74 CuurcH oF St. Jony THE Baptist, DALRY. 
the Home of Wedderburn arms given——first and fourth, the lion 
rampant; second, the three papingoes ; third, the engrailed cross 
of the Sinclairs of Polwarth, another heiress. These quarterings, 
commemorative of lands acquired through various heiresses, are 
borne by all the branches of the Home or Hume family without 
distinction from the Earls of Home and Marchmont down through 
all its numerous cadets. In singular contrast to this unanimous 
practice, Nisbet himself notes a curious exception, in the person 
of Nicola Pepdie’s own son David, the first of the Wedderburn 
race who used a seal with the Home lion unaccompanied by his 
mother’s arms, and also his grandson George, who had the same 
arms carved on the gateway in front of Wedderburn House. 
Under these peculiar and apparently discrepant circumstances, 
I have taken the opportunity of consulting an eminent authority, 
Mr Andrew Ross, Marchmont Herald, who considers the case 
quite open to an alternative solution, which may at least be 
fairly considered, and the lion rampant, being the well-known 
heraldic distinction of the province of Galloway, at once leads 
to the inquiry whether any grounds exist for the provincial arms 
being so used in pale with family arms, as seems to be possible 
in the present instance. The Gordons appear to have been a 
family of high distinction in Kirkcudbrightshire from the 14th 
century, when they first acquired possessions in the Glenkens. 
Two centuries afterwards we find the head of the family, James 
Gordon—who was killed at the battle of Pinkie, September 
10th, 1547—appointed for a term of five years the King’s 
Chamberlain of the Lordship of Galloway, both above and 
below the Cree; while his eldest son, John, mentioned above, 
was appointed by Queen Mary, February 9th, 1555, Justiciar 
of the Stewardry, an important office, in which he was reappointed 
some thirty years later by King James VI., and died in August, 
1604, half a century after his first appointment to a distinction 
no doubt borne by him to the end of his life, but which does 
not seem to have been in any sense hereditary. 
This question is not only interesting from a heraldic point of 
view, but also as to the date when the Kenmure aisle was first 
erected. If sucha structure had been built during the long life- 
time and tenure of office of this John Gordon, so to combine the 
provincial arms with those of his family would appear to be not 
only justifiable but quite appropriate. In the case, however, of 
