604 DILECTA

The family of Ross of Balsarroch descend from one Andrew Ross, a cadet of the family of Ross of Balneil. This Andrew, who was living in 1704, had four children: (1) Alexander of Balkail, grandfather of Field-Marshal Sir Hew Dalrymple Ross, G.C.B. (1779-1868), whose son, Sir John Ross, G.C.B., commanded the forces in Canada, 1888-1893; (2) George of Balsarroch, whose son, Andrew, minister of Inch, was the father of one Arctic traveller, Sir John Ross (1777-1856), and grandfather of another Arctic and Antarctic explorer, Sir James Charles Ross (1800-1862); (3) James of Stranraer, who married and had issue; and (4) Jean or Janet, who is described in a letter from her daughter, Catherine Tweddale, to her son, John James Ruskin, as “a very remarkable woman. As a proof of her learning, she was a good Latin scholar, and at the age of seventy she could repeat from memory every syllable of Young’s Night Thoughts, besides many other productions.”

Of the Agnews of Lochnaw, hereditary sheriffs of Galloway, a full account has been printed, by Sir Andrew Agnew.¹ But unfortunately this account does not exhaust the cadet branches of the family, and Ruskin’s ancestress, the Mary Agnew who married John Adair, is not identified. It would have been of interest to know exactly Ruskin’s relationship to the family, to one member of whom, Joan Ruskin Agnew, more closely connected with him through another line, he was to owe so much during the latter half of his life.

¹ [The Agnews of Lochnaw. A History of the Hereditary Sheriffs of Galloway, 1864 (2nd edition, enlarged, 1893).]

[Version 0.04: March 2008]