The Bowes Museum Blog

Halloween brings with it stories of ghosts, ghouls and witches. Dipping into the history books we find that one of the Scottish ancestors of Museum co-founder John Bowes was burnt at the stake after being accused of witchcraft.

Whether John or indeed his French wife, artist and co-founder Joséphine Bowes, knew of the story is not recorded anywhere. But, in the collection there is a painting (not on display) by Joséphine which evokes the archetypal image of a witch and her familiar. It’s called Old Woman Beside a Fire (J.VII).

We need to go back in time to 300 years or so before John Bowes was born, for the story relates to a woman called Janet Douglas. She was accused of witchcraft by King James V of Scotland because he hated the Douglas family. Janet’s brother, Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, was his stepfather who had imprisoned the young James. After James had broken free of the Douglas family, in December 1528, Janet was summoned for treason.

She had married John Lyon, the 6th Lord Glamis and was later accused of poisoning him in 1528, but the case was dropped. However, on July 17, 1537, Janet was convicted of planning to poison the King, and communicating with her brothers, the Earl of Angus and George Douglas. James accused of her of using witchcraft against him and, although it was clear that the accusations were false, she was imprisoned in a dungeon at Edinburgh Castle.

While it was easy for James to imprison Janet, convicting her of witchcraft was difficult. To make her ‘confess’, James had Janet’s family members and servants tortured until Janet gave in and she was then burned at the stake on July 17, 1537.

Legend has it that she haunts the small chapel within Glamis Castle, in Scotland, home of the Lyons and later the Bowes Lyons. Dubbed The Grey Lady (White Lady, in some reports), she can sometimes be seen kneeling at the altar. People who visit have reported feeling an atmosphere of immense sadness and desolation. Down the centuries, one seat in the chapel was reserved for her and although the chapel is still used regularly for family functions, no one is allowed to sit in that seat.

Patrick Lyon, the 9th Lord Glamis became the 1st Earl of Kinghorne, in 1606. In 1677 the designation became Strathmore and Kinghorne. The 9th Earl, John Lyon , on marriage to Mary Eleanor Bowes, changed his last name to include Bowes. He was the grandfather of ‘our’ John Bowes and the start of the Bowes-Lyon line of the family.

Blog by volunteer visitor guide Dorothy Brenkley