| Administrative History | The Learney estate papers were gathered together by Sir Thomas Innes. He was born in Aberdeen in 1893 and educated at Edinburgh Academy and then at Edinburgh University. In 1922 he became an advocate at the Scottish bar, and in time established himself as a heraldic and peerage counsel. In 1928 he married Lady Lucy Buchan, daughter of the eighteenth Earl of Caithness, and they would have three sons and a daughter. Learney authored 'Scots Heraldry' (1934) and a widely recognised book on tartans in 1938. In 1945 he became Lord Lyon King of Arms, a post which he would hold until 1969, along with the post of secretary to the Order of the Thistle. During this time he contributed significantly to the development of a body of heraldic law and in 1950 he convinced the Scots Law Times to start publishing decisions made in Lyon Court. He was centrally involved in Elizabeth II's coronation ceremony at St Giles and in 1967 the Queen promoted him to the Grand Cross of the Victorian Order (GCVO), the first modern King Lyon to hold that honour. He retired in 1969, becoming the Marchmont herald. Sir Thomas Innes bought Kinnairdy castle in 1923. |