Adam Forrester - Laird of Corstorphine

• Preferred Name: Adam Forrester - Laird of Corstorphine
  
• Gender: M
  
• Burial: in Corstorphine, Edinburghshire, Scotland at LATI: N5.939 LONG: E3.2815 with note: Chapel of st john the baptist Standardized.
  
• Birth: 1285 in Corstorphine, Midlothian, Scotland at LATI: N5.9333 LONG: E3.2833
  
• http://familysearch.org/v1/TitleOfNobility: Sir
  
• FSID: LDKF-P5Z
  
• Death: 1365 in Corstorphine, Midlothian, Scotland at LATI: N5.9333 LONG: E3.2833
  
• Notes:

  === Life Sketch ===
  It is possible that this family is of Celtic druidic origin, descending from Marnin the Forester, who held lands in Dunipace, Stirlingshire about 1200. Sir Adam Forrester, first of Corstorphine, is generally regarded as the founder of the clan. He was an ambassador, merchant, Provost of Edinburgh, Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland and Deputy Chamberlain of Scotland. In 1376 he acquired the estate of Corstorphine in Midlothian (now part of Edinburgh), where Corstorphine Castle (now demolished ) and the Collegiate Church of Corstorphine were built by the family. The Dower House of the Lords Forrester now houses a local history museum. Adams son, Sir John Forrester the elder, also became Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland and was Chamberlain of Scotland and Keeper of the Household to James I. Sir James, the seventh chief, was killed in the Battle of Pinkie in 1547. The tenth chief, Sir George Forrester, was created a Baronet of Nova Scotia and raised to the peerage as Lord Forrester of Corstorphine, in 1633. On his death the baronetcy title became dormant and it still awaits a claimant.
  James and William Baillie, the sons-in-law of the first Lord, assumed the name and arms of Forrester and inherited the title under a re-grant of the peerage. James, an ardent royalist, was fined heavily by Cromwell and the estates became burdened with debts. The fifth Lord, Colonel George of the Grenadier and Life Guards fought under Marlborough at Oudenarde and Malplaquet, and was wounded in the Battle of Preston in 1715. Eventually the male line died out and the title descended through heiresses to the Earls of Verulam. The chiefly family had several landed cadets, including Le Forestiers in Normandy. Forresters were accessories to the murder of David Rizzio, secretary and close friend of Mary, Queen of Scots, and also in Marys imprisonment in Holyrood House. They held important posts, including those of Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland; secretary to the king; Chamberlain of Scotland; Master of the Household of James I; comptroller of the Royal Household to James IV and to his wife, Margaret Tudor; Grand Provisor to Queen Arabella; sheriff of Edinburgh, Stirling and Skipness Castles, and governor of Belle Island; Bishop of Brechin and Abbot of Balmerino; and heralds to French kings, Normandy King of Arms and Picardy Herald.
  The Lords of Forrester of Corstorphine have been recognised as chiefs of this Lowland clan since the seventeenth century. The potential chief is Sir John Duncan Grimston, Baronet, seventh Earl of Verulam, sixteenth Lord Forrester of Corstorphine, and patron of the Clan Forrester Society. His seat is Gorhambury in St. Albans in Hertfordshire with its fine Palladian mansion. His heir, Viscount Grimston, is the Master of Forrester.
  Among the relics and heirlooms is the Corstorphine Pendant, Sir Duncan Forresters Antiphony, a fifteenth-century vellum book of Eastertide Music and the Corstorphine Casket of carved oak mounted in silve
  
  Clan Forrester History
  
  It is possible that this family is of Celtic druidic origin, descending from Marnin the Forester, who held lands in Dunipace, Stirlingshire, about 1200.
  
  Monument at Flodden Field Sir Adam Forrester
  
  === Forrester, Lord, a title in the Scottish ===
  Forrester, Lord, a title in the Scottish peerage, now merged by marriage in the English family of Grimston, Earl of Verulam & Viscount Grimston. The immediate ancestry of the Lords Forrester was Sir Adam Forrester, a wealthy burgess of Edinburh, who in the reign of King David Bruce, in 1365, obtained a charter, under the great seal, of lands at Whitburn, in the constabulary of Linlithgow, with the remained of his heirsm male &c, and in 1370, during the reign of the same monarch, on the resignation of William de Seton, received another charter of lands at Nudriff or Niddery, in the same constabulary, with like remainder. He was possessed of an immense estate, having got from King Rober the Second, no less than six charters, under the great seal, of different lands and baronies, and is supposed to have acquired the greater part of his fortune by trading with England. In the Rotuli Scotioe, we find a license granted to him to bring grain into Scotland, without payment of duty. In 1373 he was provost of Edinburgh, and in 1382 sheriff of Lothian. The barony of Corstorphine near Ediburgh, which became the chief designation of his family, he acquired in 1376 from Gilchrist More, brother of Sir William more of Abercorn. On the accession of Rober the Third, 1390, Sir Adam was appointed Lord Privy seal, and between the years of 1391 and 1404 he was employed no less than seven times in negotiating treaties between England and Scotland. In 1402 he was present at the battle of Homildon Hill, where he was taken prisoner, and with several others was presented to King Henry the Fourth, in full, parliament, when he made a speech showing the advantages of a solid and durable peace between the two kingdoms. He was soon exchanged and in 1405 became deputy chamberlain of the southern division of the kingdom, under the earl of Buchan, eldest son of the regent Robert Duke of Albany. He died the same year and was buried in the chapel of St. John the Baptist at Corstorphine.
  
  He was twice married: first, to Agnes, daughter of John Dundas of Fingask; and secondly, to a lady whose Christian name was Margaret, but whose surname is not known and had twwo sons.
  
  From the Clan Forrester Web Page"
  Sir Adam Forrester, first of Corstorphine, is generally regarded as the founder of the clan. He was an ambassador, merchant, Provost of Edinburgh, Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland and Deputy Chamberlain of Scotland. In 1376 he acquired the estate of Corstorphine in Midlothian (now part of Edinburgh), where Corstorphine Castle (now demolished) and the Collegiate Church of Corstorphine, with the effigies of three of the chiefs, were built by the family. The Dower House of the Lords Forrester now houses a local-history museum. Adam’s son, Sir John Forrester the elder, also became Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland and was Chamberlain of Scotland and Keeper of the Household to James I. With his father, he fought in 1402. Sir James, the seventh chief, was killed in the disastrous Battle of Pinkie in 1547. The tenth chief, Sir George Forrester, was created a Baronet of Nova Scotia and raised to the peerage as Lord Forrester of Corstorphine, in 1633. On his death the baronetcy title became dormant, and it still awaits a claimant.

1. John Libertine Forrester Snr - Lord of Corstorphine, b. 1320 in Corstorphine, Edinburghshire, Scotland, United Kingdom     d. 1350 in Midlothian, Scotland, United Kingdom