Dewar

The lands of Dewar near Heriot in the south-east of Edinburgh, were clearly possessions of this family, but whether they gave their name to the lands or took it from them is not known. In common with so many Scottish families, a legend exists to demonstrate physical prowess. A savage wolf is said to have been plundering the district around Heriot, and land was offered as a reward for the man who would dispatch the beast. Dewar is said to have achieved the task and received his promised bounty.

The earliest historical reference to an organised family named Dewar appears in the Ragman Roll, where Thomas and Piers de Deware of Edinburghshire swore fealty to Edward I of England in 1296. In 1474 Lord Borthwick granted a charter confirming to William Dewar his lands of Dewar. The family were to grow in prominence and were styled ‘of that Ilk’ in various charters in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. William Dewar of that Ilk sold the lands of Dewar and moved to nearby Carrington, and it is from this family that the present chiefs descend.

The representation of the chiefly line passed to the nephew of William Dewar of that Ilk, James, who is believed to have been a mariner. The family became successful merchants and purchased the barony and estate of Vogrie near Gorebridge in 1719. David Dewar of Vogrie was Postmaster General of Leith and Edinburgh, and his son matriculated arms in 1747.

The estate became a hive of industry when coal was discovered at the end of the eighteenth century, and by 1842 the Vogrie Colliery was producing superior-quality coal which was much in demand. Scotland’s first gunpowder mill was also established on the Vogrie estate, and was powered by water wheels. The fifth Laird of Vogrie, who died in 1869, lived much of his life in India, where he was a High Court judge. His brother, Alexander, sixth of Vogrie, served with the Bengal cavalry, and although he was respon-sible for building the mansionhouse which still stands at Vogrie today, he enjoyed it for only five years of his life. At its greatest extent the estate extended to almost two thousand acres, and today this has dwindled to around two hundred and fifty. The present chief, who was recognised by the Lord Lyon in 1990, is the only son of Vice Admiral Kenneth Dewar, born in 1879, who was an aide to George V. He at one time commanded HMS Royal Oak. He was a fierce critic of the Navy of his time, and wrote a highly regarded book on its training, administration and command system in 1939. The present chief and his heir both served as professional soldiers, each attaining command of their respective regiments.

Only the great Bell Tower still remains of the once proud Augustinian monastery of Cambuskenneth, founded in 1140 by David I. Robert the Bruce held several of his parliaments there and it was the sepulchre of the tragic James III, murdered after the Battle of Sauchieburn in 1488. Dewars are recorded in the nearby Royal Burgh of Stirling as early as 1483, but it is not until the seventeenth century that a distinct branch of the family styled ‘Dewar of Cambuskenneth’ can be said to exist. In 1710, John, elder son of Patrick Dewar of Cambuskenneth, was fined £50 for causing ‘blood and riot’. From this line descends Peter de Vere Beuclerk Dewar, author of a definitive history of the Dewars in 1991, who in addition to being a member of the Royal Company of Archers, has served as Falkland Pursuivant Extra-Ordinary on many occasions.

The Dewar family whisky business was transformed into a major Scottish company through the drive and acumen of John Dewar, born in 1856. In 1917 he was created Baron Forteviot of Dupplin. The family seat at Dupplin Castle, built between 1828 and 1832, was one of the grandest houses in Scotland, but it has since been demolished to make way for a more conveniently sized dwelling. The title remains in the family, which is still closely connected to the whisky industry.
Donald Campbell Dewar, son of a Glasgow doctor, was Member of Parliament for Garscadden in Glasgow from 1978 until his death in 2000. A lawyer by profession, he was one of Scotland’s most prominent politicians and, after devolution, he became the First Minister in the newly established Scottish Executive.

Another derivation of the name comes from the Gaelic ‘Deoireach’, meaning ‘pilgrim’, which was often a soubriquet given to a person who had custody of one of the relics of a saint. The most distinguished of the five Highland families who bore the name of Dewar were the Dewar Coigerachs, custodians of the staff of St Fillan, a Celtic saint and abbot believed to be of royal blood, who died in 777. St Fillan founded a priory, later known as Strathfillan, where he was buried. Robert the Bruce, who was impressed by the many stories of miracles worked by the presence of the saint’s relics, had the staff brought with the Scots Army to Bannockburn in 1314. After his victory, he endowed a church in St Fillan’s honour. Originally a simple wooden staff, it was elaborately decorated in later centuries, and is now an outstanding example of fourteenth-century Scottish craftsmanship. The valuable relic was held by the family until the late seventeenth century when it was sold to Macdonell of Glengarry. In the nineteenth century the saint’s relic was found in Canada and was later returned to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. This priceless artefact of the early Celtic church is now preserved in the National Museum of Antiquities in Edinburgh. In 1930 the Lord Lyon augmented the Arms of Robert St Fillan Dewar by granting him behind his shield ‘two croziers of St Fillan in Saltire, being the insignia of the Office of the Hereditary Keeper of the Crozier of St Fillan’. Differenced arms were also recorded for the keepers of other relics of St Fillan, including his left arm bone, his meser or missal, and his bell.

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