A System of Heraldry - Clan Strachan Society

OF THE CHEVERON.
angel with wings displayed, proper; on the sinister, by an unicorn at^enf, anguled.
mancd, horned or, and collared gules ; for crest, the son in its splendour : motto.
Sero sed serio.
MARK. KER, younger son of Sir WALTER KER. of Cessford, by Agnes his wife,
daughter of Robert Lord Crichton of Sanquhar, was Abbot of Newbattle, anna
1546. In this function he continued till the Reformation, and then renounced
Popery, by which he held his benefice in commendam, and married a daughter of
George Earl of Rothes. Their eldest son, Mark, was a Lord of Session, and had
the lands of the abbacy of Newbattle erected to him into a temporal lordship, by
King James VI. 1591 : And
thereafter, on the icth of July 1606, was by that
king dignified with the honour of Earl of Lothian. His son and successor,
ROBERT 2d Earl of LOTHIAN married Annabella, daughter of Archibald Earl of
Argyle ; who having no male-issue of his body, with the king's approbation, his
estate and honours came to his eldest daughter Anne, and the heirs of her body.
She married William Ker, son to Sir Robert Ker of Ancrum, to whom she bore
Robert, Earl of Lothian ; who was honoured with the title of Marquis of Lothian,
I3th June 1702. He had by Jean, his lady, daughter of Archibald Marquis of
Argyle, William his successor ; Lord Charles, Director of the Chancery ; Lord
John, and Lord Mark, brigadiers and colonels in the army ; and a daughter, Mary,
married to the Marquis of Douglas, mother of the present Duke of Douglas.
The eldest son, William, the present Marquis of Lothian, married Jean, daughter
of Archibald Earl of Argyle, by whom he has William Lord Jedburgh, his
apparent heir.
The other principal family of the name of Ker, which I mentioned before in the
shire of Roxburgh, is Cessford, descended of Ralph Ker, who is said to have got
from King David II. some lands on the water of Jed, upon which he or his suc-
cessors built a house called Kersheugh. This was the seat of the family for
seven generations, as by the Genealogical Account of the Family, till Sir Robert
Ker of Kersheugh, removed it a mile off in the middle of a forest, called Fernihirst,
2. e. Fairniewood, from which he and his successors were designed. He had
no issue-male of his body, but a daughter, Margaret, by his wife Katharine,
daughter of Colvil of Ochiltree. Margaret married Thomas Ker of Smelholme,
second son to the laird of Cessford, and he had with her Andrew, and Ralph of
Wooden, of whom the family of Cavers. Andrew was laird of Fernihirst, and
knight, and one of the Wardens of the Borders in the reign of King James V.
He married Janet, daughter, of Sir Patrick Hume of Polwarth, and by her had
John and Robert, of whom the Earl of Ancrum. Sir John was father of Sir
Thomas Ker of Fairniehirst, who stood firm in their loyalty to Queen Mary. Sir
Thomas married Janet, daughter and heir to Sir William Kirkaldy of Grange,
Governor of the Castle of Edinburgh, who bore to him Andrew ; and after her
death he married Jean, daughter to Sir Walter Scott of Buccleugh, who bore to
him James Ker of Crailing, and Robert, who was Earl of Somerset in England.
The.foresaid Andrew was, by letters patent, of the date 2d of February 1622,
created Lord Jedburgh. His son was Andrew Lord Jedburgh, who died 1628
without issue, having spent the fortune ; so that his brother Sir James Ker would
not take upon him the title of honour ; but his son, Robert, reassumed the title,
and recovered a part of the fortune : And
having no issue, made a resignation of
his honour in favours of William Lord Newbattle, son of Robert Marquis of Lo-
as a
thian, his nearest heir-male ; to be inherited by the eldest son of the family,
distinct peerage for ever.
KER Lord JEDBURGH, gules, on a cheveron argent, three mullets of the first ;
(Sir James Balfour, in his Blazons, adds a stag's head erased in base or, and so
illuminated in the House of Falahall) ; crest, a stag's head erased or, (Pont says, a
buck's head cabossed, proper, armed or), supporters, two savages, proper ; (Pont
^ives two angels, holding cornucopias in their hands) : motto, Forward.
Sir ROBERT KER Viscount of ROCHESTER, and Earl of Somerset in England, car-
ried for arms, as in Ashmole's Institution of the Garter, gules, on a cheveron argent,
three stars or mullets of the first; and in the dexter chief point, one of the Lions
of England. He was of the family of Fernihirst, and a younger brother to the
first Lord Jedburgh ; he served King James VI. for a long time in the quality of a