William Cunningham, 4th Earl of Glencairn (1480-March 1548) was a Scottish nobleman who fought at the Battle of Solway Moss in 1542.
Biography[]
William Cunningham was the son of Cuthbert Cunningham, 3rd Earl of Glencairn, and he became Lord High Treasurer of Scotland in 1526. In 1542, he succeeded his father as Earl of Glencairn, and he was captured at the Battle of Solway Moss that same year. He was ordered to pay a ransom of 1,000 pounds and to back the future King Edward VI of England's marriage to the future Mary, Queen of Scots, but this latter project failed. In 1544, his second son was slain in battle by forces loyal to Regent Arran at Glasgow Muir during the Rough Wooing, and Glencairn was forced to abandon King Henry VIII's cause. He died in March 1548.