Meldrum

The ancient barony of Meldrum is in Aberdeenshire. The family are styled as ‘Dominus (Lord) de Meldrum’ in very early charters. Alexander de Melgedrum, was witness to a resignation of lands by John, Earl of Strathearn, around 1278. Philip and William de Melgedrum were witnesses to the foundation charter by the Comyn Earl of Buchan, of the Hospital of Turriff. William de Melkedrom, sheriff of Aberdeen, appears on the Ragman Roll submitting to Edward I of England in 1296. William Myldrum, a Scots prisoner of war, was executed by the English in 1402. The direct line of Meldrum of that Ilk ended in an heiress, Elizabeth, who married William, son of Sir Alexander Seton, who was killed at the Battle of Brechin in 1452. Another branch of the family, the Meldrums of Crombie, married into the powerful Preston family, and accordingly quarter the Meldrum arms with those of Preston. The name is still widespread in Aberdeenshire.