Sidney Buller-Fullerton-Elphinstone, 16th Lord Elphinstone

Sidney Herbert Buller-Fullerton-Elphinstone, 16th Lord Elphinstone and 2nd Baron Elphinstone, KT, FRSE, FRSGS (27 July 1869 – 28 November 1955) was a Scottish nobleman.

The Lord Elphinstone
Elphinstone as caricatured in Vanity Fair in May 1911.
Born	Sidney Herbert Buller-Fullerton-Elphinstone 27 July 1869 Carberry Tower, East Lothian, Scotland
Died	28 November 1955 (aged 86)
Alma mater	Marlborough College
Title	16th Lord Elphinstone
Spouse(s)	Lady Mary Bowes-Lyon ​ ​ (m. 1910)​
Children	Hon. Mary Elphinstone John Elphinstone, 17th Lord Elphinstone Hon. Jean Wills Hon. Andrew Elphinstone Hon. Margaret Rhodes
Parent(s)	William, Lord Elphinstone Lady Constance Murray

Early life

Lord Elphinstone's bookplate, engraved by Charles William Sherborn

Sidney Herbert Buller-Fullerton-Elphinstone was born at Carberry Tower south-east of Edinburgh on 27 July 1869. He was the son of William, 15th Lord Elphinstone and Lady Constance Murray (28 Dec 1838 – 16 Mar 1922).[1]

His maternal grandparents were Alexander Murray, 6th Earl of Dunmore and Lady Catherine Herbert, daughter of the 11th Earl of Pembroke. His paternal grandparents were Lieutenant-Colonel James Drummond Fullerton Elphinstone and his second wife, Anna Maria (née Buller) Elphinstone, the daughter of Sir Edward Buller, 1st Baronet.

Sidney was educated at Marlborough College and succeeded his father in 1893.[2]

Career

Lord Elphinstone was Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1923 and 1924, Lord Clerk Register of Scotland and Keeper of the Signet from 1944 until his death. He was invested as a Knight of the Thistle in 1927[3] and was Chancellor of the Order from 1949. He was Captain General of the Royal Company of Archers from 1935 until 1953 and was Governor of the Bank of Scotland from 1924 to 1955.[2]

In 1938, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE). His proposers were Hugh Macmillan, Baron Macmillan, Sir Thomas Henry Holland, James Pickering Kendall and James Watt.[4]

Scrap book

Lord Elphinstone's Scrap book, which is held in the Mary Ann Beinecke Decorative Art Collection at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Library, provides a list of the clans of Scotland with the badges of distinction used by them. This rare book includes textile samples of clan tartans along with watercolour illustrations of clan flowers. Elphinstone was at one time a Trustee and Commissioner of Manufacturers in Scotland. The Scrap book can be viewed in the Digital Collections of the Clark Library.

Personal life

Lord Elphinstone married Lady Mary Bowes-Lyon on 24 July 1910 in Westminster. She was the daughter of Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne and Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck. She was also a sister of the Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom. The couple had five children:[5]

• The Hon. Mary Elizabeth Elphinstone (1911–1980). She was a bridesmaid at the wedding of Prince Albert, Duke of York, and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon on 26 April 1923.[6]
• John Elphinstone, 17th Lord Elphinstone (1914–1975)
• The Hon. Jean Constance Elphinstone (1915–1999), married Captain John Wills. Their daughter Marilyn is a goddaughter of Princess Margaret and was a bridesmaid at her 1960 wedding.[7]
• The Hon. and Rev. Andrew Charles Victor Elphinstone (1918–1975), married Jean Hambro and had issue. His wife was a Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Elizabeth II.[8]
• The Hon. Margaret Elphinstone (1925–2016), married Denys Rhodes and had issue. She was a bridesmaid at the 1947 wedding of the then-Princess Elizabeth (now Queen Elizabeth II) and the Duke of Edinburgh.

The Lord Elphinstone died on 28 November 1955, aged 86.[5]

References

1. Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0 902 198 84 X.
2. ELPHINSTONE, 16th Lord, Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2016 (online edition, Oxford University Press, 2014)
3. "No. 33302". The London Gazette. 12 August 1927. p. 5258.
4. Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0 902 198 84 X.
5. Hewitt, Michael (2014). A Most Remarkable Family. Author House. p. 230. ISBN 9781496977861.
6. Daily Telegraph: royal wedding photograph https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/royalty/9176069/The-Queen-Mother-in-pictures.html?frame=2181538
7. Yvonne's Royalty Home Page: Royal Godchildren
8. Yvonne's Royalty Home Page: Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation Attendants

Ancestry

Ancestors of Sidney Buller-Fullerton-Elphinstone, 16th Lord Elphinstone

16. Charles Elphinstone, 10th Lord Elphinstone 8. The Hon. William Elphinstone 17. Lady Clementina Fleming 4. James Fuller-Elphinstone 18. William Fullerton 9. Elizabeth Fullerton 19. Isabel Johnston 2. William Elphinstone, 15th Lord Elphinstone 20. John Buller 10. Sir Edward Buller, 1st Baronet, of Trenant Park 21. Mary St Aubyn 5. Anna Maria Buller 22. Philip van Cortlandt 11. Gertrude van Cortlandt 23. Catherine Ogden 1. Sidney Elphinstone, 16th Lord Elphinstone 24. John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore 12. George Murray, 5th Earl of Dunmore 25. Lady Charlotte Stewart 6. Alexander Murray, 6th Earl of Dunmore 26. Archibald Hamilton, 9th Duke of Hamilton 13. Lady Susan Hamilton 27. Lady Harriet Stewart 3. Lady Constance Murray 28. Henry Herbert, 10th Earl of Pembroke 14. George Herbert, 11th Earl of Pembroke 29. Lady Elizabeth Spencer 7. Lady Catherine Herbert 30. Count Semyon Vorontsov 15. Countess Catherine Vorontsova 31. Ekaterina Senyavina

External links

• Lord Elphinstone's Scrap Book containing tartan samples and watercolors of clan flowers. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Library. Mary Ann Beinecke Decorative Art Collection