George Seton, 3rd Earl of Winton

George Seton, 3rd Earl of Winton (December 1584 – 17 December 1650) was a notable Royalist and Cavalier, the second son of Robert Seton, 1st Earl of Winton and 6th Lord Seton, by his spouse Margaret, daughter of Hugh Montgomerie, 3rd Earl of Eglinton.

His elder brother Robert Seton, 2nd Earl of Winton, had no issue, and resigned the Earldom on 26 June 1606, to George, who continued the developments that his brother and father had begun at Seton Palace, and later, in 1630, at Port Seton, as well as throughout the many estates under his control in both that county and Linlithgowshire.

In 1619 he built the mansion house of Winton near Pencaitland, the earlier tower house having been burned in the English invasion of the Earl of Hertford, and restored the park, orchard, and gardens around it.

When King James VI of Scotland revisited Scotland in 1617, he spent his second night, after crossing the River Tweed, at Seton Palace, and King Charles I was twice entertained there, with all his retinue, in 1633.

In 1639, at the commencement of the Scottish rebellion against the Crown, Lord Winton left the country and waited upon King Charles I after the pacification of Berwick to offer his loyal services, for which the rebels did him great injury; and thereafter all through the Civil Wars he was constantly harassed:

"Cromwell and his army of cavalry domineered in all parts where they came, and in especial about Edinburgh, and in East Lothian. The good Earl of Winton, to whose well-furnished table all the noblemen and gentlemen had ever been welcome, was pitifully abused by them; his fair house of Seaton made a common inn; himself threatened to be killed, if they had not whatsoever they called for; his rich furniture and stuff plundered, and all the enormities that could be offered by Jews or Turks to Christians, he suffered daily; and when he complained to those of our nobility who now rule all, he got no redress, but [was] ordered with patience to give them whatsoever they called for."

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