Slains Pursuivant of Arms is a

private officer of arms A private officer of arms is one of the heralds and pursuivants appointed by great noble houses to handle all heraldic and genealogical questions. History Since the development of heraldry in the Middle Ages and the rise of officers of arms, n ...

appointed by the Chief of the Name and Arms of Hay – presently the

Earl of Erroll Earl of Erroll () is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1453 for Sir William Hay. The subsidiary titles held by the Earl of Erroll are ''Lord Hay'' (created 1449) and ''Lord Slains'' (1452), both in the Peerage of Scotland. ...

Lord High Constable of Scotland The Lord High Constable is a hereditary, now ceremonial, office of Scotland. In the order of precedence of Scotland, the office traditionally ranks above all titles except those of the royal family.p60-61, Bruce, Alistair, Keepers of the Kingdo ...

. It is believed that the Hay family had an

officer of arms An officer of arms is a person appointed by a sovereign or state with authority to perform one or more of the following functions: * to control and initiate armorial matters; * to arrange and participate in ceremonies of state; * to conserve ...

since the time that the office of Lord High Constable was forfeited by the Comyn family and passed to the Hays. The first mention of Slains Pursuivant is from around 1412 when the Earl of Erroll introduced Slains to a guild in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Sir Iain Moncreiffe of that Ilk revived the practice of appointing private officers. Slains Pursuivant is senior among these officers because his master ranks before all peers of

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. The present holder of the office is John Malden.

Holders of the office since 1948

*1948–1970 Michael Maclagan *1970–1978 Peregrine Moncreiffe *1978–1981 Sir Crispin Agnew of Lochnaw *1981–2009 Peter Drummond-Murray of Mastrick *2009–2016 John Stirling, WS, Solicitor *2016–present R John Malden

References

{{Reflist

External links

The Court of the Lord LyonThe Heraldry Society of Scotland
Offices of arms

Holders of the office since 1948

See also

References

External links