There has been one creation of a baronetcy with the surname Clerk. It was created in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia by Letters Patent dated 24 March 1679, for John Clerk of Pennycuik. His father, the merchant John Clerk, had returned from Paris in 1647 with a considerable fortune and purchased the lands of Penicuik in Midlothian. The 1st Baronet acquired the lands of Lasswade, Midlothian, in 1700. The second Baronet built Mavisbank House near Loanhead between 1723 and 1727.