Masterton

The lands from which this name derives are of great antiquity in Fife. The name may relate to lands held by a magister, or master, of the great Abbey of Dunfermline. William de Mastertone of the county of Fife appears on the Ragman Roll of 1296, rendering homage to Edward I of England for his possessions. His seal is said to have borne a lion rampant with a rose, devices which form no part of the arms recorded in the Lyon register. However, such heraldic discrepancies were common at this time, and the arms recorded of a red chevron and a blue chief on a silver field have the simplicity which would be expected of medieval arms. Duncan de Mastertone witnessed a charter of Duncan, Earl of Fife, to the abbots of Dunfermline in 1316, and Sir Thomas Mastertone was a canon of the Abbey of Cambuskenneth in 1476. Margaret, daughter of Alexander Mastertone, was nurse to Henry, eldest son of James VI, and received a royal pension. Alan Masterton, a friend and admirer of the poet Robert Burns, composed many of the tunes to accompany the bard’s lyrics. He was a teacher at the Royal High School of Edinburgh around 1795, and Burns is said to have written some verses in honour of the composer’s daughter.