Earl of Kilmarnock

The title Earl of Kilmarnock was created in the peerage of Scotland in 1661 for William Boyd, 10th Lord Boyd. That title was also created in the Scottish peerage in 1454 for Robert Boyd, Great Chamberlain of Scotland. Both titles were forfeit in 1746.

Thomas Boyd, the elder son of Robert Boyd, 1st Lord Boyd—and father of the second one—was created Earl of Arran in 1467, but both titles were forfeit in 1469. Considerable confusion exists over the numbering of the Lord Boyds, the numbering in this article is the same as that used in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.[nb 1]

The 4th Earl of Kilmarnock was the father of the 15th Earl of Erroll. The Kilmarnock title was revived in 1831 for the latter's grandson, William George Hay, 18th Earl of Erroll, who was created Baron Kilmarnock in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Since 1941 this title is a separate peerage.

Ancestors

Lords Boyd (1454)

Earls of Kilmarnock (1661)

Earl of Kilmarnock

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Balfour 1904, p. 155 Notes that Considerable confusion exists as to the numbering of the Lords Boyd. In the Complete Peerage Balfour's Robert, 5th Lord Boyd is considered the 3rd Lord, though in the Dictionary National Bibliography (Rigg 1886, pp. 96,97), as in Douglas, "he is, for some cause, called the fourth Lord, though, if the attainder is not reckoned (whereby three persons, viz. (1) the Earl of Arran (living 1472); (2) James Boyd (died 1484), son and heir of the Earl of Arran; and (3) Alexander Boyd (living 1505), uncle and heir of the said James, were excluded from the succession), he would apparently have been sixth Lord", (Douglas see p. 399, note 6). Balfour states that it now known that the Earl of Arran died v.p., and that James was restored as Lord Boyd in 1482, therefore this Robert was apparently de facto fourth Lord. As, however, there is some doubt on the point, the present writer has determined to reckon them as if each head of the family since the original creation of 1454 had actually succeeded to the Peerage, as indeed but for the attainder of 1469 they would have done. Cokayne writing a decade after agreed with Balfour's numbering (Cokayne 1912, p. 160), as does Hewitt the author of the 21st century article "Boyd, Robert, fifth Lord Boyd (c.1517–1590)" in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Hewitt 2004).

References