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Person Page 897
James Maule, 4th Earl of Panmure
b. circa 1658, d. 11 April 1723
Birth
James Maule, 4th Earl of Panmure, was born circa 1658.
Parents
| Father | George Maule, 2nd Earl of Panmure (b. 1607, d. 1671) |
| Mother | Jean Campbell (b. 1623, d. 20 August 1703) |
Residence information
James Maule, 4th Earl of Panmure, emigrated in 1716. He was succeeded in his titles and estates by his brother, JAMES MAULE of Ballumbie, a staunch Royalist and a Privy Councillor to James VII., but who was ‘laid aside’ from the Council on account of his opposition to the abrogation of the penal laws against Popery. This treatment, however, did not prevent him from advocating the cause of King James at the Convention of Estates in 1689, and when it was agreed to settle the crown on William and Mary, the Earl, along with his brother, Harry Maule, of Kelly, left the assembly and never again attended a meeting of the Scottish Estates.
He was captured but escaped, with his younger brother Henry, via Arbroath to the Continent the following year. This resulted in the forfeiture of the Panmure title and estates. Maule was honoured by the Old Pretender and followed him to Avignon (1716) and then Rome (1717).
He died of pleurisy in Paris, still in exile having twice refused the opportunity of reconciliation with the British government.
The forfeited estates of the Maule and other Jacobite landlords were at length prepared for sale in 1719 and 1720, but it was very difficult, if not hopeless, to find purchasers in Scotland for so large an amount of landed property. In this extremity the ‘Company of Undertakers for raising the Thames Water, in York Buildings, London, in England,’ came to the assistance of the Government. A mania at that time prevailed for speculation and joint-stock companies, and the company referred to opened a subscription ‘for raising a joint-stock and fund of £1,200,000 for purchasing forfeited and other estates in Great Britain, by a fund for granting annuities on lives, and for assuring lives.’ The subscription lists were speedily and eagerly filled up, and the whole sum provided for. ‘Peers and bishops, country gentlemen and merchants, stockjobbers and adventurers, alike lustful of gain, crowded to place their names upon the lists,’ and in the course of a few months the ten-pound shares of the company rose to £305.
The 9th of October was the day fixed for the sale of the Panmure estates, the most valuable of all the property in the hands of the Commissioners. A strenuous effort was made to buy them back on behalf of the family. The Countess had protested against the sale, with the active sympathy and concurrence of two of the judges of the Court of Session, but the Commissioners determined to proceed. The. estates, consisting of twelve baronies, and nearly as many parishes, including the patronage of fifty-three churches, were exposed for sale on the day appointed at the upset price of £57,032 11s. 1½d. ‘Mr. James Maule, servant of Mr. Harry Maule, of Kelly,’ brought up the price to £60,300, in opposition to Mr. Hacket, agent for the York Buildings Company, ‘when, his competition becoming dangerous, the Commissioners asked whether he was prepared with cautioners. He replied that he was not, and an altercation ensued. The Commissioners offered to stop the running of the sandglass till he obtained security, but he said that he would require two or three days for the purpose. The sale was thereon proceeded with. Mr. Hacket bade £100 more, and the estate was knocked down to him at £60,400. The dispute provoked a considerable amount of comment, and is referred to in the party literature of the day.
While the hereditary estates of the family had thus passed into the hands of strangers, the Earl, who in early life had shown a taste for historical pursuits, was solacing himself in his exile by collecting valuable manuscripts and records, which are now at Panmure. He and his nephew made a pilgrimage to the place where the Maules had flourished in France for generations before they migrated to Scotland. James Maule sent a most interesting account of their visit to the old castle and village of Maule, and of the evidence which they found for establishing the connection of the Scottish with the French house. They also discovered that a barony of Panmure formed part of the possessions of the French Maules, as well as of their Scottish representatives. The Earl died at Paris, April, 1723, in his sixty-fourth year, without issue.
He was captured but escaped, with his younger brother Henry, via Arbroath to the Continent the following year. This resulted in the forfeiture of the Panmure title and estates. Maule was honoured by the Old Pretender and followed him to Avignon (1716) and then Rome (1717).
He died of pleurisy in Paris, still in exile having twice refused the opportunity of reconciliation with the British government.
The forfeited estates of the Maule and other Jacobite landlords were at length prepared for sale in 1719 and 1720, but it was very difficult, if not hopeless, to find purchasers in Scotland for so large an amount of landed property. In this extremity the ‘Company of Undertakers for raising the Thames Water, in York Buildings, London, in England,’ came to the assistance of the Government. A mania at that time prevailed for speculation and joint-stock companies, and the company referred to opened a subscription ‘for raising a joint-stock and fund of £1,200,000 for purchasing forfeited and other estates in Great Britain, by a fund for granting annuities on lives, and for assuring lives.’ The subscription lists were speedily and eagerly filled up, and the whole sum provided for. ‘Peers and bishops, country gentlemen and merchants, stockjobbers and adventurers, alike lustful of gain, crowded to place their names upon the lists,’ and in the course of a few months the ten-pound shares of the company rose to £305.
