The titles have a remainder to heirs male whatsoever bearing the name and arms of Dalzell. This means that they can pass to the senior male heir, whoever that is, outside of the line descending from the first holder the title, should that line become extinct. There is not the usual requirement that the heir be of the body of the original holder. The senior heir male is merely required to be of the bloodline and have the surname and arms of Dalzell.
Succession by this special remainder was first to occur on the death of the fourth Earl in 1702, when the line of the first Earl became extinct. The Earldom was, therefore, able to pass through collateral succession to Sir Robert Dalzell, 3rd Baronet, the senior heir of the first Lord and a collateral heir of the first Earl being the great-grandson of the first Earl's brother. But for this special remainder, he would have inherited only the Lordship, and the Earldom would have then become extinct.
In 1643 the first Earl was accused by the Convention of the Scottish Estate of betraying them to the King during the Civil War. He was fined £10,000 and his titles were forfeited and he was sentenced to death by an Act of the Scottish Parliament on 25 February 1645. This Act also provided "that his lawful son Gavin, Lord Dalzell, shall enjoy not only all the estates but the title of Earl as if his father were dead". His death sentence was not to be carried out, nor was the forfeiture of the titles recognised in Royalist circles.[5]
The first Earl went on to fight with King Charles I at the battle of Naseby on 14 June 1645, where the Earl received some blame for the loss of the battle. King Charles, attempting to rally his men, rode forward but as he did so, the Earl seized his bridle and pulled him back, fearing for the King's safety. Lord Carnwath's action was misinterpreted by the royalist soldiers as a signal to move back, leading to a collapse of their position.[6] The military balance then tipped decisively in favour of Parliament.[7]
The first Earl's nephew, Robert Dalzell, Member of Parliament for Dumfries, was created a baronet, of Glenae, Dumfries, on 11 April 1666, in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia.[8][unreliable source?] He was the son of the Honourable Sir John Dalzell, himself the younger son of the first Lord. The baronetcy was to pass from father to son, until the third Baronet succeeded as the fifth Earl of Carnwath in 1702 by virtue of the Earldom's special remainder, with the peerage titles then merging with the baronetcy.
The Earl's coat of arms is sable, a man's body proper, i.e. the flesh-coloured silhouette of a man against a black background. The origin of this peculiar arms was written about by Sir Robert Douglas, 6th Baronet, in 1764:
The account of their origin, given by Mr. Nisbet, and other historians, is, that in the reign of king Kenneth II. a kinsman, and favourite of that king, being taken prisoner by the Picts, was put to death, and hung up upon a gallows in view of the Scotch camp. King Kenneth being highly provoked and incensed at the affront, offered a considerable reward to any of his subjects who would take down, and carry off the corpse; but, for some time, none would venture to undertake the dangerous enterprise. At last, a gentleman of more spirit and courage than the rest, said "dal zell", which, in the old Scotch language, signifies, 'I dare'. He effectually performed it to the king's satisfaction, who accordingly rewarded him nobly. His posterity assumed the word DALZELL for their surname, and that remarkable bearing of a man hanging on a gallows for their arms, with I dare for their motto, in memory of the above brave action, though they now bear only a naked man proper.[9]
Robert Dalzell, 5th Earl of Carnwath (1687–1737), great-great-grandson of the first Lord, had succeeded as third Baronet in 1689, (titles forfeited by attainder 1716)
But for the attainder, the descent would have included the following three individuals:[citation needed]
Alexander Dalzell (1721–1787), eldest son of the fifth Earl
Robert Dalzell (1755–1808), eldest son of the above Alexander Dalzell
John Dalzell (1795–1814), eldest son of the above Robert Dalzell
Arms of Dalzell of Glenae, matriculated with the Court of the Lord Lyon around 1672–77: Sable a naked man, his arms expanded proper, with a bordure argent
In some publications, the numbering of the Earls is greater, as they have taken into account the above three people who were in succession but were unable to legally hold the title during the time it was under attainder, and in some earlier publications the first Lord is also incorrectly numbered as the first Earl. The above numbering for each Earl is consistent with the modern numbering used in the printing of the Official Roll of the Baronetage in The London Gazette in 1915.[10]
