Susan Lyon, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne (née Cochrane, – 23 June 1754) was a Scottish noble. She was the daughter of John Cochrane, 4th Earl of Dundonald, wife of Charles Lyon, 6th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, and "Scotland's fairest daughter", to quote a chronicler of the time. She married Charles Lyon, 6th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, but he was killed in an unfortunate brawl at Forfar by Carnegie of Finhavon in May 1728, leaving no heir. The resulting trial is famous for establishing in Scots law the "not guilty" verdict. Later the Countess married her servant and was shunned by her family until she died in Paris leaving a daughter who was left penniless by her rich relatives.
Early life
Lady Susanna Cochrane was born the second daughter of John Cochrane, 4th Earl of Dundonald, with "all that rank and wealth and beauty could give were hers by birth". Her mother was Anne Murray, daughter of Charles Murray, 1st Earl of Dunmore. Her paternal grandmother was Lady Susanna Hamilton, daughter of the Duke of Hamilton and granddaughter of the Duchess of Hamilton who had had a claim to the Scottish throne (although this was dependent upon the failure of the House of Stewart). Her great-grandfather was the 1st Marquess of Atholl. On both sides "she came from a line of fair women", many of whom it was said (including her mother) "had ranked among the most beautiful in all Scotland".
She had two sisters, Anne and Catherine, and all three were admired as great beauties. In 1723, Anne married James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Hamilton, becoming a duchess at sixteen, but died just a year later giving birth to their only child, James Hamilton, 6th Duke of Hamilton. Catherine was not long out of the schoolroom before her hand was won by the Earl of Galloway.
Marriage to the Earl
Susanna, the loveliest of the "three Graces" - "Scotland's fairest daughter", to quote a chronicler of the time, had high-placed lovers by the score almost before she had graduated into long frocks. Charles Lyon, 6th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, was accounted the "luckiest man north of the Tweed" when he won her for his bride.
Miss Ann Stuart, writing in August 1725, describes the marriage-dress of the beautiful Lady Susan Cochrane, thus :— "Lest you have not got a particular account of my Lord Strathmore's marriage, I will give you the best I can. He was the fondest lover ever I saw, and I believe as fond a husband. He has got a very fine woman, I am persuaded, and I think extream handsome; she has a mighty prity face, but indeed the siklyest pale one that can be; she is tall, well shaped, and has a graceful easie genteel air ... My Lady Strathmore had a blue and silver rich stuff gown and petecoat; a blue silk, trimmed to the pocket-holes with silver net; and a pale yellow, trimmed with two rows of open silver lace, about three nails deep each; a green satin, trimmed with close and open silver lace, which she had before her marriage. She was married in white; her fine Brussels lace she got from London, and she bought a great deal of lace at Edinburgh. She made no appearance after her marriage, except seeing the archers, for their coach was not come down from London, and they staid but a few days in town ..."
For a few years the young Earl and his Countess were ideally happy. "I never thought", Lady Strathmore wrote to a friend, "that life could be so sweet. The days are all too short to crowd my happiness into."
The death of the Earl
One day in May 1728, the young Earl went to Forfar to attend the funeral of a friend, and among his fellow-mourners were two men of his acquaintance, James Carnegie of Finhaven, and a Mr Lyon, of Brigton, the latter a distant relative of the Earl.
After the funeral the three men sat drinking together, as was the custom of the time, and then adjourned to a tavern in Forfar, where they continued until all three were in an advanced state of intoxication. From the tavern they went to call on a sister of Carnegie, where Mr Lyon became quarrelsome. It was with the utmost difficulty that Lord Strathmore induced his two companions to leave the house.
Mr Lyon began to conduct himself more outrageously than before, now that the modified restraint of a lady's presence was removed. "With boisterous horseplay", he pushed Carnegie into a deep ditch which ran beside the roadside, and from which Carnegie emerged covered with mud. "Such an insult could only be wiped out with blood"; and, drawing his sword, Carnegie rushed at Mr Lyon. The Earl, in order to avert a tragedy, imprudently threw himself between the two antagonists, and Carnegie's sword entered his body, passing clean through it and sometime later the Earl died.