The Court of the Lord Lyon
Scotland’s Heraldic Authority
Lyon Macer and the Messengers-at-Arms
One of the Lord Lyon’s responsibilities, since at least 1510, has been the appointment of messengers-at-arms, known in earlier times as Officers of the King. Their primary job is to execute summonses and letters of diligence connected with the Court of Session and High Court of Justiciary. The Lyon Macer is a Messenger-at-Arms and precedes the Lord Lyon when the latter is exercising his judicial function. The current Lyon Macer is David Walker Esq.: here is a photograph of him bearing the Lyon Mace and wearing his badge, petitioned for by Charles J. Burnett, late Ross Herald of Arms, and executed by the distinguished Edinburgh silversmith, Ian Grant.
The mace was designed by Yvonne Holton, as
Herald Painter and Dingwall Pursuivant. It was
donated by the family of Thomas Campbell Gray, a
long-standing Lyon Macer. Lyon regularly
commissions new Messengers-at-Arms and awards
them their insignia of office - a miniature baton
attached by a chain to a silver medal bearing the
royal arms: In the time of Queen Anne, the blazon or
badge was worn on the breast, attached by a pin
