Alexander Cunningham (1426 - 11th June 1488), 1st Earl of Glencairn, Lord Kilmaurs, was a Scottish nobleman.
He was created Lord Kilmaurs in 1462, Lord of Parliament in 1469, and Earl of Glencairn in 1488.
During the revolt against King James III of Scotland in 1488, Alexander Cunningham brought a substantial force to support the King and defeated the rebels at the Battle of Blackness in May 1488. The King rewarded him by creating him Earl of Glencairn but he was killed the following month in June 1488 leading the clan in support of the King at the Battle of Sauchieburn where the King was also killed by rebel troops supporting James's son.
In the same year as the battle in 1488 the Clan Montgomery burnt down the Clan Cunningham's Kerelaw Castle. Soon after King James IV of Scotland revoked all titles given out by his father over the last twenty years thereby Alexander Cunningham's son Robert Cunningham is stripped of his title of 2nd Earl of Glencairn.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_Cunningham 