Forms of Address & Precedence
The Definitive Guide to Proper Address for Scottish Barons
The correct forms, in writing, in speech and online.
Forms of Address & Precedence
The Definitive Guide to Proper Address for Scottish Barons
Baronage of Scotland Association · www.baronage.com/proper-address/
“It is rude, not ‘respectful,’ to address Clanranald as ‘Mr. Macdonald’”
Address
A Scottish Baron is referred to as “The Baron” / “The Baroness”
- Third person introduction: The Baron (of Inverness and Lady Inverness)
- In person: Baron or simply ‘Inverness’ may be used
- In person: Baroness or Lady Inverness
“Mr / Mrs Smith” or “Esq.” is certainly incorrect. Some wives of Highland clan chief-barons prefer Madam.
“Your Honour” is the old formal address of a baron, the spoken counterpart of the written prefix “The Much Honoured”.
A baron’s forms run parallel to a duke’s, each at its own level:
| A duke | A baron | |
|---|---|---|
| Title | The Duke of X | The Baron of X |
| Speaking about him | the Duke | the Baron |
| Speaking to him, as an equal | Duke | Baron (or Inverness) |
| Speaking to him deferentially | Your Grace | Your Honour |
| Formal letter | opens “My Lord Duke”, closes “Your Grace’s most obedient servant” | opens “Much Honoured Sir”, closes “Your Honour’s humble servant” |
| Social letter | “Dear Duke of Middlesex” or “Dear Duke” | “Dear Baron of Inverness”, “Dear Baron” or “Dear Inverness” |
| Envelope | His Grace the Duke of Middlesex | The Much Honoured, the Baron of Inverness |
Written Address
When writing to a Scottish Baron who holds a territorial designation (TD), the correct format for the envelope or any formal correspondence is (brackets are optional):
(The Much Hon.) John Smith of Glenmore, Baron of Inverness
or
John Smith of Glenmore, Much Hon. the Baron of Inverness
Some barons with a TD choose not to use their baron title. However, most barons do not hold a TD and just the title is normally the preferred format, for example:
- (The Much Honoured or The) Baron of Inverness
Also correct: if the title is Pledged (a lifelong honour), the title can replace the surname for daily or professional use: John, Baron of Inverness or John Inverness. The holder may also retain their family name, with or without TD, though it is not typically used in daily life.
As published in The Telegraph — the premier baron:
Niall, Baron of Bachuil
Bachuil chaired a Titles and Usages Committee, producing the paper “The Use and Abuse of Titles”, and presented the views of the Convention of the Baronage of Scotland to the Court of the Lord Lyon and the Scottish Parliament.
Where the TD and the barony differ, both are written, as the Lyon Court’s Gazette notices do: “[Surname] of Kildonan, Baron of Inverness”. They may also be joined socially: Lord Lyon Innes of Learney, writing in 1945, called the petitioner in the Esslemont case, Gordon of Hallhead, “The Baron of Hallhead-Esslemont”, though the Lyon Register records him as “Baron of Esslemont”. The recorded title stays “Baron of [Barony]”; the wife takes the designation, as a laird’s wife always has.
- Formal: [Surname] of Kildonan, Baron of Inverness
- Joined, social: The Much Honoured Baron of Kildonan-Inverness
- Wife: Lady Kildonan
A Scottish barony is a personal dignity held legally by the baron (or baroness in her own right). It does not create a separate legal title for a spouse. However, under British social custom, a wife is the legal and social equal of her husband in style and title. She shares his rank and assumes the feminine form of his title by legal description but does not hold it in her own right. Upon marriage, she takes his style; if widowed or divorced, her use of the title follows convention, not entitlement. As titles of nobility are considered part of a person’s name and identity, her title is reflected in a British passport as her legal name.
A baron’s wife is typically styled Lady, and a baroness in her own right Baroness of.
Baroness is the rank, Lady the social form; either may be used, but never together:
- The Lady Inverness or Jane, Lady Inverness
- (The Much Honoured or The) Baroness of Inverness or (The Much Hon.) Jane Smith, Baroness of Inverness
“Lady Jane” is incorrect and should never be used — this is the title for daughters of a senior peer: a Duke, Marquis or Earl. Forms such as “Lady Jane Inverness” or “Baron John of Inverness” are often seen, but are still socially incorrect. The phrase “Lady of Inverness” is wrong unless the lady in question is a laird in her own right.
