Sir James Somerville

Sir James Somerville, the last Baron of Cambusnethan, sold Tarbrax to Allan Lockhart, Laird of Cleghorn

Allan Lockhart of Cleghorn

Allan Lockhart bestowed Tarbrax to his son George

George Lockhart of Tarbrax, from 1652

20th August 1652: George Lockhart of Tarbrax, Commissioner of Glasgow, son of Allan Lockhart of Cleghorn and Anna Lockhart of Lee

William Lockhart of Tarbrax

20th August 1652: William Lockhart of Tarbrax, son of George

Anna Lockhart, Countess of Aberdeen, 1683 to 1706

26th December 1683: Anna Lockhart, Countess of Aberdeen by retour from her late brother William. She was an ancestor of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and HRH Diana.

William, Thomas, and Adam Somerville, portioners 1726 to 1819

16th August 1726: Decreet absolvitor by the sherriff-court of Lanark in an action of maills and duties at the instance of William Bertram of Nisbet against John Nimmo. portioner of a 20s land of Tarbrax and tenant to John Stikeman, portioner of a 10s land of Dykehead, William Somervell [Somerville], portioner of a 20s land of Tarbrax and John Somervell in Dykehead, tenant to Adam Somervell in Corswoodhill [Crosswoodhill], portioner of the 10s land of Dykehead, whereby said William, as purchaser of the lands of Blackcastle, claimed rent from the defendants for their occupation of part of Hyndshawhill, formerly part of the commonty of Dunsyre.

1741: Petition by William Bertram of Nisbit [Nisbet] to Robert Montgomery of Poutshall, baillie of the barony of Carnwath, alleging encroachments on his lands of Black Castle [sheriffdom of Lanark] by William [John interlineated] Nimmo, Thomas Somervell [Somerville] and Adam Somervell proprietors of Tarbrax lands contiguous thereto.

21st August 1741: Interlocutor by the bailie of Carnwath, with depositions of witnesses, protest against the said decreet by John Nimmo, portioner of Tarbrax, and rejection of the said protest.

23rd December 1747: Discharge by John Somervell [Somerville] of Tarbrax Dykehead for himself and as having right from James Nimmo, portioner of Tarbrax, in favour of William Bertram of Nisbit [Nisbet] for GBP2 sterling of expenses due to be paid to John Nimmo, portioner in Tarbrax, father of said James, William Somervell, portioner there, and Adam Somervell of Dykehead, father of said John.

6th Feburary 1770: Decree of Division of Runridgelands obtained before the Sheriff of Lanarkshire at the instance of John Sommerville and William Sommerville against John Nimmo son and heir of James Nimmo of Nether Tarbrax.

Norman Lockhart, owner 1819 to 1855

15th Febuary 1819: Norman Lockhart Esq. bought the estate from Thomas Sommerville, who had inherited it from his father William Sommerville. Sasine Norman Lockhart was a younger son of the Lockharts of Carnwath, and also a great great great nephew of Anne Lockhart, wife of George Lockhart of Tarbrax.

David Souter Robertson, owner 1855 to 1874

15th August 1855: David Robertson Souter (or Souter Robertson) an accountant of Gloucester Place, Edinburgh, bought the estate, and in 1859 rebuilt Lawhead House in an austere Victorian style, as a hunting lodge of 25 rooms. Later the farm was rebuilt half a mile away on the other side of the main road. He had married Mary Jane Farquhar on the 23 April 1835 in Old Machar, Aberdeen. After MJF died, he married Elizabeth Ross, and there is a record of a christening of a Margaret Anne Souter Robertson in 1852. She died before the house was built, and is buried in the Dean Cemetery, Edinburgh. There are MJF, ELR and DSR crest stones on the gables. DSR had a son Stewart Souter Robertson, who married Anne Scrivenor Hamilton, and died in Penzance in 1898, worth GBP100. (They may have had a son John Stewart Souter Robertson, married J. and had four children, C., ?(m. H Reid), L., S., and died 26 Jul 1939, Brisbane, Queensland.)Sasine

1874: DSR inherits Cookston and Murlingden by Brechin in Forfarshire from his great uncle George Chaplin Robertson. DSR also appears to have had two sons, Thomas and George Robertson Chaplin. Thomas appears in the records styled as “of Lawhead”;.

1888: DSR dies. After DSR and his sons had had insolvency proceedings against them, Thomas Skene Esson and George Francis Dalziel acquire the estate. Quite ironic given his career as a founder of Accountancy!

Education Authourity of the County of Lanark, owner 1921 to 1937

11th April 1921: Thomas Skene Esson and George Francis Dalziel sell Lawhead House to the Education Authority of the County of Lanark for GBP2250, as lodgings for the teachers at Tarbrax School (long since closed & demolished). The rest of the estate was divided into farms as they had been tenancies and sold. Sasine

12th October 1933: Scottish Oils Limited sell Lawhead Croft to John Stevenson Hutchison, Retired Carpet Weaver, for GBP150. Sasine

Gilbert Robertson Mair, owner 1937 to 1953

7th October 1937: Gilbert Robertson Mair, schoolmaster in Glasgow, bought Lawhead House for GBP50. Sasine

3rd November 1952: Gilbert Robertson Mair dies in bed at Tarbrax of senile Alzheimers, and as he had never been married or had any children, his younger brother Robert Cumming Thomson Mair inherited Lawhead House. Chancery On 6th May 1929, Robert Cumming Thomson Mair, then Clerk to the Education Authority, Lanarkshire, tried to sell Lawhead House as 2 flats in the Scotsman Newspaper. Info from http://www.milnefamilytree.co.uk/mair.htm

Robert Thomson, owner 1953 to 1964

4th April 1953: Robert C.T. Mair sold Lawhead House to Robert Thomson for GBP360. Sasine

Thomas Thomson, owner 1964 to 1973

5th August 1964: Robert Thomson sold Lawhead House to his brother Thomas Thomson for GBP500. Sasine

Early 1970s: Dry rot had eaten into most of the structural timbers of Lawhead House, and eventually forced the last occupants, Thomas Thomson and his sister, to vacate the building. They moved to the Lodge.

29th October 1973: Thomas Thomson sold Lawhead House, minus the lodge, to David Graham Donaldson for GBP2000, but in 1976 he sold on to Mrs Stella Joan Watson for GBP;4600, and got Thomas Thomson to convey it directly to her.

1979: Unable to get suitable planning permission, they eventually sold it to a neighbour who kept ponies on the land. By then the house was a ruin, the internal structure consumed by dry rot.