Sidney Herbert Elphinstone, 16th Lord Elphinstone and 2nd Baron Elphinstone, (27 July 1869 – 28 November 1955) was a British nobleman.

Early life

Sidney Herbert Elphinstone was born at

Carberry Tower Carberry Tower is a historic house in East Lothian, Scotland. The house is situated off the A6124 road, south-east of Musselburgh. Carberry, East Lothian, Carberry, like Musselburgh is in the parish of Inveresk. It is protected as a Category B ...

south-east of

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

on 27 July 1869. He was the son of William, 15th Lord Elphinstone and Lady Constance Murray (28 Dec 1838 – 16 Mar 1922). His maternal grandparents were Alexander Murray, 6th Earl of Dunmore and Lady Catherine Herbert, daughter of the 11th Earl of Pembroke. His paternal grandparents were Lieutenant-Colonel James Drummond Fullerton Elphinstone and his second wife, Anna Maria (née Buller) Elphinstone, the daughter of Sir Edward Buller, 1st Baronet. He was educated at

Marlborough College Marlborough College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English private boarding school) for pupils aged 13 to 18 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. It was founded as Marlborough School in 1843 by the Dean of Manchester, George ...

and succeeded his father in 1893.

Career

Lord Elphinstone was

Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland The Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is the monarch's personal representative to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland (the Kirk), reflecting the Church's role as the national church of Scotla ...

in 1923 and 1924,

Lord Clerk Register The office of Lord Clerk Register (Scottish Gaelic: ''Clàr Morair Clèireach'') is the oldest remaining Great Officer of State in Scotland, with origins in the 13th century. It historically had important functions in relation to the maintenanc ...

of Scotland and Keeper of the Signet from 1944 until his death. From 1924 to 1930 he served as president of the influential conservationist group the

Cockburn Association The Cockburn Association, often subtitled Edinburgh Civic Trust, is an architectural, conservation, and urban planning monitoring organisation in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom. The Cockburn Association, founded in 1875, is one o ...

. He was invested as a

Knight of the Thistle The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle is an order of chivalry associated with Scotland. The current version of the order was founded in 1687 by King James VII of Scotland, who asserted that he was reviving an earlier order. The ...

in 1927 and was Chancellor of the Order from 1949. He was Captain General of the

Royal Company of Archers The Royal Company of Archers, The King's Bodyguard for Scotland, is a ceremonial unit that serves as the Sovereign's bodyguard in Scotland—a role it has performed since 1822 during the reign of King George IV when the company provided a pers ...

from 1935 until 1953 and was Governor of the

Bank of Scotland The Bank of Scotland plc (Scottish Gaelic: ''Banca na h-Alba'') is a commercial bank, commercial and clearing (finance), clearing bank based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is part of the Lloyds Banking Group. The bank was established by the Par ...

from 1924 to 1955.ELPHINSTONE, 16th Lord
''Who Was Who'', A & C Black, 1920–2016 (online edition, Oxford University Press, 2014) In 1938, he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

(FRSE). His proposers were

Hugh Macmillan, Baron Macmillan Hugh Pattison Macmillan, Baron Macmillan, (20 February 1873 – 5 September 1952) was a Scottish advocate, judge, parliamentarian and civil servant.Pine, p.187 Life He was born in Glasgow, the son of the Rev Hugh Macmillan DD FRSE (183 ...

, Sir

Thomas Henry Holland Sir Thomas Henry Holland (22 November 1868 – 15 May 1947) was a British geologist who worked in India with the Geological Survey of India, serving as its director from 1903 to 1910. He later worked as an educational administrator at Ed ...

, James Pickering Kendall and James Watt.

Scrap book

Lord Elphinstone's ''Scrap book'', which is held in the Mary Ann Beinecke Decorative Art Collection at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Library, provides a list of the clans of Scotland with the badges of distinction used by them. This rare book includes textile samples of clan tartans along with watercolour illustrations of clan flowers. Elphinstone was at one time a Trustee and Commissioner of Manufacturers in Scotland. The Scrap book can be viewed in th
Digital Collections of the Clark Library.

Marriage and later life

Lord Elphinstone married Lady Mary Bowes-Lyon on 24 July 1910 in

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

. She was the daughter of Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne and

Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck Cecilia Nina Bowes-Lyon, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne (''née'' Cavendish-Bentinck; 11 September 1862 – 23 June 1938) was the mother of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and maternal grandmother and godmother of Queen Elizabeth ...

. She was also a sister of

Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was al ...

. The couple had five children: * The Hon. Mary Elizabeth Elphinstone (1911–1980). She was a bridesmaid at the wedding of

Prince Albert, Duke of York George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of Ind ...

, and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon on 26 April 1923. * John Elphinstone, 17th Lord Elphinstone (1914–1975). He died unmarried and had no issue. * The Hon. Jean Constance Elphinstone (1915–1999), married Captain John Wills. Their daughter Marilyn was a goddaughter of

Princess Margaret Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (Margaret Rose; 21 August 1930 – 9 February 2002) was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. She was the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth II. ...

and a bridesmaid at her 1960 wedding. * The Hon. and Rev. Andrew Charles Victor Elphinstone (1918–1975), married Jean Hambro and had issue. His wife was a Lady-in-Waiting to

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

. Their son James became the 18th Lord Elphinstone. * The Hon. Margaret Elphinstone (1925–2016), married Denys Rhodes and had issue. She was a bridesmaid at the 1947 wedding of the then-Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh. The Lord Elphinstone died on 28 November 1955, aged 86.

References

External links

Lord Elphinstone's Scrap Book
Mary Ann Beinecke Decorative Art Collection {{DEFAULTSORT:Elphinstone, Sidney 1869 births 1955 deaths Nobility from East Lothian People educated at Marlborough College Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Knights of the Thistle Governors of the Bank of Scotland Scottish people of Dutch descent De Peyster family Schuyler family Van Cortlandt family Sidney Members of the Royal Company of Archers 16 Presidents of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society 19th-century Scottish businesspeople 20th-century Scottish businesspeople