Earl of Home ( ) is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1605 for Alexander Home of that Ilk, 6th Lord Home. The Earl of Home holds, among others, the subsidiary titles of Lord Home (created 1473), and Lord Dunglass (1605), in the Peerage of Scotland; and Baron Douglas, of Douglas in the County of Lanark (1875) in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Various Earls of Home have also claimed the title of Lord Hume of Berwick. The Earl is also '' Chief of the Name and Arms of Home'' and ''

heir general In English law, heirs of the body is the principle that certain types of property pass to a descendant of the original holder, recipient or grantee according to a fixed order of kinship. Upon the death of the grantee, a designated inheritance such ...

'' to the

House of Douglas Clan Douglas is an ancient clan or noble house from the Scottish Lowlands. Taking their name from Douglas in Lanarkshire, their leaders gained vast territories throughout the Borders, Angus, Lothian, Moray, and also in France and Sweden. The f ...

. The title ''Lord Dunglass'' is the courtesy title of the eldest son of the Earl. The most famous recent holder of the title was the 14th Earl, Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, better known as

Sir Alec Douglas-Home Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home of the Hirsel (; 2 July 1903 – 9 October 1995), styled as Lord Dunglass between 1918 and 1951 and being The 14th Earl of Home from 1951 till 1963, was a British Conservative politician who se ...

. After the unexpected resignation of Harold Macmillan, the 14th Earl was named Prime Minister by the monarch. For the first time in over sixty years, a sitting Prime Minister was a member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

rather than of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

. Because he believed that it was impractical and unconventional to remain a member of the Lords, the Earl disclaimed his peerages on 23 October 1963 under the Peerage Act passed in the same year. He then contested the House of Commons seat of Kinross and Western Perthshire by standing in the 1963 Kinross and Western Perthshire by-election. The seat had been vacated by the death of the previous

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

Gilmour Leburn William Gilmour Leburn (30 July 1913 – 15 August 1963) was a British company director and Conservative Member of Parliament for Kinross and West Perthshire from 1955 until 1963. He served in the government of Harold Macmillan as Under-Secretar ...

. the titles are held by the 16th Earl, who succeeded in that year. The family seats are

The Hirsel The Hirsel is a Category A Listed stately home near Coldstream, Berwickshire in the Scottish Borders council area. It has been a seat of the Earls of Home since 1611, and the principal seat following the destruction of Hume Castle during the mid ...

, near

Coldstream Coldstream ( gd, An Sruthan Fuar , sco, Caustrim) is a town and civil parish in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. A former burgh, Coldstream is the home of the Coldstream Guards, a regiment in the British Army. Description Coldstream l ...

Berwickshire Berwickshire ( gd, Siorrachd Bhearaig) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in south-eastern Scotland, on the English border. Berwickshire County Council existed from 1890 until 1975, when the area became part of t ...

and Castlemains, near

Douglas, South Lanarkshire Douglas ( gd, Dùbhghlas) is a village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located on the south bank of the Douglas Water and on the A70 road that links Ayr, on the West coast of Scotland, to Edinburgh on the East, around 12 miles south west ...

. Former seats include

Douglas Castle Douglas Castle was a stronghold of the Douglas (later Douglas-Home) family from medieval times to the 20th century. The first castle, erected in the 13th century, was destroyed and replaced several times until the 18th century when a large man ...

(mostly demolished), Dunglass Castle (demolished), Tantallon Castle (ruined) and

Bothwell Castle Bothwell Castle is a large medieval castle, sited on a high, steep bank, above a bend in the River Clyde in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located between Bothwell and Uddingston, about south-east of Glasgow. Construction of the castle w ...

in the care of the state.

Origins

The Earls of Home descend in the male-line from Cospatric I (died after 1073), the Anglo-Danish

Earl of Northumbria Earl of Northumbria or Ealdorman of Northumbria was a title in the late Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Scandinavian and early Anglo-Norman period in England. The ealdordom was a successor of the Norse Kingdom of York. In the seventh century, the Anglo-Saxo ...

. His descendant William de Home (son of Sir Patrick de Greenlaw, the second son of Cospatric III, Earl of Lothian), adopted the surname following his acquisition of the lands of Home in Berwickshire in the early 13th century, through his marriage to his second cousin Ada (the daughter of

Patrick I, Earl of Dunbar Patrick I (c.11521232), Earl of Dunbar and lord of Beanley, was a 13th-century Anglo- Scottish noble. He was the eldest son of Waltheof, Earl of Dunbar and Alina, and succeeded to his father's titles upon the latter's death in 1182. Patrick w ...

). William's arms featured the silver lion of Dunbar but with a green field instead of a red field, in reference to his lands of Greenlaw.

Lords Home (1473)

Alexander Home, 1st Lord Home Sir Alexander Home of that Ilk, 1st Lord Home ( – ) was in 1448 Sheriff Deputy for Berwickshire, and was made a Lord of Parliament on 2 August 1473. He is an ancestor of the Earls of Home. Family Alexander Home's father, Sir Alexander Home of t ...

(died 1490) *

Alexander Home, 2nd Lord Home Alexander Home, 2nd Lord Home (c.1450s – 5 September 1506) was a Scottish nobleman and soldier, Lord Chamberlain of Scotland and Warden of the Eastern March. Life Lord Home was the son of Alexander Home, Master of Home and Agnes Hepburn, ...

