Alexander Houstoun or Houston of Clerkington

NB there is potential confusion over this man, whom the History of Parliament shows as b. c. 1770, the son of Col. Andrew Houstoun (d. 1800) and the grandson of Alexander Houstoun (d. 1777), and as Lt Governor of Grenada 1796-1802 (a role for which he would have been very young): the will of Alexander Houstoun of Clerkington is more consistent with the Alexander Houstoun son of Alexander Houstoun (d. 1777) and brother of Andrew Houstoun (d. 1800) and Robert Houstoun Rae (both of whom q.v.) who is shown by genealogical sources as born c. 1752. These sources show the Alexander Houstoun the son of Col. Andrew Houstoun as dying relatively young, c. 1802. Douglas Hamilton also shows Alexander Houstoun jr. of Grenada as partner in Alexander Houstoun & Co. in 1777, reinforcing the identification of the Lt-Governor of Grenada and MP for Glasgow Burghs as the son rather than grandson of Alexander Houstoun (d. 1777)

1. Baptised 07/10/1752 in Renfrew, son of Alexander Houstoun and his wife Elizabeth Rae. Will of Alexander Houstoun of Clerkington in the constabulary of Haddington proved 19/09/1827. In a codicil of 1817 he had left his estate of Belmont and the enslaved people on Grenada in trust for Andrew Hugh Houstoun (the son of Capt. John Houstoun his nephew) and his heirs, failing whom then for his nephew Andrew Houstoun of Grenada and his heirs, failing whom to his nephew Lt-Col. Robert Houstoun of the EIC.

2. There is a memorial stone, with a horse's head carved at the top, still standing in Clerkington woods placed by Col. A. Houston "over the remains of his favourite dum horse Tommy. Died June 18, 1811 aged 32 years." Clerkington House was demolished in the 1970s. The stable block and walled garden are now grade B listed.

Douglas Hamilton’s ‘Scottish Trading in the Caribbean: The Rise and Fall of Houstoun & Co.’, in Ned C. Landsman (ed), Nation and Province in the First British Empire: Scotland and the Americas, 1600-1800 (Bucknell University Press, 2001), 94-126.

1. GROS OPR Births 575 20 44 Renfrew; PROB 11/1730/412.

2. Photographs sent by email 23/07/2020; https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/200390069-clerkington-house-stables-with-walled-garden-haddington#.XyMK8h3TVTY [accessed 30/07/2020].

We are grateful to David Gilmour for his assistance with compiling this entry.