Andrew Gilbert Wauchope came of a long line of ancestry, who have distinguished themselves as soldiers, as churchmen, or in the more commonplace capacity of country gentlemen.
The family history can be traced back for several centuries at least, as occupying in the immediate vicinity of Edinburgh the estate of Niddrie Marischal; and throughout the various troubles in which Scottish history has been involved, the Lairds of Niddrie had their fair share, forfeitures and restorations being an experience not uncommon in their career.
Glancing over their genealogy, one might almost say with truth that the Wauchopes have ever been a fighting race, holding opinions strongly, and as strongly asserting them by word or deed when occasion arose.
The very name of their estate has a smack of the military in it, if it is true, as Celtic scholars say, that 'Niddrie' is derived from the Gaelic Niadh and Ri—signifying, in the British form of Celtic, the king's champion. Then the addition to the word, as distinguishing it from several other Niddries in Scotland, of Marischal, Marishal, or Merschell appears to have been given to the estate from the fact that the Wauchopes of Niddrie were in early times hereditary bailies to Keith Lords Marischal, and later, Marischal-Deputies in Midlothian, in the reign of James v.
Whether it be true, as stated by Mackenzie in his Lives of Eminent Scotsmen, that the Wauchopes had their first rise in the reign of Malcolm Caenmore, and that they came from France, we shall not stay to discuss; but it is generally allowed that the name is a local patronymic, common in the south of Scotland, and that the Wauchopes of Niddrie Marischal belonged originally to Wauchopedale in Roxburghshire, where they were for long vassals of the Earls of Douglas.
The records of the earlier generations of the family having been lost, one cannot with accuracy say who was its founder, or when he lived. In James the Second's reign, for making an inroad into England, and again in Queen Mary's time, for espousing the cause of that unfortunate sovereign, the estate of Niddrie was confiscated and passed for a time into the hands of others, while the feu-charters that remained were afterwards destroyed when the English under Oliver Cromwell came to Scotland. But notwithstanding these misfortunes, there are documents extant which go to show that as far back as the time of Robert III., who began to reign in 1390, there was one Gilbert Wauchope holding the lands of Niddrie from that king, who is supposed to be the grandson of Thomas Wauchope in the county of Edinburgh, mentioned in the Ragman Rolls of 1296.
One scion of the family, born about the year 1500, in the reign of James IV. attained to considerable distinction as an ecclesiastic. This was Robert, the famous Archbishop of Armagh, a younger son of Archibald, the Laird of Niddrie. Defective in his vision almost to blindness, he was, notwithstanding this misfortune, possessed of great natural abilities, and by diligent study attained to high and varied accomplishments. So proficient did he become in the study of the Scriptures, the Fathers, and the Councils, that he was appointed Doctor of Divinity in the University of Paris; and in 1535, having attracted the notice of Pope Paul III., he was called to Rome, and employed by him as legate to the Emperor of Germany and the King of France, in both of which commissions he is said to have exhibited the highest qualifications as an ambassador. Some time after he was promoted to be Archbishop of Armagh, in Ireland. There he laboured with incredible pains to enlighten the ignorant natives, travelling about his diocese, and often preaching to them four or five times a week. Archbishop Wauchope found scope for his great talents at the Council of Trent. This famous council, called together by the Pope to counteract the influence of the Reformation initiated by Luther in Germany, met in March 1544, and continued its sittings till 1551. The archbishop not only took a part in its proceedings, but wrote a full account of them, a labour which, however, proved too much for his strength, for he died at Paris on his way home on 9th November 1551. He appears to have been held by his contemporaries in high admiration. Lesley says: 'Such was his judgment in secular affairs, that few of his age came near him,' and in his capacity as legate 'he acquitted himself so well that every one admired his wit, judgment, and experience.'
Sir James Ware, speaking of him in a similar strain, and alluding, like Lesley, to his having been born blind, says: 'He was sent legate a latere from the Pope to Germany, from whence came the German proverb, "a blind legate to the sharp-sighted Germans."'
Some ancestors