Mary Drummond

Mary Drummond (1675 – 1729) was a leading supporter of the Jacobites who wanted to bring a Catholic to the British throne. She became Mary, Countess Marischal in 1694. She is wrongly named as the author of the song When the King Comes O’er the Water but the song is in her voice. Her eldest son

George Keith who became the tenth and the last Earl Marischal was born in 1692 or 1693. Her other son James Francis Edward Keith who was born in 1696 was named after the Old Pretender and they both became soldiers. She and her husband also had two daughters. Mary who married John, sixth earl of Wigtown and Anne who married Alexander, sixth earl of Galloway. however the song is thought to be from after she died. The song was first published in James Hogg's Jacobite Relics of 1817.