Probably the most famous branch of the Napier Family is the Merchiston Napiers. The Merchiston estate, in Edinburgh, lies to the south-west of the Wrychtishousis estate. The early forms of the name, Merchinstoun (1266), Merchammestoun (1278) and Merchenstoun (1371) suggest that the name is Anglian, incorporating a British personal name in "Merchiaun's tun" or farm place. The reference to "Overmerchampstone" in 1337 shows that the estate had by then been subdivided. The original estate stretched from the Gorgie Road in the north to the Pow or Jordan Burn in the south, and from Meggetland in the west to the Wrychtishousis estate in the east. This was an area of about 1 square mile (640 acres or 259 hectares). Merchiston Tower was built right in the middle of it, on the highest part of the estate, and the district around it is still known as Merchiston to this day.
No documentary evidence has so far been found to prove who were the ancestors of the Napiers of Merchiston. Statements have been made that the Merchiston Napiers are descended from the Kilmahew Napiers, but this has not yet been substantiated. The coats of arms of the two families are completely different, which suggests that there is no close family relationship. However, there is documentary evidence to show that there might be a close blood relationship between the families, but until such time as it can be conclusively proved, we must just accept that we do not know.
The first known reference of a Napier who can definitely be connected to the Merchiston family is in the records of Edinburgh which shows that an Alexander Napier was Provost of Edinburgh in 1403. Nothing is really known about this Alexander, except that he had at least one son, also called Alexander.
- Alexander Napier, son of the above Alexander, was Provost of Edinburgh in 1437 and is known to be in possession of the lands of Merchiston by 1438, so he was the first Napier Laird of Merchiston. Again, almost nothing is known of this man except that he had two sons, Alexander and Robert... He died sometime in 1454.
- Sir Alexander, second Laird of Merchiston, eldest son of the first Laird. He probably served King James I as a young man, but certainly served King James II and King James III with distinction. He was Vice-Admiral of Scotland and Master of the Royal Household. He was also Lord Provost of Edinburgh three times, 1455, 1457, and 1469-72. He inherited the Merchiston estates in 1454 and was knighted in 1461. He married Elizabeth Lauder and they had four children: John; Henry; Alexander; and Janet. He died sometime after October 1473.
- John Napier of Rusky, third Laird of Merchiston, eldest son of the second Laird. In a record of the Parliament which met in Edinburgh in February 1483, this Laird is mentioned as " . . . Johne Naper, provost of Edinburgh". He married Elizabeth Menteith of Rusky, through whom he inherited the Rusky estates, and also the claim to the Earldom of Lennox. They had five children: Archibald; George; John; Janet; and Margaret. He died serving the King at the Battle of Sauchieburn on 11 June 1488.
- Archibald Napier of Edinbellie, fourth Laird of
Merchiston, eldest son of the third Laird. He married three times.
First married to Catherine Douglas, they had six children: Alexander;
Catherine; Margaret/Isabella* (who married Robert Napier of Wrychtishousis in
1513); Marion; Janet; and Elizabeth. His second wife was a Crichton and they
had two children: John and William. His third wife was Margaret Campbell of
Glenorchy and they had two children: Alexander (of Inglistoun) and Mungo.
Archibald fought at Flodden in 1513, and survived. He died in 1521. In 1512,
the estates of Merchiston were raised to a free barony and "infeft" (i.e.
granted legal possession of) in his son, Alexander. Alexander, therefore
became, technically, the next Laird of Merchiston.
* Mark Napier, in his book History of the Partition of the Lennox identifies this lady as Margaret, citing as evidence a charter dated 11 July 1593 and armorial bearings on a stone from Wrychtishousis showing the Wrychtishousis and Merchiston arms, impaled, with the initials "RM" and "MN" and dated 1513. The unidentified author of A History of the Napiers of Merchiston identifies her as Isabella and says that she was identified as the wife of Robert Napier of Wrychtishousis in 1513, 1514 and 1523, and married for a second time to Thomas Corry of Kelwood in 1536 and 1541. I think that Mark Napier is probably correct and the unidentified author has made a mistake, how, I do not know at the moment. - Sir Alexander, fifth Laird of Merchiston, eldest son of the fourth Laird. He was knighted before September 1507. Not much is known about Sir Alexander except that he married Janet Chisholm (the same family that later provided the second wife of John Napier of Logarithms) and they had three children: Alexander; Helen; and Janet. The lands of Merchiston were raised to a free barony in 1512 in his favour. Sir Alexander also fought at Flodden, but unfortunately, he did not survive.
