Durie
The origin of this name is uncertain. While a Gaelic origin could be asserted from ‘dobharach’, ‘little stream’, it is thought to derive from the French ‘Du Roi’, indicating that the family probably came to Britain with the Normans. Some research suggests that they may have come to Scotland as part of the entourage of Queen Margaret in 1069. They settled in Fife and although there are accounts of Duries there as early as 1119, it is generally accepted that they rose to prominence as administrators to Princess Joan, sister of Henry III of England, who married Alexander II (1214– 49). They were granted the estate of Craiglus-car, near Leven, where a house, built in 1520, has a stone shield bearing the Durie arms and the initials of a George Durie and his wife, Margaret Bruce. Craigluscar remained in the family until the 1900s.
The family’s prominence in Fife can be seen throughout the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries where the name appears in various important charters. Duncan de Dury was a witness for Malise, Earl of Strathern, around 1258. Other documentary references include Francis de Douery (c. 1250), Malisius (Malise) de Douery (c. 1350), Michael de Douery (c. 1373), John de Douery (c. 1406) and Richard de Douer (1405); it is from the latter individual that the main line is descended.
Burntisland Castle (now known as Ross-end) was built in 1382 and has an armorial tablet above the entrance bearing the Durie arms and the date ‘1554’. Occupied for a time by Mary, Queen of Scots in 1563, it and most of the extensive Durie properties were confiscated by the Crown at the Reformation and the estates were sold around 1614 to Sir Alex-ander Gibson who, when he became a judge in 1621, took the judicial title, ‘Lord Durie’.
Abbot George Durie (1496–1572) attained high position in both Church and State. he was Commendator, and the last Abbot, of Dunfermline (1530–61) before the the Reformation. He appeared in Parliament on several occasions between 1540 and 1554 and was appointed an Extraordinary Lord in July 1541. He became a Lord of the Articles and a member of the Governor’s ‘Secret Counsale’ in 1543 and a Lord of Council and Session, and Keeper of the Privy Seal, a year later. A staunch supporter of Queen Mary, his position at Court was well established under her and her mother, the Queen-Dowager. A bitter opponent of the new faith, he brought his own cousin, John Durie, a monk, to trial for proclaiming the new teaching. The Queenand the Queen-Dowager wrote several letters to their resolute friend while in their distress, and employed him on diplomatic missions to the Court of France. He later fled there, taking with him the relics of QueenMargaret of Scotland for ‘safe keeping’ from the new order.There is a persisent story that Abbot George was canonised; founded on Dempster’s Historia Ecclesiastica of 1627 which refers to Nicolaus Sandaers’ book, De Visible Monachia Ecclesiae. The mystery is compounded by the fact that Suanders’ book was published in 1571 while it is though that the abbot died in 1572.
The turmoil of the Reformation disrupted several Duries’ lives. Abbot George’s brother, Andrew Durie, Abbot of Melrose and Bishop of Galloway (1541), was despised by the reformer, John Knox. John Durie, minister of Edinburgh, was inprisioned in Edinburgh Castle in 1580. Robert Durie, minister of Anstruther, was sentenced to be exiled for attending a proscribed General Assembly of the Church. The family’s strong adherence to Rome was continued by George’s sons, George and John, who were educated at the Scots’ Colleges in Paris and at Louvain. John joined the Jesuits and there is little doubt that he was ‘Jesuit Durie’, implicated in the conspiracy to release Mary, Queen of Scots and to depose Elizabeth I of England.
George’s other son, Henry, through whom the family line runs, held the lands of Craigluscar. His wife, Margaret McBeth (Macbeith) was reknowned for her skill with herbs. A favouite of Anne of Denmark, she attended the births of the royal children born at the Palace of Dunfermline. She was particularly successful in treating children’s illnesses and supposedly saved the life of the future Charles I when other physicians had failed. John Durie, minister of Dalmeny, was also in favour with the Stuart monarchy. In 1621, he went to Oxford to study its library system with Archbishop Laud’s approval. He travelled extensively in Europe and much of his work was published, including The Reformed Librarie-Keeper, in 1650.
In the later seventeenth century, a subsequent George Durie was a captain in Louis XIV’s Scots guards and also a provost of Dunfermline. Several 0f hisbrothers fought in Flanders and a Belguim family line, ‘du Ry’, has been traced to them. In 1812, during repair work to Dunfrmline Palace, an important Durie relic was discovered. The Dunfermline Annunciation Stone, which depicts the Archangel Gabriel announcing the impending birth of Christ to Mary, was probably carved as a door architrave and displays the Arms of Abbot George Durie, giving it a probable date of around 1540. The stone is now in the care of Historic Scotland.
The Duries were chiefless for some time until the recognition in 1988 of Lt Col. Raymond Varley Dewar Durie of Durie. He established his descent through his grandmother, Elizabeth Durie of Craigluscar, from Abbot George. He served in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders for 35 years and was in Shanghai when it fell to the Japanese; he escaped by making a journey of 2,000 miles to Chungking for which he was mentioned in despatches. As assistant military attaché, he was responsible for the evacuation of wounded from HMS Amethyst in 1949 during the Chinese civil war. Lt Col. Durie died aged 93 in March 1999 and was succeeded by his son, Andrew.