VHP 000-000-000-919-L

1672 Inventory - Work in progress

1683 Receipt amd memorandum for 209 10s 0d, payment for a red and yellow velvet bed supplied to the 3rd Duke of Hamilton by John Ridges

1684 Inventory - Work in progress

1707 Inventory - Work in progress

1722 Inventory of the Household furniture belonging to James 5th Duke of Hamilton at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, 1722

1761 Inventory - Work in progress

1784 Inventory - Work in progress

These inventories form a series that were written between 1672 and 1784. They document Hamilton possessions and their use at the Palace of Holyroodhouse throughout this time. It was James 1st Duke of Hamilton (1606-1649) who was first appointed Hereditary Keeper of Holyrood by Charles 1 acquiring spacious grace-and-favour apartments next to and including parts of the building now known as the Historical Apartments. After repairs to the Palace in the 1670's the 3rd Duke of Hamilton and the Duchess of Hamilton stayed there regularly during the periods that the parliament was held in Edinburgh. When James Duke of York visited Edinburgh from 1679 until 1682, the Hamiltons were asked to vacate their apartments only to return in 1684 when they were designated more space and acquired more furniture.

An inventory were drawn up in 1684 after the departure of James Duke of York when this furniture was acquired. It included a red and gold velvet bed commissioned from John Ridges of London. After the early death of their daughter-in-law the 3rd Duke and Duchess allowed their heartbroken son, the Earl of Arran, to move from his former home Kinneil House near Bo'ness to the Hamilton apartments at Holyroodhouse. As a result a new Inventory was made in 1693. Another was completed in 1707 when the 3rd Duke died (as it happened in Hoyroodhouse) and his widow continued to keep her apartments there. Inventories of 1722 record the use of the apartments by Arran's son the 5th Duke and the 4th Duke's widow Lady Elizabeth and extracts from this inventory are included in this prototype. The 'Lady Ducheess' referred to here can not be the wife of the 5th Duke as he married Lady Anne Cochrane daughter of the 4th Earl of Dundonald in the year after this inventary was written in February 1723. An inventory of 1761 shows new furniture 20 years after William Adams alterations to the Hamilton Apartments.

The inventories also show that as early as 1784 the Hamilton Holyrood apartments included a Housekeeper's Room. When the family were infrequently there by the end of the 18th century, it was the Hamilton housekeepers who acted as guides when visitors were admitted and taken on tours of those rooms in particular associated with Mary Queen of Scots. This 1784 inventory furthermore shows that lady Susan Stewart's room has been renamed mistakenly as belonging to Queen Mary of Scots. This mistaken association extended to Hamilton furniture placed in Lord Darnley's apartments on the lower floor of the Palace . The bedroom here contained the bed commissioned from John Ridges in 1682 which by the 1860s was erroneously described by the guides employed by the Board of Works as "The Darnley Bed".