- Alexander, sixth Laird of Merchiston, only son of the fifth Laird. He was only four years old when he inherited from his father. He also inherited from his grandfather in 1521. He married Annabella Campbell of Glenorchy (the same family as his grandfather's third wife) and they had five children: Archibald; Alexander (ancestor of the Napiers of Luton Hoo, Bedfordshire); Andrew; Margaret; and Marion. After his marriage he travelled extensively in continental Europe (with permission of the King) before being summoned home by the King in 1537. He died at the battle of Pinkie in 1547.
- Archibald, seventh Laird of Merchiston, eldest son of the sixth Laird. Archibald was only 14 when his father died. He obtained permission to feudalise his rights to his paternal barony, although still a minor, in contemplation of his marriage to Janet Bothwell, which took place in 1549 when he was only 16. They had three children: John (of Logarithms) who was born in 1550 when his father was only 17; Francis; and Janet. During the civil troubles in the 1560s and 1570s, Archibald, who had been knighted by this time, was in trouble, was imprisoned and Merchiston Castle (or Tower as it was usually called in those days) was under siege. However he was back in favour by 1587 when he was appointed Master of the Mint with sole charge of all mines and minerals within the realm. He married his second wife, Elizabeth Mowbray, in 1571 and they had ten children, (Sir) Alexander (of Lauriston); Archibald (of Wowmet); Walter; William; Susanna; Abellina; Agnes; Helen; Marion; and Elizabeth. It is a curiosity that Agnes married, as her third husband, John Ogilvy, son of James, sixth Lord Ogilvy of Airlie, and Elizabeth married James, sixth Lord Ogilvy of Airlie, as his second wife. This made Elizabeth step-mother-in-law to her own sister! Archibald died in 1608.
- John, eighth Laird of Merchiston, eldest son of the seventh Laird. Born in 1550 when his father was only 17, he matriculated at St Andrews University in 1563 (at the age of 13!) but there is no record of him having graduated. He studied in Europe, mainly in Paris. He returned to Edinburgh in 1571 in preparation for his marriage. He is mainly remembered today for his invention of Logarithms, but he achieved much more. Although a man who would rather not be in the public eye but be immersed in his scientific studies, he was from time to time thrust into the service of Church and State. He took a great part in running the family estates and was consulted by the whole family. He did not inherit the estates of his father until 1608, when he was 58 years old. He married firstly, in 1572, Elizabeth Striveling (or Stirling) by whom he had two children: Archibald (who became the first Lord Napier); and Joan. Elizabeth died in 1579 and John married, for a second time, Agnes Chisholm, from the same Chisholm family that had provided his grandfather's second wife. This second marriage produced ten children: John of Schambodie; Robert of Boquhopple, Drumhony and Culcreuch; Alexander of Torrie-Easter; William of Ardmore; Adam of West Nisbet; Margaret; Jean; Elizabeth; Agnes; and Helen. John died on 3 April 1617 and is buried somewhere in the churchyard of St Cuthbert's Church (formerly known as the West Kirk) in Edinburgh and not in the family vault in St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh as is sometimes stated. John was succeeded by his eldest son, Archibald.
