Earls of Queensberry (1633)

1^st Earl of Queensberry, William Douglas, b.?, a.1633, d.1640

William Douglas was the 9^th Baron of Drumlanrig, in direct descent from the 1^st Baron of Drumlanrig, another William Douglas, who was an illegitimate son of James Douglas, 2^nd Earl of Douglas. This branch of the family had fought for their King through the generations, even taking the Royal side against the last earls of Douglas. He was raised to the Peerage in 1628 as 1^st Viscount Drumlanrig and 1^st Lord Douglas of Hawick and Tibberis, and was created 1^st Earl of Queensberry by a visiting King Charles I in 1633, the name deriving from the mountain of Queensberry in Dumfries-shire.

2^nd Earl of Queensberry, James Douglas, b.b.1622, a.1640, d.1671

Son of the 1^st Earl and Isabel Kerr (b.?, d.1628), daughter of Mark Kerr, 1^st Earl of Lothian. A supporter of Charles I during the Civil Wars, he was captured by the Covenanters in 1645 and forced to pay a fine for his release, and further fined during Cromwell’s Act of Grace and Pardon.

3^rd Earl of Queensberry, William Douglas, b.1637, a.1671, d.1695

Son of the 2^nd Earl and his second wife Lady Margaret Stewart, daughter of John Stewart, 1^st Earl of Traquair. He served as Sheriff of Dumfries from 1664 to 1667, when he was made a Privy Counsellor. He was Lord Justice General from 1680 to 1682, when he was created 1^st Marquess of Queensberry, 1^st Earl of Drumlanrig & Sanquhar, 1^st Viscount of Nith, Torthorwald & Ross, and 1^st Lord Douglas of Kinmont, Middlebie & Dornoch. He was also made an Extraordinary Lord of Session in 1681.

Marquesses of Queensberry (1682)

1^st Marquess of Queensberry, William Douglas, as above

He was Lord High Treasurer of Scotland from 1682 to 1686. He was also installed as Constable and Governor of Edinburgh Castle. In 1684 he was created 1^st Duke of Queensberry and 1^st Marquess of Drumfries-shire.

Dukes of Queensberry (1684)

1^st Duke of Queensberry, William Douglas, as above

He was Lord President of the Privy Council from 1686 to 1689, and in 1685 he was made a Privy Counsellor in England as well as Scotland. He was however removed from office in 1687 for maladministration.

2^nd Duke of Queensberry, James Douglas, b.1662, a.1695, d.1711

Son of the 1^st Duke and Lady Isabel Douglas (b.c.1642), daughter of William Douglas, 1^st Marquess of Douglas (for whom see the earls of Angus). Educated at the University of Glasgow, he was made a Privy Counsellor in 1684 after his return from a Grand Tour of the Continent, and was Lieutenant-Colonel of the Dundee Horse Regiment. However he joined Prince William in 1688, and was appointed as a Privy Counsellor and Gentleman of the Bedchamber, and Colonel in the 6^th (Scottish) Horse Guards and He was Lord High Treasurer of Scotland from 1693 and Keeper of the Privy Seal from 1695 to 1702, and Lord High Commissioner to the Scottish Parliament, obtaining the abandonment of the Darien scheme while in this position. He was made a Knight of the Garter in 1701. He temporarily withdrew from the Government due to association with the Jacobite cause, but returned in 1705 to take up the Privy Seal, and was instrumental in obtaining the Treaty of Union. He was then Secretary of State for Scotland from 1709 until his death. In 1708 he was created 1^st Duke of Dover, 1^st Marquess of Beverley and 1^st Earl of Ripon in the Peerage of Great Britain.

Marquesses of Queensberry (1682, continued)

3^rd Marquess of Queensberry, James Douglas, b.1697, a.1706, d.1715

Eldest son of the 2^nd Duke and Mary Boyle (see below). He became violently insane, infamous for murdering a young servant and roasting him on a spit at the age of 10, and so in 1706 a re-grant of the dukedom was obtained that excluded him from the succession. When he died, the marquessate also reverted to his younger brother.

Dukes of Queensberry (1684, continued)

3^rd Duke of Queensberry, Charles Douglas, b.c.1698, a.1711, d.1778

Son of the 2^nd Duke and Mary Boyle (b.?, d.1709), daughter of Charles Boyle, 2^nd Baron Clifford of Lanesborough, himself son of Sir Richard Boyle, 2^nd Earl of the County of Cork. In 1706 he was created 1^st Earl of Solway, 1^st Viscount of Tiberris and 1^st Lord Douglas of Lockerbie, Dalveen & Thornhill. He was made a Privy Counsellor and Lord of the Bedchamber to George I and appointed Vice-Admiral of Scotland. However, he became an ardent advocate for the playwright John Gay, author of the Beggar’s Opera, which was highly offensive to the government, and when Gay was refused permission to produce a sequel, Douglas resigned his offices in disgust and allied himself with Frederick, Prince of Wales. When George III was crowned, Douglas became a Privy Counsellor once more. He was Keeper of the Great Seal in 1761 and Lord Justice General from 1763 to 1778, when he hosted the King and Queen at his residence of Amesbury House in Wiltshire His 1706 titles, and his father’s British peerages, became extinct at his death, his two sons having died before him.

