Helen Leslie, Lady Newbattle

[4][5] During the "Lang Siege" of Edinburgh Castle, in January 1572 she loaned money to William Kirkcaldy of Grange to pay the wages of soldiers fighting for the cause of Mary, Queen of Scots.

After the castle fell in June 1573, she brought the queen's buttons to the English commander William Drury at his lodging in Leith.

She was involved in the management of her husband's estates, and went to law to try to terminate the lease of the coal mines at Prestongrange held by the Laird of Cockpen.

[7] Esmé Stewart, the favourite of James VI, gave Helen Leslie and her husband Mark Kerr a "buffet" or cupboard for their hall at Prestongrange House.

In June 1590 he replied to her from Rouen, hoping her son George Leslie could forward the relief of his debts and his credit and rehabilitation in Scotland.

Helen Leslie, by Willem Key , Scottish National Portrait Gallery . [ 1 ]
Figure from the Prestongrange painted ceiling dated 1581