Global InformationBaron of MacDuff information
Baron of Macduff is a title of nobility in the Baronage of Scotland.
The current baron is The Much Honoured Eric Cotton Dexter, 9th Baron of MacDuff.[1]
The title originates in Macduf contained mostly within the boundaries of the Town of Macduff, in the Banff and Buchan area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland.[2] Clan MacDuff traces origins to the historic, Lowland, Scottish Duff Clan.[3] William Shakespeare's MacBeth has always played a role in the legend of Clan MacDuff, as few can determine the line between The Duff Family history and historical fiction.[4] This ambiguity worked to the benefit of future MacDuff Barons, who were able to prove they were descended from the first Duff to receive a charter in Northeast Scotland.[5] In 1404 David Duff received the charter, in Aberdeenshire, from Robert III of Scotland.[5] In 1759, William Duff was granted the historic Celtic Title of “Fife”, further tying the Duffs of Northeast Scotland, with their ancient Lowland ancestors - the original Earls of Fife from the 11th century.[6] William Duff had five sons - the eldest, James, would become the 2nd Earl Fife and the 1st Baron of MacDuff.[7] James invested heavily in the village of Doune, or “Down”, across the River Deveron from Banff. He built a harbor there in 1760, which quickly became more successful than the harbor at neighboring Banff, which had been established much earlier.[8] In 1783 a charter was granted by King George III, changing the name from Doune to Macduff in his favor and, although a lesser title than Earl, bestowing on him the dignity of the 1st Baron of Macduff.[7]
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:2was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Charter to James, Earl of Fife For Uniting and Erecting the Lands of Down and others therein mentioned into a Barony As also erecting the Village of Down now to be called the Village of MacDuff into a Burgh of Barony. National Records of Scotland. 1783.
- ^ Way, George, Squire, Romily (1998). Collins Scottish Clan and Family Encyclopedia. Harper Collins. pp. 419–420.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Tayler, Alistair and, Henrietta Tayler (1914). The Book of Duffs. W. Brown. p. 212.
- ^ a b Anderson, William (1864). The Scottish Nation: or the Surnames, Families, Literature and Honours, and Biographical History of the People of Scotland. Google Books: A. Fullerton & Company. p. 212.
- ^ Cokayne, George Edward (1889). Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct, Or Dormant; Volume 2. William Pollard & Co. p. 462.
- ^ a b Fife, James Duff, 2nd Earl of 1729-1809, Henrietta Tayler, and Alistair Norwich Tayler (1925). Lord Fife and his factor: being the correspondence of James, Second Lord Fife, 1729-1809. Heinemann. pp. 149–159, 226.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Smiles, Samuel (1877). Life of a Scotch Naturalist, 4th Edition. J. Murray. p. 129.