- Archibald, ninth Laird of Merchiston, eldest son of the eighth Laird. Born between 1573 and 1575. He was Gentleman of the Privy Chamber to King James VI, Treasurer Depute of Scotland in 1622, Lord of Session in 1623, and one of the Bearers of the Canopy in the State Procession of 1633. He was created a Baronet of Nova Scotia on 2 May 1627 and two days later was raised to the Peerage of Scotland as a Lord of Parliament, with the title Lord Napier of Merchistoune. In 1640 he supported King Charles I and was imprisoned by the Covenanters with his son, Archibald, the Master of Napier. The Master escaped and Lord Napier and his family were imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle and fined £10,000. They were transferred to Linlithgow but the Master managed to organise their escape. Both the Lord Napier and the Master joined the Marquess of Montrose (Lord Napier's brother-in-law) and fought with him at the Battle of Philiphaugh (Lord Napier was over 70 years of age!) The Battle was a rout and Montrose escaped with Lord Napier and the Master. Lord Napier died at Fincastle in November 1645.Lord Napier died in 1645 The ninth Laird had married Margaret, second daughter of John Grahame, fourth Earl of Montrose, and sister of James, first Marquess of Montrose. They had four children: John, who died young; Archibald, who succeeded his father; Margaret, who married, as his second wife, Sir George Stirling of Keir; and Lilias, who died unmarried.
- Archibald, tenth Laird of Merchiston, second Lord Napier, eldest son of the ninth Laird. His birth date is unknown. He was one of the main supporters of Montrose and when Montrose left Scotland in 1646, Lord Napier went with him. He stayed in Germany and Belgium when Montrose returned to Scotland. He asked permission of King Charles to rejoin his uncle, and this was granted. However, before he could return, Montrose was captured, tried and executed. Lord Napier never returned to Scotland. He was particularly excepted in the act of grace and pardon by Cromwell on 12 April 1654, but died at Delfsham in Holland in the beginning of 1660, so did not live to see the Restoration. He married, at the age of seventeen, Lady Elizabeth Erskine, eldest daughter of John Erskine, eighth Earl of Mar. They had five children: Archibald, who succeeded as third Lord Napier; John, killed in 1672; Jean, who married Sir Thomas Nicolson of Carnock, whose only son, Thomas, became the fourth Lord Napier; Margaret, who became Lady Napier, fifth holder of the title in her own right (whose grandson, Francis Scott, became the sixth holder of the title as the sixth Lord Napier); and Mary, who died unmarried.
In 1647, the second Lord Napier was sued in Parliament for the £10,000 fine which his father had not paid. In his defence, he claimed that had mortgaged his lands of Merchiston and his lands in the west were "ruined and overburdened". That his family were in dire straits, and did not approve of his association with Montrose at that time, is shown by the letter that his Uncle Robert (Napier) wrote to him in May 1647:
"Consider upon this very nick of time depends the utter ruin or safety of yourself, of your house and estate, lady and children and posterity, your nearest friends and of all, that by the link and tie of nature should be dearest to you, for certainly if you continue longer in that evil course your forfeiture will not be long delayed, your lady and children shall be reduced to extreme want, whereof they already feel the beginnings, your whole estate being already cantoned divided and taken up that neither have they their necessary maintenance of it; neither payeth it any of your father's debts, neither shall your sister have anything to maintain her, and we your uncles, branches of your house, who are engaged auctioneers for your father's debts, shall be undone in our estates."
His Merchiston estate was indeed mortgaged, to John Cant who, 26 years earlier, had bought the Lauriston Castle estate from Lord Napier's half-brother, Alexander. John Cant's son, Ludovic, sold the Merchiston estate to Ninian Lowis in 1659. The Lowis family history says that " . . . . [Merchiston Castle] was acquired under a redeemable mortgauge October 1659 and by an irredeemable on August 12th 1668, the first from Trustees and the second from Archibald, 3rd Baron Napier on his coming of age." Archibald succeeded his father to the title early in 1660, but probably only lived in Merchiston Tower until the early 1640s.
After the Restoration, Lady Napier, now a widow and probably the legal owner of the estate as her son, the third Lord Napier, was under age, appealed to the King for restitution and in 1662 her own right to Merchiston was affirmed. However, she never redeemed it, and it was disposed of to James Lowis, son of Ninian, in whose family it remained until 1729. In that year John "the Gambler", son of James Lowis, sold the estate to the Governors of George Watson's hospital. In those days a "hospital" was really a charitable school for poor children. Today, it is one of the biggest "public" (i.e. fee-paying) co-educational schools in Edinburgh. The school buildings, together with the playing fields, occupy a significant part of the old Merchiston estate lying to the north of the Tower.
