Brigadier-General William Douglas (b. 1688[1] - d. 1747), of Kirkness, Kinross, was a British soldier amd Member of Parliament.
Descended from the earls of Morton, William Douglas was the oldest son of Sir Robert Douglas of Kirkness by Jean, daughter of John Balfour, 3rd Lord Balfour of Burleigh, widow of George Oliphant of Gask, Perth.
He was returned to Parliament for Member of Parliament for Kinross-shire as a Whig in 1715, sitting until 1722. No votes of his are recorded, nor did he stand again.[2]
First commissioned in 1709, Captain Douglas joined Croft's Light Dragoons from which, in 1720, he was appointed to the Coldstream Guards.[3]
He served with distinction in the War of the Austrian Succession, and was given the command of the 32nd Regiment of Foot soon after Battle of Fontenoy (1745). The 32nd Regiment served briefly in England in 1745/46 in the army of the Duke of Cumberland and subsequently did 'good service' in Lancashire. They were employed in Scotland on the dispersal of the clans, remaining there but a short lime, as they could ill be spared from Flanders.
Family[]
On 11 June 1737, contrary to the wishes of her relatives, Anne, third daughter of Charles Howard, M.P., 3rd Earl of Carlisle, married Colonel William Douglas, as her second husband, at St. George's, Hanover Square.[4]
Anne had been married previously to Rich Ingram, 5th Viscount of Irvine, who had died in 1721. She was appointed in 1736 a Lady of the Bedchamber to the Princess of Wales (mother of George III), and for the rest of her life was a prominent figure at Court. She was forced to keep her second marriage with Colonel William Douglas a secret for fear of losing her paid position in the royal household. She was author of several poems, and is noticed in Duncombe's Feminead.
Brigadier-General Douglas died in Brabant on 5 August 1747, falling a victim to the unhealthiness of the climate. As he died without children, on his death, his sister Isabel was retoured[Clarification needed] heir to him. There is a memorial to him on the north wall of Kew Chapel.
Anne died 2 December 1764, and is buried near her second husband at Kew.
References[]
- ↑ Harleian MS. 6442
- ↑ Simpson, J. M.. "Kinross-shire Constituency". History of Parliament. The History of Parliament Trust. http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1715-1754/member/douglas-william-1747. Retrieved 29 October 2012.
- ↑ Clayton, George. "Historical Records of the 32nd (Cornwall) Light Infantry,". SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT, & Co., Limited. https://archive.org/stream/historicalrecor00swingoog/historicalrecor00swingoog_djvu.txt. Retrieved 29 October 2012.
- ↑ Paul, Sir James Balfour. "The Scots Peerage; founded on Wood's edition of Sir Robert Douglas's peerage of Scotland; containing an historical and genealogical account of the nobility of that kingdom". The Scots Peerage. JAHES MACLEHOSE. https://archive.org/stream/scotspeeragefoun05paul/scotspeeragefoun05paul_djvu.txt. Retrieved 29 October 2012.
The original article can be found at William Douglas of Kirkness and the edit history here.