Clan Home

The names Home and Hume are of the same enormously powerful borders family. Descended from the Saxon Princes of Northumberland was Cospatrick, Earl of Dunbar, and his second son, Patrick, is believed to be the originator of the family. His descendant Aldan was the first recorded as having taken on the name of Home, Berwickshire, to become Aldan de Home around 1172.
By 1266, William de Home is recorded at Coldstream Monastery with land grants. Geoffrey de Home’s name is on the Ragman Roll, submitting to England’s Edward I. Geoffrey’s son, Sir Thomas, gained the Pepdie estate of Dunglass when he married it’s heiress.

The 1st Lord Home, created in 1473, was Sir Alexander, who died in 1491. During his life he established the collegiate church of Dunglass, was an ambassador to England and was among those who had the blood of James III on their hands in 1488.

Despite having led the vanguard of Scots knights at Flodden field, the 3rd Lord Home, Alexander, was found guilty of treason against the Regent Albany by conspiring with the English. He and his brother had their heads displayed on spikes at the Tollbooth in Edinburgh.

In the time of Mary, Queen of Scots, the allegiance of many families swayed in the turbulent political winds. In 1560, the 5th Lord Home supported the Reformation. Later he was in favour of the marriage of Mary and Bothwell. By the time of the Battle of Langside he led his men against her and aided her imprisonment in Lochleven.

In 1573 he was accused of treason against James VI and spent the rest of his life imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle. His son, however, was a stolid supporter of James VI all his life, accompanying him on the journey to claim the throne of the new Kingdom. His devotion earned him the title of Earl of Home in 1605.

In the Jacobite rising of 1715, the 7th Earl was a supporter and was imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle. The second rising in 1745, however, saw the 8th Earl on the government’s side. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant General and Governor of Gibraltar.

More recently, the 14th Earl had to disclaim his hereditary peerage to take the post of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Sir Alec Douglas Home died in October 1995.