A history of Covenanting dissent
John Hutchison was a feuar (small landowner) at Hairlaw [or Harelaw], near Carstairs in Lanarkshire, whose adult life was marked by repeated persecution for his adherence to the Covenanter cause. His story can be traced over 15 years through government and court records, revealing both his determination to remain true to his convictions and the heavy price paid by his family.
Hutchison first appears in the records during the years following the Pentland Rising of 1666. He was imprisoned in Edinburgh Tolbooth in July 1672 for attending conventicles and refusing to take the oath of allegiance to King Charles II. He was again caught up in the government’s campaign against suspected Covenanters following the Battle of Bothwell Bridge in 1679. Charged with treason, he was brought to trial in Edinburgh in March 1681 but was one of several Lanarkshire prisoners acquitted. The Lord Advocate was so dissatisfied with the verdict that he later complained to the Privy Council that the jury had acted through “favour and partial means”, an indication that Hutchison remained firmly in the authorities’ sights.
Property seizure and further imprisonment
In August 1683 he was arrested at Lanark and imprisoned, again leaving behind his wife, Marion Weir now with five young children aged between two and ten. Soldiers led by George Ogilvie, Albany Herald, seized not only Hutchison’s crop, cattle, sheep and horses but also the livestock and produce of his tenant, William Loch. The family’s means of support were stripped away while Hutchison remained in prison.
Hutchison endured further imprisonment including time in the Canongate Tolbooth and was amongst those Covenanters transferred to Dunnottar Castle in May 1685. He remained there until August before being taken to Leith and placed aboard the Henry and Francis for transportation to East Jersey as one of those “banished but liberat”, never expected to return.
Tragedy aboard the Henry and Francis
The voyage proved devastating. Disease swept through the overcrowded ship, claiming the lives of more than sixty passengers. Hutchison survived the crossing but only just. His name appears in the contemporary list of those who died aboard the Henry and Francis, and it was reported that he died on 13 December 1685 while being carried ashore on first landfall at Sandy Hook. Having endured years of imprisonment, the harsh conditions at Dunnottar Castle and the long voyage across the Atlantic, he never reached the final destination of Perth Amboy.
His family left behind
John’s death did not end the family’s ordeal but some resolution was to come. Marion Weir remained in Scotland with their children. In January 1686 she petitioned the Privy Council, complaining that although her husband had been banished he had never been fined nor had his estate been forfeited, yet she and her children had been turned out of their home and deprived of their property. She valued the crops and goods taken from the family at £4,280 Scots. The Privy Council agreed that she had been wronged and ordered that her property be restored. They indicated that she could financial compensation through the Sheriff Court.