Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ogilvy, Alexander (d.1456)
OGILVY, ALEXANDER, second Baron of Inverquharity (d. 1456), was the son of Sir John Ogilvy, third son of Sir Walter Ogilvy of Auchterhouse [see under Ogilvy, Sir Walter]. He obtained a charter from Alexander Seton, lord of Gordon, of Newton and other lands in the parish of Kirriemuir on 15 June 1434; from Nicoll Borthwick of the lands of Ladinch to him and Janet Towers, his spouse, on 15 March 1438; and from William Gifford, of Balnagarroch, of the lands of Little Migny on 1 April 1439. He was sheriff of Kincardine (Reg, Mag. Sig. Scot. 1424-1613, entry 376), bailie of Panmure (Exchequer Holis of Scot1. 1437-64, p. 200), and keeper of Methven Castle (ib. p. 201).
Along with the Earl of Crawford, Sir Alexander Livingstone, and others, Ogilvy about 1444 made a raid on the lands of Bishop Kennedy of St. Andrews in Fife and Angus, destroying the villages and farms, and taking captive his vassals. For this outrage they were excommunicated, and the subsequent fate that overtook Crawford and Ogilvy was supposed to prove a divine ratification of the sentence. The earl's son, master and afterwards fourth earl of Crawford [see under Lindsay, Alexander, fourth Earl of Crawford], who for some time had been justiciary of the abbey of Arbroath, was in 1446 superseded by Alexander Ogilvy. The master of Crawford determined to maintain possession of the abbey by force of arms, and Ogilvv resolved by force to oust him from it. Before the commencement of the battle on 13 Jan. 1445-6, the old Earl of Crawford, who suddenly appeared between the opposing forces as mediator, was accidentally shot by one of the Ogilvys. The incident led to an immediate and furious conflict, in which the Ogilvys were defeated. Ogilvy himself, who was severely wounded, was taken prisoner and carried to the castle of Finhaven, where, it is said, he was smothered with a down pillow by the widowed Countess of Crawford. By his wife Janet, daughter and heiress of William Towers, he had a son, John Ogilvy, third baron of Inverquharity.
[Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot.; Exchequer Rolls of Seotl; Auchinleck Cbron.; Douglas's Baronage.]