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Scottish Branches - Overview

The earliest Fairholm or variant, that we have found in Scotland so far, is an Alan, who was appointed as a Burgess of Edinburgh on 14th November 1488, when he was also a Gild (Guild) Member. There was an Andrew appointed as a Burgess of the city on 28th January 1554-1555, and, similarly, a George, a maltman, on 13th September 1570. These three, and another 16 men, were listed below a group of surnames - Fairholme, Fairum, Farme, and Farome, where each individual's surname was not indicated, for appointments in the period up to 1700.

The records of the General Register Officer of Scotland include many entries for Fairholm and Fairholme and other variations in Scotland. There were eleven distinct sets of parents in the early 1600s, all in Edinburgh. The earliest entry in the index for any of the families is a christening in 1606 - Agnes, the daughter of Andro & Agnes Fairholme.

Charles Ferme (1566-1617)

Charles Ferme or Fairholm was the principal of the short-lived Fraserburgh university college - from around 1600 to his death in 1617.

Charles was born around 1566, but his parents are not known and he grew up with the family of Alexander Guthrie.  He attended Edinburgh University from 1584-1587.  He studies included philosophy and theology.  He learnt basic Hebrew.  From 1589 he taught at the university, but this ended when he took on the roles of minister at Fraserburgh and of the principal of the newly founded college in 1600.

Charles was a presbyterian.  When James VI re-established a functioning episcopacy in Scotland from 1600 Charles was opposed.  He was imprisoned several times for his actions against the new arrangements, which included attending a General Assembly of the church at Aberdeen in 1605, although James had prorogued it.  From 1605 until at least 1609 he was held at Doune castle, Stirling, Doune castle again and somewhere in the "Hielands".

After Charles' death one of his pupils and, later, the principal of Edinburgh University - John Adamson - published one of the two known works by Charles - A logical analysis of the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Romans.  The work is a very detailed examination and explanation of the text of the epistle.  A printed version was produced in 1850.  It contains the original in latin and a translation into english. The front page of the latin version is shown opposite.  It states that "all the more difficult words, sentences, and phrases are exactly, fully, and clearly explained from the sacred scriptures."  

The other work known to have been written by Charles was Prelections on Easter, but no copy of it survives.

The recorded spelling of Charles' surname was varied.  In one of the introductory sections to the translation of his surviving work William Lindsay Alexander includes a footnote about the surname.  He assserts that it was actually Fairholm, but sets out several variations used by Charles and for Charles by others: Farholm, Pharm, Pharum, Ferum, Ferm, Ferme and Fermaeus.  In a letter dated 21 February 1605, Charles signed his name "Chairlis Ferm".

Information for this story is from the 1850 version of his printed work and the Dictionary of National Biography.

This page sets out what we have found about the early history of the Fairholm and Fairholme families in Scotland.

Several families moved South to England and at least one English family moved North to Scotland. We use the terms English and Scottish to refer to the origins of branches rather than their current locations. We have not yet found any evidence for a common ancestry between the English and Scottish branches.

Changes to the Scottish branches (April 2025)

Whilst looking through my father's old paper print outs of the Scottish family trees I found a sticky note that said he had merged the Edinburghshire & Lanarkshire Branch into the Firth of Forth Branch.  At some point, there must have been some confusion between us because the website did not show this.  As a result, I have merged the pages for the two branches, renamed the Main Branch the Edinburgh Branch (because it is no longer the largest branch) and reinstated a page for the Fife Branch (which seems to have gone missing at some point).

First recorded uses of the surname

The branches

We have been able to create four Scottish branches.  For ease of reference, we  named them based on where the branches were located:

> Edinburgh (formerly Main)

> Edinburghshire & Borders

> Firth of Forth (merged with Edinburghshire & Lanarkshire)

> Fife.

In addition, there is a 'branch' for Ferme.

Details on each of the branches can be found by using the Scottish Branches drop-down list in the menu at the top of the page. For further information or to find out which branch you belong to please email me at queries@fairholmfamilytrees.info.

Photograph by mikhail pavstyuk on Unsplash

Governance of Edinburgh & its business community

Burgh, Guild, Trade Associations & Merchant Company

Edinburgh was governed in a similar way to the other royal burghs for much of its history, even though it was a capital city.  Governance was based on trade and the establishment of a class of merchants (and later craftsmen) called Burgesses.

A burgess had significant rights which constituted their ‘freedom’, including: the sole right to buy and sell within the burgh and its ‘liberty’ - except on market days, various rights in relation to the disposal of their property and rights in relation to using the Heriot’s Hospital and Schools.  In return, they had to live in the city, pay taxes and take turn in guarding the town at night.  

From 1583 Edinburgh had a council of twenty five who were selected from the burgesses. The council elected seven officers and, from 1611, the High Constables.  The diagram below illustrates the structure of the city’s governance.

