Christian Fletcher

Kinneff Old Kirk. The earlier church, in which the Scottish Regalia were hidden in 1651, was largely rebuilt in 1738.

Christian Fletcher, Lady Abercrombie, (1619 or 1620, Kinneff, Kincardineshire – February 1691) was a Scottish minister's wife who saved the Honours of Scotland from Cromwell's troops during the English invasion of Scotland.^[1]

She was married from 1642 to James Granger (or Grainger), Presbyterian minister of Kinneff Church. In 1651, the Honours were kept at Dunnottar Castle, but had to be removed as the castle was about to be surrendered to the English.^[2] The different parts were delivered on three occasions to the care of Fletcher, who buried them in Kinneff church. There are different versions of exactly how they were smuggled out of the castle and taken to Kinneff. In 1661, Parliament awarded Fletcher 2,000 merks in recognition of her service.^[2]

She married James Sandilands, 1st Lord Abercrombie in 1663.

See also

• Charles II's coronation at Scone Abbey on 1 January 1651

References

1. "Fletcher, Christian". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2009-10-09.
2. Scott, Walter (1834). Provincial Antiquities of Scotland. Edinburgh: Robert Cadell. pp. 355–356.

Further reading

• Baden-Powell, Agnes; Baden-Powell, Robert (1912). The Handbook for Girl Guides, or, How Girls Can Help to Build Up the Empire.
• Barron, Douglas Gordon (1925). The Castle of Dunnottar and its History. Blackwood and Sons.
• Barron, Douglas Gordon, ed. (1910). In Defence of the Regalia, 1651–2. Longmans, Green and Co.
• Burnett, Charles J.; Tabraham, Christopher J. (1993). The Honours of Scotland. Historic Scotland. ISBN 978-0-74800-626-7.
• Grierson, Herbert J. C., ed. (1933). The letters of Sir Walter Scott, Vol. V, 1817–1819. Constable. Available online at the Walter Scott Digital Archive.
• Howden, Charles R. A., ed. (1896). "Papers relating to the preservation of the honours of Scotland in Dunnottar Castle 1651–1652". Publications of the Scottish History Society.
• Longmuir, John (1835). A Day Spent Among the Ruins of Dunnottar Castle.
• Powdrell-Campbell, Jimmy (2007). The Scottish Crown Jewels and the Minister's Wife. History Press Limited. ISBN 9780752440293.
• Reid, John J. "The Scottish regalia, anciently styled the honours of Scotland". Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (1889–90) XXIV: 18–48.
• Scott, Walter (1875). Description of the Regalia of Scotland. Robert Anderson.
• The records of the parliaments of Scotland to 1707, University of St Andrews, available online