others in spoiling the Earl Marischal's lands (Gordon, Scots Affairs, ii. 279). About September Ogilvy went south to the king (Spaulding, i. 231), and during his absence his palace at Banff and his country house at Inschedour were spoiled by the covenanters under General Monro (Gordon, iii. 252-3; Balfour, Annals. ii. 382). As part reparation, the king in 1641 presented to him six thousand merks Scots in gold. He was also by patent, dated at Nottingham 31 Aug. 1641, created a peer of Scotland as Lord Banff. Banff was one of those who in 1634, 'barefaced and in plain English,' accused the Duke of Hamilton of treason (Clarendon, Hist. of the Rebellion, vii. 369). His subsequent life was uneventful, and he died on 11 Aug. 1663. By his first wife, Margaret, daughter of Alexander Irvine of Drum, Aberdeenshire, he had a daughter Helen, married to James Ogilvy, second earl of Airlie [q. v.]; and by his second wife, Mary Sutherland of Duffus, Elgin, he had a son George, second lord Banff, and two daughters.

[Authorities mentioned in the text; Douglas's Scottish Peerage (Wood), i. 192.]

T. F. H.

OGILVY, Sir GEORGE, of Barras (fl. 1634–1679), defender of Dunottar, was descended from the Ogilvys of Balnagarno, Forfarshire, and was the son of William Ogilvy of Lumgair, Kincardineshire, by Katherine, niece of Strahan of Thornton. In 1634 he married Elizabeth, daughter of the Hon. Sir John Douglae of Barras, Forfarshire, fourth son of William, earl of Angus, and purchased Barras from his father-in-law. Having in early life served in the German wars, he was in 1651 appointed by the Earl Marischal, with the title of lieutenant-governor, to hold the earl's castle of Dunottar against the forces of Cromwell. Special importance attached to the trust committed to him from the fact that the regalia of Scotland had been placed in the castle, but for the supply of armaments and provisions he was almost wholly dependent on his own exertions. On 31 Aug. 1651 the committee of estates addressed an order to the Earl of Balcarres authorising him to receive the regalia from Ogilvy, whom they directed to deliver them up to Balcarres; but Ogilvy declined to do so on the ground that Balcarres was not properly authorised to relieve him of the responsibility which had been imposed on him by parliament. He, however, declared his readiness to deliver them up if relieved of responsibility, or his readiness to defend his charge to the last if properly supplied with men, provisions, and ammunition. The castle was summoned by Cromwell's troops to surrender on 8 and 22 Nov., but Ogilvy expressed his determination to hold out. While the castle was closely besieged, the regalia were, at the instance of the Countess Dowager Marischal, delivered by Lady Ogilvy to Mrs. Grainger, the wife of the minister of Kinneff, who concealed them about her person, and, passing the lines of the besiegers without suspicion, took them to the church of Kinneff, where they were placed below the floor. Although Ogilvy had received a warrant from the Earl Marischal empowering him to de-