Earl of Lindsay is a title in the Peerage of Scotland

Peerage of Scotland

The Peerage of Scotland is the division of the British Peerage for those peers created in the Kingdom of Scotland before 1707. With that year's Act of Union, the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England were combined into the Kingdom of Great Britain, and a new Peerage of Great Britain was...

. It was created in 1633 for John Lindsay, 10th Lord Lindsay, who later inherited the ancient Earldom of Crawford

Earl of Crawford

The title Earl of Crawford is one of the most ancient extant titles in Great Britain, having been created in the Peerage of Scotland for Sir David Lindsay in 1398. It is the premier earldom recorded on the Union Roll.The title has a very complex history...

. The two earldoms remained united until the death of the twenty-second Earl of Crawford, also sixth Earl of Lindsay. Then the earldom of Lindsay passed to David Lindsay, while the earldom of Crawford became dormant because no-one could prove a claim to the title. That title was revived when a claim was proven in 1848. Both David, 7th Earl of Lindsay, and his successor Patrick, 8th Earl of Lindsay, died without sons, and the disputed claim over the earldom was resolved by the House of Lords

House of Lords

The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....

 in 1878 in favour of Sir John Trotter Bethune, 2nd Baronet.

The subsidiary titles of the Earl are: Viscount of Garnock (created 1703), Lord Lindsay of The Byres (1445), Lord Parbroath (1633) and Lord Kilbirnie, Kingsburn and Drumry (1703), all in the Peerage of Scotland. The title Viscount Garnock is used as the courtesy title

Courtesy title

A courtesy title is a form of address in systems of nobility used for children, former wives and other close relatives of a peer. These styles are used 'by courtesy' in the sense that the relatives do not themselves hold substantive titles...

 for the eldest son and heir to the Earl.

The family seat is Lahill House, near Upper Largo

Upper Largo

Upper Largo or Kirkton of Largo is a village near the East Neuk of Fife, Scotland. It rests on the southern slopes of Largo Law and half a mile north of Largo Bay and the rather larger village of Lower Largo...

, Fife

Fife

Fife is a council area and former county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire...

.

Lords Lindsay (1445)

• John Lindsay, 1st Lord Lindsay (d. 1482)
• David Lindsay, 2nd Lord Lindsay (d. 1490)
• John Lindsay, 3rd Lord Lindsay (d. 1497)
• Patrick Lindsay, 4th Lord Lindsay (d. 1526)
• John Lindsay, 5th Lord Lindsay (d. 1563)
• Patrick Lindsay, 6th Lord Lindsay (1521–1589)
• James Lindsay, 7th Lord Lindsay (1554–1601)
• John Lindsay, 8th Lord Lindsay (d. 1609)
• Robert Lindsay, 9th Lord Lindsay (d. 1616)
• John Lindsay, 10th Lord Lindsay (c. 1598–1678) (created Earl of Lindsay in 1633)

Earls of Lindsay (1633)

• John Lindsay, 1st Earl of Lindsay, 17th Earl of Crawford (c. 1598–1678)
• William Lindsay, 2nd Earl of Lindsay, 18th Earl of Crawford (1644–1698)
• John Lindsay, 3rd Earl of Lindsay
  John Lindsay, 19th Earl of Crawford
  John Lindsay, 19th Earl of Crawford and 3rd Earl of Lindsay was a Scottish peer and politician. He succeeded to the earldoms in 1698 on the death of his father William Lindsay, 18th Earl of Crawford. He was elected as one of the first representative peers in February of 1707, and so served until...
  
  , 19th Earl of Crawford (d. 1713)
• John Lindsay, 4th Earl of Lindsay
  John Lindsay, 20th Earl of Crawford
  Lieutenant-General John Lindsay, 20th Earl of Crawford was a Scottish peer and the first colonel of the Black Watch on its formation in 1739.He was the son of Lt.-Gen...
  
  , 20th Earl of Crawford (1702–1749)
• George Lindsay-Crawford, 5th Earl of Lindsay, 21st Earl of Crawford, 4th Viscount of Garnock (1723–1781)
• George Lindsay-Crawford, 6th Earl of Lindsay
  George Lindsay-Crawford, 22nd Earl of Crawford
  Major General George Lindsay-Crawford, 22nd Earl of Crawford , was a Scottish peer and soldier. He served in the British Army and was Lord Lieutenant of Fife....
  
   22nd Earl of Crawford, 5th Viscount of Garnock (1758–1808)
• David Lindsay, 7th Earl of Lindsay (d. 1809)
• Patrick Lindsay, 8th Earl of Lindsay (1778–1839)
• Henry Lindsay Bethune, 9th Earl of Lindsay (1787–1851)
• John Trotter Bethune, 10th Earl of Lindsay (1827–1894)
• David Clarke Bethune, 11th Earl of Lindsay (1832–1917)
• Reginald Lindesay-Bethune, 12th Earl of Lindsay
  Reginald Lindesay-Bethune, 12th Earl of Lindsay
  Reginald Lindesay-Bethune, 12th Earl of Lindsay JP DL was a Scottish nobleman.The eldest son of the 11th Earl of Lindsay and Emily Marian Crosse, he succeeded his father in 1917, and assumed the additional surname of Lindesay in 1919...
  
   (1867–1939)
• Archibald Lionel Bethune, 13th Earl of Lindsay (1872–1943)
• William Tucker Lindesay-Bethune, 14th Earl of Lindsay (1901–1985)
• David Lindesay-Bethune, 15th Earl of Lindsay (1926–1989)
• James Randolph Lindesay-Bethune, 16th Earl of Lindsay
  James Lindesay-Bethune, 16th Earl of Lindsay
  James Randolph Lindesay-Bethune, 16th Earl of Lindsay, DL, is a Scottish nobleman, businessman and Conservative politician....
  
   (b. 1955)

The heir apparent

Heir apparent

An heir apparent or heiress apparent is a person who is first in line of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting, except by a change in the rules of succession....

is the present holder's son William James Lindesay-Bethune, Viscount Garnock (b. 1990).

Viscounts of Garnock (1703)

• John Lindsay-Crawford, 1st Viscount of Garnock (1669–1708)
• Patrick Lindsay-Crawford, 2nd Viscount of Garnock (1697–1735)
• John Lindsay-Crawford, 3rd Viscount of Garnock (1722–1738)
• George Lindsay-Crawford, 4th Viscount of Garnock (1723–1781) (succeeded as Earl of Crawford and Lindsay in 1749)

For further Viscounts of Garnock, see Earl of Lindsay.

Bethune Baronets, of Kilconquhar (1836)

• Sir Henry Lindsay Bethune, 1st Baronet (1787–1851)
• Sir John Trotter Bethune, 2nd Baronet (1827–1894) (established claim to earldom of Lindsay in 1878)