Clan Keith

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Keith Lives of Note: Sir Kenneth James Keith, ONZ, KBE, QC (b 19 Nov 1937) is a New Zealand Judge appointed to the International Court of Justice in November 2005. Keith was educated at the Auckland Grammar School and studied Law at the University of Auckland, Victoria University of Wellington, and Harvard Law School. He was a faculty member of Victoria University from 1962 to 1964 and from 1966 to 1991. He served in the New Zealand Department of External Affairs during the early 1960s, and as a member of the United Nations Secretariat from 1968 to 1970. After this, he was Director of the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs and later became President of the New Zealand Law Commission. He was also a member of the Royal Commission on the Electoral System which was key in changing New Zealand's electoral system. In 1993 he was a member of the Working Party on the Reorganisation of the Income Tax Act 1976 which was instrumental in launching a fundamental reform the way New Zealand tax legislation was written. From 1996 to 2003, Keith was a Judge of the Court of Appeal of New Zealand, and was a member of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London. He was subsequently one of the inaugural appointments to the new Supreme Court of New Zealand which replaced the Privy Council. Prior to his appointment to the International Court of Justice, he sat (as required) as a Judge of Appeal in Samoa (since 1982), the Cook Islands (since 1982) and Niue (since 1995), and is Judge of the Supreme Court of Fiji. He has also sat as the Chair of a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Tribunal (UPS v Canada). He was admitted to the New Zealand Bar in 1961, and appointed a Queen's Counsel in 1994. In 1988 he was created a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire "for services to law reform and legal education". In June 2007 he was admitted as a Member of the Order of New Zealand. Sir Kenneth is the first New Zealander ever to be elected to a permanent seat on the International Court of Justice. He is patron of the Clan keith in New Zealand society.

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Keith lives of note: Lady Agnes Keith (b~1540 to 16 July 1588). Lady Agnes Keith was born at Dunnottar Castle, the daughter of William Keith, 4th Earl Marischal and Margaret Keith of Inverugie. Ag...

Keith lives of note: Lady Agnes Keith (b~1540 to 16 July 1588). Lady Agnes Keith was born at Dunnottar Castle, the daughter of William Keith, 4th Earl Marischal and Margaret Keith of Inverugie. Agnes was well educated, and on 8 February 1562 she married James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, half brother to, Mary, Queen of Scots. Queen Mary attended the wedding, which took place in St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh and was conducted by John Knox. It was followed by a grand reception provided by the Queen at Holyrood Palace. After three days of wedding festivities John Knox condemned her as a harlot (as he was wont to do). Agnes was pregnant when James Stewart rebelled against Mary in 1565 and unable to join him in his subsequent exile in England. Instead she remained at the family home at St Andrews Priory and managed the estates. After the downfall of Mary in 1567, James Stewart was appointed Regent of Scotland for the infant James VI., Lady Agnes became one of the most powerful women in the country. James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, was assassinated in Linlithgow on 23 January 1570, becoming the first recorded person in history to be assassinated by a firearm. Agnes spent the following two years managing the estates and fighting a series of legal battles seeking to obtain compensation for Moray's time as Regent. Meanwhile she was bringing up her two surviving daughters. In January 1572, Agnes married Colin Campbell, who inherited the title of 6th Earl of Argyll the following year and served as Chancellor of Scotland. They had two sons and a daughter, and Agnes was seen as being the power behind the throne, both during both her husband's time as 6th Earl of Argyll and after their son Archibald became 7th Earl of Argyll in 1584. Agnes' second husband the 6th Earl of Argyll recorded that he was 'much advised by his wife' and she was considered an 'Intelligent and frightening politician'. In another document it was recorded that Sir Colin was "overmuch ledd by his wyf". Agnes was excommunicated by the Church on 25 April 1573 for non-adherence to her husband. Agnes had obtained most of Queen Mary's jewels which were left behind in the Earl of Moray's custody when the queen was removed to Lochleven Castle in 1567. Mary, Queen of Scots, had written to Agnes from Tutbury Castle soon after Moray's assassination on 28 March 1570 regarding these jewels. Mary wanted them sent to her in England including a piece made up of diamonds and rubies called the "H". This was the "Great Harry", a diamond given to Mary on the occasion of her first marriage by her father-in-law, King Henry II of France. The Earl of Huntly asked for the jewels on Mary's behalf on 1 November 1570, and Mary herself wrote again for them on 27 January 1571. However, the Regent Lennox had also asked for them on 13 September 1570. Facing a dilemma between handing the jewels over to Mary or the Scottish government, (knowing also that Moray had sold some of the crown jewels to Elizabeth I of England to fund the civil war), Agnes chose to hang onto the jewels. It was Agnes' desire to hold onto these valuable jewels which provoked a feud between her second husband and the Regent Morton, who demanded their return on behalf of King James VI of Scotland, threatening the couple with arrest if they failed to deliver the jewels which he insisted belonged to the Scottish Crown. Agnes argued that she retained the jewels as a pledge for the debts owed to her for the expenses that the Earl of Moray had laid out as Regent of Scotland. When Agnes and her husband failed to hand them over, they were both "put to the horn" (declared rebels) on 3 February 1574. Agnes appealed to the Scottish Parliament, and wrote several articulate, formal letters to Queen Elizabeth requesting her intervention which would permit Agnes to retain the jewels.The lengthy inquiry and litigation with Regent Morton over the custody of the precious stones, ended on 5 March 1575, when the earl, in his own name and that of Agnes, surrendered them to Morton. After her death in 1588, Agnes was buried in the tomb of James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, in St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh.

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Keith Lives of Note: Lovat Dickson, born Horatio Henry Lovat Dickson (June 30, 1902 – January 2, 1987) was a notable publisher and writer, the first Canadian to have a major publishing role in Britai...

Clan Keith

The Battle of Culloden fought on 16 April 1746 is forever etched in the mind of the Scot, regardless of the side their ancestors took at the time. In the aftermath of the battle, the cold blooded murd...

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Pauline Campbell

My 5 times great grandfather John MacDonald, a Clanranald MacDonald fought in the Battle of Culloden and came through the battle unscathed, and lived for another 24 years and died in 1770. He married Grissel MacIntre and they had 4 children. My sister and I visited the battlefield during a tour of...

April 16, 2013
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Julie Dickson

I was there with you, on our honeymoon. Spooky place with so many memories of death.

April 17, 2013
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Clan Keith shared a photo

Near Stonehaven, Kincardineshire. There was a stronghold in the twelfth century, and the preset ruinus buildings include a tower, courtyard, chapel and the entrance into the castle up a steep ascen...

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