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DUMBARTON, Earl of,
a title (now extinct) in the peerage of Scotland, conferred in 1675, on
Lord George Douglas, third son of the first marquis of Douglas, In his
younger years Lord George was page of honour to Louis the Fourteenth, king
of France, and subsequently became an officer in the French army, and,
distinguishing himself by his valour, attained the rank of major-general.
After the treaty of Nimeguen in 1673, he was recalled to England by
Charles the Second, who created him earl of Dumbarton, (by patent, dated 9th
March 1675) with limitation to the heirs-male of his body. On the
accession of King James the Seventh he was appointed commander-in-chief of
the forces in Scotland, and defeated the earl of Argyle’s invasion, 18th
June 1685. He had a grant of the barony of Salton, forfeited by Andrew
Fletcher, of which he had a charter, 16th January 1686. On the
revival of the order of the Thistle in 1687, he was elected one of the
knights companions thereof. At the revolution he accompanied King James on
his retirement to France, and was appointed one of his lords of the
bedchamber at St. Germains, where he died in 1692. By his countess, a
sister of the duchess of Northumberland, he had a son, George, who
succeeded him.
George, second
earl of Dumbarton, had the commission of lieutenant-colonel of a regiment
of foot in the British service, in 1715, and in the following year was
appointed ambassador to Russia. The date of his death is not known, and
leaving no issue, the title became extinct.
In the
defender’s proof in the Douglas cause, is a letter from the second and
last earl of Dumbarton to Lady Jane Douglas, dated Douay in France, 7th
January 1749, concluding, “As for me, I live quietly here, with a
gentleman that boards me and my servant; and I strive to make a shift with
my poor fortune.” |
