SETON, Sir Iain Bruce, 13th Baronet (1942-2025)

[colinp]

Sir Iain Bruce Seton, 13th baronet of Abercorn (NS 1663) died on 13 June 2025.  The Official Roll of the Baronetage now shows the baronetcy as being vacant.

IAIN BRUCE SETON | Amity Rose Funerals

He was the s of Sir Christopher Bruce Seton, 12th baronet (1909-1988) and (m 1939) Joyce Vivian BARNARD (d 2005).  He m 1963 Margaret Ann FAULKNER (d 2019) and had issue a s and a d.

His only son Laurence Bruce Seton succeeds as 14th Baronet, subject to proving his claim.  He was b 1 July 1968, resident in Esperance Western Australia (according to latest print DPB, and m 1990 Rachel WOODS and has issue:-

LIAM JAMES b 10 June 2000 heir apparent

Rowan Ann b 1996

Sarah Jane b 1998

[bx...@yahoo.com]

A quick check of DPB Online, which hasn't updated the page, shows the only other male in remainder (besides the heir apparent) is Phillip James Seton (b. 1975), a first cousin of the new baronet.  He is shown as unmarried.

Brooke

[Paul Theroff]

This family descends from the eldest son by the 1st marriage of the 1st Earl of Huntly, and are his heirs male, but the earl’s title and estates went to issue of his 2nd marriage before that of the 1st marriage; they might be heirs to a Barony of Gordon, if the 1st Earl’s father was in fact so created.

[Paul Theroff]

Some genealogy to illustrate the point:

Alexander SETON, son of William Seton, of that Ilk, married in 1408 Elizabeth, daughter of John Gordon, of Gordon and Huntly. Inheriting these important Gordon lands, he is sometimes considered to have been created Lord Gordon. He died 1440/1, and she on 16 Mar 1439. [Alexander was great-uncle of the 1st Lord Seton.] They had issue:

1a) Alexander SETON, later [ca 1457] GORDON, cr 1444/5 Earl of Huntly (d.Huntly 15 Jul 1470); m.1st ca 1427 (annulled) Gille Hay; m.2nd Elizabeth, dau of 1st Lord Crichton; the children of 2nd marriage all took surname GORDON, while the son of the 1st remained a SETON; at some point Huntly resigned his estates and obtained a new charter leaving them to his issue by 2nd marriage, and only after them to the issue of the 1st marriage, and this apparently applied also to his Earldom

1b) [by 1st m.]: Sir Alexander Seton, of Touch, who inherited estates of his mother’s family --> issue, now represented by the Seton of Abercorn Baronets; if Alexander’s grandfather really was cr Lord Gordon, then these Setons are heirs to that title

2b) [by 2nd m.]: George Gordon, 2nd Earl of Huntly (d.Stirling 1501); m.1st (div) Elizabeth Dunbar, Dowager Countess of Moray; m.2nd (div 1471) Pss Annabel of Scotland; m.3rd 1471 Elizabeth Hay --> issue, subsequent earls and marquesses of Huntly, and Dukes of Gordon

[colinp]

For what it's worth the author of the wikipedia article on the baronets states:-

In 1923 Sir Bruce Gordon Seton, 9th Baronet, petitioned the Crown for his right to the title of Lord Gordon. Although the Committee for Privileges of the House of Lords admitted that he was the heir male of the first Earl of Huntly they decided that he had not provided enough evidence of the creation and existence of the title of Lord Gordon

[Paul Theroff]

I suppose, then, that they should be considered dynasts of the Earls of Huntly. As far as I can tell, no earl after the first one ever surrendered the title and received one with a new remainder, as many Scots peers did.

[bx...@yahoo.com]

DPB Online has now updated this page, to show Sir Laurence Bruce SETON, as the 14th Baronet.

The initial post of colinp's, showing Sir Laurence's son, LIAM JAMES (b. 2000) as the ha, is confirmed, as is my subsequent post showing  Philip Charles SETON (b. 1975), as the only other male in the line of succession.

Brooke

[colinp]

Sir Laurence Bruce Seton is now entered on the Official Roll of the Baronetage as the 14th Baronet Seton of Abercorn