Wardlaw Bible and Gloves

Among the treasures handed down by the Wardlaw side of the family were a precious Bible and gloves presented by King Charles I to Sir Henry Wardlaw. The king alludes to Sir Henry in a letter dated Whitehall 10 November 1626 as “One who hath bene an old and faithful servand to our late dear father and mother and unto us”. As the administrator of Queen Anne’s Dunfermline estates, he was closely connected with the royal family and, as castellan, took care of the young Prince Charles for long spells. This label was fixed to the box that contained the Bible and Gloves, and supporting letters. These precious objects were presented to St Andrews University by Euphan Wardlaw Ramsay on behalf of the family, and are stored in the museum vault. It took the staff a long time to actually read the accompanying letter from Queen Anne, and to study the Bible, but they now realise that these treasures are indeed what it says on the label! Or are they?

Let’s have a look at the provenance. The Bible and Gloves were passed to the Rennie family when Janet Wardlaw married John Rennie of Tyrie in 1763. Their daughter kept them until 1823 when she sent them to Robert Wardlaw of Tillicoultry. They were treasured by the Wardlaw Ramsays until the 20th century, when Arthur Balcarres Wardlaw Ramsay’s daughter Euphan decided to donate them to the University Library at St Andrews. For its part, the bible could not have been given to the first Sir Henry, because it was published in 1640, in Amsterdam, after his death. The splendid embroidered binding suggests a mid 17c date and could have been created by Edmund Harrison (1590-1667), principal embroiderer to Charles I and Charles II. So, who among Sir John’s children could have received it? His third surviving son John Wardlaw married Jean Melville in May 1642. Her grandfather Sir James Melville, was a courtier to Mary Queen of Scots, her son James VI, and a gentleman of the bedchamber to Queen Anna. This double royal connection may have come into play when their first child Henry was baptised in Edinburgh on 30 April 1643. This date fits with the publication date of the Bible, and the embroidered cover made it a very royal gift. We are grateful to Briony Harding for her meticulous study of the Bible in The Scottish Historical Review, volume C, 3, No 254: December 2021, pp 397-418.