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Captain William ("the Builder") Fleming, 5th Earl of Wigtown, 10th Lord Fleming

b. circa 1642, d. 8 April 1681

Person Exhibits

Arms of the Fleming Earls of Wigtown

Birth

Captain William ("the Builder") Fleming, 5th Earl of Wigtown, 10th Lord Fleming, was born circa 1642.

Parents

FatherColonel John ("the Soldier") Fleming, 3rd Earl of Wigtown, 8th Lord Fleming (b. circa 1608, d. February 1665)
MotherJane Drummond, eldest daughter of John 2nd Earl of Perth (b. 1616, d. 12 January 1663)

Family life

Captain William ("the Builder") Fleming, 5th Earl of Wigtown, 10th Lord Fleming, and Henrietta Seton, eldest daughter of Charles, second Earl of Dunfermline, entered into a marriage contract on 8 September 1670 in Dalgety.1,2,3,4

Children with Henrietta Seton, eldest daughter of Charles, second Earl of Dunfermline (b. June 1652, d. between 30 November 1699 and 18 April 1700)

SonJohn ("the Pliant") Fleming, 6th Earl of Wigtown, 11th Lord Fleming+ (b. circa 1668, d. 10 February 1744)
SonCharles ("The Last") Fleming, 7th Earl of Wigtown, 12th Lord Fleming (b. before 1669, d. 16 May 1747)
DaughterMary Fleming+ (b. circa 1674, d. March 1702)
DaughterUnknown Fleming (b. before 24 March 1675, d. 24 March 1675)
DaughterHenrietta Fleming (b. circa 1680)

Titles

Captain William ("the Builder") Fleming, 5th Earl of Wigtown, 10th Lord Fleming, held the title of succeeed as Earl of Wigtown circa August 1668.5

Working life

  • On 8 September 1663 Captain William ("the Builder") Fleming, 5th Earl of Wigtown, 10th Lord Fleming, was occupied as Privy Councillor in Edinburgh.6
  • He served in the military as Ensign in Captain Thomas Dalziel's Company of Foot on 26 July 1667.1,7,8
  • Between 1668 and 1685 Captain William ("the Builder") Fleming, 5th Earl of Wigtown, 10th Lord Fleming, was occupied as Privy Councillor.9,10
  • Before April 1669 Captain William ("the Builder") Fleming, 5th Earl of Wigtown, 10th Lord Fleming, was occupied as commissioner of excise for Lanarkshire in Lanarkshire, Scotland.11
  • On 12 January 1671 Captain William ("the Builder") Fleming, 5th Earl of Wigtown, 10th Lord Fleming, was occupied as captain of a troop of sixty horses raised from Ayr, but had only managed to find thirty in Ayr.12,13
  • Between 1673 and 1676 Captain William ("the Builder") Fleming, 5th Earl of Wigtown, 10th Lord Fleming, was occupied as Privy Councillor.14
  • He served in the military as captain of the Company of Foot in the garrison of Dumbarton, and commander of said castle on 7 February 1673 in Dumbarton Castle.1,2,10,15,16
  • On 5 March 1673 Captain William ("the Builder") Fleming, 5th Earl of Wigtown, 10th Lord Fleming, was occupied as Sheriff in Dumbarton.1,2,10
  • On 4 June 1674 Captain William ("the Builder") Fleming, 5th Earl of Wigtown, 10th Lord Fleming, was occupied as a Privy Councillor.17
  • On 30 July 1674 Captain William ("the Builder") Fleming, 5th Earl of Wigtown, 10th Lord Fleming, was occupied as commissioner re conventicles for the shires of Stirling, Perth, Lanark, Dunbarton, Renfrew and Ayr.18,19
  • On 3 September 1674 Captain William ("the Builder") Fleming, 5th Earl of Wigtown, 10th Lord Fleming, was occupied as sheriff of Dunbarton and commissioner for justiciary in Dumbarton.20
  • On 6 August 1675 Captain William ("the Builder") Fleming, 5th Earl of Wigtown, 10th Lord Fleming, was occupied as commissioner for suppressing conventicles.21
  • On 6 January 1676 Captain William ("the Builder") Fleming, 5th Earl of Wigtown, 10th Lord Fleming, was occupied as commissioner to put Mr James Mitchell to the torture in view of his refusal to adhere to his oath that he took part in the rebellion of 1666.22
  • On 1 March 1676 Captain William ("the Builder") Fleming, 5th Earl of Wigtown, 10th Lord Fleming, was occupied as commissioner re conventicles for the shires of Stirling, Perth, Lanark, Dunbarton, Renfrew and Ayr.23
  • Circa 1677 Captain William ("the Builder") Fleming, 5th Earl of Wigtown, 10th Lord Fleming, was occupied as was a member of the Privy Council.1,2

