Scotsman is one of at least 100 people who still hold the title of Baronet of Nova Scotia

The days of the barnets and barnets would seem something from the distant past, very far from Nova Scotia.

But a man in Edinburgh, in Scotland, holds the title of the 11th Baronnet of Nova Scotia, and he is not alone. Sir Crispin Agnew, 81, is one of the 100 people who still hold the title, originally created as a model of model to help finance the colonization of Nova Scotia.

AGNEW is about to participate in a next conference in Stirling, Scotland, which will mark the 400th anniversary of the very first Nova Scotia barnert in 1625.

“It is important from a point of view of family history. Information Morning Nova Scotia.

To get more Scottish to settle in Nova Scotia at the time, the king offered to buy the hereditary barnet of the Nova Scotia Baronet, with the product of these sales used to cover immigration costs for colonists.

The payment of 3,000 Scottish merks, which would be the equivalent today of nearly $ 66,000 CDN, entitled the buyer the use of the title SIR before their name and 6,500 hectares of land to settle in Nova Scotia, the land between New England and Newfoundland.

Although it was intended to encourage colonization, Agnew said that many had been deterred because the title and the supply of land were also accompanied by a tax on wealth.

“There was a lot of Skulduggery who continued people to take the titles,” said Agnew.

He said that King Charles, I went to great lengths and morally questionable to force people to accept the title, in particular by threatening to investigate murders and to participate in the investigation which refused to accept the title.

The end result was that around 110 titles had been sold at the end of the reign of King Charles I.

Agnew’s family, he said, received a letter that threatened to withdraw their most precious source of income, hereditary sheriff, if they do not buy a title.

Since then, it has been transmitted through generations.

“I inherited him from my father, he inherited him from his uncle,” said Agnew.

Although there is little or no modern meaning to be a baronet, he joked being called Sir Crispin has a beautiful ring.

“After all, we paid 166 pounds and four pence, so we could just as easily benefit.”

Agnew has a badge signifying that he is a baron of Nova Scotia. But he also recognizes that the title was used as a means to apply generalized colonization of indigenous peoples, including Mi’kmaq in Nova Scotia.

This is something that will be discussed at the Conference in Nova Scotia and Scotland in Stirling on June 30. AGNEW said that Aboriginal communities speakers will discuss the long -term impact of the granting of a charter for the new Scotland to Sir William Alexander.

“It is something that I think that we, the modern barnets, are really conscious, even if we were … The initial cause of it, even if we were essentially there to finance colonization. It was a way of raising funds by the king without having to go to Parliament,” said Agnew.

And although he holds the title of the 11th Baronnet in Nova Scotia, Agnew has not yet set foot in the province.

“I do not have and I also have a member close to my family, as far as I know. It is perhaps on my list of buckets,” said Agnew.