The name was taken from the parish of Glencairn in Dumfriesshire so named for the Cairn Waters which run through it.[3]
The title became dormant on the death of the fifteenth earl in 1796, with no original royal charter existing, nor a given remainder in the various confirmations in title of previous earls.
Shortly after, the earldom was unsuccessfully claimed by Sir Adam Fergusson of Kilkerran, Bt., as heir of line of Alexander, 10th Earl of Glencairn, great-great-grandson of the 10th Earl's daughter Lady Margaret Cunningham (c.1662–1742) with her husband John Maitland, 5th Earl of Lauderdale. His claim was opposed by Sir Walter Montgomery-Cuninghame, 4th Baronet, as presumed heir male along with Lady Henriet Don, sister of the last earl, and wife of Sir Alexander Don of Newton Don, Roxburghshire. The House of Lords Committee of Privileges on 14 July 1797, chaired by the Lord Chancellor (Lord Rosslyn), in deciding the claim of the first-named, took a view unfavourable to all the claimants, and adjudged, that while Sir Adam Fergusson had shown himself to be the heir-general of Alexander, 10th Earl of Glencairn who died in 1670, he had not made out his right to the title.[1] However, the decision was severely criticised by the jurist John Riddell in the 19th century and by Sir Iain Moncreiffe of that Ilk, Officer of Arms, in the 20th.
Earls of Glencairn (1488)
The coat of arms of the Cuninghames, Earls of Glencairn as recorded in 1820 (Robertson)
Robert Cunningham, 2nd Earl of Glencairn, According to the Scottish Code of Heraldry, the titile, Earl of Glencairn passed from father, Alexander to his son Robert, upon his death, 11 June 1488, establishing Robert Cuninghame, the 2nd Earl of Glencairn. On 17 October 1488, at the behest of King James IV, Parliament passed the Act of Recissory, annulling all dignities granted by King James III after 2 February 1488. This Act deprived Robert the title and rights granted to the Earldom of Glencairn. In 1505 Parliament passed the Act Revocatory, and the Earldom of Glencairn was restored upon Cuninghame Family of Kilmaurs. (Cuthbert Cuninghame, 3rd Earl of Glencairn, 3rd Lord Kilmaurs.)[4][5][6]
Douglas, Sir Robert (1764), The Peerage of Scotland.
Robertson, George, Topographical Description of Ayrshire; more Particularly of Cunninghame: together with a Genealogical account of the Principal families in that Bailiwick, Irvine, 1820.
Brown, Peter, publisher, The Peerage of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1834, p. 88.
Anderson, William, The Scottish Nation, vol.v, pp. 310–314: Glencairn, Earl of
