Beveridge

The name of this family, prominent in Fife, is stated by Black to derive from an old English name, meaning ‘Beaver Island’. This is amply displayed in their coat of arms which shows two beavers standing on the sea. In 1302 Walter Beverage is shown as a juror at an inquest in St Andrews. David Beverage was cup bearer to James V in 1534. The family remained prominent and acquired the estate of Brucefield in Fife. James Beveridge was I the collector of offshore dues in the Port of Leith and in 1821 his son, Samuel Beveridge, founded a legal practice which still serves the Port of Leith. I n 1985 this law firm petitioned the Lord Lyon, King of Arms, for a grant of arms in its own right, and received a version of the two beavers standing on the sea, forever linking the firm symbolically with the family of its founder.