Walkinshaw

The lands of Walkinshaw are in Renfrewshire. The family descends from one Douglas, a judge in the earldom of Lennox who, in 1235, made over his lands of Knock, including the Abbey of Paisley, in return for the lands of Walkinshaw. The family were hereditary foresters to the High Stewards of Scotland in the barony of Renfrew and their coat of arms is an allusion to this office. The lands remained with the principal family until they were carried by an heiress to the Walkinshaws of Little Fulwood and thereafter to the Walkinshaws of Garturk who subsequently styled themselves ‘of that Ilk’. Other cadets were the Walkinshaws of Burrowfield and of Scotston. The name has passed into Scottish legend through its association with Prince Charles Edward Stuart. Clementina Walkinshaw was the younger daughter of a diplomat who had met the exiled James VIII, the ‘Old Pretender’, in Rome. he ‘Bonnie’ Prince Charles met the attractive and sophisticated Clementina at Bannockburn House near Stirling, the home of Sir Hugh Paterson, in January 1746. Miss Walkinshaw captivated the prince almost immediately and she became his mistress. She followed him into exile, and although they never married, she presented him with a daughter, Charlotte, on 27 October 1753. The couple later parted and were never reconciled, but Charlotte did finally gain her father’s favour. In 1784 he declared her legitimate, created her Duchess of Albany, and conferred upon her the Order of the Thistle. The blood of the Walkinshaws now ran in the veins of a royal duchess, but sadly her mother, Clementina, lost everything in her flight from Paris during the French Revolution and died in poverty in Switzerland.