Pringle’s of Whytbank and Yair
The lands of Whytbank and Yair were acquired by James Pringle in 1510. James was the son of the then current head of the Smailholm branch of the family, David Hoppringill. The lands of Yair were sold to creditors in the early 1700s, but then repurchased and a new mansion built on them in 1783 by Alexander Pringle of Whytbank.

Whytbank Tower, which was built by James Pringle, consists of a tower house and a courtyard which lie high up on the east slope of Knowes Hill. The Tower was restored in 1992 as a private residence.

The Pringle’s of Whytbank
In early life, James Pringle of Whytbank served for some years in France as an officer in the Scottish guards. He and James Murray of Philiphaugh represented the county of Selkirk in the Estates in 1633. For his adherence to the cause of King Charles I., he was heavily fined by the committee of Estates in 1646. He greatly improved his estate, and added several lands to it, both in Selkirkshire and Mid Lothian. He married in 1622, Sophia Sebuner, a Danish lady, maid of honour to Anne of Denmark, queen of James VI., on which occasion, we are told, "her majesty presented her with her portrait, enamelled on mother of pearl, and set with small rubies and emeralds, suspended by a massy gold chain, a relic still preserved by the family." On his death in 1667, he was succeeded by his only son, Alexander Pringle of Whytbank, who, in 1652, was sheriff principal of Selkirkshire. Warmly attached to the Presbyterian form of church government, he was a frequent member of the ecclesiastical courts. He died in 1695, without issue, and was succeeded by John Pringle, grandson of his father's next brother, George Pringle of Balmungo, Fifeshire, a major in the army of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, who, after serving, with considerable reputation, during the Thirty years' war, returned home, having married one of the daughters of Sir Patrick Ruthven, a general in the same service, created by Charles I., earl of Forth in Scotland, and Brentford in England. His only son, the Rev. John Pringle, minister of Fogo, described as an elegant scholar, was father of John Pringle of Whytbank, who succeeded his father's cousin in 1695, and died of a fever in 1703, at the age of 25. He had a son, Alexander Pringle of Whytbank, who died in 1772, and was succeeded in his lands of Whytbank by his eldest son, Lieutenant John Pringle. The latter served on the staff of his relative, the Hon. General James Murray, commander of the British forces in Canada, after the death of General Wolfe. Lieutenant Pringle died in Canada in 1774, when his next brother, Alexander Pringle, then in the civil service of the East India Company on the Madras establishment, became proprietor of Whytbank. He returned to Scotland in 1783, and some years afterwards repurchased from the duke of Buccleuch the family estate and residence of Yair in Selkirkshire, which had been sold, with some other portions of his lands, by his father. At Yair he built a new mansion house, and devoted a considerable part of his attention to the improvement of his estates. He commanded the Selkirkshire volunteers, until that corps was disbanded at the peace of Amiens, March 27, 1802. The same year he was appointed vice-lieutenant of Selkirkshire, on the establishment of that office by act of parliament. He was Sir Walter Scott's neighbour at Ashestiel, when he went there to reside in 1804, and in the second Epistle of Marmion he is mentioned as "The long descended lord of Yair."

An extract of a letter from him to the author of Marmion, on the publication of that poem in 1807, is given in Lockhart's Life of Scott, (page 184, 8vo edition). in 1812, Mr. Pringle obtained the patent office of chamberlain of Ettrick Forest. He died in 1827. By his wife, Mary, daughter of Sir Alexander Dick of Prestonfield, be had, with six daughters, five sons; three of whom, namely, John Alexander Pringle of Castledykes, the second son; William Alexander Pringle, the third; and David Pringle, the youngest, were in the Bengal civil service, and Robert Keith Pringle, the fourth son, was in the Bombay civil service, and afterwards became chief secretary to the government at that presidency.

