Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 27.djvu/241

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
Home
235
Home

ford, he, in name of the nobility, ministry, barons, burgesses, &c., protested openly at the market-cross of Edinburgh against the king's proclamation of 19 Feb. 1638 (Spalding, Memorials, i. 85; Gordon, Scots Affairs, i. 32; Balfour, Annals, ii. 250). Gordon classes him among those of the commissioners in 1638 who were professed covenanters, or quickly afterwards declared for the covenant (Scots Affairs, i. 109). On 22 March of the following year he, in company with other leaders of the covenanters, went at the head of a thousand musketeers to Dalkeith House, and compelled the lord treasurer, Traquair, to deliver it up, when they discovered concealed in it an immense quantity of ammunition and arms (Balfour, ii. 321), and also the regalia, crown, sceptre, and sword, which they carried with them to Edinburgh (Rushworth, Historical Collections, ii. 908).

Notwithstanding his covenanting leanings, Home disapproved of the extreme policy of the Marquis of Argyll, attached his name in June 1641 to the band at Cumbernauld (Band, in Robert Baillie, Letters and Journals, ii. 468), and from this time gave the king his constant support. On 17 Nov. of this year he was nominated a member of the privy council (Balfour, Annals, iii. 67), but his name was deleted by the estates on the ground that he was opposed to the covenanters (ib. p. 148). For violently dispossessing Sir Patrick Hepburn of Waughton of Fast Castle and the adjacent lands of Wester Lumsden he was, in 1644, fined in the sum of 20,000l. Scots. Along with five other noblemen he voted against rendering the ‘raising of armes’ punishable by ‘forfaultry,’ and also against a similar punishment for ‘holding houses against the estates of the country’ (ib. iii. 200). In 1648 Home, in command of the Berwickshire regiment, served under the Duke of Hamilton in his expedition into England, which resulted in the disastrous rout at Preston. After the capture of the castle of Edinburgh in 1650 Cromwell sent Colonel Fenwick to seize Home Castle. Home was absent, but to the summons for surrender Cockburn, the governor, replied, ‘As for Home Castle, it stands on a rock.’ But soon after the assault began Cockburn surrendered, and the castle was garrisoned by Cromwell's soldiers. On 27 March 1651 Home was nominated by King Charles colonel for the shire of Berwick and the Merse (Balfour, Annals, iv. 278), his regiment forming part of the seventh brigade (ib. 301). After the final triumph of Cromwell in Scotland, Home's estates were forfeited. On the restoration of Charles II in 1660 he went to London as one of a special deputation to represent to the council and parliament ‘the grievances of this opprest kingdom’ (Nicoll, Diary, p. 279). In 1661 he was reinstated in his estates, and was named a member of the Scottish privy council. In 1664 he was appointed a member of the high commission for the execution of the law in church affairs. He died in December 1666.

By his wife, Lady Jane Douglas, daughter of William, second earl of Morton, Home had three sons: Alexander, fourth earl, who died without issue in 1674; James, fifth earl, who died without issue in 1687; and Charles, sixth earl, who took a prominent part in opposing the union, but died, while the result was still pending, on 20 Aug. 1706. Sir Thomas Hope, in his ‘Diary,’ frequently refers to some curious negotiations he had with the Countess of Home in regard to the compromising of a process by means of bribes.

[Spalding's Memorials of the Troubles (Spalding Club); Gordon's Scots Affairs (Spalding Club); Balfour's Annals; Whitelocke's Memorials; Robert Baillie's Letters and Journals (Bannatyne Club); Nicoll's Diary (Bannatyne Club); Douglas's Scottish Peerage (Wood), i. 738.]

T. F. H.


HOME, JAMES (1760–1842), professor of medicine at Edinburgh University, son of Francis Home (1719–1813) [q. v.], succeeded his father in 1798 as professor of materia medica at Edinburgh. He was so successful that he raised the attendance at his class from 50 to 310 students, although the lectures were given at 8 A.M. in winter. In 1821, on the death of Dr. James Gregory (1753–1821) [q. v.], he obtained the professorship of physic after a severe contest; his political views (which were tory) agreed with those of the majority of the town council, the patrons. He was sixty-three years old, and failed from the first in his new post. Latterly his class-room was a scene of great disorder. He continued to lecture until his death 5 Dec. 1844. A good clinical teacher, he was president of the Royal College of Physicians (Scotland). His only publication was a ‘Dissertatio … de Scorbuto,’ &c., Edinburgh, 1781.

[Grant's Edinburgh Univ. ii. 412, 424; Life of Sir R. Christison.]

G. T. B.


HOME, JOHN (1722–1808), author of ‘Douglas,’ was born on 21 Sept. 1722, at Leith, the port of Edinburgh. His father, who was distantly connected with the earls of Home, was town-clerk of Leith. John was educated at the grammar school of Leith, and, with a view to the church, at the university of Edinburgh. He is described in his youth as handsome and lively, and was popular with his companions, among whom were Robertson, afterwards the historian, Adam Ferguson,