The Earl of Mar and Kellie | |
---|---|
Member of the House of Lords | |
as a hereditary peer 23 December 1993 –11 November 1999 | |
Preceded by | The 13th Earl of Mar and 15th Earl of Kellie |
Succeeded by | Seat abolished |
as a life peer 19 April 2000 –30 June 2017 [1] | |
Personal details | |
Born | 10 March 1949 |
Political party | Liberal Democrat |
James Thorne Erskine,14th Earl of Mar and 16th Earl of Kellie,Baron Erskine of Alloa Tower, DL (born 10 March 1949) is a Scottish peer and former Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords.
Educated at Eton,he was Page of Honour to Queen Elizabeth II in 1962 and 1963. He proceeded to Moray House College of Education,Edinburgh,before embarking on a career in social work with various Scottish local authorities. He has also worked as a boatbuilder,and has served with the Royal Auxiliary Air Force and Royal Naval Auxiliary Service.
Having succeeded to the titles the previous year,the earl took his seat in the House of Lords in 1994,choosing to sit on the Liberal Democrat benches. He lost his seat after the passage of the House of Lords Act 1999. However,on 19 April 2000,he was created a life peer as Baron Erskine of Alloa Tower,of Alloa in the County of Clackmannanshire , [2] enabling him to return to the House. He was the Liberal Democrat candidate for the constituency of Ochil in the 1999 Scottish Parliament election,but was not elected. He retired from the House of Lords on 30 June 2017. [3]
As the 16th Viscount Fentoun,he is Premier Viscount in the Peerage of Scotland. He is also Chief of the Name and Arms of Erskine. Since 1991,he has been a Deputy Lieutenant of Clackmannanshire.[ citation needed ]
Owing to a dispute in the nineteenth century,there is another Earldom of Mar,held by Margaret Alison of Mar,31st Countess of Mar. Precedence as determined by the Decreet of Ranking is Countess of Mar,4th (created 1404) and Earl of Mar and Kellie,10th (created 1619).[ citation needed ]
As the Earl of Mar does not have any children,his heir presumptive is his younger brother Hon. Alexander David Erskine.[ citation needed ]
Clackmannanshire,or the County of Clackmannan,is a historic county,council area,registration county and lieutenancy area in Scotland,bordering the council areas of Stirling,Fife,and Perth and Kinross. In terms of historic counties it borders Perthshire,Stirlingshire and Fife.
Marquess of Huntly is a title in the Peerage of Scotland that was created on 17 April 1599 for George Gordon,6th Earl of Huntly. It is the oldest existing marquessate in Scotland,and the second-oldest in the British Isles;only the English marquessate of Winchester is older. The Marquess holds the following subsidiary titles:Lord Gordon of Strathaven and Glenlivet and Earl of Aboyne,and Baron Meldrum,of Morven in the County of Aberdeen.
The Peerage of the United Kingdom is one of the five Peerages in the United Kingdom. It comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Acts of Union in 1801,when it replaced the Peerage of Great Britain. New peers continued to be created in the Peerage of Ireland until 1898
There are currently two earldoms of Mar in the Peerage of Scotland,and the title has been created seven times. The first creation of the earldom is currently held by Margaret of Mar,31st Countess of Mar,who is also clan chief of Clan Mar. The seventh creation is currently held by James Erskine,14th Earl of Mar and 16th Earl of Kellie,who is also clan chief of Clan Erskine.
The title Earl of Kellie or Kelly is a title in the Peerage of Scotland,created in 1619 for Sir Thomas Erskine,who was Captain of the Guard and Groom of the Stool for James VI. It is named after Barony of Kellie in Fife,Scotland. Since 1875,it has been held jointly with the Earldom of Mar.
The Mormaer or Earl of Buchan was originally the provincial ruler of the medieval province of Buchan. Buchan was the first Mormaerdom in the High Medieval Kingdom of the Scots to pass into the hands of a non-Scottish family in the male line. The earldom had three lines in its history,not counting passings from female heirs to sons. Today,it is held by the Erskine family as a peerage. The current holder is Harry Erskine,18th Earl of Buchan.
Earl of Rosslyn is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1801 for Alexander Wedderburn,1st Baron Loughborough,Lord Chancellor from 1793 to 1801,with special remainder to his nephew Sir James St Clair-Erskine,as Wedderburn had no surviving issue of his own. Wedderburn had already been created Baron Loughborough,of Loughborough in the County of Leicester,in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1780,with normal remainder to the heirs male of his body,and Baron Loughborough,of Loughborough in the County of Surrey,in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1795,with the same remainder as the earldom. The 1780 barony became extinct upon his death,but the 1795 barony and the earldom passed,by the special remainder,to his nephew,who thus became the second Earl of Rosslyn. The second Earl was a Lieutenant-General in the Army and also held political office as Lord Privy Seal and Lord President of the Council.
Earl Cathcart is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.
The hereditary peers form part of the peerage in the United Kingdom. As of August 2023,there are 805 hereditary peers:30 dukes,34 marquesses,189 earls,110 viscounts,and 442 barons.
The British peerage is governed by a body of law that has developed over several centuries. Much of this law has been established by a few important cases,and some of the more significant of these are addressed in this article.
John Erskine,2nd Earl of Mar was a Scottish politician,the only son of another John Erskine and Annabella Murray. He is regarded as both the 19th earl and the 2nd earl.
Margaret Alison of Mar,31st Countess of Mar,is a Scottish hereditary peer and politician. She was a crossbench member of the House of Lords from 1975 to 2020 and was one of 92 hereditary peers elected to remain in the Lords in 1999. She is the holder of the original earldom of Mar,the oldest peerage title in the United Kingdom. She is the only suo jure countess and was the only female hereditary peer in the House of Lords from 2014 to 2020. She is also a farmer and former specialist goats cheesemaker in Great Witley,Worcestershire.
Clan Erskine is a Scottish clan of the Scottish Lowlands.
Thomas Erskine,1st Earl of Kellie was a Scottish peer.
By-elections to the House of Lords occur when vacancies arise among seats assigned to hereditary peers due to death,resignation,or disqualification. Candidates for these by-elections are limited to holders of hereditary peerages,and their electorates are made up of sitting Lords;in most cases the electorate are those sitting hereditary peers of the same party affiliation as the departed peer.
Marie Stewart,Countess of Mar (1576-1644) was a Scottish courtier. She was the daughter of EsméStewart,1st Duke of Lennox and Catherine de Balsac d’Entragues (d. c.1631) and a favourite of James VI of Scotland. After her marriage,as was customary in Scotland,she did not change her name,and signed her letters as "Marie Stewart".
Annabell Murray,Countess of Mar (1536–1603),was a Scottish landowner,courtier and royal servant,the keeper of the infant James VI and his son Prince Henry at Stirling Castle
John Erskine,3rd Earl of Mar was a Scottish landowner.
Elections of the excepted hereditary peers were held in October and November 1999,before the House of Lords Act 1999 excluded most hereditary peers from the membership of the House of Lords allowing Earl Marshal,Lord Great Chamberlain and 90 others to remain in the House. Before the passing of the 1999 Act,the Lords approved a Standing Order stating that those 90 would consist of:
John Melvin (1855–1905) was a Scottish architect in central Scotland specialising in Arts &Crafts architecture.