In cases where the Baron is entitled to post-nominal letters, these follow the title, such as:
- The Baron of Inverness, CBE
A title granted by the Crown, such as a Scottish barony, supersedes academic titles like Professor or Doctor, which are not used for official and ceremonial purposes if the Crown has recognised the baronial status. The baronial title takes precedence and should stand alone due to its higher rank. However, if an individual insists on including their academic title, it goes first:
- Prof The Much Hon John Smith, Baron of Inverness or Prof the Baron of Inverness or Prof Inverness
- Dr The Lady Inverness (Jane Smith, 5th baroness) — name in brackets or Dr Inverness
A style of Doctor or Professor is no recognition of baron rank, as both rank under a baron. The Stair Memorial Encyclopaedia in its volume of 1995 has a paragraph headed “The baronage”. The baronage, it says, has a precedency established by Act of Parliament. Barons rank before esquires, and before doctors of divinity, law and physic.
Salutation in Letters
When beginning a letter to a Scottish Baron, the salutation should reflect the dignity of the title. A lower-case “b” for baron is inconsequential. The correct salutation is:
- Dear the baron of Inverness or Dear Baron
- Dear Lady Inverness or Dear Baroness of Inverness or Dear Baroness
Alternatively, only the barony or TD can be used: Dear Inverness, but this format is never for a lady.
Dear Baron Inverness has also been used by the Lyon Office:
Select a letter to enlarge it.
Addressing the Children of a Baron
The heir-apparent is styled “Younger of Barony”, as a Scottish peer’s heir is “Master of”. “The” may go before either, and keeps “younger” from being read as a surname.
- Younger of Barony or Mr John Smith, Younger of Barony or Barony yr (spoken barony or young barony)
- Wife of heir: Mrs Smith, Younger of Barony
Where there is no son and a daughter is the heir, some families style her “Maid of Barony”, a usage best kept where the family already has it:
- Maid of Barony or Miss Jane Smith, the Maid of Barony
If a baron holds a territorial designation, the TD typically takes precedence:
- Mr John Smith of TD, yr
- Wife of heir: Mrs Smith of TD, yr
- Unmarried daughters: Miss Mary Smith of TD
Special Considerations
If the Baron holds additional titles or ranks, the baronial title should take precedence in most forms of address. However, in cases where the Baron is also a peer, baronet, or knight of the realm, that title would take precedence. For example:
- The Rt Hon The Lord Inverness (if a Scottish Baron is also a Peer)
If the Baron is also a knight:
- Sir John Smith or Sir John Smith, Baron of Inverness
Military ranks go before the title, or, for maximum formality:
- Major (the Baron of) Inverness
- Major the Much Hon Baron of Inverness DL (John Smith, 5th baron) — post-nominals after title, name in brackets
Widow or Dowager Baroness
The mother of the premier baron — also styled Madam instead of Lady, as a Highland chiefly family:
The Dowager Madam Livingstone of Bachuil
As published in The Telegraph: Valerie, Madam Livingstone of Bachuil and Niall, Baron of Bachuil
The following section applies only to Pledged titles, as the title of honour always remains within the family. However, if a non-Pledged title is disponed to another family, the honour ceases for all connected family members, meaning there can be no dowager or continued courtesy titles. Upon the death of a Scottish Baron, the widow retains the style of “Lady [Barony]” unless the new Baron, who must be her son or grandson, is married. She may then choose to be styled:
- The Dowager Lady Inverness
- Margaret, Lady Inverness
If she remarries, she would take her style from her new husband, forfeiting her previous title.However, by long-standing social convention in Great Britain, a divorced wife who does not remarry may choose to retain her former husband’s title, minus the prefix “The Much Honoured”.
Digital Address Guidelines for Barons
Use the title on every record and every signature.
“It need hardly be pointed out that official recognition is only accorded where such titles are ordinarily used … Signature on cheques is a good test!”
Such titles should be “regularly employed in all registrations of Births, Marriages, or Deaths”.
When entering a baron’s title into a computer system, make sure it displays correctly and with proper respect. Below are recommended entries for typical fields in databases, online forms and directories. Always think of how it will appear in that system:
Worked example
Choose the kind of title field the system offers, then fill in the form with your own names as you would on a real site. The panel shows what that system will make of it.
Your name as the system shows it
Baron John of Inverness
Title + first name + surname, as most profiles and labels are built.
The greeting in its emails
Dear Baron of Inverness
Correct.
Title + surname, as automated emails usually greet you.
Display name, where shown
The Baron
Never “Mr Smith”, “Baron Smith” or “Baron Inverness”. Salutation in letters: “Dear Baron of Inverness”.
Email signature
Tap a style to see the from-name and signature change below:
Keep the from-name short and let the signature carry the full style. “The Baron” as a from-name reads well in a crowded inbox; the signature beneath says who that is.
FromThe Baron <thebaron@inverness.scot>
ToSecretary
SubjectThe Roll
Dear Secretary,
…
Kind regards,
John, Baron of Inverness
The worked example, with your own name and title, is at www.baronage.com/proper-address/#digital.
On a visiting card, and just the same in an email, the title goes on the same line as the name, never on a line beneath it:
- John Smith, Baron of Inverness
- Not “John Smith” with “Baron of Inverness” on a second line
“may (and strictly should) be on the same line as the name”
This is because the title is not an office. It is a title of nobility and part of one’s name and identity; on a second line it reads like a job title.
