Lord Blantyre
was a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created
in 1606 for the politician Walter Stewart. The lordship
was named for Blantyre Priory in Lanarkshire, where
Walter Stewart had been commendator. The main residences
associated with the Lords Blantyre were Erskine House
(Renfrewshire), Lennoxlove House (East Lothian) and
Place of Cardonald (Renfrewshire).
Walter Stewart, 1st Lord Blantyre was educated with
James VI under George Buchanan at Stirling Castle, he
was a gentleman in the king's chamber, Knight of
Cardonald, Prior of Blantyre, Keeper of the Privy Seal
of Scotland from 1582 to 1596, an Extraordinary Lord of
Session from 1593, an Octavian from 1596, and Lord High
Treasurer of Scotland from 1596 to 1599.
Between 1587 and 1593 Walter Stewart held the barony of
Glasgow, in place of the young Duke of Lennox, and so he
appointed the magistrates and Provost of Glasgow. James
VI sent John Carmichael and Blantyre to arrest
Elizabeth's Irish rebel Brian O'Rourke and take him to
England on 3 April 1591. This caused a riot in Glasgow,
because the arrest was thought likely to damage the
Irish trade, and Blantyre and Carmichael were cursed as
"Queen Elizabeth's knights" and the king for taking
"English angels", the annuity or subsidy received from
Queen Elizabeth.
Blantyre fell off his horse and broke his leg in
Edinburgh in February 1597, and while he recovered Lord
Ochiltree was treasurer. In 1599 he was imprisoned and
compelled to resign by James VI, influenced by a group
of courtiers in king's bedchamber.
In July 1602 Blantyre joined a committee of "4 Stewarts"
to arbitrate between the Marquess of Huntly and the Earl
of Moray. The other Stewarts were Lord Ochiltree,
Alexander Stewart of Garlies, and the Tutor of Rosyth.
He was a commissioner for union with England in 1604. He
was created Lord Blantyre, in the Peerage of Scotland in
1606, and succeeded by William Stewart.
Upon the death of the 12th Lord Blantyre in 1900 the
title became extinct, with the Blantyre estates passing
to his grandson, William Arthur Baird.
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