_Walter Newbigging_, otherwise _Gualter de Somerville_.--This gentleman was of English extraction, and the son of William de Somerville, Baron of Linton, and Margaret Newbigging, heiress of that Ilk, the daughter of Walter Newbigging, which lands he inherited in right of his mother. This accounts for his being called Walter Newbigging, or of Newbigging. His father, William de Somerville, distinguished himself at the battle of Largs, and was a constant attendant at the court of Alexander III., with whom he was in high favour, and held the office of grand falconer, a place at that time of considerable importance. Walter, the subject of our present inquiries, received from his father a _ten merk land_ within the barony of Linton, which enabled him to make an early appearance at court, where his good qualities and noble deportment attracted the notice of Alexander, from whose hand he received the honour of knighthood, and distinguished himself at the tournament held shortly after in honour of the marriage of Prince Alexander with the daughter of the Earl of Flanders, at Roxburgh Castle. While in attendance at court, he formed an acquaintance with Sir David Barclay of Towie, in Aberdeenshire, whose sister Effie, or Euphemia, he afterwards married in 1281; and at Aberdeen, the same year, he entered into a bond of manrent, or manred, as it was sometimes called, with his brother-in-law. These obligations were very common among the gentry of Scotland, and often productive of great disorder in the country. By this marriage he had a son named David, whom he devoted to the cause of his country’s independence, when he himself joined the standard of Wallace. This youth we shall afterwards have occasion to notice. It may not be improper to remark, that Somerville, the author of “The Chase,” was a scion from the English stock of this ancient and respectable family. _David de Barclay._--Abercromby mentions a Sir Fergus Barclay, as being one of the early adherents of Wallace; but there is reason to believe he is partly in error. Sir David Barclay, as we have already seen, was brother-in-law to Sir Walter Newbigging, with whom he had entered into a bond of manrent, by which they were mutually bound to appear in arms in support of the same cause, provided it was not against the royal prerogative. When we find both the surnames associated together on this occasion, we may reasonably suppose they are the same persons who contracted the obligation, and had thought the present a very proper opportunity for acting upon it.[71] “_Hugh de Dundas_ was the son of Serle de Dundas, who swore fealty to Edward I. in 1296 and in 1300. His son, Sir Hugh, was a man of singular merit and fortitude, and joined the brave Sir William Wallace in defence of the liberties of Scotland, and embraced every opportunity to exert his courage against the enemies of his country. He died in the reign of King Robert Bruce, and was succeeded by his son.”--_Douglas’s Scottish Baronage._