Record

CollectionGB 0231 University of Aberdeen, Special Collections
LevelFonds
Ref NoMS 3064
Alt Ref NoMS 3161, MS 3662/18, MS 3665/23, MS 3713/65 - 67
TitlePapers of the Earls of Kintore
Date15th century - 20th century
Extent180 boxes, 135 plans, 37 volumes, 8 outsized boxes, 2 framed works: 70 linear meters
Creator NameEarls of Kintore and family (1677 - current)
Administrative HistoryThe first Earl of Kintore was Sir John Keith (d 1714), who was the youngest son of William, 6th Earl Marischal (d 1635). He was created Earl of Kintore in 1677 in recognition of his part in the preservation of the regalia of Scotland, having saved them from the hands of Cromwell. When William, 4th Earl of Kintore, died unmarried in 1761, the estate passed to George Keith, 10th Earl Marischal, and on his death in 1778 the peerage passed to his cousin Anthony Adrian Falconer (d 1804), 8th Baron Falconer, who became 5th Earl of Kintore and adopted the surname Keith-Falconer.

List of the Earls of Kintore:
1st Earl: John Keith, created Earl of Kintore in 1677, died 1714
2nd Earl: William Keith, acceded to the earldom in 1714, died 1718
3rd Earl: John Keith, acceded 1718, died 1758
4th Earl: William Keith, acceded 1758, died 1761
[Titular 5th Earl of Kintore] George Keith, 10th Earl Marischal, died 1778
5th Earl: Anthony Adrian Keith-Falconer, acceded 1778, died 1804
6th Earl: William Keith-Falconer, acceded 1804, died 1812
7th Earl: Anthony Adrian Keith-Falconer, acceded 1812, died 1844
8th Earl: Francis Alexander Keith-Falconer, acceded 1844, died 1880
9th Earl: Algernon Hawkins Thomond Keith-Falconer, acceded 1880, died 1930
10th Earl: Arthur George Keith-Falconer, acceded 1930, died 1966
[11th Earl] Countess of Kintore, Ethel Sydney Keith-Falconer, acceded 1966, died 1974
12th Earl: James Ian Baird Keith, acceded 1974, died 1989
13th Earl: Michael Canning William John Keith, acceded 1989, died 2004
14th Earl: James William Falconer Keith, acceded 2004

George Keith, 10th Earl Marischal, is counted as the 5th Earl of Kintore in some sources, so that family and other documents occasionally describe Anthony Adrian (acceeded 1778) as the 6th Earl, and so on.

The heir to the earldom has the courtesy title Lord Keith of Inverurie and Keith-Hall, and is referred to as Lord Inverurie (or Lord Inverury).

John Lawrence Baird, Viscount Stonehaven (born 1874 died 1941), married Lady Ethel Sydney Keith-Falconer, daughter of the 9th Earl of Kintore, in 1905.
SourceThe main series of papers were deposited by the family in the 1980s (former NRA(S) survey 1318) and additional papers (former reference MS 3161) handled by the solicitors Edmonds and Ledingham were transferred soon after. The Australian papers and some other items were transferred after being put up for auction at Christies in London (March 2009) and Taylor Auctions in Montrose (September 2009). Following this, all papers were then transferred to the ownership of Special Collections under the Acceptance in Lieu of Tax Scheme. As part of re-cataloguing in 2014, some additional papers from Edmonds & Ledingham were located and merged into MS 3064 (MS 3662/18, MS 3665/23, MS 3713/65 - 67).
DescriptionPapers of the Keith family as Earls of Kintore to 1778 and of the Falconers of Inglismaldie, later the Keith-Falconer family, as Earls of Kintore; including; correspondence from the Jacobite exiles George Keith, 10th Earl Marischal and titular 5th Earl of Kintore, and his brother James Francis Edward Keith, latterly Feldmarschall James Keith in the Prussian service; papers of Algernon Hawkins Thomond Keith-Falconer, 9th Earl of Kintore, as Lieutenant-Governor of South Australia from 1889 to 1994, with a series of substantial scrapbooks created by Lady Sydney Charlotte Montagu, Countess of Kintore; and the diaries of John Lawrence Baird recounting his diplomatic and intelligence activities in north-east Africa, the Middle East and Europe between 1897 and 1903 and from 1914 to 1915.

Legal and financial papers: 1405 - 1947 -

Estate papers, rentals, accounts, and plans for the families' estates in Aberdeenshire and Kincardineshire from 1661 to 1947.

Legal documents relating to the lands of Abergeldie, Allanescroft, Ardmurdo, Arnhall, Auchenblae, Balmakelly, Balmalidie, Balmanno, Balzordie, Bandeath, Barrowmairhills, Boghall, Boynds, Bruntoune, Calsayend, Caskieben, Chapelcroft, Cowie, Craigie, Craigmill, Crimond, Dillivaird, Finlayston, Fordoun, Glenbervie, Glenfarquhar, Haddo, Halkertoun, Inglismaldie, Inverurie, Johnston, Keith Hall, Kinkell, Kinnardy, Kintore, Kirk of Arbuthnott, Kirkflat, Little Perth, Menmuir, Middletoun, Montkegie, Newlands, Newton, Norval of Boghead, Powburn, Scotstoun, Sheills, Smiddyhill (all in Aberdeenshire, Kincardineshire or Forfarshire) and Ronnenburg, in the district of Wenden in the province of Livonia, Russia (1742), 1405, 1467, 1477, 1489 - 1490, 1503 - 1507, 1515 - 1919.

