Earl of Glencairn
The title of Earl of Glencairn was created in the Peerage of Scotland in 1488 for the first Lord Kilmaurs (created 1450).
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 July 14, 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.
The current pretenders to the Earls of Glencairn are the Montgomery-Cuninghame Baronets, although no claim has as yet been forthcoming. However, it may be, pursuant to the Entail Act (1685) that under the terms of the 1709 entail of William, Earl of Glencairn,[1] by which the Finlaystone Estates along with the undifferenced arms of the Earls passed to Cunninghame Graham of Gartmore and Ardoch, that they have a better claim to the dignity, though, likewise, they have never petitioned for it.
Lords Kilmaurs (1450)
Earls of Glencairn (1488)
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- Alexander Cunningham, 1st Earl of Glencairn (1426–1488)
- Robert Cunningham, 2nd Earl of Glencairn, was affected by the Act Rescissory of October 1488 and so was de jure Earl of Glencairn. He married **
- Cuthbert Cunningham, 3rd Earl of Glencairn (1470–1541), restored to the Earldom by the 1503 Act Revocatory.
- William Cunningham, 4th Earl of Glencairn (c. 1490-1547)
- Alexander Cunningham, 5th Earl of Glencairn (d.1574)
- William Cunningham, 6th Earl of Glencairn (1526–1580)
- James Cunningham, 7th Earl of Glencairn (1552–1630)
- William Cunningham, 8th Earl of Glencairn (1575–1631)
- William Cunningham, 9th Earl of Glencairn (1610–1664)
- Alexander Cunningham, 10th Earl of Glencairn (died without male issue, 1670).
- John Cunningham, 11th Earl of Glencairn (d.1703) succeeded his brother and matriculated the arms in 1672.
- William Cunningham, 12th Earl of Glencairn (d.1734)
- William Cunningham, 13th Earl of Glencairn (d.1775)
- James Cunningham, 14th Earl of Glencairn (1749–1791) unmarried; succeeded by his brother.
- John Cunningham, 15th Earl of Glencairn (1750–1796) died without issue.
See also
- ^ Document No. NAS020024RT1-4-00124V in the National Archives of Scotland
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, p. 310-314: Glencairn, Earl of