Blazon of Arms:
Shield: Quarterly:
1st & 4th, Argent, on a Chief Gules, three Pallets Or (Keith);
2nd, Azure, a Falcon displayed between three Mullets one and two Argent, on his breast a Man’s Heart Gules (Falconer of Halkerton);
3rd, Per pale engrailed Gules and Or, a Boar passant counter-changed (Baird of Ury);
Overall on an Escutcheon Gules, a Sceptre and Sword in saltire with an Imperial Crown between the upper corners all proper, within an Orle of eight Thistles slipped near the head Or, ensigned with an Earl’s Coronet proper (being the Coat of Augmentation granted to John, 1st Earl of Kintore, for his services in the preservation of the Regalia of Scotland).
SOURCES, NOTES & CREDITS: The illustration for background and the text are adapted from the Wikipedia article.
Sir John Keith, Earl of Kintorewas given this title in 1677 in the Peerage of Scotland. He was the third son of William Keith, 6th Hereditary Earl Marischal of Scotland and Chief of Clan Keith. He was made Lord Keith of Inverurie and Keith Hall at the same time, also in the Peerage of Scotland. At the death of William, the 4th Earl, in 1761, the Earldom and Lordship became dormant, as no-one could prove a claim to them.
In 1778, it was decided that the Earldom, Lordship and the Chieftaincy of the Clan should pass to Anthony Adrian Falconer, Lord Falconer of Halkerton, who changed his surname to Keith-Falconer. The Lordship Falconer of Halkerton and the Earldom of Kintore and Lordship Keith of Inverurie and Keith Hall remained united until 1966, when, at the death of the 10th Earl, the Lordship Falconer of Halkerton became dormant.
The 11th holder of the titles, Ethel Sydney Keith-Falconer, married John Baird, 1st Viscount Stonehaven. At the death of Lord Stonehaven, the titles Viscount Stonehaven (created 1938), and Baron Stonehaven (created 1925), both in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, as well as the Baird of Urie Baronetcy, in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom, passed to the couple’s son, James Ian. The Countess of Kintore, who died the day after her one-hundredth birthday, was the longest-lived female holder of a British peerage. Upon inheriting his mother’s titles, her son James Ian changed his surname from Baird to Keith.
The family seat was Keith Hall, near Inverurie, Aberdeenshire. The heir apparent to the earldom uses the courtesy title Lord Keith of Inverurie and Keith Hall.
The artwork is an interpretation of John Hamilton Gaylor.
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