John Riddell (1785 – 8 February 1862) was a Scottish peerage lawyer and genealogist.

Life

He was eldest son of Anne, eldest daughter of John Glassford of Dougalston, by Anne, daughter of Sir John Nisbet of Dean, and Henry Riddell of Little Govan. Educated for the law, he was called to the

Scottish bar The Faculty of Advocates is an independent body of lawyers who have been admitted to practise as advocates before the courts of Scotland, especially the Court of Session and the High Court of Justiciary. The Faculty of Advocates is a const ...

in 1807. Riddell made genealogy and Scottish

peerage law The British Peerage is governed by a body of law that has developed over several centuries. Much of this law has been established by a few important cases, and some of the more significant of these are addressed in this article. Peerage disput ...

a special study. He prepared the Crawford and Montrose peerage cases for

James Lindsay, 24th Earl of Crawford James Lindsay, 24th Earl of Crawford and 7th Earl of Balcarres (24 April 1783 – 15 December 1869) was an Earl in the Peerage of Scotland. Biography James Lindsay was born on 24 April 1783 at Balcarres House in Fife, the son of Alexander ...

. Riddell died unmarried at his house, 57 Melville Street, Edinburgh, on 8 February 1862. He was buried in the

Dean Cemetery The Dean Cemetery is a historically important Victorian cemetery north of the Dean Village, west of Edinburgh city centre, in Scotland. It lies between Queensferry Road and the Water of Leith, bounded on its east side by Dean Path and on ...

on the west side of the city. He left a number of manuscripts which, in terms of his will, were acquired by the Advocates' and Signet Libraries, Edinburgh.

Works

Riddell enjoyed genealogical research for its own sake, and his speciality earned him an allusion in ''

The Lay of the Last Minstrel ''The Lay of the Last Minstrel'' (1805) is a narrative poem in six cantos with copious antiquarian notes by Walter Scott. Set in the Scottish Borders in the mid-16th century, it is represented within the work as being sung by a minstrel late i ...

''. His works were: * ''The Saltfoot Controversy, with a Reply; also an Appendix containing some Remarks on the present State of the Lyon Office'', Edinburgh. * ''Reply to the Mis-statements of Dr. Hamilton of Bardowie respecting the Descent of his Family; with Remarks on the Claim of the Lennoxes of Woodhead to the Male Representation and Honours of the Original Earls of Lennox'', Edinburgh, 1828. * ''Remarks upon Scottish Peerage Law, with special Reference to the Case of the Earldom of Devon'', 1833, Edinburgh. * ''Tracts, Legal and Historical; containing (1) Reply to Mr. Tytler's Historical Remarks on the Death of Richard II; (2) Observations upon the Representation of the Rusky and Lennox Families, and other Points in Mr. Napier's Memoirs of Merchiston; (3) Remarks upon the Law of Legitimation per subsequens matrimonium; the Nature of our English Canons and the Legitimacy of the Stewarts'', Edinburgh, 1835. * ''Additional Remarks upon the Question of the Lennox or Rusky Representation, and other Topics'', Edinburgh, 1835. * ''Inquiry into the Law and Practice in Scottish Peerages before and after the Union, involving the Questions of Jurisdiction and Forfeitures; with an Exposition of our original Consistorial Law'', 2 vols., 1842, Edinburgh; based on ''Remarks upon Scottish Peerage Law'', it became a standard work on its subject. * ''Stewartiana; being more about the Case of Robert II, and his Issue'', Edinburgh, 1843. * ''Comments in Refutation of Pretensions as to the Representation of the ancient Stirlings of Calder: a Review of "The Stirlings of Keir"'', Edinburgh, 1860.

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Riddell, John 1785 births 1862 deaths Scottish lawyers Scottish genealogists