Higher Dignities: Lord and Earl in the Baronage of Scotland
A baron, a lord and an earl in the Baronage of Scotland are all barons of the Kingdom of Scotland, the higher ranks being, in the words of Viscount Stair, “but more noble titles of a barony”.
About 98% of titles in the Baronage of Scotland are Baron of; the rest are the rarer and nobler titles of lord and earl. Some holders of higher dignities choose to be known exclusively by the lower rank: “The Baron of X”. The Baron of Balvaird, of our Governing Council, is one: he holds a lordship and barony and does not use the title lord. “Baron of” helps to distinguish a baron from a peer, though many Irish peers are also “Baron of”. For an earl, which could be confused with the peerage, the prefix The Much Hon. (The Much Honoured) goes before the name.
The Roll of Scottish Barons styles the holder of an earldom in the form the Lyon Court has used for that holder, and typically only the senior rank is referenced. Where a Lord Lyon has recognised a holder of the earldom in an earl’s style, at present Crawfurd-Lindsay, Rothes and Breadalbane under Lord Lyon Blair in 2006–07, the style continues to the successor; otherwise the holder is styled Baron of the Earldom, the form the Lyon Court used for Annandale in 1983 and the ceiling Lord Lyon Sellar set in 2010. Some earldoms were erected by the Crown as an earldom, lordship and barony in one unit; others sit on a barony of another name.
Earldom example:
- Where a Lord Lyon has recognised the earldom’s holder as Earl: The Much Honoured Earl of Lochaber in the Baronage of Scotland (spoken Lochaber)
- Otherwise: The Much Honoured Baron of the Earldom of Lochaber (spoken Lochaber)
- Peer: The Right Honourable The Earl of Lochaber (spoken Lord Lochaber or The Earl)
Note that for Lords in the Baronage of Scotland, a baron is a lord and a lord is a baron: “Lord of X” and “Baron of X” are interchangeable, as the holder prefers, and both are correct. A Scots baron who is not a lord is only ever called a baron. “Lord Baron of X” is an ancient combined formality. Feudal lords were written both “Lord X” and “Lord of X”, in the most formal documents, including Crown charters, as Borthwick’s examples below show: William Lord Graham in 1416 and William Lord of Graham in 1420, before the Lord of Parliament honour of 1445. The medieval sheriff-court rolls entered an earl as “Enters A, Earl of B”, a lord as “Enters A, Lord of B” and a baron as “Enters A, Baron of B”.
William Borthwick, 1775 — An inquiry into the origin and limitations of the feudal dignities of Scotland
1416 William Lord Graham >
1420 William Lord of Graham
By definition a feudal lordship, as the additional Lord of Parliament honour was not created for Lord Graham until 1445.
Both forms remain in use. “Lord X” asserts no rank by itself: it is the spoken form of peers, but equally of judges of the Court of Session, courtesy lords and the Lord Lyon himself, and it is the male counterpart of “Lady X”, the form the baronage has always used for a baroness or a baron’s wife. So for a lord in the Baronage of Scotland, “The Much Honoured (the) Lord Lochaber” and “The Much Honoured (the) Lord of Lochaber” are equally correct, the prefix marking the baronage, while a baron who is not a lord remains “Baron of Inverness”.
The peerage rank was called “Lord of Parliament”, not simply “Lord”, because lords held territorially in the Baronage of Scotland, by charter in free lordship, or as lord barons by charter in lordship and barony. Lord of Parliament was at first an additional honour added to such a lordship, and only later given by personal patent alone.
The Register of the Great Seal of Scotland
1591: Sir John Murray of Tullibardine, knight, in free lordship
1583: Andrew Keith, in free lordship and barony, to be called lord and baron of Dingwall, who should have the honour of a lord of Parliament
The first holds a lordship by charter and nothing more. The second has to add the honour of Parliament in words.
Formally, for a lordship, the Lyon Court has recorded it as “Baron of X” and “Lord thereof”. “The Lord X” is also used as a style, just as “The Baroness of X” may be “The Lady X”. This style is old Scottish usage, not a claim to peerage. Innes of Learney’s edition of Adam names “a baron, the Lord of Strathbogie” in the reign of Alexander III, and Borthwick lists “Lord Strathbolgie” among the Lord Barons of Scotland. Innes gives the same “The” for wives, “The Lady Drum” and “The Lady Invercauld”, and calls the wives’ title “not a ‘courtesy’ but a proper legal description”. The Passport Office gives the modern rule:
“A substantive holder will have the word, ‘The’ at the beginning of their title.” “A person who holds a courtesy title would not have the word, ‘The’ as part of their title.”
