Thomas Lyon (of Auldbar)

Sir Thomas Lyon, Master of Glammis (i.e. Glamis) (died 1608) was a Scottish nobleman and official, Lord High Treasurer of Scotland.

Lyon was the younger son of John Lyon, 7th Lord Glamis, by his wife Janet Keith, daughter of Robert, Lord Keith, and sister of the fourth Marischal. He was one of the youths who attended King James in Stirling during his minority. His original style was Sir Thomas of Auldbar and Balduckie.

On the death of his elder brother, John Lyon, 8th Lord Glamis, in 1578, he became tutor to his nephew, Patrick, ninth lord, and, being after Patrick the nearest presumptive heir to the title, was known as Master of Glamis. He married Agnes Gray, widow of Alexander Home, 5th Lord Home, who died in 1575; and his right to the keeping of Hume Castle in opposition to Andrew Kerr, commendator of Jedburgh, was confirmed by the privy council on 8 November 1578. On 17 December 1579 he gave security in £5,000 not to make trouble for the widow of John, lord Glamis, or his daughter, in their lands.' On 12 December he was relieved by the privy council of the keepership of Hume Castle.

The Master of Glamis was one of the principal supporters of William Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie against the ascendency of Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox, and James Stewart, Earl of Arran, and a main contriver of the raid of Ruthven. The precise form which the conspiracy should take had not been determined when the plotters received intelligence that Lennox was aware of their design, and conspiring against them. Advantage was therefore at once taken of the king's visit to Ruthven Castle, a seat of the Earl of Gowrie, near Perth, to gain possession of his person. On the morning of 23 August 1582 the castle was surrounded by an armed force of a thousand men, under Gowrie, Glamis, and John Erskine, 18th Earl of Mar, so as to prevent the access of Lennox and his supporters to the king. Glamis and his friends placed before James a loyal supplication, with special reference to the wrongs committed against them by Lennox and Arran, Next day they escorted the king to Perth, and on the 30th they went on to Stirling. On arriving at Stirling the king expressed his intention to proceed to Edinburgh; but this, they informed him, was not expedient; and at last they plainly told him that either 'the duke or they should leave Scotland.' On the king moving towards the door, the Master of Glamis rudely 'laid his leg before him.' The indignity caused the king to burst into tears, whereupon Glamis made the unsympathetic comment, 'Better bairns greet than bearded men.'

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