The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-02-07
John Gordon Sandilands Is Heir
of Lord Tor
phichen.
nY Ia MARQUIsE DE FONTENOY.

ny Ia NARQUIsE DE FONTE>OY.
Ohm GORDON SANDILANDS, who
Is due in New York to-day on
board the Cunard liner Mauretania.
en- route to Western Canada where he
has extensive landed interests, enjoys
the title Of Master of Torphichen' as
the eldest surviving son and heir or
Lord Torphichen, whose name. now
ever. must be pronounced as IL written
Torhken." with the accent on the first
syllable. The eldest sons or all
Scotch barons and viscounts are known
by the title OF master, as those who
have read Robert Louis Stevenson's
novel The Master of Ballantrae," Will
irecollect
Tho Master Of Torphichen is unmar-
ried is in the neighborhood of thirty.
and is heir not only TO his fathers
peerage. but also to his estates, in
Guiding Calder House and the lands or
Calder. near Edinburgh. which have
been in the possession of the family
since early in the fourteenth century.
Lord Torphichen's peerage. II the
only one which owes its existence 10
the knights Teinplars. Sir James Sand
Hands was. AT the time of the Reform
alton. Master OF the Scotch LAngue or
~ allIiA u lAt MS tAOSPAe0AANAS -
the Temple. sometimes known as the
Knights of st. John. As such ne en-
joyed a place in Parliament. not only
among the prelates--fOr he was bound
by vows Of celibacy-but also among
the great barons. in right of the lay
Barony of Torphichen, which was COM
prised In the property of the order.
Sir James was led by his fathers
close intimacy with John Knox, the Re
former, 10 become q convert TO the
doctrines Of the Reformed Church. and
resigning his ecclesiastical Office and
possession to the crown in 1864, receiv-
ed thereupon from Mary Queen Of
Scots a grant confirming to him. his
heirs and assigns. the lands and the
baronies belonging 10 the order in Scot
land. He continued to bear. no longer
as Prior of the Order of -. John. but
In his own right, the title OF Lord
Torphichen. Cnmindful of the vow OF
ceIibacy which he had been compelled
to give on joining the order. he mar
ried Janet Murray, of POlmaise. But
dying without issue. his title of Lord
Torphichen passed TO his brothers son
James. Since then the Barony of Tor
phichen has descended IN the male line
direct the present peer being tie
twelfth since the reign of Queen Mary.
OF course, the history of the Sand!-
lands family. of which LORD Torphi-
chen is the chief. goes much farther
back than the Reformation. For the
first lord, in order TO have been Prior
Of the order OF st. John, in the days
Of Mary Queen Of scots must have
been able to show at least eight gem
erations of exclusively noble ancestry
both on the fathers and mothers side,
genealogical qualifications of this KIND
being then, as to-day, Indispensable TO
full knighthood OF the order. In fact
the Lairds of Sandilands, in Douglas
dale, were already in possession OF
Sandiland in the thirteenth century and
obtained the lands of Calder. near
Edinburgh, which are still owned by
the present Lord Torphichen. early in
THE fourteenth century.
One of the L.airds OF Sandilands ana
! Calder. John by name. married Princess
Joan Of Scotland, daughter OF King
| Robert IL
! The present Lord Torphichen divorced
{ his wife a daughter Of Lieutenant
General Charles E. Gordon, upward OF
! twenty years ago. and his eldest son.
James. succumbed to fever about hVe
years ago while acting as assistant