The book Arran; - Cook Clan

THE OWNERS OF ARRAN 63
finally purchased by the Duke of Hamilton.^ There was
now no hereditary sheriffdom to anchor Corriegills.
[Note.—In 1681 the lands of the Stewarts in Bute, with the sherifTs
portion, Corriegills, in Arran, were assigned to Sir George Mackenzie, 'The
Bluidy Mackenzie ' ; the whole being erected anew into the Barony of Bute
(Acts of Pari.). Sir George never completed or registered his title, and, as
Sir James Stewart of Bute was his son-in-law, the transaction was probably
due to family reasons. In 1703 the Acts record a regrant of the same lands to
Sir James Stewart, Earl of Bute, and a re-creation of the barony in favour
of Stewart. See Appendix C in Lang's Sir George Mackeiisie.]
IV
Having thus followed the tributary streams to their
absorption (except that of FuUarton) in the main river of
the Hamiltons, we may return to trace that from its source.
We left the royal accounts at the point where the Boyds
appeared in connection with the island. The sudden rise
of this Kilmarnock family, in the minority of James iii.,
to a short-lived grandeur of power and affluence, belongs
to the general history of Scotland, Suffice it here to say
that in 1467 Sir Thomas Boyd, eldest son of Lord Boyd,
and personally, it wotdd seem, both handsome and capable,
married the Lady Mary, eldest sister of the young king.
To maintain his great rank he received some profitable
offices, but chiefly the royal lands in Arran, which island
was erected, temporarily, into a separate sheriffdom, and permanently
into an earldom, which he was the first to boast.
In the autiman of 1469, by a quiet political revolution, the
family's power was broken, and its members scattered.
Earl Thomas, by a timely warning from his wife, escaped to
England, and thereafter disappears from history. We hear
of him in London about 1470 or 1472, apparently accompanied
by his wife,^ and it is said that their two children were born
> New Statistical Account—Bute, vol. v. p. 17, for purchase of Corriegills, two
farms. ^ Paston Letters.