Does it run in the family?
David Kennedy
10th Earl of Cassillis
National Trust for ScotlandFrom the NTS book on Culzean and the Kennedys. It appears that both the 9th and 10th Earls of Cassillis, Thomas and David Kennedy, were notorious bachelors neither of whom ever married. Earl David, who was deemed to be an eligible catch, resisted all attempts at matchmaking, to the extent that his friend, diarist James Boswell, penned this little ode in 1782:
The Coopers they came to Lord Cassillis at Colzean
With their hoops all tight and ready
From London they came down
Baith the black and the brown
And they wanted to give him a lady.
Your Lordship we pray, may not say us nae
For it's now full time you was married
Quoth the earl "Faith my dears,
so great are my fears
In conscience I'd rather be buried."
The Coopers were the daughters of a political ally of Cassillis, Sir Grey Cooper. Kennedy is described as being "definitely not amused" but was eventually reconciled with Boswell. In another incident Boswell described Earl David as "a joker...nothing more...a good honest merry fellow indeed."
The National Trust for Scotland, (2006), Culzean Castle, p11.