Clan Maxton is a Scottish clan

Scottish clan

Scottish clans , give a sense of identity and shared descent to people in Scotland and to their relations throughout the world, with a formal structure of Clan Chiefs recognised by the court of the Lord Lyon, King of Arms which acts as an authority concerning matters of heraldry and Coat of Arms...

. The clan does not have a chief

Scottish clan chief

The Scottish Gaelic word clann means children. In early times, and possibly even today, clan members believed themselves to descend from a common ancestor, the founder of the Scottish clan. From its perceived founder a clan takes its name. The clan chief is the representative of this founder, and...

 recognised by the Lord Lyon King of Arms

Lord Lyon King of Arms

The Lord Lyon King of Arms, the head of Lyon Court, is the most junior of the Great Officers of State in Scotland and is the Scottish official with responsibility for regulating heraldry in that country, issuing new grants of arms, and serving as the judge of the Court of the Lord Lyon, the oldest...

 therefore the clan has no standing under Scots Law

Scots law

Scots law is the legal system of Scotland. It is considered a hybrid or mixed legal system as it traces its roots to a number of different historical sources. With English law and Northern Irish law it forms the legal system of the United Kingdom; it shares with the two other systems some...

. Clan Maxton is considered an armigerous clan

Armigerous clan

An armigerous clan is a Scottish clan, family or name which is registered with the Court of the Lord Lyon and once had a chief who bore undifferenced arms, but does not have a chief currently recognized as such by Lyon Court...

, meaning that it is considered to have had at one time a chief who possessed the chiefly arms

Undifferenced arms

Undifferenced arms are coats of arms which have no marks distinguishing the bearer by birth order or family position. In the Scottish and English heraldic traditions, these plain coats of arms are legal property transmitted from father to eldest male heir, and are used only by one person at any...

, or who was considered chief of the name. However no one at present is in possession of such arms, and no one is considered chief of the name.

The surname

Surname

A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...

 Maxton

Maxton

Maxton is a placename and a surname. It may refer to:Places:*Maxton, Roxburghshire, Scotland*Maxton, Kent, England*Maxton, North Carolina, USAPeople:*Annie Maxton, Scottish socialist and trade unionist...

is considered to be a habitational name

Habitational name

A habitational name is a type of name. These names denote the starting inhabited location. Such locations can be any type of settlement, such as: homesteads, farms, enclosures, villages, hamlets, strongholds or cottages. The second element of a habitational name describes the type of settlement...

 from the lands and barony of Maxton

Maxton, Roxburghshire

Maxton is a hamlet and civil parish in Roxburghshire, Scotland, and part of the Scottish Borders region.Maxton lies just off the A68, south of St. Boswells, north of Ancrum, and east of Newtown St. BoswellsMaxton is part of the St...

 in Roxburghshire

Roxburghshire

Roxburghshire or the County of Roxburgh is a registration county of Scotland. It borders Dumfries to the west, Selkirk to the north-west, and Berwick to the north. To the south-east it borders Cumbria and Northumberland in England.It was named after the Royal Burgh of Roxburgh...

, on the Scottish Borders

Scottish Borders

The Scottish Borders is one of 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by Dumfries and Galloway in the west, South Lanarkshire and West Lothian in the north west, City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian to the north; and the non-metropolitan counties of Northumberland...

. The name roughly means "settlement (tun) of Maccus". Around 1153, during the reign of David I

David I of Scotland

David I or Dabíd mac Maíl Choluim was a 12th-century ruler who was Prince of the Cumbrians and later King of the Scots...

, Maccus, son of Undwin is thought to have obtained the lands. The family however are thought to have lost their lands, which passed into the possession of Robert de Berkley in the 12th century. In 1261, Adam de Maxton was elected Abbot of Melrose

Abbot of Melrose

The Abbot and then Commendator of Melrose was the head of the monastic community of Melrose Abbey, in Melrose in the Borders region of Scotland. The abbey was founded in 1136 on the patronage of David I , King of Scots, by Cistercian monks from Rievaulx Abbey, Yorkshire...

. He may be the same Alexander de Maxton, who was styled "constable of Roxburgh", and the individual who is recorded as submitting to Edward I

Edward I of England

Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...

, king of England, on the Ragman Rolls

Ragman Rolls

Ragman Rolls refers to the collection of instruments by which the nobility and gentry of Scotland subscribed allegiance to King Edward I of England, during the time between the Conference of Norham in May 1291 and the final award in favor of Baliol in November 1292; and again in 1296...

 in 1296. In around 1410, Robert de Maxton received the lands of Cultoquhey near Crieff

Crieff

Crieff is a market town in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It lies on the A85 road between Perth and Crianlarich and also lies on the A822 between Greenloaning and Aberfeldy. The A822 joins onto the A823 which leads to Dunfermline....

 in Perthshire

Perthshire

Perthshire, officially the County of Perth , is a registration county in central Scotland. It extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south...

. This man's coat of arms may allude to the earlier Abbot of Melrose, as they bear three crosses. Robert Maxton died at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. The clan prospered in Perthshire, allying themselves by marriages to other clans such as the Oliphants

Clan Oliphant

-Origins of the clan:The earliest record of the name was Osbernus Olifardus circa 1046 in Normandy.The first known Oliphant landholding was in England at Lilleford in Northampton by the family of David Olifard, who is commonly held to be the progenitor of the clan...

 and the Grahams of Balgowan and of Grahams Murrayshall. In 1859, James Maxton of Cultoquhey succeeded his uncle Robert Graham of Balgowan and since then the Maxtons of Cultoquhey borne the double-barrelled surname Maxtone-Graham and quartered the arms of both families.