A Scottish barony is a substantive title in law, so a lord in the baronage takes “The” on the same footing.
Lordship example:
- Scottish baronial lord: The Much Honoured (the) Lord Lochaber or Baron of Lochaber
- Baron without a lordship: The Much Honoured Baron of Lochaber NEVER LORD
- Peer: The Right Honourable The Lord Lochaber
“Baron X” is different. In Britain it is the formal designation of a peer of the rank of baron, the form the Esslemont Memorial of 1934 noted is “preferred for formal purposes by English and British lords”. The Scottish form is “Baron of X”, although the Lyon Office has used “Baron X” socially in salutation, and Innes of Learney notes “Baron McCorquodale” as a non-peerage description in 1427.
The style of an heir to these higher dignities is the same as for baron rank: “Younger of Lochaber” for a son, and, where a daughter is the heir, “Maid of Lochaber”. Earls in the Baronage of Scotland typically hold subsidiary lordships or baronies. For Pledged title holders, the Roll recommends special disposition allowing their children use of their junior titles during their lifetimes, much like courtesy titles in the peerage, or more closely the Spanish nobility’s transfer of subsidiary titles in life. This is a one-time, irreversible process that lasts until death, after which the title reverts to the primary succession of the senior title. For advice, contact us.
For the history of these words see Lairds, lords and barons and the glossary.
Sources
- “In personal address, the title alone is used, e.g. ‘Lochiel,’ ‘Glengarry,’ ‘Monaltrie’—no ‘Mr.’”; and “It is rude, not ‘respectful,’ to address Clanranald as ‘Mr. Macdonald’”: Frank Adam, The Clans, Septs and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands, revised by Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, p. 409 (the page linked is from a later printing).
- Innes of Learney on the Baron of Kilravock: addressed by the Earl of Huntly, Argyll and other great public men, “and colloquially referred to as ‘the Baron’”. And “in the speech of the countryside”, the tomb of Alexander Innes of Sinnahard, Baron of Towie, was still pointed out 200 years after his death “as that of ‘the Baron’”: PSAS 79 (1944–45), p. 158 (article record). See The Lord Lyon’s Case for the Baronage.
- “In personal address, the title alone is used, e.g. ‘Lochiel,’ ‘Glengarry,’ ‘Monaltrie’—no ‘Mr.’”; and “It is rude, not ‘respectful,’ to address Clanranald as ‘Mr. Macdonald’”: Frank Adam, The Clans, Septs and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands, revised by Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, p. 409 (the page linked is from a later printing).
- “‘Esquire’ is not normally added, the designation being taken to infer it.” Where it is used, that is “when the laird or chief is not a baron”: Frank Adam, The Clans, Septs and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands, revised by Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, p. 410 (the page linked is from a later printing).
- A laird’s wife is “in formal documents, ‘Madam Neilson of Craigcaffie’”: Frank Adam, The Clans, Septs and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands, revised by Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, p. 411 (the page linked is from a later printing).
- Used to barons from the 1620s to the 1770s (“May it pleas your Honour”, the tenants of Glenshee to the Laird of Invercauld, 1776, The Records of Invercauld, pp. 342–343) and recorded in Titles and Forms of Address (1955): “The prefix of Chiefs and Laird-Barons was, in writing, The Much Honoured; in address, Your Honour” — archive.org. See Where “The Much Honoured” comes from.
- Titles and Forms of Address, 9th ed. (1955), under “Chiefs of Scottish Clans and Territorial Houses”: “The prefix of Chiefs and Laird-Barons was, in writing, The Much Honoured; in address, Your Honour” — archive.org. In use: “May it pleas your Honour”, the tenants of Glenshee to the Laird of Invercauld, 4 March 1776, The Records of Invercauld, pp. 342–343. See Where “The Much Honoured” comes from.
- Opening: the Marquis of Huntly to the Laird of Grant, 22 December 1677, “Much honored Sir”, The Chiefs of Grant, vol. 2, p. 23; General Mackay to Campbell of Calder, 18 October 1677, “Much Honored Sir”, The Book of the Thanes of Cawdor, p. 336. Close: George Stirling to the Laird of Keir, 1673, “your Honouris humble servant”, The Stirlings of Keir, p. 506. See Where “The Much Honoured” comes from.
- Letters “should be and still sometimes are addressed, e.g. ‘The Much Honoured, the Laird of Glenfalloch,’ or if a baron, ‘The Much Honoured, the Baron of Dunfallandy’”: Frank Adam, The Clans, Septs and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands, revised by Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, p. 410. The passage is in the edition of 1952 (W. & A. K. Johnston) and in later ones; the page linked is from a later printing. It is not in the first edition of 1908.
- A baron might have both a title and a name with its territorial designation, and the records move freely between them: Mary Queen of Scots wrote to “the barroun of Kylrawak” in 1562, and a writ in her name of 1567 called him “Hucheoun Ros of Kilrawak”. See Baron of X, or X of Y? Two styles of a Scottish baron.