The eldest son, Alexander Pringle of Whytbank, studied at Cambridge, and was admitted an advocate at the Scottish bar in 1814. In July of the following year with Scott of Gala, he accompanied Sir Walter Scott to the field of Waterloo, and leaving him in Paris, he made a tour in Switzerland. He continued to practise as an advocate till 1830, when, at the general election which followed the death of George IV., he was elected M.P. for Selkirkshire. After the dissolution in 1831, he was re-elected. At the general election, after the passing of the Reform Act in 1838, he was defeated by Pringle of Clifton, by a majority of nine. Re-elected in 1835, by a large majority, he again sat for the county in 1837 and 1841. In the latter year he was appointed one of the lords of the Treasury, in the ministry of Sir Robert Peel, and also a commissioner of Revenue Inquiry. In July 1845 he resigned office, as he could not give his support to the ministerial measure for increasing the endowment of the Roman Catholic college of Maynooth. In January 1846, he was appointed principal keeper of the General Register of Sasines in Scotland, when he retired from parliament. In 1830 he had been appointed vice-lieutenant of the county of Selkirk. He died 2d September 1857. He married his cousin, Agnes Joanna, daughter of Sir William Dick of Prestonfield. His only son, Alexander Pringle, succeeded to Whytbank.

Robert Hoppringle, 1^st of Smailholm, squire to Archibald, 4th Earl of Douglas, and Duke of Touraine, built Smailholm Tower, was at the Battle of Otterburn 1388, and was killed with the Earl at the Battle of Verneuil in Normandy, 24 Aug 1424, leaving issue,

• 1a George, 2nd of Smailholm, squire to five successive Earls of Douglas. Master Ranger (Magister Cursorum) of the Ward of Tweed 1455-59; dsp 1459.
• 2a Robert, 3rd of Smailholm (sasine 1459), Master Ranger 1459-70; dsp post 1470.
• 3a Alexander, squire to the 5th and succeeding Earls of Douglas; dsp c 1459.
• 4a DAVID, of whom presently.

David Pringle, of Pilmuir, who went to Rome with William, 8th Earl of Douglas 1450, Ranger of the Ward of Tweed under his brothers 1455-66, and succeeded his bro Robert as 4th of Smailholm; m Elspeth, dau of Sir William Dishington, of Ardross, and d 1480.

James Pringle, 5th of Smailholm, and 2nd of Pilmuir, Ranger of the Ward of Tweed 1466-92, as part of his fee received the stead of Redhead or Whytbank, for which he paid a rent of £6, 3 cattle, and 20 lambs 1470; m Isabella, dau of Patrick Murray, 1st of Philiphaugh, and d 1495.

David Pringle, 6th of Smailholm, had sasine of Smailholm, Pilmuir, and Halcroft June, 1495, received Whytbank from his f 1485, and bought Lour and part of Easter Dawick, Co Peebles Aug 1534, granted the lands of Woodhouse to his s, James, Dec 1534 (see Alexander Pringle's Records of the Pringles or Hoppringills, Edinburgh, 1933); m as his 2nd wife, Margaret, dau of Thomas Lundie, of Fife, and d c 1535.

