Ballantyne Clan Crest

George Ballantyne, born in Newtyle in Forfarshire in 1545, was a compiler of Scottish poetry during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. His work was considered so important by Scottish literary giant Sir Walter Scott that he named the literary club he founded in 1823 after him. The Bannatyne Club went on to publish George Ballantyne’s work in book form, along with many other previously inaccessible Scottish works.

Richard Ballantyne was secretary to the Scottish Protestant reformer, John Knox, and he was appointed by the Church to put in order all the papers left by Knox after his death in 1572. He completed the task in 1575 and died in September 1602.

Sir Lewis Bellenden of Auchinoul accompanied James VI on his journey to marry the daughter of the king of Norway in 1589. He was sent to the court of Elizabeth I of England, where he strongly promoted James VI’s ambitions to be recognized as the queen’s heir. He was rewarded for his services with numerous grants of land, including the barony of Broughton.

The Ballantynes of Peebles became extremely prominent in the Scottish wool trade in the eighteenth century and were instrumental in the establishment of the trade in Scottish tweed in 1829. They continue to carry on their connection to the wool trade to this day.

Lord Bannatyne, a distinguished lawyer and judge, was in possession of the Castle of Kames as early as the fourteenth century. He was a prominent figure in the intellectual and literary circles of eighteenth-century Edinburgh and died at the age of 91 in 1833.