ROMANCE OF THE PEERAGE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1716, 18 January 1905, Page 53

ROMANCE OF THE PEERAGE.

(From Our Special Correspondent.)

LONDON, November 25

The Alayor of L-osi wit hie I, which is in the land of Tie, Pol and Pen, is not in the least, content with the dignity he at present holds. lie aspires to far greater, things, and is asserting his right to be recognised as of Royal descent, and heir to one of the oldest and greatest peerages of Scotland. The Mayor, whose name is Robert Barelay-Allarclice, claims to he the lineal descendant of Prince David, Earl of Strathern, who was the eldest son of Robert 11. of Scotland by his second wife. Air Allardice therefore desires to be recognised as the heir to the ancient and now dormant Graham earldoms of Strathern, Menteith and Airt.li. and proposes to press his claims before the House of Lords next session if possible. If he does so a long romance of the peerage will be laid open to public gaze. There are many picturesque episodes in the history- of these oncefamous titles —that of Alenteith dates back to 1427, and that of Strathern to 1371. The last-named earldom was created in the reign of Iving Robert 11., who married in 1355 the daughter of the Ea.iT of Ross. One of the sons was Prince David. According to the popular belief through several centuries an absolute right to crown the King was vested in the descendants of that prince. The title of Strathern was taken away by King James I. of Scotland, and that of Alenteith substituted, but the seventh earl reassumed the original title, and unwisely boasted that his “Stuart blood*' was “the reddest in Scotland." Ths roused the jealousy of Charles T., who promptly deprived him of his patent, but conferred on him, as so’"e recompense, the new style of Earl of Airth. This nobleman was afterwards called Earl of Airth and Menteith The earls gradually lost power and wealth, and the last holder of the titles died in 1694 There was a remarkable development in the eighteenth century, when a great-grandson of one of the two sisters left by the last legitimate earl assumed the title afresh, and voted in the elections of Scottish representative peers for many years. He was called ‘‘the Beggar Earl,” for he was reduced to living on alms, and died on the roadside, a homeless vagrant. The '‘Beggar ElarEs" sister married an exciseman, and her daughter, though a very poor woman, insisted on being addressed as "Lady Mary Bogle." Mayor Allardice bases his claim on descent from a sister of the lawful earl. This lady married Sir John Allardice. Her great-grandson, James Allardice, died in 1765. leaving an only child Sarah Anne, his sole heir. She married Robert Barclay, of Ury, and the son of this marriage, Robert Barclay Allardice, of Ury. unsuccessfully claimed the earldoms of Strathern, Menteith and Airth. The next link in the chain is Margaret, only daughter and heir of Captain Barclay Allardice. Robert Barclay Allardice died in 1854. and through the death of his mother, Alayor Allardice is now, he asserts, representative of the dormant titles.

The claimant, by Royal license, assumed the name he now bears in lieu of hie patronymic some twenty years ago.