The Reprieve
A reprieve was granted for Margaret Wilson and Margaret Lauchlison. see Register of the Privy Council of Scotland. Third Series. Vol. XI. 1685-1686. Acta, February 1685 - December 1685, p.33. (P.56) "The Lords of his Majesties Privy Council doe hereby reprive the execution of the sentance of death pronunced by the Justices against Margret Wilson and Margret Lauchlison until the ..... day of ..... and discharges the magistrats of Edinburgh for putting of the said sentence to execution against them untill the forsaid day ; and recomends the saids Margret Wilson and Margret Lauchlison to the "Lords Secretaries of State" to interpose with his most sacred Majestie for his royall remission to them."
Urging that Margaret Wilson and Margaret Laughlan were officially reprieved by the Privy Council of Scotland, Mark Napier insisted that its agents should not have dared flout the Council's decree. Grierson of Lag, brother-in-law of Queensberry, nevertheless chose to do so. G. F. Crosbie writes that "over-zeal was no crime in 1685 - the year when Lag received his baronetcy in the pitiless James's coronation honour's list."
On 11th May 1685, 11 days after the signing of the reprieve, and despite the reprieve, Margaret Wilson and Margaret McLachlan were chained to stakes on the Solway Firth. Although at the last moment, choking on the salt water, Margaret Wilson was allowed to offer a prayer for the King, this was not good enough for her accusers, and she was forcibly thrust beneath the waves. It is said that, as the tide rose, she defiantly quoted from the psalms and the epistles and sang. After her drowning, witnesses described how her hair floated around her head like a halo in the clear water.
About 18yrs of age at the time of her death, Margaret Wilson was buried, together with her friend Margaret McLauchlan, in the churchyard of Wigtown.
Read more about this topic: Margaret Wilson (Scottish Martyr)