The Dis-Entail of Bonshaw
The Irvings held Bonshaw from the Johnstons of that Ilk and not directly from the Crown, and so the succession of owners does not appear in the Register of the Great Seal. The first recorded member of the family was in 1506. After 1617, when the Register of Sasines begins, the various changes of ownership which took place can be followed.
It has to be kept in mind that until 1868, land could not be bequeathed, but descended according to the laws of primogeniture – to the eldest son whom failing to his eldest son and so on. A landowner could, however, give parts of his lands to other sons and daughters during his lifetime.
When a landowner died, his heir was required to apply to the superior of the land for a ‘precept of clare constat’ (a letter recognising him as heir) and this would be followed by his or his attorney being given ‘sasine’ on the actual lands he was inheriting. He was then described a shaving been ‘infeft’ or ‘seised’ in the lands and an Instrument of Sasine would then be recorded in the Sasine Registers.
Landowners in the past used their land as security for loans. This could take the form of a ‘wadset’ – a type of mortgage whereby the creditor or ‘wadsetter’ would draw the entire income from that land until the loan was repaid (plus interest). Alternatively, a landowner could grant a creditor an annual rent out of those lands. What often happened was that the owner was unable to repay the debt at a time agreed and so he could extend the time by signing a Bond of Corroboration (i.e. corroborating the terms of the original loan and adding more time in which to pay it). Though what generally happened was that the creditor would apply for Letters of Inhibition, thereby preventing the landowner from alienating his lands so that he, the creditor, could gain access to them. IF the debt was not repaid, then the creditor would go to court to obtain a Decreet of Adjudication (earlier terms as an Apprising) by means of which he could hold the land as security and if after 10 years the debt still remained unpaid, then the creditor became the new owner.
In an Act of 1685, the Register of Tailzie was established which prevented heirs of entailed estates from selling them or burdening them with debts.
Bonshaw had passed down from father to eldest son until James Irving, grandson of William Irving (died in 1647).
James Irving disposed of the estate to his uncle, Harbert Irving whose eldest son, William, inherited it in 1660, but it was burdened with debt and so through the courts, Sarah Douglas, widow of John Irving, brother of James, who had sold Bonshaw to Harbert Irving and whose husband had been a creditor of the estate, obtained a Decreet of Adjudication and thereby acquired it for her eldest son, William Irving, who was given title in 1703.
The Entail of Bonshaw was recorded by petition on 7th March 1775 presented to the Lords of Council and Session in Edinburgh for and in the name of Lieutenant Robert Irving 75th Regiment of Foot that on 19th December 1765 William Irving of Bonshaw (then deceased) the petitioner’s eldest brother executed a Bond or Deed of Tailzie of his land and estate of Bonshaw and others therein mentioned all lying within the parish of Annan and shire of Dumfries. Copies of this document are to be found the National Archives of Scotland and are some 25 pages in length but it does contain some interesting excerpts: for instance the entail follows the male line but then includes the immediate female line in default of other successor(s).
The estate carried on being passed from father to eldest son until the death of John Robert Irving, in 1839, which left no male heirs. The Entail which had been drawn up by his father then came into play. The Reverend John Irving was the next heir of entail and he disentailed the estate in 1853, coming to an agreement with the next three heirs of entail that would have succeeded that the estate should still pass to them.
An Entail effectively ensured for the grantee the direction to which certain heritable property would go i.e. entail. However it did not allow the owner to burden the property with loans or mortgages. It was only when a property was dis-entailed that security could be obtained for loans for things such as property improvement. In 1864, Reverend John Irving applied for loans for land drainage after the property was dis-entailed in 1853. So we can see the purpose in the petition to dis-entail.
Those he came to agreement with were, as heirs of the entail who would have succeeded, in turn, to Bonshaw after his death, were James Irving, formerly of Kensington Square, London and his two sons, Dr James Irving and Lieutenant Robert Nasmyth Irving of the 12th Regiment. He died in 1870. Both James Irving and his eldest son, Dr James Irving who had settled in Pisa in Tuscany died before the Reverend John Irving and so he was succeeded by Robert Nasmyth Irving, James Irving’s second son. Robert Nasmyth Irving died unmarried in 1894.
