Lords Ogilvy of Deskford
(1616)
1st Lord Ogilvy of Deskford, Walter
Ogilvy, b.?, a.1616, d.1625-1627
Descended from High Treasurer Sir Walter Ogilvy of Lintrathen
and his second wife Isobel Glen, through their son, also Sir Walter Ogilvy, who
married the Sinclair heiress of the Banffshire lands of Deskford,
near Cullen, and Findlater, on the coast a little west
of Banff, and hence a cadet branch of Ogilvy of Airlie. Little is known of the 1st Lord, apart
from the fact that his parents were distant cousins, his mother being descended
from Sir Walter of Deskford’s younger half-brother Sir
Walter Ogilvy of Boyne.
2nd Lord Ogilvy of Deskford,
James Ogilvy, b.?, a.1625-1627, d.1652
Son of the 1st Lord and his second wife Mary Douglas,
daughter of William Douglas, 6th Earl of Morton. He was created 1st Earl of Findlater
in 1638.
Earls of Findlater (1638)
1st Earl of Findlater,
James Ogilvy, b.?, a.1638, d.1652
Expected to support the King during the Civil Wars, he failed to attend
muster and joined the Covenanters, serving on the Committee of Estates from
1645. He died with no male heirs and the title passed via his elder daughter
Elizabeth Ogilvy to her husband Sir Patrick Ogilvy of Inchmartine,
a descendant of the senior branch of Ogilvy.
2nd Earl of Findlater,
Patrick Ogilvy, b.?, a.1652, d.1659
Son-in-law of the 1st Earl, and also the senior member of the
Ogilvy clan, being a direct descendant of Sir Walter Ogilvy of Auchterhouse, Sheriff of Angus. He was a Royalist and was fined during Cromwell’s Act of Grace.
3rd Earl of Findlater,
James Ogilvy, b.?, a.1659, d.1711
Son of the 2nd Earl and Elizabeth Ogilvy, daughter of the 1st
Earl and Lady Elizabeth Leslie, daughter of Andrew Leslie, 5th Earl
of Rothes.
4th Earl of Findlater,
James Ogilvy, b.1663, a.1711, d.1730
Son of the 3rd Earl and Lady Anne Montgomerie
(b.?, d.1687), daughter of Hugh Montgomerie,
7th Earl of Eglinton.
The 4th Earl was a solicitor and politician, joining the Faculty of
Advocates in 1685. On attending the Convention of Estates held by William of
Orange in Edinburgh in 1689, he made an impassioned speech in support of James
VII, but his dissension was accepted graciously, so much so that he became
Solicitor-General for Scotland in 1693, and served as Lord Chancellor from 1702
to 1704 and again from 1705 to 1708. In 1698 he was created 1st
Viscount Seafield and 1st Lord Ogilvy of
Cullen, and in 1701 he was created 1st Earl of Seafield
and 1st Viscount Reidhaven. He was an
active supporter for the Act of Union, but afterwards had a change of heart and
campaigned for its repeal. He was made Keeper of the Great Seal in 1713 and was
elected to serve as a Representative Peer in the House of Lords several times
from 1707 to 1730, being admitted into the Privy Council in 1707. His daughter
Elizabeth Ogilvy (b.1692, d.1778) married Charles Maitland, 6th Earl
of Lauderdale. In 1711 he inherited his father’s
title of Findlater.
For a continuation of this line, please refer to the Seafield page.
N.B. With the death of James Ogilvy,
4th Earl of Seafield & 7th Earl
of Findlater, the earldom of Findlater
and lordship of Ogilvy of Deskford became extinct due
to the wording of the re-grant of the titles to the 2nd Earl of Findlater, namely that it required an heir-male (whereas
the Seafield titles continued in the female line). In
1812 these titles were claimed by Sir William Ogilvy of Boyne, 8th Baronet
Ogilvy of Carnoustie, but to no avail.
(Last updated: 28/02/2012)