Marquess of Lothian is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1701 for Robert Kerr, 4th Earl of Lothian. The Marquess of Lothian holds the subsidiary titles of Earl of Lothian (created 1606), Earl of Lothian (created again 1631), Earl of Ancram (1633), Earl of Ancram (created again 1701), Viscount of Briene (1701), Lord Newbattle (1591), Lord Jedburgh (1622), Lord Kerr of Newbattle (1631), Lord Kerr of Nisbet, Langnewtoun, and Dolphinstoun (1633), Lord Kerr of Newbattle, Oxnam, Jedburgh, Dolphinstoun and Nisbet (1701), and Baron Ker, of Kersheugh in the County of Roxburgh (1821), all but the last in the Peerage of Scotland. As The Lord Ker in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, previous Marquesses sat in the House of Lords before 1963, when Scottish peers first sat in the House of Lords in their own right.
The current Marquess of Lothian, the 13th, is better known as the Conservative politician Michael Ancram. He received a life peerage in November 2010 as Baron Kerr of Monteviot and so became entitled to sit in the House of Lords. He lives at Monteviot House. The family also owned a larger Scottish seat, Newbattle Abbey, which is now a college, and also Blickling Hall in Norfolk, which belongs to the National Trust.
The heir presumptive to the marquessate is the 13th Marquess younger brother Lord Ralph Kerr, who owns Ferniehirst Castle, Jedburgh, Roxburghshire, which is an ancient family seat that had passed out of family but was repurchased and restored by the 12th Marquess, and Melbourne Hall in Derbyshire.
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Mark Kerr was created Lord Newbattle in 1591 and Earl of Lothian in 1606, both with remainder to his heirs male. In 1621 both titles were surrendered by the 2nd Earl and regranted with a special remainder to his daughters, the eldest of whom, Lady Anne Kerr, succeeded to both titles on his death in 1624. Her husband, Sir William Kerr (eldest son of Sir Robert Kerr, later 1st Earl of Ancram) was created Lord Kerr of Newbattle and Earl of Lothian in 1631. On her death in 1667 their eldest son became 4th Earl of Lothian (though he was not recognised as such) and on her husband's death in 1675 also 2nd Earl of Lothian.
By this point Sir Robert Kerr, father of the 1st Earl of the 2nd creation, had been created Lord Kerr of Nisbet, Langnewtoun and Dolphinstoun and Earl of Ancram, and the titles had been inherited by the 4th and 2nd Earl of Lothian's uncle, Charles Kerr, on whose death in 1690 he became 3rd Earl of Ancram.
He was then created Lord Ker of Newbattle, Oxnam, Jedburgh, Dolphinstoun and Nisbet, Viscount of Briene, Earl of Ancram and Marquess of Lothian in 1701.
The 2nd Marquess succeeded his cousin as Lord Jedburgh before succeeding to the Marquessate, and the 6th Marquess was created Baron Ker, of Kersheugh in the County of Roxburgh, in 1821, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.
The heir presumptive is the present holder's brother Lord Ralph William Francis Joseph Kerr (b. 1957).
Lord Ralph's heir apparent is his eldest son John Walter Donald Peter Kerr (b. 8 August 1988).