On the death of Robert Nasmyth Irving, the last of the three heirs named in the agreement, who left no direct heir, that led to the action taken by Colonel J.B. Irving.
There were however other actions taken by the successors to Reverend John Irving, no doubt to ensure any ‘pension’ by way of residual monies from the estate. The Bonshaw Entail has caused many a lawsuit in the interim from all sorts of vested interests.
Colonel J.B. Irving (1844-1925), the next “heir at law” was the exact opposite of his predecessor.
On Robert Nasmyth Irving’s death in 1894, he went to law as “heir-at-law” to recover what he could of the estate, with no entail to aid him, and after a protracted lawsuit he eventually won and settled at Bonshaw.
Colonel Irving was succeeded by his youngest and surviving son, Captain Sir R.B. Irving (1877-1954), KB, OBE, RD, DL.
Having succeeded to the Bonshaw estate on the death of his father in 1925, and his mother died the following year, Captain Sir R.B. Irving devoted much of his time at Bonshaw in preserving the estate.
Captain Sir R.B. Irving applied to the Court of Session to sell heritage in 1944. This decree was granted on 3rd March 1944. The basis of the petition to the Court of Session at Edinburgh was that whilst elements of the estate were granted as heritable property, for example Commander G.R.I. Irving was a named inheritor being granted Jockstown Farm inter alia, the estate as a whole was making significant annual losses year on year for some considerable period of time, no doubt causing concern to its stakeholders.
Essentially, four fifths of the estate was sold off as a result of the decree including the heritable property due to Commander G.R.I. Irving who at time was commanding HMS Canopius in the Eastern Mediterranean during WWII. It would be interesting to note if he actually knew what was going on.
Sir Robert died in 1954 without issue and his successor and next “heir at law” was Commander G. R. I. Irving RN (1895-1970).
Commander G.R.I. Irving RN inherited the remainder of the estate as “heir-at-law” in 1954. When Commander Irving inherited he was in his sixtieth year, previously a WWII Royal Navy serving officer and retired living in Portsmouth.
His son, Captain R.A.S. Irving RN (Retired), was unmarried at that time and only 24 years of age and had just started on his considerable sea service in the Royal Navy; neither at that time had the means to live at or maintain the property.
Within a few years of inheriting and having tried to rent out the house and estate, Commander G.R.I. Irving took the decision to sell, but only to an Irving. Eventually Mr. & Mrs. E. Keys-Irving Straton-Ferrier, who were living in Australia at the time, purchased the property. They were descended from the Irvings of Wysebie, a branch of the Clan which went to Australia in the early 1900’s. Within a few years of taking possession of the Bonshaw property her husband died. Mrs. Keys-Irving Straton-Ferrier did much to modernise the house and improve the grounds.
As time went on, Mrs. Keys-Irving Straton-Ferrier herself died, and her son and his wife, who were living there with her, decided they needed to move on.
Drs J. B. & M.A. Irving purchased the Bonshaw property in 1986 and during their ownership sold significant acreage of the residual estate for private housing. Bonshaw was acquired in 2005 by their eldest son who is now the owner. The property is now still owned by an Irving, although distantly related within a cadet branch to the Irvings of Dumfries.
Fortunately Bonshaw is one of the few remaining Border Towers that still remains in private hands whose owners are investing significant time and monies to maintain the property. An example to be followed by others with ownership of heritage.
Primary sources and reference
National Archives of Scotland
RT1/18ff. 418r – 480v.
RT1/131ff. 267v – 269v.
CS46/1944/3/54.
Edinburgh Gazette
Issue 6157 dated 5th March 1852
Issue 6264 dated 15th March 1853
Issue 7471 dated 30th September 1864
Issue 7473 dated 7th October 1864
Principal research and consultant
Mrs Diane Baptie
AGRA – Member of the Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives
ASGRA – Member of the Association of Scottish Genealogists and Researchers in Archives.
Publications: A Lairdship Lost, the Mowats of Balquholly, 1309-1736
Registers of the Secession Churches in Scotland (SAFHS)
Parish Registers in the Kirk Session Minutes of the Church of Scotland (SAFHS)
Timothy Pont, early Scottish map maker (National Library of Scotland – www.nls.uk/pont)
www.genealogypro.com/dbaptie.html mail@dbaptie.freeserve.co.uk