Major Joseph Learmont was major in the Scottish

Covenanter Covenanters were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. It originated in disputes with James VI and his son C ...

army. He was a tailor before he began his military career. He was proprietor of the lands of Newholm, near

Dolphinton Dolphinton is a village and parish in Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located northeast of Biggar, northeast of Carstairs, southwest of Leadburn and southwest of Edinburgh, on the A702 road. The local manor belonged in the 12th century to Do ...

, which lay partly in the shire of

Peebles Peebles () is a town in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. It was historically a royal burgh and the county town of Peeblesshire. According to the United Kingdom census, 2011, 2011 census, the population was 8,376 and the estimated population in ...

and partly in that of Lanark.

Battles

He was fined £1,200 Scots due to Middleton's Act of 1662 for having complied with Cromwell's forces. He was second in command, leading the Covenanters' horse on the left at

Rullion Green The Battle of Rullion Green took place on 28 November 1666, near the Pentland Hills, in Midlothian, Scotland. It was the only significant battle of the Pentland Rising, a brief revolt by Covenanter dissidents against the Scottish government. S ...

in 1666. One source says he led the main attack "in which being unsuccessful, a rout ensued, but he managed to escape, along with

William Veitch William Veitch LL.D. (1794–1885) was a Scottish classical scholar. Life He was born in Spittal-on-Rule in Roxburghshire, his family being one of the three main farming families in the area. He attended school in Jedburgh then went to Edinbur ...

, a preacher, who afterwards wrote an account of the affair, and lived to be minister of Peebles." He also fought at Bothwell Bridge in 1679. In the year 1667 his whole fortune was forfeited for his being in the Pentland Hills insurrection. For the space of sixteen years thereafter, notwithstanding all the efforts made to find him, he remained undiscovered. He is recorded as spending some of the time in hiding in Ireland.

Imprisonment

About the month of February 1682, he was taken prisoner and carried to Edinburgh, where, on 7 April that same year, he was sentenced to be executed. This sentence, however, by the interest of friends, was commuted into perpetual imprisonment in the

Bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

, to which he was sent on 13 May. He there remained close prisoner for five years.

Release

Through the testimony of physicians that he was in a dying condition, he was liberated by the Council, upon giving bond that as soon as he recovered he would return to that place of confinement. But the Revolution taking place next year freed him from this obligation. He lived at his own house at Newholm some years after that memorable event, and died in peace in the 88th year of his age.

Secret tunnel

A secret tunnel was found at his house.

References

Attribution: This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain:
M'Crie, Thomas, D.D. the younger
(d.1875)". The Bass rock: Its civil and ecclesiastic history. Edinburgh : J. Greig & Son. 1847 {{DEFAULTSORT:Learmont, Joseph Covenanters Year of birth missing Year of death missing 17th-century Scottish landowners Scottish soldiers Scottish prisoners and detainees Covenanting Prisoners of the Bass Rock