 The earliest record of an organised family by the name of Dewar is in the Ragman Rolls of 1296, where Thomas and Piers de Deware appear swearing fealty to Edward I of England.Lord Borthwick granted a charter for the lands of Dewar to William Dewar in 1474.This Dewar family were known as "of that Ilk" and rose to prominence, appearing in various charters in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.