Baron Stratheden
barony in the Peerage of the United Kingdom

Baron Stratheden, of Cupar in the County of Fife, and Baron Campbell, of St Andrews in the County of Fife, are two titles in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The titles were created in 1836 and 1841 respectively. The barony of Stratheden was created for the Hon. Mary, Lady Campbell, wife of the prominent lawyer and Whig politician Sir John Campbell, and daughter of James Scarlett, 1st Baron Abinger. Sir John Campbell, who in 1836 served as Attorney-General in the Whig administration of Lord Melbourne, had twice been overlooked for the office of Master of the Rolls, and was about to tender his resignation to Melbourne as a result of this. However, he was talked out of resigning when it was decided that, in recognition of the value of his services, his wife should be raised to the peerage. Five years later he was himself created Baron Campbell on his appointment as Lord Chancellor of Ireland. He later held office as Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain.
Both Lady Stratheden and Lord Campbell were succeeded by their eldest son, the second Baron. He had previously represented Cambridge and Harwich in the House of Commons as a Liberal.
“Baron Stratheden” enters the record as barony in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Baron, Stratheden and barony can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Baron Stratheden” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Baron, Stratheden and barony provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 14, 2023. The linked authority identifier is Q808670. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1836 and 1841.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Baron Stratheden”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Baron Stratheden primary sources, Baron Stratheden archive and Baron research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Baron Stratheden”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Baron Stratheden” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.