Clan Horsburgh

Clan Story

The Horsburgh Legacy

The Horsburgh name comes from lands of the same name in the parish of Innerleithen, Peeblesshire, and is thought to derive from Anglo-Saxon words for a horse and a fortified place. The family appears in records from the reign of Alexander II, with Symon de Horsbroc witnessing a charter to the monks of Melrose, and later generations, including Alexander Horsbruik of that Ilk in 1479, continued to hold the barony of Horsburgh in the Scottish Borders. The direct line eventually ended when the last Lady Horsburgh of Horsburgh married outside the family, passing the estate to the Chinnery family. There is no Lord Lyon-recognized chief today, though the surname remains associated with the Borders and Edinburgh area.

The Horsburgh family took its name from lands in the parish of Innerleithen, Peeblesshire, in the Scottish Borders. The earliest name on record is Symon de Horsbroc, who witnessed a charter for the monks of Melrose Abbey during the reign of Alexander II (1214-1249). William de Horsebroch appears around 1283 and was serving as a notary public in Glasgow by 1287, while Simon de Horsbrok held lands under the patronage of Edward I of England in 1297. By 1479, Alexander Horsbruik was styled 'of that Ilk,' confirming the family's continued possession of its own lands, and another Alexander was recorded as heir to the family's lands and mills in 1550. The Horsburgh barony eventually passed out of the family's direct control when the last baroness, Lady Horsburgh of Horsburgh, married into the Chinnery family. Horsburgh is classed today as an armigerous family, with no chief currently recognized by the Court of the Lord Lyon.