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Clan Falconer (Tartans, Crest) and The Story Behind

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Falconer

Clan Crest: An angel in a praying posture, Or, withing an orle of laurel, Proper

Clan Motto: Vive Ut Vivas (Live that you may have life)

Lands: Kincardineshire

Clan Chief: None, armigerous clan

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Falconer Clan History

The name of someone who breeds and trains falcons or hawks. Many noble families would have had their own falconer. The main 'Falconer' family claimed to be the King's falconers. Ranulph the Falconer, son of Walter of Loutrop and falconer to William the Lion (1165-1214), was said to be the first Scottish falconer. Walter the falconer received lands in the Mearns from his King, which were then named Hawkerton, as well as Balemacoy and Lacherachgeigh Kennie, in the Parish of Fordoun, Aberdeenshire, right next to the King's home, Kincardine Castle.

Aberdeenshire's Fourdon

The barony of Lunkyir changed its spelling over the centuries, beginning with Lunkyir in 1211 when it was granted by Charter to Ranulphus (Randolph) le Falconer, and eventually settling on Lumgair. Lumgair's domains. In 1394, this barony passed to Sir William Keith of Dunnotar.

Walter le Falconer, also known as de Lunkyr or Lumgair, succeeded Ranulph.

His grandson had two sons, Robert and Peter, clericus regius under Alexander II, who are witnesses to a charter of the lands of Drumsleid around 1250.

The elder son, Robert, took the name Falconer de Halkertoun at first, and his name appears in the Ragman Roll as being required to swear allegiance to Edward the First in 1296.

His grandson, David Fauconer, received a charter from his godfather, King David the Second, dated April 2nd, 1365, at Munros (Montrose).

On October 11, 1380, his son, Andrew Falconer of Lethenbar, was one of the barons who accompanied Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan, the king's lieutenant in the north.

From Kincardineshire to Morayshire to Nairnshire, the Falconers had spread throughout eastern and northern Scotland.

The Falconers that followed were styled Lethens, then Halkerton.

In 1473, Andrew Falconer of Lethenbar's son, Sir Alexander Falconer of Lethens, received a charter for the lands of Newton, West Lothian. Halkerton's first Lord Falconer.

The Falconers may also have been known as 'Hawker' after the name of their estate.

Halkerton's Lord Falconer

Lord Halkerton's Arms

Ranulph the Falconer is the ancestor of the Falconers of Hunterston.

On 20 December 1646, the title Lord Falconer of Halkerton was created in the peerage of Scotland for Sir Alexander Falconer, Lord of Session. The peerage will be passed on to his male heirs. Sir Falconer was born in the Kincardineshire town of Halkerton-Laurencekirk. He married Anne Lindsay when he was about 17 years old, but they later divorced. He took over as an ordinary Lord of Session from Lord Woodhall.

His son, Alexander, went on to become the 2nd Lord Falconer.

Following him as 3rd Lord Falconer of Halkerton was his son David Falconer of Glenfarquhar. The Falconers had gained control of the Glenfarquhar Estate and Castle.

The 4th David Falconer's sister was the mother of the famous Scottish Enlightenment philosopher David Hume, who bore the title Lord Falconer of Halkerton.

The land and castle of Inglismaldie were acquired, and Inglismaldie became the Falconers' new seat. Lord Falconer, the 5th, died at Inglismaldie Castle.

The Earldom of Kintore was inherited by the 7th Lord, Antony Adriaan Keith-Falconer, in 1778, and the two titles remained linked until 1966. As the heir male of George Keith, 8th Earl Marischal, the elder brother of John Keith, 1st Earl of Kintore, the Earldom should have gone to his cousin George Keith, 10th and last Earl Marischal. However, for his support of the Stuart Kings' cause, the English revoked his titles and estates in 1715. Exiled to Europe, the Earldom of Kintore remained suspended until George Keith's death on May 28, 1778. When George Keith died, it was decided that the titles and estates should be passed to the 4th Earl of Kintore's heir general, his great-nephew Antony Adriaan Falconer. Anthony Adriaan then took the surname Keith-Falconer. Antony Ardiaan was then appointed chief of Clan Keith. Keith Hall's estate was acquired.

With the death of Arthur George Keith-Falconer, 12th Lord Falconer of Halkerton and 10th Earl of Kintore, the lordship became vacant, though the earldom of Kintore remained in the female line.

Castle of Glenfarquhar

Kintore Castle is the more common name. In the mid-seventeenth century, the Falconers of Haulkerton owned this.

The first recorded Falconer of Glenfarquhar appears to be Sir David Falconer, who appears in the Records of the Parliament of Scotland as early as 1643.

Sir David's eldest son, Sir Alexander, was made a baronet in 1671, and a stone carved with the date 1671 is installed in the south west wall of the steading at Mains of Glenfarquhar. It's possible that as Sir Alexander's social standing grew, he expanded or rebuilt Glenfarquhar Castle.