- Niall Livingstone of Bachuil was Honorary Treasurer of the Convention of the Baronage of Scotland from 1981 to 2007 and latterly “Chairman of the Titles and Usages Committee”, which produced a paper on “The Use and Abuse of Titles”; he presented the Convention’s views to the Court of the Lord Lyon and the Scottish Parliament: the clan’s website.
- Court of the Lord Lyon, “Rolls of the Chiefs, and Heads of Territorial Houses … Officially Recognised”, The Edinburgh Gazette, 19 August 2005: entries print the designation and the barony together where they differ, e.g. “Newlands of Lauriston, Baron of Miltonhaven” (matriculated 6 October 2003, Lyon Register 85/36) — The Gazette. The same form appears in earlier notices, e.g. “Teall of Teallach Baron of Huntly”, 4 April 1997, p. 777.
- Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, “The Robes of the Feudal Baronage of Scotland”, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 79 (1944–45): the Esslemont matriculation of 4 September 1934, Lyon Register vol. xxxi, p. 20, in which Gordon of Hallhead was “duly described as Baron of Esslemont”, p. 160 n. 1; and “The Baron of Hallhead-Esslemont duly received both chapeau and designation, consistently with the statute and the ancient precedents of Lyon Court”, p. 163 — journal PDF. See The Esslemont petition of 1934.
- “This feudal title of ‘lady’ is not a ‘courtesy’ but a proper legal description of the female”; “‘Lady Craigcaffie’ is a style still used, e.g. Lyon Court record narrative”: Frank Adam, The Clans, Septs and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands, revised by Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, p. 411 (the page linked is from a later printing). The Laird of Drum’s wife is “The Lady Drum”: the same, p. 410, note 1.
- “Titles of nobility are part of a person’s name and identity”: HM Passport Office, Titles, guidance for passport staff.
- The same division in the peerage: a baron’s wife is entered as “The Lady [title]” and a peeress in her own right as “The Baroness [title]”: HM Passport Office, Titles, guidance for passport staff. The Roll gives one style, with the other in brackets: “The Much Honoured Lady Chirnside (Ethel Patricia Hewitt Kirby, Baroness of Chirnside)”, the Roll. “‘Lady Craigcaffie’ is a style still used, e.g. Lyon Court record narrative”: Frank Adam, The Clans, Septs and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands, revised by Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, p. 411 (the page linked is from a later printing). For the two forms in a deed see How is a Scottish baron named in a legal document?
- “The Lady Drum”: Frank Adam, The Clans, Septs and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands, revised by Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, p. 410 (the page linked is from a later printing).
- “Lady” is used “of all daughters of the three highest ranks of the peerage”, e.g. “The Lady Jean Smith”: Titles and Forms of Address, 9th ed. (1955), p. 45.
- Catherine Maxwell Stuart, 21st Lady of Traquair, signs the welcome on Traquair House’s own site — traquair.co.uk, “About Traquair”.
- Birthday Honours 2005, Diplomatic Service and Overseas List, 11 June 2005, Order of the British Empire, OBE: “Robert Brown GILLESPIE, Baron of Blackhall — For services to British business interests, especially engineering, in France”, p. 2 — PDF (BBC News). The official list prints the barony as part of the name; the honour follows it. Innes of Learney gives the rule: such honours “follow after the territorial or chiefly title, e.g. ‘Colonel Hugh Rose of Kilravock, C.B.’”: Frank Adam, The Clans, Septs and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands, revised by Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, p. 410 (the page linked is from a later printing).
- Court of Session, Outer House, Opinion of Lord Uist, 22 February 2008, [2008] CSOH 36, in the Petition of “Professor The Much Honoured Stephen Pendaries Kerr of Ardgowan, Baron of Ardgowan” for judicial review of a decision of the Lord Lyon King of Arms. His petition to the Lord Lyon of 24 May 2004 was “in the name ‘The Much Honoured Stephen Kerr of Ardgowan, Baron of Ardgowan’” (para. [2]) — Scottish Courts (archived).
- The Laws of Scotland: Stair Memorial Encyclopaedia, vol. 16 (1995), “Precedence”, by Sir Crispin Agnew of Lochnaw, Bt, Rothesay Herald of Arms, para. 2021, “The baronage”, pp. 433–434. The Encyclopaedia of the Laws of Scotland, vol. XII (1931), “Precedence”, s. 28, by Thomas Innes, the later Lord Lyon, places the barons before doctors of divinity, law and physic, citing a decision of the Lyon Depute of 1811: p. 16. See “Never ceded” to knights or baronets: the precedence of a Scottish baron.
