The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-04-22
"Thc sktr,nlshcr, Wins.

"Thc si<irInisher" Wins.
Nisconntess Maitland is so well
| known in this country. not only as a
frequent visitor, but also as clever
miniaturist, that there are many who
will be interested to learn that the
Supreme Court Of Appeals Cthat is t.
say the Law Lords of the House OF
Lords, sitting in judgment under tho
presidency of the Lord High Cham
cellor) has decided against the claims
of her father-in-law. the Earl OF I.aud-
erdale, 10 the office of hereditary
standard bearer of the Crown of
Scotland. The decision, which Is final
and from which there can be no fur
Their appeal. vests this ancient Office
In Henry Scrymgeour Wedderburn, OF
Birkhill, Fife, The office of standard
bearer of Scotland dates from the thir-
teenth century, when it was bestowed
by King Alexander OF Scotland upon
Sir Alexander Carron. for deed OF
yalor, which likewise won for him
from the King the surname of Scrym-
occur, or THE Skirmisher" His de-
scendants seem to have dropped tho
name of Carron and TO have retained
that of Scrymgeour, as more distin-
suished and historic. BY an act of
Parliament passed in Scotland in 1855
family of Scryngeour of pudhopc, and
the crown was expressly prohibited
from alternating 1t. or from comforting
It upon any one else, al long as a
SCrynDEeour remained.
Charles / created the Scryingeour OF
Dudhope OF his day, viscount Dud-
hope; while in 1861, after the Resto-
ration Viscount Dudhope was trans.
formed by Charles II. into Earl OF
Dundee. This Lord Dundee died in
1868. without issue. and the family re-
presentation passed to John Scrym-
geour OF Kirkton.
But the Duke of Lauderdale, one OF
the most INSCRIPTIONS statesmen of
the male line OF the Serving OF
Dudhope had become extinct, and Sc
cured from the King a grant of the
office of Royal Standard. Bearer of
Scotland, in favor of his nephew.
Charles Maitland. of Hatton, who ar
and from whom the present Lord
Lauderdale and his son and heir, Wis
count Maitland, are lineally descend
Now the first Earl of Lauderda,s
was subsequently deprived of his hon
ors and offices bysthe court of sessions
at Edinburgh for fraud, as master
of the mint. and it was contended that
the dignity of hereditary standard
bearer was among those forfeited.
High Court of Scotland, which held
that the office was not forfeited when
Charles Maitland, Earl of Lauderdale,
was deprived of his other dignities;
sA'iN tIlSil WtiiiG LIZ iiiclIOuo Wy WuliI
the standard bearershlp had been OBJ
tanned for him by his uncle the duke
might be questionable, yet that the
patent, having been made out in his
favor by the King and the office trans
mitted in Legitimate. descent, the pres
ent Lord Lauderdale was the only
person entitled thereto.
{ The Lord High Chancellor, how
ever, and the House OF Lords, basing
themselves on the act of Parliament
Ia nod no Il i,1fr 1aa
mad no right whatsoever to confer the
honor Of standard bearer upon Charles
Maitland, first Earl of Lauderdale
as long as any member of the Scrym-
since the family was not extinct and
that Henry Scrymge -Wedderburn
can show an unbroken line Of descent
from the original grantee OF the
dignity away back in the thirteenth
century it is he, and not Lord Lauder
dale, who is the only lawful standard
bearer of the sovereign for Scotland
He owes the additional name of We'd
derhurn to the fact that one OF his an
cestors married a Wedderburn and
tain OF the Wedderburn property, on the
condition of his adding the name OF
TO that OF Scrymgeour
and of ,quartering the Wedderburn
ceStOrS
a man of Just seventy. whose claims
have always been favored by the
present King and Queen, in preferences
to those of Lord Lauderdale. He has
four sons and six daughters, his heir
being Captain Henry ScIymgeour-
of tho Black Watch
AS he also has a son and heir, there is
no immediate prospect of the Scrym-
Geour family dying out, and it is not
until 1t becomes extinct that the
Maitland pretensions could ever be
brought forward again.
Lord Lauderdale must regret the
money that he has spent in hghfing
the case. He is far from rich, having
already been called upon to pay Very
heaVy costs In or1efto establish his
right to the peerage on the death OF
the twelfth earl, who was a very dis
tant cousin and who was killed by
lightning in 1854, on moor near
'Ihlrlstane Castle, his ancestral home
In Berwickshire, This twelfth earl
who never married, had in his turn
succeeded distant cousin six Years
and had undergone MANY
vlcissiludes in his earlier days, having
served IN the ranks OF the army as q
private soldier, as railroad porter.
and afterwards as a village station.
master, before finally blossoming forth
into peer OF the realm. Thirlstane
Castle has been the home Of the Matt,
lands TOR SIN centuries, and / may add
that they have many American matri
monial alliances figuring on their
genealogical tree, especially in colo
NAL days.
f o.