Glenfarquhar passed to another Alexander Falconer in 1724, when David, the 3rd Lord Falconer, died and it was incorporated into the Haulkerton estate.

It appears that the focus shifted from Glenfarquhar to Haulkerton at this time, as Alexander, who was to be the 4th Lord Falconer for only three years, died in 1727 without children, leaving him as the last in the main line of the Falconers of Glenfarquhar and the last to live at the Castle of Haulkerton.

Haulkerton Castle was built in the 16th century. Sir Alexander Falconer, 5th of Halkerton, is thought to have built the first part of the old castle. There are no surface traces left. According to Cramond (1894), it was last used as a residence in the early 18th century and was ruinous by 1790. The old Castle's foundations are barely discernible. The stones were used for dykes around a plantation as well as the main stabilization. Two of the stones are attached to the Mains farmhouse. The first is a corbel with an ill-carved female head and the date 1556, which corresponds to the time of Sir Alexander, father of the first Falconer of Phesdo, and the second is a plain slab with the initials L,A,F and the date 1648, which corresponds to the time of the first Lord Falconer.

The Falconers were then transferred to Inglismaldie Castle.

Castle Inglismaldie

Algernon Hawkins Thomond Keith-Falconer, 9th Earl of Kintore, 19th century Seat

David Falconer, the 5th Lord Falconer, died in 1751 at Inglismaldie.

Wynd Halkerston

Halkerston's Wynd is a close in Edinburgh's city center. This was named after a young man named David Halkerston, the brother of Hackston of Rathillet's ancestor, who was killed in 1544 while defending the town against the English, under the Earl of Hertford.

The American Falcons

There are three main branches of Falconers in the United States.

Falconer was the most common spelling in the United States until the middle of the 17th century, when Falconar took over. Two of the three American branches adopted 'Faulkner,' one in the 18th century and one in the 19th.

The Maryland Falcons

Gilbert Falconer (1686-1736), son of Edinburgh merchant David Falconer, came to Maryland. His ancestors were merchants and slave-owning planters who grew tobacco and cotton and backed the Confederacy during the Civil War.

The New Jersey Falcons

In 1684, Patrick Falconer (c. 1658-1692), son of John of Phesdo, Warden of the Scottish Mint, arrived in New Jersey.

Alexander (c. 1693-1758), Gilbert's brother and Patrick's cousin, arrived in Maryland before 1719. His descendants who stayed east became Methodist carpenters and blacksmiths. They tended to become Baptist or Methodist farmers if they went west, and they invariably supported the Union cause, often with their lives.

All of these immigrants' descendants concentrated in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, lowa, California, Oregon, and Washington.

The Keith-Falconers and the Earls of Kintore

For centuries, the Falconers and Keiths have intermarried. The hyphenated Keith-Falconer surname appears to have originated with Anthony Adrian Keith-Falconer, who was born in 1742 and died in 1804 at Keith Hall in Kintore, Aberdeenshire. He was the first person to hold both the titles of Lord Falconer of Halkerton and Earl of Kintore.

Sir John Keith, third son of William Keith, 6th Hereditary Earl Marischal of Scotland, was created Earl of Kintore in 1677. The Earldom and Lordship were declared dormant in 1761 because no one could prove a claim to them. In 1778, the Earldom, Lordship, and Chieftaincy of Clan were granted 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, as well as the Lordship Keith of Inverurie and Keith Hall, remained united until 1966, when the Lordship Falconer of Halkerton became dormant following the death of the 10th Earl.

Keith Hall (below), near Inverurie in Aberdeenshire, is the family seat.

Religion

The Falconers were a religiously diverse family, with some Covenanters, others Roman Catholics who supported Stuart, and still others Quakers. The Falconers are somewhat unique in that, as of 1997, no male lines of descent traceable to the senior line survived in Scotland. By 1900, there were only three Falconer lines in the United Kingdom: the Keith-Falconers, the Falconer-Stewarts of Feddal in Perthshire, and the Falconers of Gloucestershire.

Falconer Places & People

This section is currently being researched.

Falconer Tartans

The Falconer tartan shares the same sett as the Keith tartan, and Jack Dalgety noted in 1963 that "[t]his sett is the same as Keith, Austin, and Marshall and derives from Lord Falconer who took over the entailed lands of the Keith, Earl Marischal in the early 1800's." This tartan is worn by the Keith-Falconer family."

Tartan Falconer

Falconer Crest & Coats of Arms

Crest of the Clan Falconer

Worn by everyone with the same name and ancestry

Description of the Crest:

Properly, an angel in a praying posture, or within a laurel orle

Coat of Arms of Clan Falconer

A word about Coats of Arms:

A coat of arms is granted to an individual under Scottish heraldic law (with the exception of civic or corporate arms). A 'family coat of arms' does not exist. With the exceptions noted above, the arms depicted below are personal arms. Only the person who has been granted these weapons has the right to use them.