How to find records for claimants to peerages

[mw1360]

I just ran across an autobiography of a very distant relative (now deceased) who was a respected historian in South Africa, and read some info that has me stumped as to next steps.  In the beginning pages, where authors usually give a short history of their ancestry (always my favorite part), he discusses how our mutual ancestor (b. 1760s Fife - d. 1840s Fife) claimed to be a direct descendant of an earl!  Now I know everyone claims to have royal or noble blood, but our mutual ancestor (a working class guy) apparently tried to prove it and claim the title.  The title was lapsed from the early 1800s through the 1840s, when Parliament gave the title to another claimant, and there was yet another claimant who shows up all over the net as a shyster notorious at the time for forging his documentation and fooling (and bilking) lots of people.  My ancestor apparently got stopped by never being able to find a marriage certificate proving legitimate descent.

There are four possible scenarios I see: my ancestor was another fraud, he was delusional, he was misinformed, or he was right.   Regardless, I would like to find his info, as he currently is the earliest generation I have and I have failed in my attempts so far to push further back in time.  How did this work?  Did he have to submit paperwork (laying out his ancestry) somewhere to try to stake a claim to the title?  If so (and if he actually went through with formally making a claim), how would I be able to get that info (if it still exists)?

Any advice would be much appreciated.  Thanks!

[Elwyn Soutter]

If the claim was in Scotland, I think he would have had to submit his family tree and other documentation to the Court of the Lord Lyon:

www.lyon-court.com/lordlyon/215.180.htm

[GR2]

I am descended from the Dundas family of Fingask and came on a similar thing. My direct ancestor died in the 1570s, but in the 18th century Dundas of Fingask was taken to court by Dundas of Dundas over his use of undifferenced arms. This Dundas of Fingask had a story, possibly involving wicked uncles , that the Fingask branch was the main branch and therefore entitled to the arms. There was a court case where Dundas of Dundas produced all the documents to prove his side, but Dundas of Fingask could produce nothing. The court papers are in the National Library of Scotland. What I suggest you do is go onto the National Archives of Scotland on-line catalogue and search for the people involved. If the earl's family papers are there (or in the parallel catalogue of papers held in private hands which you can access via the National Archives site) they may include papers prepared for court about the case. If you find nothing there, then try the National Library of Scotland site.

By the way, Dundas of Dundas was descended from an unknown first wife, while the Dundases of Fingask were descended from a known second wife who was a descendant of Robert the Bruce, so genealogically more interesting  .

Graham.

[Skoosh]

http://www.nas.gov.uk/onlineCatalogue         for the National Archives.      Skoosh.

[Forfarian]

You could also try the various online digitised newspapers. It's the sort of thing that might well have been reported in say The Scotsman or The Times.