Drummond History 

It is traditionally believed that the founder of this clan was the admiral who transported Margaret the Atheling's sister from her exile in Hungary long before she became the second wife of Malcolm Canmore, King of Scots. But the earliest historical evidence suggests a noble Celtic origin, for the earliest certain ancestor is Maelcolm Beg, Little Malcolm, who appears in charters from about 1225 as Seneschal of the Lennox. He took the surname by which the clan is now called from Drymen, a place which lies to the west of Stirling, and is associated also with the Highland Mores and the Buchanans. To this day the name of the Chief is An Drumanach Mor. The Great Man of Drymen, Malcolm of Drymen's son Malcolm was twice captured during the wars of independence against Edward I of England, and his grandson, the third Malcolm Drummond, fought at Bannockburn. Thus Drummonds were among the clans which increased in prosperity through having backed the winner. In about 1345 John, the Drummond Chief, married the heiress of Stobhall, the beautiful mediaeval mansion in which his descendant, David Drummond, 17th Earl of Perth, lives today.
John Drummond of Stobhall's sister Margaret married David II, son of the Bruce, but they left no heirs. However, his daughter Annabella Drummond married the second of the Stewart Kings, Robert III, and was the mother of the poet-King James I. Her brother Sir John Drummond became Justiciar of Scotland and his great-grandson was created Lord Drummond in 1488. It seemed likely that Margaret, daughter of the 1st Lord Drummond, might become a third Queen of Scots of this family, so violent was the affection of the young King James IV for her. But Margaret and her three sisters all dies in mysterious circumstances - it was generally believed that they had been poisoned - and James IV made his dynastic marriage with Margaret Tudor which led to the Union of England and Scotland. Two years after the marriage had taken place in 1503, the 4th Lord Drummond was created Earl of Perth.
The most distinguished member of his clan at this time was William, son of Sir John Drummond of Hawthornden, a Gentleman Usher to James VI descended from the Drummonds of Carnock who were cadets of Stobhall. William was born in 1585, and inherited on his father's death in 1610 the estate of Hawthornden. Here William lived his literary life, shunning the opportunities which his family connections offered him.
In 1618 Ben Johnson made the long winter journey to Hawthornden and William scribbled his rough draft of the English poet's malicious comments on his contemporaries, his strictures on Shakespeare and Donne, on Michael Drayton and Sir John Harington and Sir Walter Ralegh. After the Restoration his eldest son William was knighted by Charles II.
An Drumanach Mor remained loyal to the Catholic religion and to the Stewart dynasty. The 4th Earl of Perth was James VII's Lord Chancellor; the 5th commanded the Jacobite cavalry at Sheriffmuir in the 1715 uprising; he escaped to France and his lands were forfeited. The 6th died at sea in his flight from Culloden. In 1853 George Drummond, Duc de Melfort, Compte de Lussan and Baron de Valrose in the peerage of France, was restored by Act of Parliament to the title of Earl of Perth, together with various subsidiary titles. The 16th Earl of Perth was the first Secretary General of the League of Nations. John Drummond, 17th Earl of Perth (b. 1907) is the present Chief.