Property

Captain William ("the Builder") Fleming, 5th Earl of Wigtown, 10th Lord Fleming, possessed 21 SE.24 He possessed was was served heir to his brother in his whole estates lying in the counties of Dumbarton, Haddington, Lanark, Peebles, Perth, Selkirk and Stirling as well as heir general on 5 August 1668.7 He possessed had a charter of the lands of Biggar on 18 August 1669 in Biggar.25 He possessed obtained a precept under the Signet authorising a charter to pass the Great Seal of the dignities and estates in favour of himself and the heirs-male of his body, but no charter seems to have followed on 18 August 1669.1,2,261,27,28 He possessed with consent of Auchinboll disponed Gallowmuir in Kirkintilloch, with a submission and decreet arbitral on the marches in 1670 in Kirkintilloch.2930 He possessed repaired a three-arch bridge over Luggie Water and was allowed to impose a toll for 5 years in 1672 in Kirkintilloch.31,32,33,34 He possessed granted these lands to James Vallange in Boghall on 1 April 1672 in Burrowland within the corfts of the town of Biggar.35 He possessed regranted to George Liddell and his spouse Agnes the lands of Lamblinnes in Waster Castellrankines in the barony of Harbertshire on 18 April 1672 in Lamblinnes in Waster Castellrankines in the barony of Harbertshire.36 He possessed named in charter by William, Earl of Wigtoune, Lord Flemyng and Cumbernald, to Robert Forsythe, merchant in Biggar, and Agnes Murray, his spouse, and longest liver of them in liferent, and their heirs in fee, of half tenement and croft of… on 16 December 1673.37 He possessed had a grant of Newtoune on 1 February 1678 in Newtown.38 He possessed was served as heir general to his grandfather on 19 October 1678.13

Death

Captain William ("the Builder") Fleming, 5th Earl of Wigtown, 10th Lord Fleming, signed a will on 2 March 1681 in Cumbernauld and pertinents.39 He died on 8 April 1681 at age ~39.1,9,27,40,10,39 He was buried on 9 April 1681 at Collegiate Church in Biggar.39 He had his estate probated on 17 August 1681 at Glasgow in Commissary Court.39,41,39 He had his estate probated on 19 October 1681 in Lands of the Earldom of Wigtown.42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49

