Support the Baronage

The Baronage of Scotland Association is a non-profit owned by its members. Its Governing Council and the Keepers of the Roll serve unpaid, and the sites you are reading are built and kept by them. Listing on the Roll is free, and no gift to the Association has any bearing on it.

The Association exists to restore the standing of the baronage of Scotland, as the baronetage restored its own a century ago. Baronetcies had been sold and abused; in 1898 the baronets formed a body, and in 1910 a Royal Warrant gave them an official Roll, “divers abuses” having “crept into the said Order”. The baronage has the same need and the same answer: a Roll kept by its own body, verified against the public record, and in time officially recognised by royal warrant.

1. 1.To keep the Roll of Scottish Barons, the public, evidenced record of the baronage of Scotland, and to verify the entries on it.
2. 2.To advocate for the dignities of the baronage of Scotland, one of the historic Three Estates, and for the legal protection of its rights and heritage.
3. 3.To represent barons in their dealings with government, and to seek a royal warrant recognising the Roll.
4. 4.To offer barons the Pledge, an undertaking in honour by which a barony is treated by the Roll as hereditary and not in commercio, under the Baronial Code.
5. 5.To publish research on the law and history of the baronage, and to keep the descriptors of baronial titles in line with the law since 2004.
6. 6.To work with the other bodies of the Scottish nobility, the peerage, the chiefs, the baronetage and the Court of the Lord Lyon, and with baronial and noble associations at home; and to work internationally with nobiliary organisations, attending their events and advocating for the baronage.

The baronage is a fraction of the size of the baronetage, so a nominal subscription cannot carry it. Its objectives are advocacy and record: they need lawyers, genealogists, heralds and scholars of Scots law, and liaison with the bodies the baronage sits beside: the peerage, the chiefs, the baronetage and the Court of the Lord Lyon. All of our material is vetted by experts, and this all costs money and resources. The Association’s members and friends pay for that work.

Entry on the Roll. Free, pledged or not. Every holder of a Scottish barony may verify the entry and be recorded on the Roll at no charge, and may take the Pledge or leave it. No gift to the Association has any bearing on it.

A gift. A single gift of £500, or any amount you choose. Write to secretary@baronage.com for details or donate through this link: Donate

Patron. £1,000 a year, open to anyone. Patrons have all the benefits below, are named on this page with their consent, and may have their coat of arms shown on the Armorial page. Become a Patron

Friend of the Association. £100 a year, open to anyone with an interest in the baronage, baron or not. Friends receive the newsletter and the subscriber papers and a copy of the printed Roll when it is published, and are named in the annual list of Friends if they wish. Write to secretary@baronage.com to join. Become a Friend

Associate member. £250 a year, for barons entered on the Roll. Associate members have the Members’ Chamber, with its muniments room and heir access, a place at the Barons’ Gathering, the Association’s annual assembly, where barons attend in their baronial robes, and the Association’s meetups. Full membership, with ownership and voting rights, is by arrangement with the Secretary.

Full member and benefactor. For barons who wish to carry the work: all of the above, and a dedicated page for Google under your own name and title in the manner of a Burke’s Peerage entry, with your arms, honours, lineage and distinctions and the history of your barony, together with the figures on how often your name and barony are found on Google, your online notability displayed by third-party authorities, and the standing of a founding benefactor. Full membership carries ownership and voting rights, and eligibility for nomination to the Governing Council and its committees as vacancies arise. By arrangement with the Secretary: secretary@baronage.com

Patrons and benefactors are named on this page with their consent. Where their arms are recorded by a heraldic authority, they may be shown on the Armorial page, under their own heading and with the reference, alongside the arms already there.

The Association is a non-profit association, not a registered charity, so Gift Aid cannot be claimed on gifts to it. Gifts are received on the Association’s behalf and applied to its work.