It is doubtful if either Lady Napier or the third Lord Napier could rightly claim to be the eleventh Laird.
- In 1752, Francis (Scott), sixth Lord Napier, became the eleventh Laird of Merchiston. He bought the Tower, outbuildings, gardens and gardener's house plus some fields to the north of the Tower, from the Governors of Watson's hospital. How long he stayed there has not yet been ascertained. In 1772, the year before he died, he sold the property to a relation, Charles Hope Weir of Craigiehall, third son of the Earl of Hopetoun. (Francis had married Henrietta, third daughter of the first Earl of Hopetoun in 1729. Henrietta died in 1745, and Francis married for a second time in 1750).
In 1775, the Tower passed into the hands of a lawyer, Robert Turner, who, ten years later, sold it to Professor Robert Blair, professor of astronomy at Edinburgh University. In 1818, the Tower came back into Napier ownership.
- William John, ninth Lord Napier and twelfth Laird of Merchiston, was born on 13th October 1786, and took ownership of the Tower and surrounding lands in 1818. He was a career sailor and served in the Royal Navy on board HMS Defence at the Battle of Trafalgar. He married Elizabeth Cochrane Johnstone in March 1816. They had eight children: Francis, who succeeded his father; William; Maria Margaret; Georgina Louisa; Eliza; Anne Carmichel; Ellinor Alice; and Lucy Matilda. In 1833, Lord Napier leased the Tower to George Chalmers, who founded Merchiston Castle School. The ninth Lord Napier was sent as Ambassador and Envoy Extraordinary to China in 1834 and died at Macao in 1843.
- Francis, tenth Lord Napier and thirteenth Laird of Merchiston, was born in 1819 and inherited the title and the Merchiston estate from his father in 1843. He never lived there because it had been leased out to Merchiston Castle School. Despite leaving Cambridge University without a degree, he joined the Diplomatic Service and served his country as Attaché, Secretary to the Embassy, Envoy, and Ambassador to many countries including, Austria, Turkey, United States of America, The Netherlands, Russia and Germany. As a reward for his distinguished diplomatic service, he was created a Baron of the United Kingdom, with the title of Ettrick, in 1872. He married Anne Lockwood in Florence in 1845. They had four children: William John George, who succeeded his father to the title; John Scott, who succeeded his father to the Merchiston estate; Basil; and Mark Francis. He died very suddenly while on holiday in Florence in December 1898.
- The Honourable John Scott Napier, fourteenth Laird of Merchiston, was born in November 1848. He served in the Gordon Highlanders and was created Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1900. He inherited the Merchiston estate, through his mother, on the death of his father in 1898. In 1876 he married Isabella Shaw, who was the widow of Major James Leith, VC, and they had one daughter, Lilias. John sold the Tower to Merchiston Castle School Board in 1914. Thus ended the ownership of the Merchiston estate by the Napiers.
To complete the story of Merchiston Tower, it was taken over by the Merchant Company Education Board in 1930, which was also responsible for George Watson's School and the other fee-paying "public" schools in Edinburgh. By this time, the original Tower building could hardly be recognised because so many additions had been made by Merchiston Castle School. The building was becoming overcrowded and badly in need of repair. The School moved to a green field site on the western outskirts of Edinburgh, at Colinton, where it remains to this day. After the School had deserted the Tower, it passed into the ownership of Edinburgh Corporation, and it stood empty for many years. However, during the Second World War it was used by the National Fire Service (the wartime fire brigade). In 1956 a technical college started to be built on the site and the Tower was restored and used as administrative offices. The institution is now Napier University, Edinburgh's third university. Externally, Merchiston Tower has now been restored to something approaching what it must have looked like when it was first built. Internally, it has been tastefully restored and adapted for present-day use. It can be visited by prior appointment with the University Authorities.
© Charlie Napier,
Morningside, Edinburgh, Scotland.