Receipts relating to land, rents and feuduty (including feu register, c 1850 - c 1920, and land rentals books for crops, 1885 - 1910), c 1850 - 1943. Legal documents, including four relating to David Hume the philosopher (1708), bonds to King's College, Aberdeen (1719 - 1722), and cartularies, 1608, 1621 - 1853, 1858 - 1864, 1873 - 1877, 1888, 1895 - 1938. Legal correspondence, 1777 - 1803, 1818 - 1819, 1888 - 1946.

Personal papers: 1659 - 1952 -

Wills, marriage settlements, personal accounts and other financial and legal papers and genealogical materials of the Keith and Falconer families from 1592 to 1947.

Estate correspondence and reports (including Keith Hall game record, 1896 - 1908; factor's copy letter book, 1886, 1894 - 1897; roll of tenants, c 1890; letters from Lord Falconer to Mr Cockburn, estate factor, 1919 - 1932; letters received by the factor, 1911 - 1939), 1756 - 1804, 1845, 1876 - 1947; Time and work books for Keith Hall labourers, 1896 - 1909, 1911 - 1918; Financial papers and accounts, 1603 - 1612, 1628 - 1844, 1876 - 1935; Papers relating to civil commissions and state pension, 1589 - 1738; Papers relative to the preservation of the Honours of Scotland, 1651 - 1652; Burgess tickets, Aberdeen 1698, 1767, Brechin 1774, Dumfries 1726, Inverurie 1720, Montrose 1765, 1861; Political papers (relating to elections, pairing, representative peers, etc.), 1786 - 1807, 1885 - 1889, 1945, 1950 - 1952.

Military papers, including Commissions, correspondence addressed to Anthony Adrian, 5th Earl of Kintore as Lord Lieutenant of Kincardineshire (1794 - 1803), First Kincardineshire Rifle Volunteers, rules, muster roll and other papers, 1860s, and papers relating to German military manoeuvres (1906), 1667 - 1943.

Miscellaneous papers concerning public and church works, as well as Keith Hall maintenance, 1764 - 1827; Papers relating to the 1st and 2nd Earls of Kintore, 1672 - 1718; Papers (chiefly tacks) relating to the 3rd Earl of Kintore, 1715 - 1758; Correspondence chiefly to the Earl of Kintore from Hon. A. Falconer (in Dutch) relating to allowance and family news, 1777 - 1800.

Correspondence addressed to Anthony Adrian, 5th Earl of Kintore, chiefly dealing with family matters (with occasional reference to military events, elections, patronage, public works, estate and agricultural matters, etc.), correspondents include the Duke of Gordon, Lord Airlie, Lords Adam Gordon and Barnard, Henry Dundas, David Hume, Lords Mansfield, Stormont, Selkirk, Napier, Cathcart, Findlater, Crauford, Balcarres, Aberdeen, Douglas, Somerville, Elphinstone and Haddington, 1765 - 1804; Letters of Field Marshal Keith, 1749 - 1752.

Correspondence from George, 10th Earl Marischal, mostly in Potsdam, to his man of business and members of the family, 1727 - 1774; Correspondence addressed to William, 6th Earl of Kintore, dealing with family and social matters, with current military affairs, with references to the illness of King George III (1811) and with some estate matters, 1791 - 1812; Correspondence addressed to Christina, Countess of Kintore, on personal, family and charity matters, 1779 - 1798; Correspondence addressed to Anthony Adrian, 7th Earl of Kintore, chiefly dealing with personal and family matters, 1812 - 1839; Papers of Algernon, 9th Earl of Kintore, whilst serving as Lieutenant-Governor of South Australia (correspondents include Edward Stanhope, Lord Pembroke, Lord Dufferin and Ava, Lord Carrington, Duke of Fife, Lord Forbes, Lord Salisbury, Peter Clarke, Lord Ripon, Lord Rosebery, Lord Knutsford, Lord Hopetoun and Lord Lansdowne), 1889 - 1893; Correspondence from members of the Royal Family, on personal matters, 1897 - 1918.

Papers of other family members: 1684 - 1947 -

Papers belonging to Captain the Right Honourable William Keith, RN, and relating chiefly to his naval career, 1814 - 1842.; Papers relating to Sir David Falconer of Newton, Lord President, 1654 - 1759; Diaries of J. L. Baird, Royal Intelligence Corps, Ashford, and on travels, 1897 - 1915; Papers of Lady Sydney Charlotte Montagu, 1873 - 1897 and Genealogical and heraldic papers, c 1712, 1733, c 1750, 1755, post 1880, 1899 - 1907.

Papers of associated bodies: Heritors of Kintore and Kincardineshire Rifle Volunteers: 1850 - 1884.

Records arranged by form: photographs, artwork, maps/plans and objects: 1780 - 1942.
ArrangementLegal and financial papers: 1405 - 1947
Personal papers: 1659 - 1952
Papers of other family members (including Lords Inverurie, Lady Sydney Charlotte Montagu and John Lawrence Baird, Viscount Stonehaven): 1684 - 1947
Papers of associated bodies (Heritors of Kintore and Kincardineshire Rifle Volunteers): 1850 - 1884
Records arranged by form (photographs, artwork, maps/plans and objects): 1780 - 1942
Access StatusOpen
Related MaterialMS 3538: Algernon Keith-Falconer, Earl of Kintore: papers.

Six volumes of photographs relating to John Lawrence Baird's travels and ethnographic collections are deposited with University of Aberdeen Museums.

The National Library of Australia, Canberra, holds a collection of Baird's papers, including his diaries for September and October 1919 and his diary for 1941.
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