Binning

Nisbet lists not only a principal family designed ‘of that Ilk’ but also Binning of Easter Binning and Binning of Wallyford. He states that the arms of Easter Binning are differenced from the principal family by placing a silver wagon on the black bend, thus alluding to the family tradition, dating from the reign of David II, that one of the family went with seven of his sons concealed in a wagon full of hay and captured Linlithgow Castle, then held by English forces. The origin of the name itself is said by Black to be territorial, and derive from an old barony of that name in the parish of Uphall West Lothian. The family must have assumed some prominence, as Sir John Benyng was governor of the lands and possessions of the Order of St John of Jerusalem in Scotland around 1388. The order was powerful throughout Europe at that time, and their Preceptory of Torphichen was a major holding. Black also lists Binnings as prominent burgesses in Aberdeen in the fifteenth century. The name was common around Edinburgh in the seventeenth century. It survives as a title of the Earls of Haddington. Sir Thomas Hamilton was created Lord Binning on 19 November 1613. The heir to the earldom of Haddington traditionally uses the courtesy title, ‘Lord Binning’.