ANCRUM, earl of, one of the titles of the marquis of Lo— thian, conferred in 1633, on Sir Robert Kerr, of Ancrum, an accomplished poet and courtier, the descendant of Sir Andrew Kerr of Fernihirst, a border chief who acted a prominent part in the reigns of James IV. and James V., particularly in resisting the inroads of the English. The title devolved on Robert fourth earl and first marquis of Lothian, on the death of Charles, second earl of Ancrum, and is now by courtesy borne by the eldest son of the marquis of Lothian. (See Lothian, marquis of, and KERR, surname of.) The name of Ancrum is derived from Alncromb or Alncrumb, signifying the crook of the Ale or Aln, and is exactly descriptive of the situation of the village of Ancrum, which stands on a rising ground on the south side of the Ale, where that stream fetches a curve before falling into the Teviot. A ridge in the sequestered parish of Ancrum in Roxburghshire is called Lilliard’s edge, from a battle fought there in 1544, on an invasion of the English under Sir Ralph Evens and Sir Brian Latoun, in which a young Scottish woman named Lilliard who had followed her lover, on seeing him fall, rushed forward, and fighting bravely, by her gallantry aided to turn the fight in favour of her countrymen. The heroine was slain in the engagement, and an old broken and defaced stone is still pointed out to mark the spot where she fell. It is said to have once borne the following inscription, recast from the well-known lines on Sir Thomas Widdrington in the ballad of Chevy Chase:

"Fair maiden Lyliard lies under this stane;
Little was her stature, but great was her fame;
Upon the English loons she laid many thumps,
And when her legs were cutted off she fought upon her stumps."

The leaders of the Scotch were the regent earl of Arran and the earl of Angus. (See vol. ii. p. 46.)

ANCRUM, earl of, see KERR, SIR ROBERT.