Citations

  1. [S28] Sir James Balfour Paul, The Scots Peerage: founded on Wood's edition of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland (Edinburgh: T and A Constable, 1911), vol viii, Fleming Earl of Wigtown pages 519 - 558.
  2. [S5] William Hunter, Biggar and the House of Fleming: an account of the Biggar District, Archeological, Historical and Biographical, second edition (Edinburgh: William Paterson, 1867), p 558.
  3. [S58] Edinburgh, National Records of Scotland, "Online Catalogue," National Records of Scotland (https://catalogue.nrscotland.gov.uk/nrsonlinecatalogue: viewed 16 September 2025), GD 2488, 5/11/1736, Discharge by William Johnstone, writer in Edinburgh, factor for John Earl of Wigtoun, chamberlain of Fife, to David Anderson.
  4. [S17] Francis J Grant (Ed), Charter Chest of the Earldom of Wigtown: 1214-1681 (Edinburgh: James Skinner & Company for the Scottish Record Society, 1910), Charter 349.
  5. [S58] Edinburgh, National Records of Scotland, "Online Catalogue," National Records of Scotland (https://catalogue.nrscotland.gov.uk/nrsonlinecatalogue: viewed 11 September 2025), GD4 17365, 1668, Articles of agreement between the Earl of Wigtown and the Countess [his sister-in-law].
  6. [S148] editor P Hume Brown, "Sir William Fleming admitted onto the Council," The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, third series, vol i, 1661-1664 (1908), online image (https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.35112103825651&seq=497 : viewed 24 August 2025), p 425.
  7. [S5] William Hunter, Biggar and the House of Fleming: an account of the Biggar District, Archeological, Historical and Biographical, second edition (Edinburgh: William Paterson, 1867), p 557.
  8. [S17] Francis J Grant (Ed), Charter Chest of the Earldom of Wigtown: 1214-1681 (Edinburgh: James Skinner & Company for the Scottish Record Society, 1910), Charter 315.
  9. [S83] George Vere Irving, The upper ward of Lanarkshire described and delineated (Glasgow: Thomas Murray and Son, 1864), vol i, p 32; online image, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/upperwardoflanar02irvi/page/n9/mode/2up : accessed 28 March 2025.
  10. [S21] George Crawford, The Peerage of Scotland: Containing an Historical and Genealogical account of the Nobility of that Kingdom (Edinburgh: George Stewart, 1716), p 491-499, Fleming, Earl of Wigtown.
  11. [S148] editor P Hume Brown, "Act appointing new commissioners of excise in Lanarkshire," The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, third series, vol iv, 1673-1676 (1911), online image (https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044032328007&seq=450 : viewed 25 August 2025), p 399.
  12. [S148] editor P Hume Brown, "Letters to the commissioners of militia," The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, third series, vol iii, 1669-1672 (1908), online image (https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433071382950&seq=320 : viewed 24 August 2025), p 264-265.
  13. [S148] editor P Hume Brown, "Rendevous of Ayr militia postponed until 9 August," The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, third series, vol iii, 1669-1672 (1908), online image (https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433071382950&seq=162 : viewed 24 August 2025), p 336-337.
  14. [S148] editor P Hume Brown, "Introduction," The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, third series, vol iv, 1673-1676 (1911), online image (https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044032328007&seq=11 : viewed 25 August 2025), p vii.
  15. [S148] editor P Hume Brown, "Commission appointing William Earl of Wigtown commander of the garrison at Dunbarton Castle," The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, third series, vol iv, 1673-1676 (1911), online image (https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044032328007&seq=71 : viewed 25 August 2025), p 19.
  16. [S17] Francis J Grant (Ed), Charter Chest of the Earldom of Wigtown: 1214-1681 (Edinburgh: James Skinner & Company for the Scottish Record Society, 1910), Charter 317.
  17. [S148] editor P Hume Brown, "Commission constituting the Council: 4 Jun 1674," The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, third series, vol iv, 1673-1676 (1911), online image (https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044032328007&seq=238 : viewed 25 August 2025), p 186.
  18. [S148] editor P Hume Brown, "Commission," The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, third series, vol iv, 1673-1676 (1911), online image (https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044032328007&seq=71 : viewed 25 August 2025), p 256.
