Hugh
Seton of Touch
James Seton, last of Touch (d. 1742)
died unmarried and his only sibling, Elizabeth Seton inherited the
estate. She married Hugh Smith and he assumed his wife's surname
of Seton.
Hugh kept to the Touch family's
Jacobite traditions and in
1745 Prince Charles Edward, on his way to the Battle of
Prestonpans stayed at Touch on the night of September 13th 1745.
He gave to his host Hugh Seton a quaich, a ring and a miniature
and General Murray left behind his dispatch book. These were much
treasured by the Setons, and are now held in the safekeeping of an
Edinburgh Museum.
Hugh Seton of Touch was Master of the Lodge of
Boulogne 1747-48 and the 13th Grand Master Mason
of the Grand Lodge of Scotland between 1748-49. He
maintained correspondence with the exiled Royal House of Stuart
throughout the 18th century, and his letters in 1775 and 1776 to
Louise, Princess of Stolberg, concerning the claim
of a young Lady (later legitimated the Duchess of Albany) to be
recognized as the daughter of the Young Pretender, have been
preserved.
Hugh Seton, together with local lairds, brought families down from
the highlands to start the mammoth task of draining the Carse of
Stirling. Ditches were dug to float the peat which covered this
bogland down to the River Forth, and eventually out to sea. In all
an area some 60 square miles was reclaimed, and the rich clay soil
which was exposed beneath is now renowned for the production of
Timothy hay. This was only the start of Hugh Seton’s
improvements to Touch. It is to him that we owe the magnificent
south front which was commenced in 1757 and continued till 1770
when the Drawing Room ceiling was completed. As a result of his
expenditure Hugh Seton found himself in considerable debt and left
to travel abroad. His son, Archibald, determined to clear the
estate of debt, joined the East India Company and sailed to India
in 1779. He rose to high office, accumulated a considerable sum of
money but sadly died on his way home before reaching Touch on
whose behalf he has worked all his life.
Archibald's sister, Barbara, married Sir Henry Stuart of Allanton,
and inherited Touch. Sir Henry took the name of Seton-Steuart and
their family remained the lairds of Touch.