- Both appear, even from one writer. Mary of Guise, Queen Regent: “the Barroun of Kylrawach” in 1555, p. 220, and “the barron of Kylrawok” in 1557, p. 223. Mary Queen of Scots, “the barroun of Kylrawak”, 1562, p. 239; the Privy Council, “the Baron of Kilrawack”, 1632, p. 318: A Genealogical Deduction of the Family of Rose of Kilravock (1848).
- Mary Queen of Scots, Aberdeen, 3 November 1562: “To our traist freynd the barroun of Kylrawak”: A Genealogical Deduction of the Family of Rose of Kilravock (1848), p. 239. Lord Lovat’s letter of 1732 opens “My dear Baron,”: the same, p. 407. See Baron of X, or X of Y? Two styles of a Scottish baron.
- In personal letters a laird or chief “is addressed ‘Dear Glenfalloch,’ not ‘Dear Campbell’”: Frank Adam, The Clans, Septs and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands, revised by Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, p. 410 (the page linked is from a later printing).
- Parliament, 1584, in one list: “Robert Dowglas, younger of Lochlevin, Laurence, maister of Oliephant, Johne, maister of Forbes” (Records of the Parliaments of Scotland, 1584/5/60). The Crown today: “Donald Cameron, Younger of Lochiel” (London Gazette, 21 March 1986, p. 4069). With “the”: an Act of 1778, “Lieutenant Allan Malcolm the younger of Lochore” (18 Geo. III, c. 23, p. 486). For a Scottish peer’s heir the Passport Office enters “MASTER OF [title]” as the surname and adds “THE MASTER OF [title]” (HM Passport Office, Titles). An Introductory Survey of the Sources and Literature of Scots Law, Stair Society, vol. 1 (1936), p. 433: “Whilst the heir-apparent of a feudal baron is invariably styled ‘younger of’, the heir, whether apparent or presumptive, of an earl or peerage-lord is ‘Master’.” Quoted in the Dictionaries of the Scots Language, “Maister”, sense 3. Innes of Learney: “the heir-apparent prefixes the word ‘younger’ (or ‘ygr.’) to the title”; officials “might otherwise suppose ‘younger’ to be a surname”, so in deeds he writes the word last; and “All unmarried daughters bear these titles, but younger sons, younger brothers, and collaterals do not bear the designation of the house”: Frank Adam, The Clans, Septs and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands, revised by Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, p. 408 (the page linked is from a later printing). See “Younger of” and “Master of”: the record set straight.
- “From the Isle of Lismore came Catriona, the Maid of Bachuil heir to the chiefship of the Macleays, and her sister Flora Livingstone of Bachuil.” — the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs, “Heirs Reception given by the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs”, 15 December 2014, on the reception at the Palace of Holyroodhouse on 28 November 2014. See also the Baron of the Bachuil’s own profile on LinkedIn (sign-in needed).
- A peer who also holds baronies: “The Right Honourable the Lord Borthwick”, Baron of Borthwick, Locherwart and Heriotmuir, “addressed as My Lord or Lord Borthwick”: the Roll.
- Innes of Learney’s example puts the rank first and the honour last, “Colonel Hugh Rose of Kilravock, C.B.”: Frank Adam, The Clans, Septs and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands, revised by Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, p. 410 (the page linked is from a later printing).
- “Under Scots law, a wife or widow has certain rights in her husband’s estate, and in our law of families and titles she has corresponding rights in the name and title of her husband”: Frank Adam, The Clans, Septs and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands, revised by Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, p. 410 (the page linked is from a later printing).
- The rule for peers and baronets. Where the new holder has no wife, the widow usually stays as she was; otherwise she is “The Dowager Duchess of Middlesex”, or, if an earlier Dowager is alive, “Mary, Duchess of Middlesex”. In Scotland the style of Dowager “is applied only where the peeress is mother or grandmother of the reigning peer”: Titles and Forms of Address, 9th ed. (1955), p. 40.
- A peeress who re-marries “loses her previous title unless it is hers in her own right”: Titles and Forms of Address, 9th ed. (1955), p. 41.
- The divorced wife of a viscount “may continue to use the courtesy style of viscountess until they remarry”, and the divorced wife of a baronet or knight is entered as “[first forename] Lady [surname]”: HM Passport Office, Titles, guidance for passport staff.
- Sir Thomas Innes of Learney on titles in ordinary use: Frank Adam, The Clans, Septs and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands, revised by Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, p. 409 (the page linked is from a later printing).
- Innes of Learney quotes the editor of the Annuaire de la Noblesse de la France: such titles should be “regularly employed in all registrations of Births, Marriages, or Deaths”: Frank Adam, The Clans, Septs and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands, revised by Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, p. 409 (the page linked is from a later printing).
- Territorial and chiefly titles are used upon visiting-cards, “where they may (and strictly should) be on the same line as the name”: Frank Adam, The Clans, Septs and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands, revised by Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, p. 410 (the page linked is from a later printing).
