Allardice

 Black states that this is not a very common name, ‘but all who hold it believe in their descendant from the old family which was settled on the banks of the Bervie water’. The ancient barony of Allardice, sometimes styled ‘Alrethes’, lies in Kincardineshire near the parish of Arbuthnott. Nisbet states that William the Lion granted a charter to the family of the lands of Allrethis, and since that time the surname of the family has been taken from those lands. Thomas Allardice of that Ilk received lands from David II, and Sir James Allardice was Clerk of the King’s Treasury and Archdeacon of Moray around 1478. In 1662 Sir John Allardice of that Ilk, described by Anderson,  as ‘Chief of that ancient family’, married Mary, sister of the Earl of Menteith.This line ended when the last heir of Allardice, Sarah Allan, married Robert Barclay of Urie, MP for Kincardineshire in 1776. Their granddaughter, Margaret Barclay Allardice, claimed, by descent from her Allardice blood, the earldoms of Strathearn, Monteith and Airth, as last of the line descended from Prince David, son of Robert II. She assumed by royal licence of 2 July 1883 the name and arms of Barclay-Allardice. The family continued to prosper, having taken up residence in England, but the present successors to this noble line now use the name of Barclay alone.