The Earl of Lauderdale

Lauderdale House was once the London home of one of the most powerful men in Britain. Yet even a gruff politician known for his cunning, brutality and ruthlessness couldn’t keep hold of the property during the English Civil War.

Scottish politician John Maitland, known as the Earl of Lauderdale, was an advisor to King Charles I who went on to govern Scotland on behalf of Charles II.

John’s commitment to both kings may have led to high office, but it also saw he and his wife forced out of Lauderdale House and his imprisonment in the Tower of London. When the couple finally reclaimed the property, John took so little care of it the House almost fell down.

John Maitland’s wife Anne inherited Lauderdale House from her mother in 1644, during the English Civil War. At the time John encouraged the Scots to support Oliver Cromwell’s forces against King Charles I. He later swapped sides, staying loyal to the Crown until his death.

Charles I was executed in 1649. By then, Parliament had confiscated Lauderdale House from its royalist owners. Two years later, John was captured while fighting Cromwell’s army alongside Charles’s son. He ended up in the Tower of London, imprisoned for almost a decade.

When Charles II won back the throne in 1660, John was released and the Lauderdales claimed their property back. John was soon appointed to take care of the King’s interests in Scotland, where he had no qualms about using violence to stamp out opposition. As the King’s right-hand man John never strayed far from his side, whether that meant meeting at Charles’s home in Whitehall or here at Highgate.

Lauderdale House could so easily not be here. The building has been at risk of collapse or demolition several times in the past 400 years. In 1670 Anne, Countess of Lauderdale, feared it might fall on her head. She blamed her husband John and his books.

Anne thought the flimsy building would be crushed under the massive weight of John’s books, which were shelved on the upper floor. When Anne moved to Paris after the couple separated she sent John a stern letter telling him to move his books downstairs and make repairs to stop the House falling down.

We don’t know what action John took. In fact, he was probably rarely here, since he was enjoying the company of a woman who lived in Richmond at the time. Anne died a few months later and John remarried. He and his new wife invested heavily in rebuilding and extending their other properties, while Lauderdale House passed out of the family.