Falconer

A name derived from the office of falconer, one who breeds or trains falcons or hawks for sport. Many great houses would have maintained their own falconer, and the principal family claimed to be falconers to the king. Nisbet lists the first recording of this name to be Ranulph, son of Walter, falconer to William the Lion around 1200. The falconer received from his king lands in the Mearns which were then named Hawkerton, being another reference to his office. Robert Falconer de Halkertoun is shown on the Ragman Roll swearing allegiance to Edward I of England in 1296. The family prospered and lands were obtained at Newton and Balendro. They achieved particular prominence in the seventeenth century when Sir David Falconer of Newton was appointed Lord President of the Court of Session in Edinburgh in 1682. Sir Alexander Falconer of Halkertoun was also appointed a judge of the Court of Session and took the title of ‘Lord Halkertoun’. He was raised to the peerage as Baron Falconer of Halkertoun in 1647. The family also saw military service. The Honourable William Falconer was killed at the Battle of Quebec in 1759. Adrian, eighth Lord Falconer, succeeded his cousin George Keith, as Earl Marischal, and the title of ‘Falconer’ is now borne as a subsidiary title of the Earls of Kintore.