  19. [S148] editor P Hume Brown, "Commission re suppression of conventicles," The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, third series, vol iv, 1673-1676 (1911), online image (https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044032328007&seq=243 : viewed 25 August 2025), p 191.
  20. [S148] editor P Hume Brown, "Appointment of justices to try criminals apprehended by Major George Grant," The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, third series, vol iv, 1673-1676 (1911), online image (https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044032328007&seq=628 : viewed 25 August 2025), p 276.
  21. [S148] editor P Hume Brown, "Commission for supprerssion of conventicles," The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, third series, vol iv, 1673-1676 (1911), online image (https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044032328007&seq=500 : viewed 25 August 2025), p 448.
  22. [S148] editor P Hume Brown, "Mr James Mitchell," The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, third series, vol iv, 1673-1676 (1911), online image (https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044032328007&seq=552 : viewed 25 August 2025), p 500.
  23. [S148] editor P Hume Brown, "Similar commission to sit at Stirling," The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, third series, vol iv, 1673-1676 (1911), online image (https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044032328007&seq=603 : viewed 25 August 2025), p 551.
  24. [S58] Edinburgh, National Records of Scotland, "Online Catalogue," National Records of Scotland (https://catalogue.nrscotland.gov.uk/nrsonlinecatalogue: viewed 11 September 2025), GD2 1963, 1664, 1687, Earl of Wigtown: division of property and account of estate income.
  25. [S58] Edinburgh, National Records of Scotland, "Online Catalogue," National Records of Scotland (https://catalogue.nrscotland.gov.uk/nrsonlinecatalogue: viewed 11 September 2025), SIG 165121, 18 Aug 1669, Signature of the lands of Biggar etc granted to William, Earl of Wigtown.
  26. [S17] Francis J Grant (Ed), Charter Chest of the Earldom of Wigtown: 1214-1681 (Edinburgh: James Skinner & Company for the Scottish Record Society, 1910), Charter 221.
  27. [S60] Bernard Burke, A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire (London: Harrison, 1866), Fleming, Earl of Wigton, p 218-19; online image, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_K3MaAAAAYAAJ/page/n7/mode/2up?q=fleming : accessed 27 February 2025.
  28. [S152] Record Commission of Great Britain, Inquisitionum ad capellam domini regis retornatarum: Quae in publicis archivis Scotiae adhuc servantur, Abbreviatio (London: HM King George III, 1811), 1669 0921, Tutela, 947, Lady Jean Fleming (tutory); online image, Internet Archive, (https://archive.org/details/inquisitionumadc00grea/page/n5/mode/2up : accessed.
  29. [S17] Francis J Grant (Ed), Charter Chest of the Earldom of Wigtown: 1214-1681 (Edinburgh: James Skinner & Company for the Scottish Record Society, 1910), Charter 883.
  30. [S17] Francis J Grant (Ed), Charter Chest of the Earldom of Wigtown: 1214-1681 (Edinburgh: James Skinner & Company for the Scottish Record Society, 1910), Charter 222.
  31. [S57] Francis Hides Groom, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: a survey of Scottish topography, statistical, biographical and historical (London: W Mackenzie, 1895), vol iv, p 428, Kirkintilloch; online image, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/ordnancegazette04groo/page/428/mode : accessed 24 February 2025.
  32. [S68] KM Brown and others, Records of the Parliaments of Scotland to 1707, online (St Andrews: University of St Andrews, between 2007 and 2025), 1672/6/60; online transcription and translation, (https://www.rps.ac.uk/ : accessed 11 March 2025.
  33. [S68] KM Brown and others, Records of the Parliaments of Scotland to 1707, online (St Andrews: University of St Andrews, between 2007 and 2025), A1672/6/25; online transcription and translation, (https://www.rps.ac.uk/ : accessed 11 March 2025.
  34. [S68] KM Brown and others, Records of the Parliaments of Scotland to 1707, online (St Andrews: University of St Andrews, between 2007 and 2025), M1672/6/19; online transcription and translation, (https://www.rps.ac.uk/ : accessed 11 March 2025.
