Arms of the Earls of Glencairn as recorded in Brown's Peerage, 1834

Earl of Glencairn was a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1488 for Alexander Cunningham, 1st Lord Kilmaurs (created 1450). The name was taken from the parish of Glencairn in Dumfriesshire so named for the Cairn Waters which run through it.[1]

On the death of the fifteenth earl in 1796, there existing no original Letters Patent of the creation nor a given remainder in the various confirmations in title of previous earls the title became dormant

The earldom was claimed by Sir Adam Fergusson of Kilkerran, Bt., as heir of line of Alexander 10th, Earl of Glencairn and was opposed by Sir Walter Montgomery Cunningham of Corshill, Bt., as presumed heir male along with Lady Henriet Don, sister of the last earl, and wife of Sir Alexander Don of Newton Don, Roxburghshire. The House of Lords Committee of Privileges on 14 July 1797, chaired by the Lord Chancellor (Lord Rosslyn), in deciding the claim of the first-named, took a view unfavourable to all the claimants, and adjudged, that while Sir Adam Fergusson had shown himself to be the heir-general of Alexander, 10th Earl of Glencairn who died in 1670, he had not made out his right to the title. However, the decision was severely criticised by the jurist John Riddell in the 19th century and by Sir Iain Moncreiffe of that Ilk, Officer of Arms, in the 20th.

Earls of Glencairn (1488)

The coat of arms of the Cuninghames, Earls of Glencairn as recorded in 1820 (Robertson)

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ "Glencairn Dumfries Shire". A Vision of Britain. Retrieved 14 February 2012.
  2. ↑ "The Scottish nation, or, the surnames, families, literature, honours, and biographical history of the people of Scotland/ By William Anderson". 1863.
  3. ↑ "The Scottish nation, or, the surnames, families, literature, honours, and biographical history of the people of Scotland/ By William Anderson". 1863.
  4. ↑ "The Scots peerage : Founded on Wood's ed. Of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland; containing an historical and genealogical account of the nobility of that kingdom".
  5. ↑ "Sir Cuthbert Cunningham, 3rd Earl of Glencairn". geni.com.

References

  • Douglas, Sir Robert (1764), The Peerage of Scotland.
  • Robertson, George, Topographical Description of Ayrshire; more Particularly of Cunninghame: together with a Genealogical account of the Principal families in that Bailiwick, Irvine, 1820.
  • Brown, Peter, publisher, The Peerage of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1834, p. 88.
  • Anderson, William, The Scottish Nation, vol.v, pp. 310–314: Glencairn, Earl of
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.