Linlithgow, John Adrian Louis Hope, 1st Marquess of (1860-1908), British administrator, was the son of the 6th earl of Hopetoun. The Hope family traced their descent to John de Hope, who accompanied James V.’s queen Madeleine of Valois from France to Scotland in 1537, and of whose great-grandchildren Sir Thomas Hope (d. 1646), lord advocate of Scotland, was ancestor of the earls of Hopetoun, while Henry Hope settled in Amsterdam, and was the ancestor of the famous Dutch bankers of that name, and of the later Hopes of Bedgebury, Kent. Sir Thomas’s son, Sir James Hope of Hopetoun (1614-1661), Scottish lord of session, was grandfather of Charles, 1st earl of Hopetoun in the Scots peerage (1681-1742), who was created earl in 1703; and his grandson, the 3rd earl, was in 1809 made a baron of the United Kingdom. John, the 4th earl (1765-1823), brother of the 3rd earl, was a distinguished soldier, who for his services in the Peninsular War was created Baron Niddry in 1814 before succeeding to the earldom. The marquessate of Linlithgow was bestowed on the 7th earl of Hopetoun in 1902, in recognition of his success as first governor (1900-1902) of the commonwealth of Australia; he died on the 1st of March 1908, being succeeded as 2nd marquess by his eldest son (b. 1887).
An earldom of Linlithgow was in existence from 1600 to 1716, this being held by the Livingstones, a Scottish family descended from Sir William Livingstone. Sir William obtained the barony of Callendar in 1346, and his descendant, Sir Alexander Livingstone (d. c. 1450), and other members of this family were specially prominent during the minority of King James II. Alexander Livingstone, 7th Lord Livingstone (d. 1623), the eldest son of William, the 6th lord (d. c. 1580), a supporter of Mary, queen of Scots, was a leading Scottish noble during the reign of James VI. and was created earl of Linlithgow in 1600. Alexander’s grandson, George, 3rd earl of Linlithgow (1616-1690), and the latter’s son, George, the 4th earl (c. 1652-1695), were both engaged against the Covenanters during the reign of Charles II. When the 4th earl died without sons in August 1695 the earldom passed to his nephew, James Livingstone, 4th earl of Callendar. James, who then became the 5th earl of Linlithgow, joined the Stuart rising in 1715; in 1716 he was attainted, being thus deprived of all his honours, and he died without sons in Rome in April 1723.
The earldom of Callendar, which was thus united with that of Linlithgow, was bestowed in 1641 upon James Livingstone, the third son of the 1st earl of Linlithgow. Having seen military service in Germany and the Netherlands, James was created Lord Livingstone of Almond in 1633 by Charles I., and eight years later the king wished to make him lord high treasurer of Scotland. Before this, however, Almond had acted with the Covenanters, and during the short war between England and Scotland in 1640 he served under General Alexander Leslie, afterwards earl of Leven. But the trust reposed in him by the Covenanters did not prevent him in 1640 from signing the “band of Cumbernauld,” an association for defence against Argyll, or from being in some way mixed up with the “Incident,” a plot for the seizure of the Covenanting leaders, Hamilton and Argyll. In 1641 Almond became an earl, and, having declined the offer of a high position in the army raised by Charles I., he led a division of the Scottish forces into England in 1644 and helped Leven to capture Newcastle. In 1645 Callendar, who often imagined himself slighted, left the army, and in 1647 he was one of the promoters of the “engagement” for the release of the king. In 1648, when the Scots marched into England, he served as lieutenant-general under the duke of Hamilton, but the duke found him as difficult to work with as Leven had done previously, and his advice was mainly responsible for the defeat at Preston. After this battle he escaped to Holland. In 1650 he was allowed to return to Scotland, but in 1654 his estates were seized and he was imprisoned; he came into prominence once more at the Restoration. Callendar died on March 1674, leaving no children, and, according to a special remainder, he was succeeded in the earldom by his nephew Alexander (d. 1685), the second son of the 2nd earl of Linlithgow; and he again was succeeded by his nephew Alexander (d. 1692), the second son of the 3rd earl of Linlithgow. The 3rd earl’s son, James, the 4th earl, then became 5th earl of Linlithgow (see supra).
