Evening star., 1923-06-09
BY THE MARaUIsE DE FoNTENoY

bN THE MAhaGlSE bE- oN A@->oA
Lord Carmichael. former governor OF
Victoria, then OF Madras and afterwaru
Of Bengal and Bombay, lord lieutenant
OF PEBBLES, and one of the most dis
tinguished and eminent Scottish ser
wants OF the British crown, has just lost
his only surviving brother through the
death of John Murray Gibson Car
michael. whose only son was killed az
a lieutenant Of the royal navy in the
great war, and while his modern peer
age will become extinct when he is gatn-
cred to his fathers, his two hunoreo-
year-oId baronetcy, created IN ltoz' az
we'll as his rights to his more remote
honors, and the entailed Carmlchaei
estate of Skirling in PEBBLES. will there
fore pass to his second cousin, Sir Henry
Thomas Gibson-Craig OF Riccarton. who
already possesses a baronetcy bestowed
upon his great t-grandfather py hlfls
William " for his services as clerk OF
the sisnet in Scotland. and which Sir
Henry inherited from his elder brother,
killed in the battle of the Aisne IN Sep
tember. 1914.
Sir Henry. unlike the kinsman LORD
Carmichael. is q very rich man and 1t
ia expscted that when he succeeds to
Lord Carmichael's baronetcy and IN
heItts his claims he will take the neces-
gary and costly steps to secure recogm-
ton of the latter by the crown. These
claims include the barony or Durie,
which was bestowed by King James l
upon Sir Alexander Gibson Of Durie, in
the county of Fife. president OF the
court of sessions Of Scotland. along with
the title of Lord Durie of Anticosti, and
eighteen miles of the island of Anti
cost In the Gulf of st. Lawrence, now
owned by the French senator and choco-
1.S 70 Mpnter.
claims also include the earldom OF
Hyndford, which has been dormant
since the death of Andred Carmichaei,
sixth earl of Hyndford, in 1917.
Readers of the novels OF Robert
Louis Stevenson may be interested to
know that the Barbara Grant, who Is
one Of his most popular heroines and
one Of the few actual personages
appearing in his romances-I think II
was in "Citronia"-became in real
life the Countess Of Hyndford.
Lord Carmichael has in his posses
sion among the family archives duly
authenticated official copies of the
patents of the baronetcy, the peerage
and of the grant of q portion Of the
Island of Anticosti, bestowed upor
his ancestor the first Lord Durie. The
copies were made at the time OF the
his ancestor, the first Lord Durie. The
honors and the estates were inherited
by his son, who succeeded him as
Lord Durie. but who. was deprived OF
his judicial office in 164S. His sor
in turn did not assume the title OF
Lord Durfe, which was allowed to lie
dormant, as was also the baronetcy
although there Is no record or theli
having ever been forfeited, and, In
I7O2, Thomas Gibson of Durie, linea1
descendant In the male line direct OF
the original grantee of the 1928 bar
onetcy and Of the peerage OF Durie
Of Anticosti, received another baron
Lord Carmichael is today the four
teenth baronet of his line. and ac-
cording to others only the ninth.
1t was Sir John Gibson. sixth bar.
onet of the second creation, who, on
inheriting the Skirling estates In
family through the marriage of John
Gibson Of Durie to Helen, sister OF
John Carmichael. fourth Earl OF
Hyndford, assumed, in accordance
with the terms of the entail and with
the authorization of the crown. the
name of Carmichael In addition tc
his patronymic Of Gibson. And 1t Is
on the strength of this matrimonial
alliance between John Gibson OF
Durie and Lady Helen Carmichael
sister of the fourth Earl of Hynd-
ford, that the present Lord Car
michael's rights to the ,earldom OF
Hyndford and to the minor honors
associated Herewith are based.
X + y X
As many of the estates of the Earls
Of Hyndford have been alienated and
are now in the possession of young
Sir Nindham Anstruther. hereditar.