Red and white book of Menzies

Cbief Sir IReil tbe flDen3iea, Bart, tbe 60tb in Descent, 23ro
Baron of tbat 31r, anb 6tb Baronet of nDen3ies.
BORN 1780. DIED 1844.
/mmrRE CHIEF SIR NEIL THE MENZIES, Bart, of Menzies, succeeded
/ 1 to the chiefship, estates, and baronetcy of Menzies, on the death
>^g^ of his father, Sir Robert. His retoured succession is thus recorded
— " Sir Neil Menzies, of Menzies, Baronet, served heir to his father,
Sir Robert Menzies of Menzies, Baronet, who died 8th Mar. 181 3 — heir of
tailzie and provision-special in part of the barony of Menzies, etc. — Perthshire,
dated 3rd May 1813, recorded 12th May 1813." Sir Neil was born about the 16th
August 1780, before his father had any hopes of the baronetcy, as Sir Robert the
third Baronet was then living, with several other heirs who came before him.
Sir Neil was educated for the Bar, and was in the year i8cA elected a member of
the Faculty of Advocates, of which, on his accession to the title and estates of
Menzies he became an honorary member, which he retained during life. He
married first, on the 6th June 1808, Emelia Balfour, daughter of the Hon. Francis
Balfour of Fernie, county of Fife, the second son of the third Lord Balfour of
Burleigh, of which marriage there were two daughters. But Mrs Menzies died
1st Nov. 1 8 10, before Sir Neil succeeded to the baronetcy. From this time he
remained single until the year 18 16, in which year he married the Hon. Grace
Charlotte Conyers Norton, 3rd Dec. 18 16. She was the eldest daughter of Fletcher
Norton, Lord Grantley, Baron of Markenfield, and English Baron of the Court of
the Scottish Exchequer. There hangs in the old banqueting-hall of Castle
Menzies a full-length portrait of Sir Neil Menzies, painted by Sir John Watson
Gordon, P.R.S.A., R.A., Limner to Her Majesty, in which the chief is represented
having his little daughter at his right side, with a sporting dog on his other side,
and he appears in the ordinary garb of the period, not being able to wear the kilt
through a slight lameness got by a kick from a horse some years before, which
prevented him from wearing his usual garb, the Highland dress. There is also a
companion full-length portrait to this, by the same celebrated artist, of the Hon.
Lady Menzies in her marriage-dress, which consisted of a beautiful white material,