Need help on many levels with birth record

[bamagirl]

Attached is a link to an image copy from an OPR record on Scotlandspeople:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...rGcZmHugM/edit

The 8th entry is for "Duncan John legal son of Alexander Stewart..." the next two words have me stumped.

Apparently he was a member of the court of Queen Caroline Matilda of Denmark, sister of King George III. She died in exile in Germany in 1775. (Wikipedia article at
http://en.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Caroline_Matilda_of_Great_Britain


Alexander Stewart married Anne Stewart in 1795. This birth record is from 1797. That's quite a gap. I'm thinking Alexander would have been quite young when he was serving in the Royal Court.

So first I need help to decipher and interpret his job title. I am also taking suggestions about how to do further research on Alexander.

Regards,
Barb

[malcolm99]

My attempt is:

ci'devant footman - as in ce-devant, 'formerly'.

[bamagirl]

My attempt is:

ci'devant footman - as in ce-devant, 'formerly'.

It is always so helpful to have another set of eyes. The "nt" always looked like "rel" to me, but I was also not familiar with that term. I had guessed "footman," but the "f" looks strange.

So now I need to figure out about the duties of a footman and how Alexander acquired that position.
-Barb

[malcolm99]

Barb

I've just come across this - have a look at the "extended definition":
http://www.
websters-dictionary-online.com/definitions/ci-devant?cx=partner-pub-0939450753529744%3Av0qd01-tdlq&cof=FORID%3A9&ie=UTF-8&q=ci-devant&sa=Search#906

[bamagirl]

One of the reasons I love this site it that I am all the time learning something new... even if it's about "old" topics.
Thanks, Malcolm!

Barb