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| The History - Subsequent owners |
Sir William Bruce was succeeded by his son
John from his first marriage to Mary Halket. John Bruce married
a daughter of the Duke of Rothes but they had no children. John
was also "a man of parts and, as he had got a liberal education,
was looked upon as one of the finest in the kingdom". However,
he did not follow his father's arts.
In his Will, Sir William Bruce had provided for the failure
of the male line. His daughter, Anne, married Sir Thomas Hope
(4th Baronet of Craighaw) and then, after his death, Sir John
Carstairs of Kilconquhar. She was succeeded by her second son
who became Sir Thomas Bruce-Hope of Kinross. The Estate eventually
passed to the only son of Anne Bruce's second marriage to Sir
John Carstairs and he took on the name Bruce of Kinross.
In 1777, Kinross House and the
surrounding estate were purchased by George Graham, the great-great-great
grandfather of the current owner. George Graham was a wealthy
merchant with the East India Company. When he died in 1801,
he was succeeded by his son Thomas who in turn had one son,
Thomas Henry Graham, and two daughters. Thomas Henry Graham
came to an unhappy end when only 16 years of age. He was in
the Indian Ocean on his way to India when the ship was attacked
by pirates. He had been sent below with the women and children
but, in his desire to see the fun, ran up on deck and was killed.
When his father, Thomas Graham died in 1819, he stated in his
will that the property should go to whichever of his daughters
had a son who first attained the age of 21. As both daughters
were still childless at the time of Thomas Graham's death, the
trustees had little option but to sell up the contents of the
house in a seven-day auction in the autumn of 1819.
The Montgomery of the day (Sir James Montgomery Bt of Stanhope)
was 'out of the traps like a whippet after a rabbit' and promptly
married Helen Graham, Thomas Graham's younger daughter. She
gave birth to a son just six months before her less pretty sister
and, from that day on, Kinross House has remained in the hands
of the Montgomery Family.
Helen's eldest son, Sir Graham Montgomery, duly succeeded to
Kinross as well as to the Montgomery estates around Stobo Castle
in Peebleshire. Having been emptied of all contents and furniture,
Kinross House was kept wind and weatherproof by the Montgomerys
who preferred to continue living down in the Borders at Stobo.
Consequently, during the entire Victorian period when so many
alterations and 'improvements' might have changed its whole character,
the house was fortunately left unmolested. Sadly, the gardens
did suffer considerably and became quite derelict.
It was only in 1902 that Sir Basil Montgomery decided to live
in the house again and to restore the gardens. Fortunately,
Sir William Bruce had built well and, though the garden lay
waste, the fabric had suffered comparably little. In the necessary
work of renewal, Sir Basil and his architect, Dr Thomas Ross,
were commendably sympathetic to Bruce's vision. No alterations
were made in the plan, save those essential to bring the house
into accord with modern standards of comfort. Many of the family
portraits were brought back and the whole house was refurnished.
Sir Basil's most lasting contribution, however, was to remake
the glorious formal garden, planting yew hedges and trees, recreating
the formal rose garden and laying out the lovely herbaceous
borders. Today, the garden at Kinross House ranks as one of
the finest formal gardens in Scotland.
Since 1902, Kinross House
has been continuously lived in and perhaps its particular charm
today lies in the homeliness of its atmosphere. The current
generation of Montgomerys to live in the house (Jamie, Lizzie
and their two children, Edward and Iona) continue to make it
essentially what it was originally built for .... a family home.
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Thomas Henry Graham
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Sir James Montgomery
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Lady Montgomery (nee Helen Graham)
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