Murder of Hugh Montgomerie

Murder of Hugh Montgomerie, 4th Earl of Eglinton
Lainshaw Castle in the 17th century
Born	Hugh Montgomerie 1563
Died	1586 Annick Ford, Stewarton
Cause of death	Blood loss due to bullet wound and multiple stabbings
Resting place	Kilwinning Abbey
Residence	Eglinton Castle
Nationality	Scottish
Citizenship	British
Occupation	Landowner and Scottish peer
Parent(s)	Hugh Montgomerie, 3rd Earl of Eglinton and Agnes Drummond of Inchpeffrey
Notes
Murdered by John Cunninghame of Clonbeith Castle and others

The Murder of Hugh Montgomerie, 4th Earl of Eglinton at the Annick Ford in Stewarton, East Ayrshire, Scotland, took place in 1586 as a consequence of a long running feud between the Montgomeries, Earls of Eglinton and the Cunninghames, Earls of Glencairn, families who were competing for power and influence locally and nationally. The significant repercussions of this act were felt throughout the county of Ayrshire and beyond. The spelling 'Montgomerie' is used throughout for both the family and Montgomery for the clan and clan and district names 'Cunninghame' in the same fashion.

The Baillieship of Cunninghame had long been in the hands of the Cunninghames, Earls of Glencairn, however at around the date 1448 the Crown conferred the Baillieship on the head of the House of Montgomerie (de Mon' Gubri), Earls of Eglinton. This act inevitably caused resentment and resulted in a bloody feud that ran on for centuries. At one point Kerelaw Castle was burned and the Earl of Glencairn retaliated by burning Eglinton Castle although the Earl of Eglinton had escaped to Ardrossan Castle, an impressive fortress until comparatively recent times when Oliver Cromwell had much of its stonework removed and shipped to Ayr to build his new fort. Edward Cunninghame of Auchenharvie was slain in 1526 and Archibald Cunninghame of Waterstoun in 1528.

On 18 April 1586, Hugh, 4th. Earl of Eglinton, aged twenty-four, was travelling to Stirling to join the court having been commanded to attend by the King, accompanied only by a few domestic servants. He stopped at Lainshaw Castle to dine with his close relative, Neil Montgomerie, who was Lord of Lainshaw and whose Lady was a Elizabeth Cunninghame of Aiket Castle, with sisters married to John Cunninghame of Corsehill and David Cunninghame of Robertland. It seems that a plot to kill the Earl as an act of revenge had been organised and the Lady, or some say a servant girl who was also a Cunninghame, climbed to the battlements after the meal to hang out a white table napkin and thereby spring the plot. Thirty Cunninghames attacked the Earl at the Bridgend Ford and cut his servants to pieces with swords and other weapons, the Earl himself being finally dispatched with a single shot from the pistol of John Cunninghame of Clonbeith Castle. His horse carried his dead body along the side of the river, still known as the 'Weeping', 'Mourning' or 'Widows' path. Kerr, with local knowledge, states that the site of the crime was recently (1936) built over by a factory, so the site of the ford in question could not have been at the entrance to the Lainshaw Estate at David Dale Avenue, but at the Bridgend Ford instead.