index

John Gemmil
10th December 1679

Drumclog and Bothwell:
Three weeks after their victory over Graham of Claverhouse at the Battle of Drumclog, 1st June 1679, the Covenanters were soundly defeated by the Government forces at the Battle of Bothwell Bridge, 22nd June 1679. Many Covenanters were killed and an estimated 1000 or so were captured and imprisoned in a makeshift jail in a dismal corner of Greyfriars Kirkyard in Edinburgh. Months passed and as the prospect of a hellish winter approached several hundred of the Covenanters agreed to sign bonds and were set free. Over 300 souls refused to denounce Scotland's Covenanted Reformation and were sentenced to transportation and a life of slavery in the Colonies.

Deerness:
The 'Crown of London' with Captain Patterson at the helm, docked at Leith in November 1679 and the Covenanted cargo was duly loaded and locked below decks. Patterson set sail, headed north and the 'Crown' reached Orkney in early December without incident. The relative calm was shattered by a dreadful storm and the Patterson was forced to seek shelter and anchored the 'Crown' in the Deer Sound at Scarvataing, a headland in the parish of Deerness. The gale force winds blew the ship onto nearby rocks and it soon foundered. Patterson and his crew escaped to the headland leaving the Covenanters trapped in the dark depths of the 'Crown'. Over 200 Covenanters were drowned at Deerness and the 50 that survived were recaptured and later transported across the Atlantic.

The list of Covenanter casualties and survivors is found in that great work 'Cloud of Witness'. Over one-fifth of the Covenanters on board the 'Crown' were 'out of the shire of Aire'. No fewer than forty-four of that number were drowned and only seven survived. The dead are recorded parish by parish and include John Gemil and James Mirrie 'out of the parish of Cumnock'. The list does not distinguish between the two parishes of Old Cumnock and New Cumnock. These two new parishes were created in 1650 through the sub-division of the parish of Cumnock. However, the Earl of Dumfries had this decision annulled in 1667, a decision which was not overturned until 1691. Throughout the Covenanting era the parishes of Old Cumnock and New Cumnock effectively ceased to exist and in administrative terms operated as the re-unified parish of Cumnock. Consequently, close scrutiny is required to any reference to Cumnock at that time to ascertain whether is pertains to the Old Cumnock or New Cumnock. For the purposes of this work any reference to the parish of Cumnock will take the form parish of Cumnock (Old and New)'.

Of James Mirrie little else is known. Of John Gemil, the opportunities to uncover traces of his story are rather more optimistic, for the Gemmill family has a long association with this corner of Ayrshire. A good starting point is surely with John Gemill that was known to be at the Battle of Bothwell Bridge.

The trial of the Campbells of Cessnock [The Acts of Parliaments of Scotland], cite John Gemill in Bank, as one of their tenants that 'they did most treasonable send out to the said rebellione'. The rebellion being the Battles of Drumclog and Bothwell Bridge. Sir George Campbell of Cessnock, the younger was one of the heritors of the parish of Cumnock (Old and New). The term bank is a common topographical element in place-name nomenclature and not surprisingly, it is found in place-names in both the parishes of Old Cumnock and New Cumnock. However, more surprisingly branches of the Gemmill family held both 'the Bank' properties in Old Cumnock and New Cumnock during the 17th century.

In the Sasine Register of Ayrshire we find John Gemmill and his son Patrick Gemmill in St.Brydsbank in 1657. This property is known today as the Bank, a small community a mile or so to the west of the village of New Cumnock. It appears as Brydsbank in Blaeu's map of 'Coila Provincia' (1654) but is given in its abbreviated form, the Bank, as early as 1684 when in the records of the Privy Council we meet Joanet McMichall in Bank.

We also meet William Gemmill, notary in Cumnock in 1636, in the Sasine Register. His estate in the parish of Old Cumnock is described as, ' the Writers Aiker Lying betwixt the ffauld, the Bank, The entry to the moat and alongst the waterside' along with the property of 'Templands on the other side of the Lugar Water' . [Strawhorn]. In 1655, we then meet John Gemmill of Bank, probably a son and heir of William Gemmill.

John Gemmill in St.Brydsbank (1657) and John Gemmel of Bank (1655) emerge as possible candidates for 'John Gemil out of the parish of Cumnock' who was drowned at Deerness on 10th December 1679. Of course, this research is far from conclusive and some (big) assumptions have been made along the way. Were the Gemmills of/in Bank at New Cumnock or Old Cumnock ever tenants of Sir George Campbell of Cessnock ? Nevertheless it is hoped that this research has served at least in some small way to advance the story of John Gemil 'out of the parish of Cumnock'.

Ironically, the case for John Gemmill in St.Brydsbank in favour of John Gemmill of Bank is weakened since Gemmill in Brydsbanck emerges as a strong candidate as being the John Gemil killed at the Battle of Airdsmoss in 1680.

THE COVENANTERS