- “Titles of nobility are part of a person’s name and identity”: HM Passport Office, Titles, guidance for passport staff.
- James Dalrymple, Viscount Stair, The Institutions of the Law of Scotland (2nd ed., 1693), II.iii.45, p. 222 — archive.org.
- Of the 1,871 baronies in the Index of Scottish Baronies, about 40 are a lordship or higher as well as a barony.
- “the Petitioner prima facie holds the lordship of Balvaird being of the genus of barony”: Lord Lyon King of Arms, 14 January 2020, as given on the Roll, which enters the title as a lordship and barony, Baron of Balvaird being the holder’s preference: Brady Balvaird, the Baron of Balvaird.
- Annandale: Letters Patent of Lord Lyon Innes of Edingight, 4 February 1983, “Baron of the Barony of the lands of the Earldom of Annandale and Hartfell”, recorded in The Edinburgh Gazette, 17 January 1984, p. 51, and discussed in Lord Lyon Sellar’s Note in the Petition of Sturzenegger of Arran (c. 2010), pp. 19–22. Lord Lyon Blair’s recognitions: Crawfurd-Lindsay, Letters Patent 30 May 2007; Breadalbane, warrant 12 April 2006; Rothes, warrant 5 September 2006 and Letters Patent 6 August 2007 (Sellar, pp. 4–5). Sellar’s ruling that such an owner “has no claim to a style greater than that of baron”: the same Note. Full record in Non-peerage Earldoms.
- Letters Patent of Lord Lyon Innes of Edingight, 4 February 1983, recognising Percy Wentworth Hope Johnstone of Annandale and that Ilk as “Baron of the Barony of the lands of the Earldom of Annandale and Hartfell” and Chief of Clan Johnstone; recorded in the Lyon Court’s notice in The Edinburgh Gazette, 17 January 1984, p. 51, Lyon Register 66/71 — The Gazette; discussed by Lord Lyon Sellar, Note in the Petition of Sturzenegger of Arran (c. 2010), pp. 19–22.
- Lord Lyon Sellar, Note in the Petition of Sturzenegger of Arran (petition of 10 February 2006; Note c. 2010), reported as Sturzenegger, Petitioner (No 2) 2015 SLT (Lyon Ct) 2: of the passages in Stair and Erskine, “it suggests to me that in terms of the feudal grant the owner has no claim to a style greater than that of baron”; the petition for recognition as “Feudal Earl of Arran” was refused.
- One unit: Crawfurd and Lindsay, charter of 1 March 1648, ratified RPS 1648/3/234; Slains and Erroll, charter of 29 March 1699, ratified RPS 1700/10/253. A barony of another name: Rothes, whose Fife lands were erected into the free barony of Ballinbreich (“in liberam baroniam de Ballinbreich”, RMS VI, nos. 756–757, 1598); Wigtown, on the lordship and barony of Cumbernauld (1588/9).
- James Dalrymple, Viscount Stair, The Institutions of the Law of Scotland (2nd ed., 1693), II.iii.45, p. 222 — archive.org.
- William Borthwick, An Inquiry into the Origin and Limitations of the Feudal Dignities of Scotland (1775), p. 3 (“Lord Barons”; the term recurs at pp. 4, 16, 18 and 19) — archive.org; John Lodge, The Peerage of Ireland (rev. ed., 1789), vol. V, pp. 40–41, decree of 1634 on precedency between “the Lord Baron of Trimlestown and the Lord Baron of Dunsany” — archive.org.
- Borthwick (1775), p. 21: “In the year 1416, William Lord Graham gets a charter of the barony of Mellenok, in which he is designed, Willielmo Domino Graham. And the same Lord gets a charter of the lands of Aldmontrose, dated the 4th August 1420, Willielmo Domino de Graham”, the charters being “on the record of the great seal” — archive.org. William’s grandson Patrick was already “the Lord Graham” in an English order of 8 March 1427, and “Prior to 28 June 1445 he was raised to the Peerage under the title of Lord Graham, sitting at that date for the first time as a Lord of Parliament”: The Scots Peerage, vol. VI, pp. 220–221, citing The Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, vol. II, p. 59.
- Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, “The Robes of the Feudal Baronage of Scotland”, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 79 (1944–45), pp. 111–163, at p. 158, citing the Additional Case for the Countess of Sutherland, p. 84, and Lord Hailes; in the Latin of the rolls, “Intrat A, Comes de B”, “Intrat A, Dominus de B” and “Intrat A, Baro de B” — journal PDF.
- Judges of the Court of Session: socially “Dear Lord —”, on the envelope “The Hon. Lord —”, the wife “Lady —”: Titles and Forms of Address, 9th ed. (1955), p. 136. Courtesy lords: a duke’s younger son is “Lord John Smith”, the same, p. 49. The Lord Lyon’s “Lord” is that of his office: Court of the Lord Lyon, About us.
