Jean Alison Spens of LathallanRepresenter of the Baronial House of Lathallan
26th Representer of the Baronial House of Spens of Lathallan (Jean Alison Spens of Lathallan)
known as 23rd Baroness of Lathallan
Credentials
- • Known as "23rd Baroness of Lathallan"; family style, not a legal title: Burke’s Peerage, 107ed. Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, p. 2242 column 2 "23rd Baroness of Lathallan"
- • Lord Lyon recognised Jean Alison Spens of Lathallan as 26th Representer of the Baronial House of Spens of Lathallan, matriculating arms with a blue chapeau at LO 78/53 on 30 November 1995; Archibald Lockhart Spens of Lathallan had matriculated likewise at LO 64/105 on 10 February 1981 (Edinburgh Gazette, 19 October 1982, p. 1512). The blue chapeau marks the representer of a baronial family no longer in possession of the barony. It is not recognition as Baroness of Lathallan, and the Roll does not style the representer as one. Sir Thomas Innes of Learney wrote that such a chapeau "descends to the 'heir and representative' of such 'baronial race'—who in the Continental sense is of course a 'Baron'" (Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vol. 79, p. 155), though not a baron in Scots law, the barony having passed with the land. See the glossary entry "Representer (of a House)" at baronage.com/scottish-baronies-expla…. The barony of Lathallan itself is a separate dignity, not identified on the Roll.
- • Rolls of the Chiefs and Heads of Territorial Houses, Officially-Recognised by Lord Lyon King of Arms 20th Nov 1995 (LXXVIII 53), EDINBURGH GAZETTE
Authentication
A note on terminology: “Scottish feudal barony” or “feudal title” is an incorrect, defunct historical term for extant barons. Baronies were feudal until 28 November 2004, when feudal baronies were abolished and the dignity of baron was retained — an extant barony is no longer “feudal”. The correct term is Scottish barony or Scottish baron (or baron, lord or earl in the Baronage of Scotland, collectively the minor barons of Scotland); never “feudal baron”. Why the term is defunct →
A barony pledged on the Roll of Scottish Barons is treated by the Roll as hereditary and not in commercio. A pledged barony later conveyed outside the family forfeits its recognition on the Roll in perpetuity. What “Hereditary on the Roll” means →