Home

A Borders family of immense power, the Homes are said to have been the descendants of the Saxon Princes of Northumberland through Cospatrick, Earl of Dunbar. William, kinsman of Waldegrave, the 4th Earl of Dunbar, married his cousin, Ada, around 1225 and she brought as part of her dowry the lands called "Home". The spelling Hume was interchangeable with Home until the 19th century.

Sir Alexander Home of Dunglass was captured at the Battle of Homildon in 1402 and was killed in battle in France in 1424. He left three sons, from whom most of the principal branches of the family were to descend. His eldest grandson was created a Lord of Parliament, taking the title of Lord Home in 1473. He joined in the rebellion against James III, which ended in the murder of the king. Alexander, the 2nd Lord Home, led the vanguard of Scots knights, and although he personally escaped the slaughter, many of his family and supporters were not so fortunate. Home was appointed one of the counselors to the Queen Regent. When the regency was transferred to the Duke of Albany, the fortunes of the Homes suffered. Lord Home was arrested for treason, and he and his brother were executed in October 1516. The title and estates were, however, restored to another brother, George Home.

The politics of the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots were complex, and the Homes, along with many others, shifted their allegiance more than once. Lord Home, supported the marriage of Mary to Bothwell, but later led his men against the queen at the Battle of Langside in 1568. Fortunes shifted again, and in 1573 he was arrested and later convicted of treason against the young James VI. He was only released from Edinburgh Castle when his health had failed and he died a few days later. Despite his father' s chequered political history, Alexander, the 6th Lord Home, was unswerving in his devotion to James VI, and was a royal favourite throughout his life. In March 1605 he was raised to the title of Earl of Home.

The 3rd Earl was a staunch supporter of Charles I although the Home allegiances were inconstant during the Jacobite risings. The 7th Earl was imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle in 1715, and his brother, James Home of Ayton, had his estates confiscated for his part in the rebellion. When the "Young Pretender"asserted his father' s claim in 1745, the 8th Earl joined the Government forces under Sir John Cope at Dunbar and later fought at the Battle of Preston.

David Hume, born in 1711, is a highly regarded British philosopher of the eighteenth century. The family came to public prominence in the 20th century, when the 14th Earl disclaimed for his own lifetime, his hereditary peerage to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom as Sir Alec Douglas Home. The family seat is the splendid border estate of the Hirsel, from which the former Prime Minister named the life peerage bestowed upon him, as Lord Home of the Hirsel.