Earl of RothesDario Item, Earl of Rothes in the baronage of Scotland

The Earldom of Rothes (1886)

The Earldom of Rothes is one of the most historically layered titles in Scotland, bearing both peerage and baronial significance. Originally conferred in 1458 by King James II upon George Leslie, the creation of the Earldom coincided with the Crown’s grant of the territorial Barony of Ballinbreich. At this early stage, the title functioned within the framework of feudal nobility, whereby the dignity was inherently linked to territorial jurisdiction and ownership.

While the peerage dignity was unquestionably recognised by Parliament, the first recorded Crown Charter for the Earldom’s baronial structure appears somewhat later, in a 1547 entry in the Register of the Great Seal of Scotland. This entry documents the consolidation of lands, markets, offices and dignities into what was styled the “whole and free Lordship and Earldom, Barony, Burgh of Barony and Lordship of Leslie and Earldom of Rothes”, a clear indication that the Earldom carried with it significant territorial dignity within the baronage of Scotland.

The dual character of the title becomes especially important in the 19th century. Upon the death of George William Evelyn Leslie, 13th Earl of Rothes, in 1859, the peerage title passed to his sister Henrietta Anderson Morshead Leslie, who became the 14th Countess of Rothes in her own right. That same year, Queen Victoria issued a Crown Charter of Confirmation dated 19 October 1859, affirming Henrietta’s right to the baronial lands, fairs, tolls and offices, including the Sheriffdom of Fife, all encompassed within the feudal Earldom.

Upon the Countess’s death in 1886, however, a pivotal divergence occurred: the peerage Earldom passed by the rules of peerage inheritance to an aunt, while the feudal Earldom, then still tied to land ownership, had earlier been conveyed into trust and later passed through conveyancing. In 1919 Captain William Crundall acquired the baronial title along with the feudal estate, separating it definitively from the peerage line.

This separation was possible under Scots law, particularly the Conveyancing (Scotland) Act 1874, which allowed superiority and land to be separated in law and treated more flexibly in conveyancing. Some noble dignities thus came to persist in parallel: one as a peerage dignity, the other as a baronial dignity associated with land.

The Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Act 2000, in force from 28 November 2004, ended the feudal land system. The earldom became a personal incorporeal hereditament, no longer attached to land, but preserved in Scots law as a dignity of honour.¹ The baronial Earldom of Rothes remains a dignity within the Baronage of Scotland, distinct from the peerage earldom: both derive from a common origin, but they are separate in law.

By Letters Patent matriculated on 6 August 2007, following his Warrant of 5 September 2006, Lord Lyon Blair officially recognised the late Sir Christopher Ondaatje, the explorer and philanthropist, as “Feudal Earl of Rothes and Baron and Feudal Lord of Leslie and Holder of the territorial office of Sheriff of Fife”, with a chapeau granted “in respect of his feudal earldom of Rothes and the barony and feudal lordship of Leslie”.² The barony and lordship of Leslie has since passed separately.

In 2024 Dario Item succeeded to the Earldom of Rothes and the Sheriffdom of Fife.³

The Hereditary Sheriffdom of Fife

The Sheriffdom of Fife is one of the oldest offices within the Scottish baronial tradition, dating to the 12th century under King David I. Sheriffdoms served as royal outposts of justice and governance, and Fife’s strategic importance made its sheriffdom particularly powerful.

By the 14th century the office had become hereditary, often held by major landowning families such as the MacDuffs, the Wemyss and later the Leslies, Earls of Rothes. Hereditary sheriffs exercised real authority, overseeing local courts, collecting revenues and commanding levies, and often delegated their duties to sheriff-deputes in Cupar and other towns.

The Heritable Jurisdictions (Scotland) Act 1746, passed after the Jacobite rising, abolished hereditary judicial powers and centralised authority under Crown-appointed sheriffs. The office became ceremonial but remained attached to noble estates, including the Rothes lands.

Today, while no legal powers remain, the dignity survives as a hereditary honour. In the 20th century it passed with the baronial Earldom of Rothes, and in 2007 Lord Lyon Blair officially recognised Sir Christopher Ondaatje as “Holder of the territorial office of Sheriff of Fife”.² In 2024 the office passed to his successor, Dario Item, Earl of Rothes, who holds this historic dignity within the Baronage of Scotland.