The 9th of October was the day fixed for the sale of the Panmure estates, the most valuable of all the property in the hands of the Commissioners. A strenuous effort was made to buy them back on behalf of the family. The Countess had protested against the sale, with the active sympathy and concurrence of two of the judges of the Court of Session, but the Commissioners determined to proceed. The. estates, consisting of twelve baronies, and nearly as many parishes, including the patronage of fifty-three churches, were exposed for sale on the day appointed at the upset price of £57,032 11s. 1½d. ‘Mr. James Maule, servant of Mr. Harry Maule, of Kelly,’ brought up the price to £60,300, in opposition to Mr. Hacket, agent for the York Buildings Company, ‘when, his competition becoming dangerous, the Commissioners asked whether he was prepared with cautioners. He replied that he was not, and an altercation ensued. The Commissioners offered to stop the running of the sandglass till he obtained security, but he said that he would require two or three days for the purpose. The sale was thereon proceeded with. Mr. Hacket bade £100 more, and the estate was knocked down to him at £60,400. The dispute provoked a considerable amount of comment, and is referred to in the party literature of the day.
While the hereditary estates of the family had thus passed into the hands of strangers, the Earl, who in early life had shown a taste for historical pursuits, was solacing himself in his exile by collecting valuable manuscripts and records, which are now at Panmure. He and his nephew made a pilgrimage to the place where the Maules had flourished in France for generations before they migrated to Scotland. James Maule sent a most interesting account of their visit to the old castle and village of Maule, and of the evidence which they found for establishing the connection of the Scottish with the French house. They also discovered that a barony of Panmure formed part of the possessions of the French Maules, as well as of their Scottish representatives. The Earl died at Paris, April, 1723, in his sixty-fourth year, without issue.
Working life
- James Maule, 4th Earl of Panmure, served in the military as fought at the Battle of Sherriffmuir on 13 November 1715 in Sherrifmuir. Although the two brothers appear to have formed a low and just opinion of their nephew, the Earl of Mar, when that weak and vacillating nobleman raised the Jacobite standard at Braemar, the loyalty of Panmure and Harry Maule to the cause of the Stewarts made them at once take part in the rebellion. With a view, it is said, of increasing the number of retainers whom he led into the field, the Earl bought the lands of Edzell, Glenesk, and Lethnot from David Lindsay, the last of the Edzell family. He proclaimed the Chevalier as King at the market cross of Brechin. The Earl and his brother look part in the indecisive battle of Sheriffmuir, 15th November, 1715, where the former commanded a battalion of foot. Harry Maule, and several other gentlemen volunteers, fought on the right wing of the Highlanders, where the royal troops fled on the first fire. Immediately after the close of the battle, a report reached him that the Earl, who appears to have been on the left of Mar’s army, which was worsted and driven back, was wounded and taken prisoner, and was lying in a cot-house on the field. He resolved at once to attempt his brother’s rescue, and asked Mar to send a party of soldiers with him, ‘but could not obtain it, and Mar only sent Clephan with a compliment to Panmure, and Mar himself immediately marched off. Then Mr. Harie asked the assistance of all the other troops he met with, but none of their officers would venture on it, they thought it so perilous. Then Mr. Harie undertook it himself, with two or three domestics, by which he ran the risque of having both himself and brother in the enemies’ hands at once, and so his family ruined and children utterly abandoned; and Mar, besides the ingratitude to his two uncles, risked the King and party’s losing two of the most considerable men they had.’ Harry Maule, with his servants and a Dr. Blair, a medical man, after inquiring at several cot-houses, at length found the Earl, ‘the six dragoons who guarded him having fled upon the noise of Harry’s approach, taking his small party for a great body coming up by the noise that their horses’ feet made upon the hard and shingly road. When Mr. Harie came in, he found him lying on a very sorry bed, near a fire, with the green apron about his head, and two Highland plaids about his body. Mr. Harie asked him how he was, and desired him to go along with him; but he refused, saying that he was not able, and that he would faint if he either walked or rode. Mr. Harie urged him by telling him that if they stayed any time they would be all taken prisoners; but he would not consent. Upon which Mr. Harie desired the doctor to persuade him, who got him to consent by telling him that his wounds would not be the worse. Upon which he consented, and Mr. Harie’s valet, Jo. Robertson, drew on a pair of boots upon his legs, and in the same dress they found him in, set him upon a horse, Jo. Fraser leading it, John Robertson walking upon his one side, and Malcolm on the other, mid-leg in snow and ice. By the way he took a hearty dram out of a flask that Robertson had at his side, and so carried him to Ardoch. It’s believed that if they had stayed a little longer they had all been taken, for it’s reported that not long after a party of 80 horse came to carry him to Stirling or Dumblain.’
The capture and rescue of the Earl are commemorated in the old Jacobite ballad on the battle—
‘Brave Mar and Panmure
Were firm I’m sure,
The latter was kidnapt awa’, man.
With brisk men about
Brave Harry retook
His brother and laughed at them a’, man.’
Death
James Maule, 4th Earl of Panmure, died on 11 April 1723 at age ~65.
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| Last Edited | 15 September 2025 |