RIDDELL, JANET [SSNE 8291]
Text source
Janet Riddell was a Dutch woman and the widow of Thomas Baine, a soldier of Major-General Hugh Mackay of Scourie’s [SSNE 5005] regiment of the Scots-Dutch Brigade. Thomas Baine was allegedly murdered by John Drummond, second Lord of Bellenden [Ballantine] of the Broughton branch of that family. During the Highland War (1689-92), Mackay’s regiment was posted to Scotland as part of the Scots-Dutch Brigade and were, during the Siege of Edinburgh Castle (March-July 1689), posted in and around Edinburgh.
On the evening of 3rd July 1689, Bellenden rode out of Edinburgh and once outside the gates engaged in a discussion with a soldier of Mackay’s regiment on guard, Thomas Baine. According to the anonymous author of a contemporary news pamphlet, Bellenden asked Baine ‘whom he was for... the Soldier answer’d He was for K. William and Q. Mary; upon which the Lord drew out his Pistol, and shot him dead upon the place, saying, Here is K. James’s Pass for you; and so fled away, with one Servant accompanying him...’
The following day the Scottish Privy Council issued a proclamation offering a 2,000 merk reward for Bellenden. The Lord evaded capture until 28th October 1690, when he was caught with a group of Jacobite gentry attempting to covertly board ships bound for the Dutch Republic at Leith. He was interned in Edinburgh Castle but was later released without charge due to the intercession of George Mackenzie, Viscount of Tarbat. Tarbat alleged that the proclamation for Bellenden’s capture had been illegal and that Baine had provoked and struck Bellenden first. In contradiction of this, Tarbat also posited that the Lord had not murdered Baine at all citing Janet Riddell and her children’s supposed testimony that Bellenden was not the murderer. It remains unknown whether Riddell did indeed exonerate Bellenden for the murder or that she witnessed the crime at all. With no charges brought against him Bellenden quietly returned to public life and appears to have acquiesced to William and Mary’s regime.
Due to her husband’s death Riddell petitioned the Council in February 1690 to provide her with funds for her return to the Dutch Republic. They granted her and her children six Rijksdaalders for this purpose.
Sources:
E.W.M. Balfour-Melville (ed.), An Account of the Proceedings of the Estates in Scotland 1689-1690, Vol I (1954, Edinburgh), 6th July 1689, p. 155.
Henry Paton (ed.), Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, Vol 13, Proclamation against Lord Bellenden, 4th July 1689, pp. 485.
Sir James Balfour Paul, The Scots peerage: founded on Wood's ed. of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland; containing an historical and genealogical account of the nobility of that kingdom, Vol II, (Edinburgh, 1905), Bellenden [Ballantine], pp. 72-73.
Bannatyne Club (eds.), Leven and Melville Papers; Letters and State Papers Chiefly Addressed to George Earl of Melville, Secretary of State for Scotland, 1689-1691 (Edinburgh, 1843), Lord Cardross to Melville, 20th July 1689, p. 181., Earl of Crawford to Melville, 28th October 1690, pp. 556-557., Viscount Tarbat to Melville, 28th October 1690, pp. 557-558., Tarbat to Melville, 30th Oct 1690, pp. 559-560.
National Records of Scotland, E7/5, Treasury Register, 1688-1689, 3rd February 1690, Precept. For 6 Rex Dolours to the Relict of Tho. Baine Souldier, who wes killed by the Lord Bellenden in July 1689, f. 315.
This entry written by Mr Graeme Millen.
Keywords: Widow, female
Service record
- SCOTLAND, THE DUTCH REPUBLIC,
- Arrived 1689-07-27, as WIDOW
- Departed 1690-02-01, as REPATRIATED
- Capacity PETITIONER, purpose WIDOW