His father had been born in 1555 as the illegitimate child of the King and his mistress Euphemia Elphinstone. He married Lady Jean Kennedy, eldest daughter of the Earl of Cassilis, and by her had five sons and four daughters, in addition to the ten bastards he fathered.
In 1593 the younger brothers of Earl Patrick - John, James and William - were accused of conspiring with the sorceress Margaret Balfour to poison him. Margaret was executed along with John"s servitor Thomas Papla, but both left depositions renouncing their testimonies on the account that they had been extracted by torture, meaning the prosecution of the brothers failed and they were acquitted. Earl Patrick was later forfeited and executed for treason in 1615, and his lands in Orkney passed to John.
King James VI ennobled John as Lord Kinclaven in 1607, and in 1628 James"s successor Charles granted him the ancient and prestigious title Earl of Carrick.
The validity of the latter title was questioned, as it conflicted with the earldom of Carrick held by the heir to the throne. This difficulty was resolved when it was pointed out that the titles referred to different places: the royal earldom to Carrick in Ayrshire, and Kinclaven"s earldom to the lands of Carrick on Eday in Orkney.
The Earl of Carrick was a great entrepreneur, establishing businesses such as salt works and breweries on Eday. In 1619 he had received a licence to make and sell new kinds of earthenware vessels, and in 1630 he was appointed a Commissioner of Fisheries.
He was present at the funeral of James VI in London, from whom he had received a pension of three thousand pounds Scots "for services done".
They had one child, Lady Margaret Stewart, who married Sir John Mennes and became the ancestress of the Lords Willoughby de Broke.
