Cardross House (8)
Henry Erskine, 3rd Lord Cardross, lived in eventful times and led an eventful life!  Prominent citizens were not expected to sit at home with the curtains closed in troubled times!  &quot;By his father young Erskine had been educated in the principles of the Covenanters, and at an early period distinguished himself by his opposition to the administration of Lauderdale. In this he was strongly supported by his wife, Catherine, younger of the two daughters and coheiresses of Sir William Stewart of Kirkhill.&quot;  

On account of his wife's determination to have a Presbyterian chaplain to perform worship in her own house, Lord Cardoss was fined 4,000 pounds, of which he paid 1,000 pounds, but after attempting to obtain a remission for the balance in 1675, he was committed to the prison of Edinburgh, where he remained for four years!  In May of the same year, during his absence in Edinburgh, conventicles (illegal Presbyterian services) were held in the woods near Cardross, in consequence of which, a party of guards in search of a covenanter named John King, entered his house at midnight and broke into his chests.  The conventicles were said to have been held with his encouragement, which was the chief cause why his fine was not relaxed.  

In August 1677, while still in prison, he was fined for permitting his two children to be christened by unlicensed (ie Presbyterian) ministers.  He obtained his release from prison in July 1679, on providing a bond for the amount of his fine, and early next year went to London, where he laid before the king a narrative of the sufferings to which he had been exposed.  This proceeding gave great offense to the Scottish privy council, who sent a letter to the king accusing Cardross of misrepresentation, the result being that all redress was denied him.

Having failed to obtain redress, Lord Cardoss emigrated to North America, where he established a plantation at Charlestown Neck in South Carolina.  In October 1685 his estate in Scotland was sold by public roup, and was bought by the Earl of Mar.  Meanwhile, Cardross, having been driven from the settlement in Carolina by the Spaniards, who killed many of the settlers and destroyed their property, went to Holland, and in 1688 he accompanied the Prince of Orange to England.  At last, things started looking up!  He raised a regiment of dragoons and served under General Mackay against Bonnie Dundee in 1689, taking part in the Battle of Killiecrankie, following which, an act was passed restoring him to his estates, and he was also sworn a privy councilor and constituted 'general of the mint'.

He died at Edinburgh on 21 May 1693.  His eldest son David duly became 4th Lord Cardross, and also inherited the Earldom of Buchan from a cousin.
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