Origins of the Scottish Surname of Hope - Section 3
3. Edinburgh Hopes.
Until late in the twentieth century it was recognised that the ancestor of the Hope family of Edinburgh was a Jean des Houblon who in 1537 came to Scotland in the train of Magdalen of France the young Queen of James V. However, diligent research by the Late Ann Hope and others has shown that a much more likely candidate as ancestor of the family is John Hope (c1472-1554) a merchant and Burgess of Edinburgh. The Queen Magdalen story still persists – thanks mainly to the Court of the Lord Lyon – presumably as this was the story given by Thomas Hope (1573-1646) when he matriculated his arms when he became a Baronet in 1628. The following is based on the John Hope story being correct.
The red numbers on the above chart correspond to the annotated section 3.1. Edinburgh Burgess Rolls Extract. It should be noted that all the Hopes recorded on the Burgess Rolls are on the above chart or are related to those on the chart except for one other family who were tailors.
The Edinburgh Hopes were basically of merchant stock and appear before but mainly in the Edinburgh Burgess Rolls of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and probably had their origins in northern Europe, namely France and Holland. The name Hope here probably came from Holland. The first to appear in the rolls was John Hope (c 1472-1554) who was originally a royal trumpeter but he eventually owned property in Leith and the High Street and owned shops and appeared to be involved in trading. This origin conforms to that put forward by the Hope family of Hopetoun House see the history page at Hopetounhouse.com. John Hope also built himself a fine house, with a private chapel, in the High Street. It is recorded later that on the lintel of the house was the name of Johnne Hope with a defaced coat of arms; on the lowest crowstep there was another armorial shield with his initials. This building was demolished in the 1800s. John Hope married twice firstly to Janet Kirkpatrick with whom he had two surviving children namely Edward and Alexander. John married secondly Elizabeth Eumont(d) and had two more surviving children - Janet and Henry. This Henry married Jacqueline de Tott who was French but could have had Sweding origins. Henry had least six surviving children - see family tree above..
Hope and Co was founded by the Amsterdam Hopes and a branch in Edinburgh High Street appears on the Apprentice Rolls records of the 18th century as John Hope & Co. There is a surprisingly large number of Hopes appearing on the Edinburgh Apprentice Rolls of the 17th and 18th centuries indicating an increase of that surname in the Capital but nobody from the Highlands. Extracts from the rolls appear as section 3.2. on the Hope Origins page. A grandson of John Hope was Thomas Hope (1573-1646) a self made lawyer and was Advocate to Charles I. He was the legal brains behind the National Covenant of 1638 ensuring that it was not treasonous. Thomas Hope became a baronet in 1628 and took the title of Sir Thomas Hope of Craighall Bt. Craighall was the name of his family home in Fife. see section 3.3 .Craighall Castle.
Sir Thomas had three surviving sons. The eldest John thje 2nd Bt is the ancestor of the senior line the Hopes of Craighall. The second son was Thomas Lord Kerse - however the Kerse Baronetcy was sold by his great grandson to Sir Lawrence Dundas. The youngest son James Hope (1614-1661) is the ancestor of the Hopes of Hopetoun represented today by the Marquis of Linlithgow.
The surname Hope pervades the legal records of Edinburgh - the families were "bred to the bar". The name and associated names are also is well represented in the street names of Edinburgh - Hope Street, Hope Lane, Hope Terrace, Hopepark Crescent, Houptoun Crescent, Craighall Road, Crescent, Gardens and Terrace all in the Granton area, Newcraighall, Newcraighall Railway Station, Annandale Street, Rankeilour Street and also several monuments. Also the new John Hope Gateway - see below.
Lord Rankeilour was a son of Sir Thomas Hope 2nd Bt. and his descendants include James Hope WS (1769-1842) a noted philanthropist. Also John Hope (1725-1786) a Professor of Botany and who is credited with the founding of Royal Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh - a stunning new entrance building with restaurant was opened by HM Elizabeth Queen of Scots in July 2010 and is known as the John Hope Gateway.
John Hope Gateway at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh.
One of the sons of John was Thomas Charles Hope MD (1766-1842) a noted professor of Chemistry. One of his more notable students was Charles Darwin who was not impressed with the University of Edinburgh but he did admire Thomas Charles Hope. One lady who did attend the chemistry classes of Thomas Charles Hope was Elizabeth Grant of Memoirs of a Highland Lady.
The Hopes of Hopetoun have Hopetoun House a magnificent Adam mansion a few miles west of Edinburgh which is well worth a visit and their website www.hopetounhouse.com. has more family history.
View from roof terrace of Hopetoun House showing the Forth rail bridge with the suspension road bridge in front. The construction of a second road suspension bridge in front of that shown commenced in 2011 which will eventually change this view.
James Hope became Master of the Mint and a Lord of Session. He married the heiress Anne Foulis and through this marriage he came into possession of valuable lead mines at Leadhills in South Lanarkshire. The old name for Leadhills was Hopetoun and he, rather confusionly, took this name as his title ie James Hope of Hopetoun - he also appears in the records as Laird Hopton. The Hopes of Hopetoun enhanced their wealth and prestige during the time of the agricultural revolution in Scotland with the 2nd and 3rd Earls of Hopetoun who owned large tracts of land in East and West Lothian as well as elsewhere. This was also the time of rebellion - 1745 - Prince Charles Edward Stewart - Culloden. The Hopetouns appear in Robert Burns' ballad of about 1880 titled When First I Saw " The following from the fourth verse - "Had I Dundas's whole estate, or Hopetoun's wealth to shine in". The bracketing of the Hopetouns with the illustrious Dundas Family indicates how far the Hopetouns had come - some astute marriages between the two families helped!
The name of Hopetoun associated with lead mines in interesting. It is possible that the prefix here of hope refers to a lead mine and the suffix of toun (ton in England) as the cluster of workers dwelling around the workings. This connection between the word hope and lead mines is much more significant in England and could be a source of the origin of the surname there. See Section 6 English Hopes page.
The senior line of Craighall is the claimant to the chiefship of the name of Hope but only those of Scottish descent The following from the FAQ page of the English College of Arms website :-
"The first point to note is that the apparently quite widespread, but new, belief that everyone has a clan, and can wear some specific tartan or display a clan badge, is quite erroneous. Only those of Scottish descent can be associated with a clan in any way. The clan system is an entirely Scottish phenomenon, and consists of a few groups of families, centred on old and historically prominent families, with other associated families (some of the same name as the principal lineage, but many not). To count as a clan, with a chief, these groups need to be recognised as such by the chief Scottish herald, the Lord Lyon King of Arms, and not the English College of Arms."
This statement by the English College of Arms does seem pretty definite and is probably applicable to many family names. But it is a problem for the Hope surname as the name straddles both sides of the mutual border. What are the criteria required to be accepted as being of Scottish descent? DNA is frought in this case. Maybe it can only be proved when you are dead and the postmortum reveals the word Scotland blazoned on your heart!
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