William David Hamilton Sellar, MVO, FRHistS, FSA (Scot), FRHSC (Hon)[1] (27 February 1941 – 26 January 2019) was a legal historian who served as Lord Lyon King of Arms from 2008 to 2014.
Sellar read history at Oxford University graduating as Bachelor of Arts before gaining a law degree (LLB) from the University of Edinburgh.[2] He qualified as a Scottish solicitor in 1966, and after two years as a legal assessor with the Scottish Land Court joined in 1968 the Faculty of Law at the University of Edinburgh, where he was elected an Honorary Fellow.
Sellar wrote about the Lordship of the Isles and on the origins of many Highland families.[3]
Lord Lyon's official coat of arms
He served as a Member of the Ancient Monuments Board for Scotland, was President of the Scottish Genealogy Society[4] and sat on the council of the Heraldry Society of Scotland, and as Vice-President of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. He was the O'Donnell Lecturer, in Celtic Studies, at Edinburgh in 1985 and the Rhind Lecturer for the Society of Antiquaries in 2000. He held the office of Bute Pursuivant of Arms from 2001 until his appointment in 2008 as Lord Lyon King of Arms.[5]
A Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (FSA Scot) and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS),[6] Sellar was appointed Member of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO) in the 2014 New Year Honours[7] in anticipation of his retirement from the office of Lord Lyon.[8][9] Upon retirement, he was appointed Islay Herald Extraordinary.
He died on 26 January 2019.[10] His funeral took place in the Lorimer chapel at Warriston Crematorium, Edinburgh, on Saturday 23 February 2019, with standing room only, followed by a reception in the Playfair Library at Edinburgh University.[11]
^"RHSC Honorary Fellows". www.heraldry.ca. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
^"Mr W. David H. Sellar". School of Law, University of Edinburgh. Archived from the original on 31 December 2013. Retrieved 31 December 2013.
^"Sellar (William David Hamilton)". bill.celt.dias.ie. Archived from the original on 2 May 2018. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
^Scotland, The Scottish Genealogy Society - Family History and Ancestry in. "Scottish Genealogy Society Edinburgh - The society for Scottish family history". www.scotsgenealogy.com. Archived from the original on 14 August 2012. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
^"No. 25116". The Edinburgh Gazette. 9 November 2001. p. 2663.
^"Fellows of the Royal Historical Society: S". Royal Historical Society. Archived from the original (DOC) on 7 August 2012.
^"No. 60728". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2013. p. 4.
^"2014.22455442 www.heraldscotland.com". Archived from the original on 8 January 2014. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
^"New Year Honours 2014: list in full". The Daily Telegraph. 30 December 2013. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 4 April 2019. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
^"Former Lord Lyon David Sellar". 28 January 2019. Archived from the original on 1 December 2021. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
^"William Hamilton (David) SELLAR Notice". The Scotsman. Archived from the original on 26 February 2019. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
William David Hamilton Sellar, MVO, FRHistS, FSA (Scot), FRHSC (Hon) (27 February 1941 – 26 January 2019) was a legal historian who served as Lord Lyon...
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Blair intimated his resignation as Lord Lyon. In 2008 his successor, DavidSellar, was appointed. Already a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order (LVO)...
known as Mageoghagan's Book, after its translator Conall the Historian. DavidSellar, who was the Lord Lyon King of Arms in Scotland, concluded that it dates...
estimate puts the range from c. 1397–1432 or possibly even a little later. DavidSellar, who was the Lord Lyon King of Arms in Scotland, concluded that it dates...
a tongue-in-cheek reworking of the history of England. Written by W. C. Sellar and R. J. Yeatman and illustrated by John Reynolds, it first appeared serially...
now in County Sligo, but then in the tuath of Corann. According to DavidSellar who was the Lord Lyon King of Arms in Scotland, the Book of Ballymote...
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player David Selby (born 1941), American actor David Self (born 1970), American screenwriter DavidSellar (1941–2019), Scottish heraldry regulator David E...
Patrick Sellar (1780–1851) was a Scottish lawyer, factor and sheep farmer. He had a prominent and controversial role in the Highland clearances as factor...
Peter Sellars (born September 27, 1957) is an American theatre director, noted for his unique stagings of classical and contemporary operas and plays...
balance of power across the region. This interpretation is supported, as DavidSellar has shown, by two details in the early history of the MacLeods of Lewis...
Build Them-How to Use Them. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1955. DavidSellars, Developing and Role Playing Effective Sales Presentations: A "How-To"...
William Young and Patrick Sellar.: xvi–xxi Young had a proven track record of agricultural improvement in Moray and Sellar was a lawyer educated at the...
as "Archibald" in English or occasionally "Gillespie" or "Gillespic". DavidSellar, "The Earliest Campbells - Norman, Briton, or Gael", in Scottish Studies...
appears to have been employed by the family of the Earls of Antrim. DavidSellar, who was the Lord Lyon King of Arms in Scotland, stated that both books...
(801 ft). The Shard was developed by Sellar Property Group on behalf of LBQ Ltd and is jointly owned by Sellar Property (5%) and the State of Qatar (95%)...
the lands of Sonachan by Sir Duncan Campbell of Lochawe. According to DavidSellar, the MacArthurs of Darleith descend from the MacAulays of Ardincaple...
David Plenderleath, an American merchant, and the youngest Alexander Craig Sellar, Scottish Advocate and MP. Robert's nephew Walter Carruthers Sellar...
Sellar 2004; Sellar 2000, p. 195 n. 32. Sellar 2000, p. 195; Duncan & Brown 1956–1957, pp. 197–198. Sellar 2000, p. 203. Sellar 2011, p. 92; Sellar 2004...
and Sellar were in Assynt in 1812, under the direction of Sellar, establishing large sheep farms and resettling the old tenants on the coast. Sellar had...
and 1476–1482. DavidSellar, who was the Lord Lyon King of Arms in Scotland, concluded that it dates from the mid 15th century. Sellar, W.D.H. (October...
Princes Gate 1898: Collection of pictures by Old Masters formed by DavidSellar 1898: The Gentlewoman photographic competition, exhibition of prize pictures...
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