Early Life
Wikipedia has
John Henderson born 3
rd November 1605 in
Fordell, Fife. However the supporting document is a long extinct website with no primary source of information. Certainly, his date of birth is not given in either the
Complete Baronetage or in the
Baronage of Scotland.
Career & Family Life
From the
Complete Baronetage1:
A steady loyalist (sometime in command on the coast of Africa). A man of parts and merit, who, having betaken himself to a military life, had a considerable command upon the coast of Africa, where, after a defeat, he was taken prisoner by the barbarians, and when he was upon the point of being destroyed by them, was ransomed by a lady, whose picture, with a coronet on her head, and a landskip [sic], representing his deliverance, is still preserved in the family.
These additional details are from
The Baronage of Scotland2:
He returned to Britain in the reign of King Charles I, and being a steady loyalist, and a brave officer, joined the royal army in England, had the honour of knighthood conferred upon him by the king, and had a considerable command in the army; which appears by these words in Ludlow's memoirs, p. 27:
The earl of Newcastle sent a detachment of horse and dragoons towards Bolton, by their standards appearing to be about eightyseven troops, commanded by Sir John Henderson, an old soldier
It rings odd for him to be described as 'an old soldier', given that John died aged just 45 (see below).
John married
Margaret Menteith, heiress of
Randiford, by whom he had five sons and five daughters. Some pedigrees quote a marriage date of 7
th February 1625, but I can't find an original source for this.
- John, eldest son and heir
- William
- James
- Francis, "a brave officer, who went into the French service, and was killed by colonel Douglas, without succession"2
- George, "killed in Holland, also without issue"2
- Jean, married to Robert Bruce, of Blairhall
- Anna, who married Archibald Stewart of Dunearn, the son of the 4th Earl of Moray
The names of the remaining four daughters are not given in the
Baronage of Scotland, though it does make the error of suggesting that
Anna (though she is unnamed) married Robert Stewart of Dunearn, younger son of 5
th Earl of Moray (rather than
Archibald Stewart, son of the 4
th Earl of Moray).
Death
John died on the 11
th of March 1650, aged just 45.
Footnotes
[1]
The Complete Baronetage, GE Cockayne, 1903, Volume 3, Page 346
[2]
The Baronage of Scotland, Sir Robert Douglas, page 519, available
here
[3] Further info in
Red Book of Scotland vol. 5 needs to be reviewed
Abt 1605 - 1650 (~ 45 years)