Lords Nairne (1681)
1st Lord Nairne, Robert Nairne, b.c.1620, a.1681, d.1683
Robert Nairne was a prominent lawyer and Lord of Session who was raised
to the peerage in 1681 with special remainder to his son-in-law William Murray,
fourth son of John Murray, 1st Marquess of Atholl.
2nd Lord Nairne, William Murray, b.c.1664, a.1683, d.1726
Husband of Margaret Nairne (b.c.1673, d.1747), daughter of the 1st
Lord and Margaret Graham. He was attainted for taking part in the Jacobite
Uprising of 1715.
3rd Lord Nairne, John Nairne, b.1691,
a.1726, d.1770
Son of the 2nd Lord and Margaret Nairne. He was attainted
along with his father but obtained a partial reversal of attainder before
taking part in the Rebellion of 1745. He was created 1st Earl of
Nairne and 1st Viscount of Stanley in the Jacobite Peerage by the
Old Pretender in 1721.
4th Lord Nairne, John Nairne, b.?, a.1770,
d.1782
Son of the 3rd Lord and Catherine Murray (b.1692, d.1754),
daughter of Charles Murray, 1st Earl of Dunmore.
He is sometimes excluded from the list of holders as he was under attainder for
his entire life.
5th Lord Nairne, William Murray Nairne, b.1757, a.1782,
d.1830
Son of the 4th Lord and Brabazon Wheeler (b.?, d.1801). He
obtained a reversal of attainder in 1824.
6th Lord Nairne, William Murray Nairne, b.1808, a.1830,
d.1837
Son of the 5th Lord and Caroline Oliphant (b.1766, d.1845),
daughter of Laurence Oliphant of Gask.
7th Lord (Lady) Nairne, Margaret Mercer Elphinstone, b.1788,
a.1837, d.1867
The 3rd Lord Nairne’s younger brother Robert Murray (who died
at Culloden) married Jean Mercer (b.?, d.1749), daughter of Sir Laurence Mercer
of Aldie, and he changed his name to Mercer. Their son William Mercer (b.?,
d.1790) married Margaret Murray. Their daughter Jean Mercer (b.?, d.1789) married
George Keith Elphinstone (b.1745-1746, d.1823), younger brother of John
Elphinstone, 11th Lord Elphinstone.
George Elphinstone was a senior officer in the British Navy, reaching the rank
of Admiral of the White in 1805 and Admiral of the Red in 1810, and he was
Commander-in-Chief of the Channel Fleet in 1812. He obtained several peerages,
including 1st Baron Keith of Stonehaven Marischal in the Peerage of
Ireland in 1797, 1st Baron Keith of Stonehaven Marischal, Kincardine,
in 1801, 1st Baron Keith of Banheath, Dumbarton, in 1803 and 1st
Viscount Keith in 1814, these latter all in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.
The second UK barony was awarded with special remainder to his daughter
Margaret, whereas the other two UK titles became extinct at his death. She also
succeeded as 7th Lady Nairne on the death of her distant cousin.
When she died, the final UK barony also became extinct, apparently only as the
special remainder only applied to her male issue. As a young woman she was part
of the society circle around Princess Charlotte of Wales, wife of the future
George IV, and her influence over the princess was intimidating. She married Auguste
Charles Joseph de Flahault, Comte de Flahault de la Billardrie, who had been
Napolean’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom. When her husband returned to
France after a brief exile following the Bourbon Restoration, she became a
noted hostess in Paris.
8th Lord (Lady) Nairne, Emily Jane Mercer-Elphinstone-de
Flahault, b.1819, a.1867, d.1895
Daughter of the 7th Lady and the Comte de Flahault. She
married Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, Earl of Sherbourne, heir of the 3rd
Marquess of Lansdowne. She was recognised as Lady Nairne in the Peerage of
Scotland by the House of Lords in 1874.
9th Lord Nairne, Henry Charles Keith Petty-Fitzmaurice, b.1845,
a.1895, d.1927
Son of the 8th Lady and Sir Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 4th
Marquess of Lansdowne (b.1816, d.1866). Educated at Eton and Balliol College
Oxford, he succeeded his father as 5th Marquess of Lansdowne in 1866.
He was a senior diplomat and was Lord of the Treasury from 1868 to 1872 and
Under-Secretary for War from 1872 to 1874. He was Governor-General of Canada from
1883 to 1888, made a Privy Counsellor in 1895 and was Lord-Lieutenant of Wiltshire
from 1896 to 1920. He gained several honorary degrees and was invested as a Knight
Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1884, as a Knight Grand
Cross of the Order of the Indian Empire (GCIE) and Knight Grand Cross of the Order
of the Star of India (GCSI) in 1888, and a Knight of the Garter in 1894. He was
also Foreign Secretary from 1900 to 1905. From the election of 1906 he led the Unionist
opposition in the House of Lords and in 1915 was a Minister without Portfolio
in the wartime coalition. From 1917 to 1920 he was Chancellor of the Order of
St Michael and St George.
10th Lord Nairne, Henry William Edmund Petty-Fitzmaurice, b.1872,
a.1927, d.1936
Son of the 9th
Lord and Lady Maud Evelyn Hamilton (b.1850, d.1932), daughter of James
Hamilton, 1st Duke of Abercorn. He was
also educated at Eton and Balliol College Oxford before entering the Army,
initially in the volunteer Oxfordshire Light Infantry and then with the
Grenadier Guards. He joined the Irish Guards when it was created in 1900. He
fought in the Boer War and was decorated with a DSO. In 1905 he was invested as
a Member of the Royal Victorian Order. He reached the rank of Major in the Irish
Guards, also in 1905, and ultimately reached the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel of
the 3rd Battalion, Irish Guards, fighting in the First World War. He
was an Unionist MP for West Derbyshire from 1908 to 1918 and was a Senator in
the Irish Free State from 1922 to 1929.
11th Lord Nairne, Charles
Hope Petty-Fitzmaurice, b.1917, a.1936, d.1944
Son of the 10th Lord and Elizabeth
Caroline Hope (b.1885, d.1964), a descendant of John Hope, 2nd Earl
of Hopetoun. He was educated at Eton and Balliol
College Oxford and reached the rank of Captain in the Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry.
He fought in the Second World War and was killed in action in Italy. When he
died, all of his Irish and British titles transferred to his cousin, while the
Scottish title, subject to different rules of succession, passed to his sister.
12th Lord (Lady) Nairne, Katherine
Evelyn Constance Petty-Fitzmaurice, b.1912, a.1944, d.1995
Older sister of the 11th Lord.
13th Lord Nairne, Richard Maurice
Clive Bigham, b.1934, a.1995, d.2006
Son of the 12th Lady and Edward
Clive Bigham, 3rd Viscount Mersey (b.1906, d.1979).
14th Lord Nairne, Edward John
Hallam Bigham, b.1968, a.2006
Son of the 13th Lord and Joanna
Dorothy Murray.
The courtesy title for the heir is Master
of Nairne, though for many years a superior title has been available. At
present, the heir to the viscountcy is the uncle of the present holder, whereas
the heir to the lordship of Nairne is his elder daughter.
(Last updated: 01/07/2010)