John Corbet

John Corbet was a known Covenanter who was captured by Sir John Graham of Claverhouse in 1684. His name was listed by the Council on 16 February 1685. He 'refused the oath and [was] to be sent to the plantations'. He was tried and banished to the Americas as a slave. He was handed over to Scot of Pitlochie, who sailed Covenanter prisoners to New Jersey, United States. On 17 August 1685 he was listed as a prisoner in the Tolbooth of Leith. He did not sail until September 1685, implying Corbet was held in prison for almost one year. The passage to America took fifteen weeks, during which time 22 banished Covenanters died, as well as 50 passengers and crew.

In New Jersey, Corbet was to serve as a slave for some time, before he acquired his freedom. He was able to return at a later date and died on 17 March 1706, aged 63.

John Corbet's Monument

Tinwald Churchyard

Tinwald

Dumfriesshire

NGR - NY 003816

A sandstone obelisk and an older tablestone adjoining commemorates John Corbet. They are located on the north side of the church. Originally, the tablestone lay on the south side of the church, where Corbet was buried, but was relocated when the obelisk was erected in 1844. The tablestone was originally laid flat on the ground, but in 1880 proposals were made to raise it off the ground and set it up on legs. The inscription at that time was also difficult to read and was recut. It was speculated that the flat stone was erected in the first quarter of the eighteenth century by WIlliam WIlson, who wrote a few books on the Covenanters. 

The tablestone bears the inscription:

Here lyes the corpse of John

Corbet who dued 17th of

March 1706 and of his age

63 years, who was taken

in the year 1684 by a party

of Claverhouse his troops

and was banished by the

wicked counsel of Scotland

to East Jersey 1685 and

returned the year 1687.

This stone speaks when speech is from me gone

How God me fed when I was far from home

Banished I was for Covenanted cause

And non compliance with thir wicked laws

God whom I served firm to stand

Brought back again unto my native land

My sober walk in each place abod

Made beloved of all that loved God

Gainst all assaults from first unto the last

Assisted me I got not a wrong cast

His precious truth fragrant thou was to me

From first to last as I Liv'd soe I dy

Once more I'll live and never dye again

And sing his praise in a triumphant strain.

The SCMA paid for the cleaning of the memorials.