(died 1506) *

Alexander Home, 3rd Lord Home Alexander Home, 3rd Lord Home (died 1516) was a Scottish soldier and nobleman, Chamberlain of Scotland and Warden of the Eastern March. He fought at the Battle of Flodden where his forces defeated the English right wing before the Scottish army ...

(died 1516) *

George Home, 4th Lord Home George Home, 4th Lord Home (died 1549) was a Scottish nobleman and Warden of the Eastern March. The son of Alexander Home, 2nd Lord Home and his wife Nicola Ker, daughter of George Ker of Samuelston, he succeeded his brother, Alexander Home, 3 ...

(died 1549) *

Alexander Home, 5th Lord Home Alexander Home, 5th Lord Home (died 1575) was a Scottish nobleman and Warden of the Eastern March. Early life Alexander Home was the son of George Home, 4th Lord Home and Mariotta Haliburton. He became Lord Home on the death of his father who w ...

(died 1575) *

Alexander Home, 6th Lord Home Sir Alexander Home of that Ilk, 1st Lord Home ( – ) was in 1448 Sheriff Deputy for Berwickshire, and was made a Lord of Parliament on 2 August 1473. He is an ancestor of the Earls of Home. Family Alexander Home's father, Sir Alexander Home of t ...

(c. 1566–1619) (created Earl of Home in 1605)

Earls of Home (1605)

Alexander Home, 1st Earl of Home Sir Alexander Home of that Ilk, 1st Lord Home ( – ) was in 1448 Sheriff Deputy for Berwickshire, and was made a Lord of Parliament on 2 August 1473. He is an ancestor of the Earls of Home. Family Alexander Home's father, Sir Alexander Home of ...

(c. 1566–1619) *

James Home, 2nd Earl of Home James Home, 2nd Earl of Home (died 1633) was a Scottish nobleman. Biography James was the son of Alexander Home, 1st Earl of Home and Mary, Countess of Home. He became Earl of Home when his father died in London in April 1619. His mother wrote to ...

(died 1633) * James Home, 3rd Earl of Home (c. 1615–1666) * Alexander Home, 4th Earl of Home (died 1674) * James Home, 5th Earl of Home (died 1687) * Charles Home, 6th Earl of Home (died 1706) * Alexander Home, 7th Earl of Home (died 1720) *

William Home, 8th Earl of Home Lieutenant General William Home, 8th Earl of Home (1681 – 28 April 1761) was a Scottish peer and the British Governor of Gibraltar between 1757 and 1761. Lord Home was a well-known spendthrift. Military career He inherited the title Earl of ...

(died 1761) *

Alexander Home, 9th Earl of Home The Reverend Alexander Home, 9th Earl of Home (died on 8 October 1786) was a Scottish nobleman and clergyman. Background Lord Home was the second surviving son of Alexander Home, 7th Earl of Home and Lady Anne Kerr, the daughter of Lieutenant-Gen ...

(died 1786) *

Alexander Home, 10th Earl of Home Alexander Ramey-Home, 10th Earl of Home (11 November 1769 – 21 October 1841), styled Lord Dunglass from 1781 to 1786, was a British politician and nobleman. He served as a representative peer for Scotland between 1807 and 1841. He gained the ...

(1769–1841) *

Cospatrick Alexander Home, 11th Earl of Home Cospatrick Alexander Douglas-Home, 11th Earl of Home (27 October 1799 – 4 July 1881), styled Lord Dunglass until 1841, was a Scottish diplomat and politician. He served as a representative peer for Scotland. During the premiership of the Duke o ...

(1799–1881) (created Baron Douglas in 1875) *

Charles Alexander Douglas-Home, 12th Earl of Home Charles Alexander Douglas-Home, 12th Earl of Home, (11 April 1834 – 30 April 1918), styled Lord Dunglass between 1841 and 1881, was a British politician and nobleman. He served as Lord Lieutenant of Berwickshire from 1879 to 1880 and Lord Li ...

(1834–1918) * Charles Cospatrick Archibald Douglas-Home, 13th Earl of Home (1873–1951) * Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, 14th Earl of Home (1903–1995) (disclaimed 1963) (created Baron Home of the Hirsel in 1974) * David Alexander Cospatrick Douglas-Home, 15th Earl of Home (1943–2022) * Michael David Alexander Douglas-Home, 16th Earl of Home (born 1987) There is no

heir apparent An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...

to the earldom, the

heir presumptive An heir presumptive is the person entitled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of an heir apparent or a new heir presumptive with a better claim to the position in question. ...

is the present earl's second cousin, Alexander Sholto Douglas-Home (born 1962), great-grandson of the 13th earl.

Arms

References

Works cited

* *Mosley, Charles (editor). (1999). ''Burke's Peerage & Baronetage'', 106th edition *Charles Kidd & David Williamson, editors. (2003). Debrett's Peerage & Baronetage. Macmillan, London

External links

Official Clan Home Association website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Home Earldoms in the Peerage of Scotland 1473 establishments in Scotland 1605 establishments in Scotland Noble titles created in 1605 Home family