  35. [S58] Edinburgh, National Records of Scotland, "Online Catalogue," National Records of Scotland (https://catalogue.nrscotland.gov.uk/nrsonlinecatalogue: viewed 12 September 2025), CS23 V1/21, 1774, Andrew Vallange v Vallange and others: Reduction.
  36. [S58] Edinburgh, National Records of Scotland, "Online Catalogue," National Records of Scotland (https://catalogue.nrscotland.gov.uk/nrsonlinecatalogue: viewed 11 September 2025), GD 1854, 18 Apr 1672, Charter of novodamus by William, earl of Wigtown to George Liddell.
  37. [S58] Edinburgh, National Records of Scotland, "Online Catalogue," National Records of Scotland (https://catalogue.nrscotland.gov.uk/nrsonlinecatalogue: viewed 3 November 2026), GD 218, 1612/1673, Charter by William, Earl of Wigtoune, Lord Flemyng and Cumbernald, to Robert Forsythe, merchant in Biggar, and Agnes Murray, his spouse, and longest….
  38. [S58] Edinburgh, National Records of Scotland, "Online Catalogue," National Records of Scotland (https://catalogue.nrscotland.gov.uk/nrsonlinecatalogue: viewed 12 September 2025), SIG 16634, 1 Feb 1678, Signature of the lands of Newtoune granted to William, Earl of Wigtown.
  39. [S71] Scotland, National Records of Scotland, "Wills and Testaments 1513-1925," Scotland's People (https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/: accessed), CC 744, images 214 to 216 (folios 215 to 217), Testament of William Fleming, Earl of Wigtoun (1681.)
  40. [S5] William Hunter, Biggar and the House of Fleming: an account of the Biggar District, Archeological, Historical and Biographical, second edition (Edinburgh: William Paterson, 1867), p 560.
  41. [S5] William Hunter, Biggar and the House of Fleming: an account of the Biggar District, Archeological, Historical and Biographical, second edition (Edinburgh: William Paterson, 1867), p 138.
  42. [S152] Record Commission of Great Britain, Inquisitionum ad capellam domini regis retornatarum: Quae in publicis archivis Scotiae adhuc servantur, Abbreviatio (London: HM King George III, 1811), 1681 1019, Dunbarton, 108, William Fleming 5th Earl of Wigtown; online image, Internet Archive, (https://archive.org/details/inquisitionumadc00grea/page/n5/mode/2up : accessed.
  43. [S152] Record Commission of Great Britain, Inquisitionum ad capellam domini regis retornatarum: Quae in publicis archivis Scotiae adhuc servantur, Abbreviatio (London: HM King George III, 1811), 1681 1019, Haddington, 461, William Fleming 5th Earl of Wigtown; online image, Internet Archive, (https://archive.org/details/inquisitionumadc00grea/page/n5/mode/2up : accessed.
  44. [S152] Record Commission of Great Britain, Inquisitionum ad capellam domini regis retornatarum: Quae in publicis archivis Scotiae adhuc servantur, Abbreviatio (London: HM King George III, 1811), 1681 1019, Lanark, 485, William Fleming 5th Earl of Wigtown; online image, Internet Archive, (https://archive.org/details/inquisitionumadc00grea/page/n5/mode/2up : accessed.
  45. [S152] Record Commission of Great Britain, Inquisitionum ad capellam domini regis retornatarum: Quae in publicis archivis Scotiae adhuc servantur, Abbreviatio (London: HM King George III, 1811), 1681 1019, Peebles, 218, William Fleming 5th Earl of Wigtown; online image, Internet Archive, (https://archive.org/details/inquisitionumadc00grea/page/n5/mode/2up : accessed.
  46. [S152] Record Commission of Great Britain, Inquisitionum ad capellam domini regis retornatarum: Quae in publicis archivis Scotiae adhuc servantur, Abbreviatio (London: HM King George III, 1811), 1681 1019, Perth, 1126, William Fleming 5th Earl of Wigtown; online image, Internet Archive, (https://archive.org/details/inquisitionumadc00grea/page/n5/mode/2up : accessed.
  47. [S152] Record Commission of Great Britain, Inquisitionum ad capellam domini regis retornatarum: Quae in publicis archivis Scotiae adhuc servantur, Abbreviatio (London: HM King George III, 1811), 1681 1019, Selkirk, 125, William Fleming 5th Earl of Wigtown; online image, Internet Archive, (https://archive.org/details/inquisitionumadc00grea/page/n5/mode/2up : accessed.
  48. [S152] Record Commission of Great Britain, Inquisitionum ad capellam domini regis retornatarum: Quae in publicis archivis Scotiae adhuc servantur, Abbreviatio (London: HM King George III, 1811), 1681 1019, Stirling, 387, William Fleming 5th Earl of Wigtown; online image, Internet Archive, (https://archive.org/details/inquisitionumadc00grea/page/n5/mode/2up : accessed.
  49. [S17] Francis J Grant (Ed), Charter Chest of the Earldom of Wigtown: 1214-1681 (Edinburgh: James Skinner & Company for the Scottish Record Society, 1910), Charters 223–225.
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