He was made Lord Maxwell, Eskdale and Carlyle at the same time.

The ninth Lord Maxwell was beheaded in Edinburgh in 1613 for a revenge killing.

His grandson, the fifth Earl, was involved in the Jacobite rising of 1715 and attainted with his titles forfeited.

However, Lord Nithsdale made a celebrated escape from the Tower of London by changing clothes with his wife's maid the day before he was due to be executed.

The Lordship of Herries of Terregles was later restored to his descendants and remains extant.