LINDSAY

The first recorded Lindsay in Scotland, Sir Walter, arrived in the twelfth century from England, where his Norman forebearers had held lands since the Norman conquest. In about 1346 Sir David Lindsay of Crawford, in Lanarkshire, acquired Glenesk, in Angus, by marriage. His younger son was Sir William Lindsay of the Byres,Haddington. The elder was Alexander Lindsay of Glenesk, whose son Sir David lindsay (1365-1407) inherited from a cousin the barony of Crawford and in 1398 was made Earl of Crawford.

David Lindsay's younger son, John Lindsay of Balcarres, fife, was father of David Lindsay, an alchemist and patron of literature, who was made Earl of Balcarres and hereditary Keeper of Edinburgh Castle by King Charles II in 1651. The two earldoms came together in 1808.