Robert Mylne re-designed the present building in 1769 for Sir John Whitefoord of Ballochmyle, a wealthy Ayrshire nobleman, who became a friend and patron of the poet Robert Burns, but the earlier house was that of the Lord's Seton, the later Earl of Winton's Mansion – better known as Lord Seton's Lodging.
It was a famed residence for foreign Ambassadors, who's host were the Lord's Seton, and in particular a favourite with the French Ambassadors, and Manzeville sojourned there in 1583. It's proximity to the Royal Palace gave the family a futher close presence to the Monarch, and was a much coveted property of the Canongate.
The Seton's were among the noble families who kept a town house as close as possible to the Royal residence, and their Lodging was frequently visited by international guests such as foreign ambassadors, such as Manzeville who wrote high praise to Scotland's Monarch, and to his King of his princely accommodations at the Seton Lodge. Many of these impressive homes, built just outside the old city walls, also had large formal gardens and fruit orchards, as was the case with the Seton's town-mansion. However, not only for accommodation or political reason's, the Seton Lodging also provided a security function for the Royal Family as all family residences had.
George, 7th Lord Seton was Provost of both Edinburgh and Elgin, and Master of the Royal Household under Queen Mary Stuart and was famed for his enduring support of his Queen, known at Queen of Scots. It was here then, that Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley, stayed the night before he married Mary, Queen of Scots at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in July 1565. According to the Seton family records, the young Queen was also invited to a private reception at the Lodging to celebrate her wedding to the handsome Darnley. But, ironically, it was also a place of refuge for Mary after the brutal murder of her favourite confident, David Rizzio, thanks to her jealous husband. And from here too Lord Seton is recorded as taking command during a famous Edinburgh riot, having armed the guards and successfully quelled the disturbance. Likewise, it is also at the center of the famed clash, or feud, between the Seton and Leslie families in Edinburgh.
An illumination of the house was written in the story by Sir Walter Scott, in "The Abbott": This door, which Roland Graeme instantly approached, opened on a large and well-lighted gallery, at the upper end of which he could hear several voices, and the noise of hasty steps approaching towards the hall or vestibule. A little recalled to sober thought by an appearance of serious danger, he was deliberating whether he should stand fast or retire, when Catherine Seyton re-entered from a side door, running towards him with as much speed as a few minutes since she had fled from him.
“Oh, what mischief brought you hither?” she said; “fly—fly, or you are a dead man,—or stay—they come—flight is impossible—say you came to ask for Lord Seyton.” She sprung from him and disappeared through the door by which she had made her second appearance; and, at the same instant, a pair of large folding-doors at the upper end of the gallery flew open with vehemence, and six or seven young gentlemen, richly dressed, pressed forward into the apartment, having, for the greater part, their swords drawn.
“Who is it,” said one, “dare intrude on us in our own mansion?”. “Cut him to pieces,” said another; “let him pay for this day’s insolence and violence—he is some follower of the Rothes.”. “No, by Saint Mary,” said another; “he is a follower of the arch-fiend and ennobled clown Halbert Glendinning, who takes the style of Avenel—once a church-vassal, now a pillager of the church.”. “It is so,” said a fourth; “I know him by the holly-sprig, which is their cognizance. Secure the door, he must answer for this insolence.”
Two of the gallants, hastily drawing their weapons, passed on to the door by which Roland had entered the hall, and stationed themselves there as if to prevent his escape. The others advanced on Graeme, who had just sense enough to perceive that any attempt at resistance would be alike fruitless and imprudent. At once, and by various voices, none of which sounded amicably, the page was required to say who he was, whence he came, his name, his errand, and who sent him hither. The number of the questions demanded of him at once, afforded a momentary apology for his remaining silent, and ere that brief truce had elapsed, a personage entered the hall, at whose appearance those who had gathered fiercely around Roland, fell back with respect..."My Lord Seyton"... Excerpt from Sir Walter Scott's, "The Abbott".
By the early 18th century, the Lodging was no longer such a desirable residence, having fallen into ruin. George Seton, the fifth Earl of Winton, took part in the Jacobite uprising of 1715, but following his capture at Preston he was found guilty of high treason and condemned to death. Seton miraculously escaped from the Tower of London in 1716 – cutting through the bars of his cell - and later died in Rome, part of Chevalier's Cabinet, in 1749. His family town house, like that of his own Palace of Seton, was raised by the Hanoverian troops during the incitement towards Jacobite supporters in 1715. And while the Earl of Winton managed to escape, his family home fared less well.
Following the forfeiture, the house fell into a
state of disrepair between 1715 and 1744 when it was
sold to the British Linen Company. Later, in
1766, the house was acquired by Sir John Whitefoord
of Ballochmyle. And although little was done
to the former stately residence until 1769, it was
then that Whitefoord hired the noted Architect
Robert Milne to remodel the crumbling ruin using the
existing house, whereupon it was re-named "Whitefoord
House". Whitefoord himself is now best
remembered as an enthusiastic patron of the poet
Robert Burns, once writing these words of
encouragement to the struggling young poet:
"Your character as a man, as well as a poet,
entitles you, I think, to the assistance of every
inhabitant of Ayrshire."
After Sir John died in 1803, Whitefoord became home to the well-known judge, Sir William MacLeod Bannatyne. However, following Bannantyne's death in 1833 at the age of 90, the house that had long been a home to noblemen, was reduced to being used as a factory. The Whitefoord family sold the house in 1850, and it was then converted for use as a type foundry for almost 50 years.
Beginning in 1910, Whitefoord House entered a new and far more stable era. It was bought by Scottish Veterans' Residences (SVR), a charity founded by two former Seaforth Highlanders - Charles Pelham Burn and Chilton Lind Addison Smith - who were appalled at finding Boer War veterans sleeping rough on the streets of Edinburgh. The purchase of the property was funded by a donation in February, 1910, from Mr. and Mrs. W G McLaren who had lost their son in the conflict. An ideal location, it is situated on the north side of Edinburgh's Canongate, and Whitefoord House was the first of the Scottish Veteran's Residences to be purchased by them. The founding of SVR, then, predates the Royal British Legion Scotland which was established by Field Marshal Earl Haig in 1921.
Through the Royal British Legion, in 1926, the first Lady Haig Poppy Factory was established at Whitefoord House, by the wife of Field Marshal Douglas Haig (1861 - 1928). It was established in the Maclagan Room at Whitefoord House, where the residents made poppies here for sale throughout Scotland to raise money to support their fellow ex-servicemen. And now, after two World Wars and conflicts in Korea, the Falklands and the Gulf, Whitefoord House remains a veterans' residence today and is home to more than 80 former servicemen and women.
Marion Anderson, SVR's fundraising and marketing spokesperson, says that while Whitefoord has been extensively renovated to provide veterans with modern facilities many of the original features of the building have been preserved. "I believe that some of the original staircases are still here, and the MacLagan Room, which is used as the residents' cafe and social area, was the original poppy factory," she says. Also remaining in three-storey white-harled building is its old stone Roman-Doric porch.
