Military career Thomas Kennedy and his father fought for
Regent Moray at the
Battle of Langside on 13 May 1568.
Inheritance In May 1585 Thomas Kennedy took possession of several properties in Ayr as heir to his father, in Sandgate and Woodgate, some of which his father had acquired in 1544. He was knighted in May 1590 at the
coronation of
Anne of Denmark. Bargany Castle, demolished in the seventeenth century, was on the south side of the
Water of Girvan in Dailly parish in Ayrshire.
Legal issues Bargany helped the
Gilbert Kennedy, 4th Earl of Cassillis in an attempt to gain the lands of
Crossraguel Abbey in August 1570. He brought the new owner Allan Stewart to the Earl at
Maybole Castle and then they went to the Abbey, from where the Earl abducted him and took him to
Dunure Castle and tortured him with fire until he signed a lease of the lands. Bargany, who was not at Dunure, realising he was implicated, sought legal help for Stewart then besieged Dunure and brought Stewart to Ayr where he revoked the lease. In 1591 his brother-in-law, the lawyer
Sir Patrick Vans of Barnbarroch, came to
Ardstinchar Castle. They discussed his legal case with
Sir John Seton of Barns. Seton was a kinsman of Bargany's wife, and he hoped to gain the return of lands of Lethmold, which had passed to Seton by the forfeit of the
Earl of Douglas. Bargany employed another lawyer, George Mark, and wrote to Barnbarroch rehearsing his offer to Seton, and hoping he would "both effectuously and secretly" work in his favour.
Edinburgh riot, son forced to marry Thomas Kennedy of Bargany took part in a riot in Edinburgh on 17 December 1596. The laird had appeared with others in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh and made a religious protest. The incident was regarded as a conflict between the gentlemen of the king's household known as 'cubiculars' and the financial officers called the '
Octavians'. Two family chronicles mention that Bargany was punished by
James VI who arranged a marriage for his son that was to "the wreck of his house". ==Death==