| Gaelic name | Mac an Léigh |
| Motto | Si je puis (If I can) |
| Territory | West Lothian |
| Overview | The Livingstons of that ilk held lands in West Lothian from the twelfth century, rising to become Earls of Linlithgow and Callendar. The clan is most famous for its connection to David Livingstone, the Victorian explorer who crossed Africa and sought the source of the Nile. |
The Livingston name derives not from a Gaelic clan tradition but from a Flemish settler named Leving who came to Scotland in the twelfth century and received lands in West Lothian. The town that grew on his estates became Leving's toun — Livingston, now one of Scotland's new towns. From this Flemish Fleming founder, a Scottish family grew over generations into one of the most powerful houses in the kingdom.
The Livingstons rose through royal service. Sir William Livingston was a guardian of the young King David II in the fourteenth century, and the family's consistent support for the Scottish crown through the turbulent fourteenth and fifteenth centuries rewarded them with estates across Scotland. By the sixteenth century, they had become one of the most powerful magnate families in the land, holding the guardianship of Mary Queen of Scots during her childhood at Inchmahome Priory — one of the most intimate connections any Scottish family had with the tragic queen.
Mary Livingston was one of the famous Four Maries — the four Scottish ladies who accompanied the young Mary Queen of Scots to France when she was sent there at the age of five. The Four Maries (Mary Beaton, Mary Seton, Mary Fleming, and Mary Livingston) were the queen's closest companions throughout her French childhood and her reign in Scotland. Mary Livingston was among the last to leave the queen's service, marrying John Sempill in 1565. The Four Maries are one of the most romanticised episodes in Scottish history, and their story has been told in song, novel, and stage repeatedly.
The Earldom of Linlithgow, created in 1600, made the Livingstons one of Scotland's great titled families. The earls held Callendar House near Falkirk, one of the finest stately homes in central Scotland. The fifth earl supported the Jacobite rising of 1715 and lost the earldom through forfeiture — another great Scottish family brought down by the Stuart cause.
David Livingstone (1813–1873) — note the final 'e' — was the son of a poor Blantyre weaver who became the most celebrated explorer of Victorian Britain, crossing Africa, discovering Victoria Falls, and searching for the source of the Nile. His disappearance led to Henry Morton Stanley's famous expedition and the greeting "Dr Livingstone, I presume." Livingstone was a Lanarkshire man of working-class origin, his name carrying a variant spelling from the same root as the Livingston clan — and his fame brought the name into global recognition.
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