August 18th , 1746
William Boyd (1704-1746), 4th Earl of Kilmarnock, was a Scottish nobleman.
William Boyd was educated at Glasgow. Like his father in the rebellion of 1715, William initially supported the Government side, but in the rebellion of 1745, owing either to a personal affront or to the influence of his wife or to his straitened circumstances he deserted George II and joined Charles Edward Stuart, the Young Pretender.
Made a Privy Counsellor to Charles, he was appointed a colonel of guards and subsequently a general. He fought at Falkirk and Culloden. He surrendered himself immediately after the battle of Culloden, he was conveyed a prisoner to England and was eventually beheaded on Tower Hill the 18th of August 1746. During his confinement in the Tower of London, after his trial, and under sentence of death, he wrote a few letters to the Duke of Hamilton, and to his son, Lord Boyd. Shortly before he was beheaded, the condemned Earl was naturally very anxious to see his son, but the authorities refused to grant his request. His last letter to his eldest son, Lord Boyd, is preserved, and it has a peculiar though a sad interest. The condemned man wrote thus :
To the Right Honourable the Lord Boyd.
Dear Boyd,?You may easily believe it gave me a great deal of uneasiness that you did not get leave to come up here, and that I would not have the pleasure of taking a long and last farewell of you.
Besides the pleasure of seeing you and giving you the blessing of a dying father; I wanted to have talked to you about your affairs more than I have strength or spirit to write. I shall therefore recommend you to George Menzies in Falkirk, and Robert Paterson, in Kilmarnock, as your advisers in them, and to a state of affairs I sent to my wife, of which you will get a copy, which I recommend to you in the same manner as to her. I desire you to consult with her in all your affairs. I need hardly recommend it to you?as I know your good nature and regard for her to do all you can to comfort her in the grief and affliction I am sure she must be in when she has the accounts of my death. She will need your assistance, and I pray you may give it her.
I beg leave to say two or three things to you as my last advice. Seek God in your youth, and when you are old he will not depart from you. Be at pains to acquire good habits now, that they may grow up and become strong in you. Love mankind and do justice to all men. Do good to as many as you can, and neither shut your ears or your purse to those in distress whom it is in your power to relieve. . . . Live within your circumstances, by which means you will have it in your power to do good to others and create an independence in yourself, the surest way to rise in the world.
Above all things, continue in your loyalty to his present Majesty and the succession to the Crown as by law established. Look on that as the basis of the civil and religious liberty and property of every individual in the nation. Prefer the public interest to your own wherever they interfere. Love your family and children, when you have any, but never let your regard for them drive you on the rock I have split upon, when on that account I departed from my principles, and brought the guilt of rebellion and public and particular desolation on my head, for which I am now under the sentence justly due to my crime. Use all your interest to get your brother pardoned and brought home as soon as possible, that his circumstances, and the bad influence of those he is among, may not induce him to accept of foreign service, and lose him both to his country and his family. If money can be found to support him, I wish you would advise him to go to Geneva, where his principles of religion and liberty will be confirmed, and where he may stay till you see if a pardon can be procured for him. As soon as Commodore Barnes comes home, inquire for your brother Billie, and take care of him on my account I recommend to you the payment of my debts, particularly the servant?s wages, as mentioned in the state of affairs. I must again recommend to you your unhappy mother. Comfort her, and take all the care you can of your brothers. And may God of his infinite mercy preserve, guide, and conduct you and them through all the vicissitudes of this life, and after it bring you to the habitations of the just, and make you happy in the enjoyment of Himself to eternity, is the sincere prayer of your affectionate father,
WILLIAM BOYD.
Tower of London, August 17th, 1746.
Charles Boyd, mentioned in the above letter, was the second son of Kilmarnock. He joined the Rising, but escaped to France, and resided abroad for many years. He eventually returned home, and lived at Slains Castle. He died at Edinburgh in 1782, leaving a son and a daughter. The son mentioned as Billie, was William Boyd, an officer in the Royal Navy at the time of his fathers death.
Lady Anne, Kilmarnocks wife, did not long survive the death of her husband. She died in 1747.
