The surname Jardine is derived from jardin which is French for garden or orchard. However the genealogist, Black, has suggested that this does not mean that they were gardeners, but that they resided near to a garden. The du Jardon family came over to England in 1066 with William the Conqueror. The name is first found in Scotland in charters to Kelso Abbey and Arbroath Abbey prior to 1153, when Wmfredus de Jardin appears as a witness. In about 1178 Humphrey de Jardin witnessed a charter by Robert Bruce to Arbroath Abbey. The name Jardine is also found in the form of de Gardinus and Patrick de Gardinus was chaplain to the Bishop of Glasgow during the early thirteenth century. Sir Humphrey de Gardino witnessed a registration of the lands of Annandale in 1245. Another variant of the name is found in the Ragman Rolls of 1296 where Jorden del Orchard appears rendering homage for his lands in Linlithgow to Edward I of England. The chiefly line of the Clan Jardine appears to have been established by the fourteenth century at Applegirth on the River Annan in Dumfriesshire. Their first stronghold was Spedlings Tower which was abandoned in the late seventeenth century. From there the family moved across the river to Jardine Hall. This was allegedly to escape the ghost of a miller who had been left to starve to death in the tower's dungeon.
Sir Alexander Jardine of Applegirth was actively involved in defending the Scottish Borders against English incursions. In 1524 Sir Alexander Jardine, along with Lord Maxwell attacked an English host near Carlisle and routed them, taking nearly three hundred English prisoners. However Alexander's son, John Jardine, faced English retribution in 1547 when Lord Wharton, with a force of over five thousand, overran Annandale. The Jardine lands were ravaged and he was forced to submit. Later that year the Jardines and some French troops harried the English and exacted a terrible retribution. The Jardines followed the Clan Johnstone in supporting Mary, Queen of Scots. However, when the queen married the Earl of Bothwell the Jardines declared allegiance to the infant James VI of Scotland. For the support of his clan, Jardine was to receive a pension from the Archbishopric of Glasgow, but it was never paid.
Sir William Jardine, twelfth Baronet and twenty-third chief of Clan Jardine was active in promoting clan activities and also served on the Committee of the Council of Chiefs.
Clan castles
Spedlings Tower was the original seat of the chiefs of Clan Jardine.
Jardine Hall was the seat of the chiefs of Clan Jardine from the late seventeenth century.
