Forsyths and Glasgow University

The five sons of Robert are especially remembered for their establishing Glasgow University. The elder, John, was Baron of Dykes and bore the shield of Fronsac. There is no record that he held any professorship in the University, but his sons did. He married the daughter of Sir James Douglass.

David was also Lord of Dykes, and in 1492, his coat-of-arms appears in Sir James Balfour’s Heraldic Manuscript as Forsyth, Baron of Nydie. Nydie was a castle in Fife that was held by the Forsyths. It is not known who built it or what became of it. The last of this family to hold the castle was Sir Alexander Forsyth in 1604. (David is also mentioned in the history of Stirling). By his title he was doubtless a baronet. The descendants of those who obtained the barony of Nydie were called the Forsyths of Nydie.

David’s son, David II, succeeded his father as Baron of Nydie and Lord of Dykes, and his son, John, succeeded to the titles in 1540. His arms as Forsyth of Nydie are in the Heraldic Manuscript of Sir David Lindsay, the principal herald of Scotland in 1542. However, in 1560, John transferred his estates of Gilcairnstorm, County Aberdeen, to Lord Gordon of Pittwig, to enter one of the military companies of France. When he entered the army, he assumed the title of Comte Forsyth de Fronsac. His brother, James Forsyth, signed a feudal charter before the lords commissioners at Edinburgh in 1560, as Lord of the Monastery of Dumblane. John’s son, David III, born in France, succeeded to Dykes in 1571. By act of Scottish Parliament, he was appointed a commissioner of revenue for Glasgow. The arms of Nydie were confirmed to his posterity through the families of Dykes and Failzerton by the Heralds College of Scotland.

Thomas, the second son of Robert III, Canon of Glasgow, used the Leslie seal of his mother (three buckles on a bend). He was an incorporator and founder of Glasgow University in 1473, and received from it a Master of Arts degree. In 1496, he became dean of the faculty as a recognition of his work and service. His son, in turn, became an instructor in the University. One of the younger brothers of Thomas signed the charter of the College in 1483, and was one of its instructors. Matthew, the fourth, was an elector to choose regents for the College in 1497, while Robert, the younger, was an officer. David I and Alexander Forsyth of Aberdeen, sons of John, were chosen to elect regents for the University in 1508.