- “Lord” was already “the lord or proprietor of a lordship” (sense 21). A lord of Parliament was “A member of the class of great landowners, as dukes, earls and certain of the greater barons or ‘lords’ … whose attendance at Parliaments or General Councils was reserved in the Act of 1428 and who were appointed to receive individual summons by precept” (sense 8 a), and more narrowly “An important baron below the rank of earl (and thus originally entitled only ‘lord’ …) who was among those whose attendance at Parliament by personal writ of summons was reserved” (sense 8 b): Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue, “Lord”. Borthwick (1775), p. 13: in free earldom a man was marked Earl, in free lordship Lord, in free barony Baron (“if he held his lands in libero comitatu, he was marked down Comes; if he held his lands in libero dominio, he was marked Dominus; if he held them only in libera baronia, he was marked Baro”). The Act of 5 March 1428, in modern English: “All bishops, abbots, priors, dukes, earls, lords of parliament and bannerets whom the King wishes shall be reserved, and summoned to councils and to parliaments by his special precept”: The Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, vol. II, p. 15, printed under 1427 in the old reckoning of the year; RPS 1428/3/3. See Lairds, lords and barons.
- The honour added to a lordship: the Dingwall charter below. By patent alone: on 18 October 1627 the King gave Sir Thomas Fairfax of Denton, knight, an Englishman, the title and honour of lord and baron of Parliament as Lord Fairfax of Cameron, the entry granting no lands (“titulum et honorem domini et baronis parliamenti”): Register of the Great Seal, vol. VIII, no. 1155, p. 404. Admission to the rank was “by formal creation or erection”: Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue, “Lord”, sense 8 b.
- 14 October 1591, to his servant Sir John Murray of Tullibardine, knight, in free lordship of Balquhidder (“servitori suo D. Joanni Murray de Tullybairdin militi”, “in liberum dominium de Balquhidder”): Register of the Great Seal, vol. V, no. 1939, p. 654. The Register prints abstracts of the charters.
- Charter of 18 March 1583, recited on 3 August 1587: in free lordship and barony, Andrew Keith to be called lord and baron of Dingwall, who should have the honour of a lord of Parliament (“in liberum dominium et baroniam … ordinando dictum Andream dominum et baronem de Dingwall nuncupandum, qui honorem domini parliamenti haberet”): Register of the Great Seal, vol. V, no. 1337, p. 461. So too at Paisley in 1587: in free temporal lordship and barony, with the title and honour of a free baron and lord of parliaments (“in liberum temporale dominium et baroniam de Paislay … titulum et honorem liberi baronis et domini parliamentorum”), no. 1320, p. 453.
- “Baron of Garlies” and “Lord and Steward thereof”: Letters Patent of Lord Lyon Blair, 27 February 2007, matriculated in the Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland, vol. 86, p. 97. See the Roll: the Lord of Garlies.
- “a baron, the Lord of Strathbogie”, in the reign of Alexander III: Frank Adam, The Clans, Septs and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands, revised by Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, p. 211 (the page linked is from a later printing). A lord went without “of” before the Lord of Parliament honour of 1445: “William Lord Graham” in a Great Seal charter of 1416, Borthwick (1775), p. 21, and “the Lord Graham” in an English order of 1427, The Scots Peerage, vol. VI, p. 220.
- In the reign of Alexander III, “a baron, the Lord of Strathbogie”: Frank Adam, The Clans, Septs and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands, revised by Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, p. 211 (the page linked is from a later printing). Borthwick (1775), p. 18: “There existed, before the reign of James I. the following Lord Barons of Scotland”, among them “Lord Strathbolgie” — archive.org.
- “The Lady Drum”: Frank Adam, The Clans, Septs and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands, revised by Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, p. 410 (the page linked is from a later printing), note 1. “The Lady Invercauld”, and “not a ‘courtesy’ but a proper legal description of the female”: Frank Adam, The Clans, Septs and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands, revised by Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, p. 411 (the page linked is from a later printing), and note 5.
- “A substantive holder will have the word, ‘The’ at the beginning of their title”; “A person who holds a courtesy title would not have the word, ‘The’ as part of their title”: HM Passport Office, Titles, guidance for passport staff.
- Innes of Learney (1945), p. 158 and n. 7, citing Sir Bruce Seton’s Gordon Peerage Case, p. 15. Reproduced below. On “Baron of X” as the correct form, and “esquire” never added, pp. 161–163; the Esslemont Memorial’s words “preferred for formal purposes by English and British lords”, p. 163. The Lord Lyon’s “Lord” is that of his office: “The Officers of the Court are the Lord Lyon King of Arms and the Lyon Clerk and Keeper of the Records, both appointed by the Sovereign on the recommendation of the First Minister” — Court of the Lord Lyon, About us.