1. James Hoppringill, first to be styled of Whytbank 1550, at Battle of Solway Moss 1542; m Margaret Ker, of Linton, and d Nov 1563.
2. James Hoppringill, 2nd of Whytbank, with 59 other Border lairds signed the Band of Jedburgh to rise in support of the Infant JAMES VI against Ker of Ferniehirst and other partisans of MARY, Queen of Scots 1571; m 1st (contr. 14 Dec 1566), Marion (d May, 1585), dau (by his 1st wife Elizabeth Lockhart), of Andrew Murray, 2nd of Blackbarony, and had issue, with a dau, Margaret (who m as his 1st wife, George Pringle, 4th of Torwoodlee, and d 1 Jan 1600.
3. James Pringill, 3rd of Whytbank, MP for Selkirkshire, Sheriff Pncpl of that Co July, 1633, obtained the reversion of Yair form his friend, Patrick, Earl of Forth 1647, and received the resignation of it from the Earl's widow, 10 Aug 1661; b c 1594; m Sophia, a Danish Maid of Honour of Queen Anne, Consort of King JAMES VI and I, whose wedding present to the bride, a gold chain and locket, is still in the family, (b 1604; d 1626), dau of Dr Martin Schoumlner, and d 14 May, 1667.
4. Alexander Pringle, 4th of Whytbank, a Cromwellian Commr of Supply, under Act of Indemnity 9 Sept 1662, was fined £3,000 Scots for his pardon after the Restoration, matric arms at LO 1672-77; b 1626; m 1st, contr. Nov 1646, Anna (d Sept 1680), dau of James Pringle, 5th of Torwoodlee; and 2nd, 1682, Anna (who m 2nd, Robert Rutherford, of Bowland), dau of Sir John Murray, 4th of Philiphaugh, and dsp 25 April, 1695.
5. John Pringle, 5th of Whytbank, served heir to his predecessor 1695, Commr of Supply, Selkirkshire 1698; b 1678; m 1699, Christian (d 1770), dau of Sir Patrick Scott of Ancrum, 2nd Bt, MP, and d 1702.
6. Alexander Pringle, 6th of Whytbank; b Feb 1701; m 1740, Susannah (b c 1719; d April, 1791), dau of Sir John Rutherford, 15th of that Ilk, and d Feb 1773.
7. John Pringle, 7th of Whytbank, Ensign 84th (Roy Highland Emigrant Regt), 16 July, 1776, Lt 5 Sept 1783, served through American War of Independence; d unm, 1780.
8. Alexander Pringle, 8th of Whytbank, Writer HEICS 1766, Factor 1771, Jr Merchant at Masulipatam 1774, and Snr. Merchant 1778, on return from India repurchased the Yair which had been sold to the Duke of Buccleuch, Capt Cmdt Selkirkshire Vols. 1812; b Nov 1747; m 1789, Mary, dau of Sir Alexander Dick of Prestonfield, 3rd Bt, and d 1827.
9. Alexander Pringle, 9th of Whytbank, and Yair, JP, DL, Vice-Lt. Selkirkshire, MP for Selkirkshire, a Ld of the Treas, in Sir Robert Peel's Admin 1841-45, Keeper of Gen Register of Seizin in Scotland 1845, matric arms at LO 1828; 30 Jan 1791; m 12 Jan 1830, Agnes Joanna, 2nd dau and heiress-proportioner of Sir William Dick, 4th Bt, of Prestonfield, and d 2 Sept 1857.
10. Alexander Pringle, 10th of Whytbank, and Yair, JP, DL, MA, Advocate; b 13 March, 1837; m 22 March, 1870, his cousin, MARY ARBUTHNOT (s her husband in Whytbank, and d 14 July, 1908, when the estates passed to her bro), dau of Robert Keith Pringle, of The Grove, Darley Dale, Derbys, and dsp 14 Sept 1898.
11. Mary Arbuthnot Pringle of Whytbank
12. William Pringle of Whytbank, (12th), and late of Yair (which he sold to Sir Kenneth Anderson, Bt 1924), Selkirkshire, formerly tea-planner at Cachar, Assam, served in WW I, Cmdt of group of POW camps in Norfolk, matric arms at LO 26 Jan 1935; m 12 Oct 1910, Gladys (d 15 April, 1933), est dau of T.F. Baylis, and d 31 Jan 1947.
13. Alexander William Pringle of Whytbank, TD (1954), 13th of Whytbank, Selkirkshire, late Maj KOSB (TA), served in WW II in India, Capt TARO, s his f as 13th of Whytbank 1947 and matric arms at LO 10 Oct 1984; b 7 Aug 1913; educ Clifton; m 25 July, 1936, Helena Kathleen Grace, elder dau of late Capt Sydney Bennetts, OBE, RN, of Clovelly, Stubbington, nr Fareham, Hants. d 2003.

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