Arms: Quarterly, 1st and 4th, Gules a fess chequy Argent and Azure ( for Lindsay ),
2nd and 3rd , Or a lion rampant Gules debruised of a ribbon in bend Sable ( for Abernethy)
SOURCES, NOTES and CREDITS:: Union Roll of 1707 (see page 156 ), “The Sixteen Peers of Scotland, by Sir James Fergusson of Kilkerran, BT., Entry on PP 1-51, of “The Scots Peerage”, ( 4th edition of the Scottish Peerage that we are aware of ), Volume III edited by Lord Lyon Sir James Balfour Paul 1906 and two Wikipedia articles.
The Earldom of Crawford is the Premier Earldom in the Peerage of Scotland. The date of the Peerage is given as 1398 and however this Earldom is given preference in the Union Roll of 1707 as the senior Scottish Earl which yet stands.
Sir David Lindsay of Glenesk, Knight Banneret, married about 1385 a daughter of King Robert II, variously named Jean, Kathrina and Elizabeth. He famously defeated in single combat a Lord Welles on London Bridge on St. Georges Day ( April 23rd ) 1390 and King Richard II presented him with a silver cup. Upon the death of his cousin James in 1397 he succeeded to the Lordship of Lindsay and barony of Crawford. At the Parliament of Perth, 21 April-2 May 1398, he was created Earl of Crawford, his barony of Crawford being in the same year made a regality and a herald created for him called Lindsay. He died before 12 August 1407.
Creations Barons by tenure form the Record of Acts 1147; Lord Lindsay before 1398 and Earl of Crawford 21 April 1398
Coming down to the present day, we have his current successor, Sir Robert Alexander Lindsay, 29th Earl of Crawford and 12th Earl of Balcarres, KT, GCVO, PC DL born on 5 March 1927 to David Lindsay the 28th Earl and Mary Cavendish.
He succeeded to the family titles in 1975. Educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge and served in the Grenadier Guards from1945-1948. He worked in the diplomatic corps and in Parliamentary private positions, then won a seat in Parliament in 1974 until his father the 28th Earl died in 1975 and he was then made a Life peer as Baron Balniel and retired from the House of Lord s in 2019.
The 29th Earl married Ruth Meyer-Bechtler in 1949. They have issue two sons and two daughters. His heir-apparent is his elder son, Anthony Thomas Lindsay, Lord Balniel born in 1958 and the heir-apparent’s heir-apparent is the Hon. Alexander Thomas Lindsay, Master of Lindsay born in 1991.
The artwork is a rendition by John Hamilton Gaylor
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