Alexander Clark of Balbirnie

Alexander Clark of Balbirnie (d. 1591) was a Scottish merchant and Provost of Edinburgh.

His surname can also be written "Clerk", the historian Michael Lynch uses "Clark". Balbirnie is now part of Glenrothes.

He was Provost of Edinburgh in 1578 and from 1579 to 1584.

Clark was established in Edinburgh as a burgess and guild member in the 1560s with the help of the Earl of Moray. He was a friend of the English ambassador, Thomas Randolph.[1] In April 1565 he was one of the first to see Roman remains discovered at Musselburgh and described them to the ambassador. Later in April, Clark sent Randolph a political newsletter. He opened with comments on Randolph's personal business, his debts and rent, and made a joke with nonsense words about Randolph's affection for Mary Beaton, a companion of Mary, Queen of Scots; "And as to your mistress Marie Beton, she is both darimpus and sclenbrunit, and you in like manner without contrebaxion or kylteperante, so you are both worth little money."[2]

In September 1567 Clark lent Regent Moray £530 Scots on the security of a gold pendant enamelled in black with a long cabochon ruby from the jewels of Mary, Queen of Scots.[3] He formed a partnership with another merchant, William Birnie, to sell the lead from the roof of Elgin Cathedral.[4]

In February 1580 Clark was reimbursed £106 by the town's treasurer for a banquet he held for the king and the Privy Council.[5]

On 8 June 1582 Clerk appeared before the Privy Council of Scotland at Stirling Castle and gave his oath with others of the burgh council that they would endeavour to recover 8,000 merks from the estate of the late Robert Reid, Bishop of Orkney and employ the money to found the University of Edinburgh.[6]

Clark loaned money to William Kirkcaldy of Grange secured on more of the queen's jewels. Grange used the money to pay the wages of the garrison of Edinburgh Castle during the "Lang Siege". After the castle surrendered, Clark delivered the jewels to Regent Morton.[7] In May 1581 Clark asked the Privy Council that if Kirkcaldy's heirs were ever restored to his lands, he should be paid.[8]

As Provost of Edinburgh, Clark loaned money to James VI. In April 1584 the king's valet John Gibb delivered a royal jewel, a tablet or locket with a diamond and an emerald, to Clark, as a pledge for a loan of 6,000 merks.[9] In October 1589 the next Provost John Arnot gave the jewel back to the king as a gift on his marriage.[10] It was delivered by Clark's son-in-law John Provand to William Fairlie, who commissioned the goldsmith David Gilbert to refashion and upgrade it, and it was presented to Anne of Denmark during her Entry to Edinburgh in May 1590.[11]

Marriage and family

Clark married Marion Primrose, a daughter of the royal physician Gilbert Primrose. Their children included:

References
  1. Michael Lynch, Edinburgh and the Reformation (John Donald: Edinburgh, 1981), pp. 16, 165.
  2. Joseph Bain, Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1563-1569, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1900), pp. 142, 148.
  3. HMC 6th Report: Earl of Moray (London, 1877), p. 643.
  4. Michael Lynch, 'Clark, Alexander, of Balbirnie (d. 1591)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford, 2004
  5. James David Marwick, Extracts from the records of the Burgh of Edinburgh: 1573-1586 (Edinburgh, 1882), p. 149.
  6. James Marwick, Extracts from the Records of the Burgh of Edinburgh: 1573-1589 (Edinburgh, 1882), p. 236.
  7. Michael Lynch, Edinburgh and the Reformation (John Donald: Edinburgh, 1981), p. 147: Register Privy Council Scotland, vol. 3, pp. 389-90: Thomas Thomson, Collection of Inventories (Edinburgh, 1815), p. 266 nos. 54, 55, 57.
  8. David Masson, Register Privy Council Scotland, vol. 3 (Edinburgh, 1880), pp. 389-90.
  9. Thomas Thomson, Collection of Inventories (Edinburgh, 1815), pp. 310-12: James Marwick, Extracts from the Burgh Records of Edinburgh: 1573-1589 (Edinburgh, 1882), p. 336.
  10. David Masson, Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland: 1585-1592, vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1881), p. 420.
  11. Marguerite Wood, Extracts from the Burgh Records of Edinburgh: 1589-1603, vol. 6 (Edinburgh, 1927), p. 7.
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