He was the second son of Sir David
Falconer of Glenfarquhar, one of the
Commissaries of Edinburgh, and the former Margaret
Hepburn, and younger brother of Sir Alexander Falconer of Glenfarquhar. His paternal grandfather was a brother of
Sir Alexander Falconer, the 1st
Lord Falconer of Halkerton. He studied Law under his father, and having passed
advocate on 3 July 1661, was afterwards appointed one of the commissaries of Edinburgh, and was knighted. On 24 May 1676, he was nominated a
Lord of Session, and on 2 March 1678, was admitted a
Lord of Justiciary. On 5 June 1682, he was appointed
Lord President of the Court of Session, and in the parliament of 1685 he represented the
County of Forfar. He was elected a
Lord of the Articles, and a member of three commissions then appointed; one for trade, another for the plantation of kirks, and a third for the regulation of inferior judicatories. Falconer collected the decisions of the
Court of Session from November 1681 to 9 December 1685, when he ceased to sit in court. They were published in 1705 by John Spottiswood. He died at Edinburgh, after a short illness, on 15 December 1685, and was buried in
Greyfriars Kirkyard, where a monument was erected to his memory. The monument stands on the outer north-east corner of the church. Sir Alexander, second baronet and fourth lord, died without issue, 17 March 1727, when the baronetcy is presumed to have become extinct. By his wife Anne, (only child of John, 9th Lord Lindsay of the Byres) he had a daughter Agnes (She married
George Ogilvy, 2nd Lord Banff). The title of 5th Lord Falconer of Halkertoun devolved on David Falconer. His third daughter, Catherine Falconer, married Joseph
Home of
Chirnside in the
County of Berwick, an advocate of
Ninewells, and was the mother of
David Hume, the philosopher and historian. ==References==