Interlinked with governance structure, were the Merchant Guild and the Trade Associations of Craftsmen.  These protected the business interests of their members, but also had a charitable aspect in relation to their members and their dependants.  Usually, there were 12-14 associations and each one covered several different ‘arts’.  The Deacon was an association’s senior official.  His responsibility was “to assay and govern all work done by his craft brethren”.

The Merchant Company was established in 1681.  It seems to have been a more exclusive grouping of merchants compared to the Guild and an attempt by merchants to differentiate themselves from craftsmen.  Membership was necessary in order to trade overseas, although this proved difficult to enforce.

Family involvement

Only one family member became a burgess in the fifteenth century and two became burgesses during the sixteenth century.  See the spreadsheet opposite for details.

During the seventeenth century, sixteen members of the families are recorded as becoming burgesses (under various spellings of the surname, including Fairum, Farame, Farome).  Half of these were merchants.  A John Fairholm was a member of the council for five years (sometime between 1620 & 1659), although this information may cover a father and son.  John Fairholm (of the Edinburgh & Borders Branch) became a burgess by right from his father-in-law in 1612 - one of the several ways to do so.  He served as Treasurer in 1643-1644.   A family member served as bailie sometime during reign of Charles II (1649-1685 in Scotland).  This may be one of the Johns, again.

In the eighteenth century only seven family members became new burgesses, but three were actively involved in the management of the city or the business community: Thomas (as Councillor and Bailie), John (as Councillor, Magistrate, Bailie of the meal & corn market and Extraordinary Council Deacon of the Furriers) and Adam (as Councillor and Treasurer).

Only two family members are recorded as Members of the Merchant Company: James in 1697 and Adam in 1747.  However, Thomas Fairholm was elected Master (the most senior official) in 1743.

Information for the article and diagram from A Study of the Edinburgh Burgess Community and its Economic Activity 1600-1680 (McMillan),  The Social and Economic Structure of Edinburgh in the Late Seventeenth Century (Dingwall),  Historical Notes as to the Merchant Company of Edinburgh (Mackie),  The Incorporated Trades of Edinburgh (Colston),  Edinburgh Burgesses and Guild Brethren 1406-1700 & 1701-1760. vol 1,  Edinburgh Burgesses and Guild Brethren 1761-1841 vol1.

From a copy on the Internet Archive (archive.org)

Photograph by MUdaylahKholil on pixabay.com

Produced by Roger Fairholm

Produced by Roger Fairholm. © base map Corel Corporation

Click on the image to open a pdf of a spreadsheet. The file will open in a separate window in your web browser.

Apprentices in Edinburgh in the 17th century

Apprenticeships

The previous item covers roles in the business community of Edinburgh.  Before becoming a craftsman or a merchant it was necessary to serve time as an apprentice (or prentice in the records).  To achieve this, a young man needed to find a master craftsman who was willing to teach him his chosen trade.  The start of an apprenticeship was recorded formally in a register, with a fee paid (entry silver) on this ‘buiking’.  The fee varied by trade.

An apprenticeship normally lasted five or seven years.  Upon the completion (the up-sett) of the period the apprentice was entitled to apply for membership of the guild or a trade association, and secure the benefits that this brought.  For the associations the application process included the production of sample pieces of work (‘essays’), which were assessed.  If the apprentice was deemed successful then he became a member of the association after he had sworn an oath of allegiance and paid his duty.   (Note : I have not found any reference to female apprentices in Edinburgh.)

One way to become a burgess - and so be eligible to take part in the broader management of the business community - was by serving time as an apprentice and then serving an additional three years in their trade.

Family members

The registers of apprenticeships for Edinburgh covering the period of 1583 to 1700 were transcribed in the early twentieth century.  There are only a few entries for family members and all of these occur in the mid-1600s.  The entries are set out below.  From these, it seems that sons did not follow in their father’s trade.

Fairholm, James, son to late Thomas F., maltman at the West Port, with George Fairholm, tanner 19 Sept. 1649.

John, son to Thomas F., gardener in Edinburgh, with John Harper, cordiner 15 June 1642.

Robert, son to George F., tailor, in Aberladie, with James Hutchison, weaver in Paul's work 8 Nov. 1665.

Umphra, son to late George F., merchant, with John Tarbett, tailor 18 July 1627.

In the preface to the second volume of transcribed entries there is the following interesting note on writing and spelling on the original documents:

“The writing of those scrolls is execrable, utterly hasty and often almost illegible. The regular form of the entry can, of course, always be followed, and as a rule the christian and surnames can be deciphered without much risk of error, but the local names are so badly written, and often so evidently a wild attempt at phonetic spelling, that even the experts, whose help I most gratefully acknowledge, have in some cases been forced to rest content with little more than conjecture.”

Information from Register of Edinburgh Apprentices 1583 -1666 (Grant), Register of Edinburgh Apprentices 1666-1700 (Watson), The Incorporated Trades of Edinburgh (Colston).

Photograph from Museum of New Zealand on Unsplash