Tennant

This name derives from the Latin ‘tenere’, ‘to hold’. William Tenent of Crestone is recorded as early as 1296. Thomas Teneunt was one of the witnesses in the inquiry concerning the affairs of the Knights Templar in 1309. John Tenent of Lynhous was a witness to a charter of Lord St John, preceptor of the Order of St John at Torphichen, in 1558. Nisbet describes the seal of Mungo Tennent, burgess of Edinburgh, appended to a deed of 1542 as bearing a boar’s head in chief and two crescents in the flanks and in base the letter ‘M’. This is remarkably similar to the arms of Tennant of that Ilk described in Balfour’s manuscript. Francis Tennent was Lord Provost of Edinburgh and a supporter of Mary, Queen of Scots. He was taken prisoner by the queen’s enemies in 1571. James Tennent of Cairns married a daughter of Somerville of Drum. He had been a page to James VI. John Tennent of Glenconner was the factor of the Glencairn estates and a close friend of the poet Robert Burns. His descendant, Sir Charles Tennent, was created a baronet in 1885. His son was raised to the peerage as Lord Glenconner in 1911. He was Lord Lieutenant of Peebles and Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland from 1911 to 1914. The present Lord Glenconner still resides on the family lands at Glen, near Innerleithen, but also owns the island of Mustique, now an exclusive holiday resort. Sir Ian Tennent, a cousin of Lord Glenconner, was created a Knight of the Thistle in 1990.