4^th Duke of Queensberry, William Douglas, b.1725, a.1778, d.1810

Great-grandson of the 1^st Marquess, grandson of William Douglas, 1^st Earl of March and son of William Douglas, 2^nd Earl of March and Anne Hamilton, Countess of Ruglen. Prior to succeeding to the dukedom, he had also become 3^rd Earl of March and, separately, 3^rd Earl of Ruglen, in his own right, and after succeeding to the dukedom was also created 1^st Baron Douglas of Amesbury in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1786. He was Lord of the Bedchamber to George III, but during the King’s illness of 1788 he advocated a Regency to support the Prince of Wales as the new sovereign. When the King recovered, this was not well received and he was dismissed. He later stripped the woodlands around his castles of Drumlanrig and Neidpath in order to fund the marriage of his illegitimate daughter to the Earl of Yarmouth, incurring the wrath of both Robert Burns and William Wordsworth for his destruction. He was, however, a patron of the arts, though he was also known for his excessive lifestyle, having a keen interest in horse-racing and being a member of the Hellfire Club. When he died without legitimate heir, his titles were dispersed according to the various rules of succession. The earldom of March passed to David Wemyss, 4^th Earl of Wemyss, the earldom and marquessate of Queensberry passed to a direct descendant of the 1^st Earl of Queensberry, for which see below, (though the marquessate’s lesser titles remained with the dukedom) and the dukedom passed to Henry Scott, 3^rd Duke of Buccleuch.

5^th Duke of Queensberry, Henry Scott, b.1746, a.1810, d.1812

Henry Scott had become the 3^rd Duke of Buccleuch in 1751 and succeeded to the Queensberry dukedom by virtue of the fact that his paternal grandmother was Lady Jane Douglas (b.1701, d.1729), daughter of James Douglas, the 2^nd Duke of Queensberry.

For a continuation of the line of Duke of Queensberry please consult the Buccleuch page.

Baronets Douglas of Kelhead (1668)

1^st Baronet Douglas, James Douglas, b.1639, a.1668, d.1708

Son of Sir William Douglas (b.?, d.1673), the 2^nd Earl’s younger brother, and Agnes Fawside.

2^nd Baronet Douglas, William Douglas, b.?, a.1708, d.1733

Son of the 1^st Baronet and Catherine Douglas, daughter of James Douglas, 2^nd Earl of Queensberry.

3^rd Baronet Douglas, John Douglas, b.?, a.1733, d.1778

Son of the 2^nd Baronet and Helen Erskine (b.?, d.1754). He was MP for Dumfries from 1741 but held in the Tower of London on suspicion of being a Jacobite until 1748.

4^th Baronet Douglas, William Douglas, b.?, a.1778, d.1783

Son of the 3^rd Baronet and Christian Cunningham (b.?, d.1741), daughter of Sir William Cunningham, 2^nd Baronet Cunningham of Caprington. He was MP for the Dumfries Burghs.

5^th Baronet Douglas, Charles Douglas, b.1777, a.1783, d.1837

Son of the 4^th Baronet and Grace Johnstone (b.?, d.1836). In 1810 he succeeded as 6^th Marquess of Queensberry.

Marquesses of Queensberry (1682 continued)

6^th Marquess of Queensberry, Charles Douglas, b.1777, a.1810, d.1837

From 1812 to 1832 he served as a Representative Peer, and in 1821 was invested as a Knight of the Thistle. In 1833 he was created 1^st Baron Solway of Kinmount, in the County of Dumfries, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, allowing him an automatic seat in the House of Lords. He married Caroline Scott (b.?, d.1854), daughter of Henry Scott, 3^rd Duke of Buccleuch & 5^th Duke of Queensberry, and had a large family of at least eight girls. The barony became extinct on his death.

7th Marquess of Queensberry, John Douglas, b.1779, a.1837, d.1856

Younger brother of the 6^th Marquess. He was made a Lord of the Bedchamber in 1835. He also attended the House of Lords after his succession and was a Whig Lord-in-Waiting from 1837 to 1841. He was also Lord-Lieutenant of Dumfries-shire from 1837 to 1856.

8^th Marquess of Queensberry, Archibald William Douglas, b.1818, a.1856, d.1858

Son of the 7^th Marquess and Sarah Douglas (b.?, d.1864), daughter of Major James Sholto Douglas, and a second cousin. Educated at Eton, he was a Cornet in the 2^nd Life Guards before becoming MP for Dumfries-shire in 1847, and was made a Privy Counsellor in 1853, becoming Comptroller of the Household until 1856, when he succeeded his father. He was Lord-Lieutenant of Dumfries-shire from 1856 to 1858. He died while hunting when his gun exploded, but this story was perhaps to cover his suicide.

9^th Marquess of Queensberry, John Sholto Douglas, b.1844, a.1858, d.1900

Son of the 8^th Marquess and Caroline Margaret Clayton (b.?, d.1904), daughter of General Sir William Robert Clayton, 5^th Baronet Clayton of Marden. He was born in Florence and educated at the Royal Naval College, and was a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy at the age of fifteen. He was a keen sportsman, and was one of the founders of the Amateur Athletic Club in 1866, which became the Amateur Athletic Association of England (the triple A). He was particularly interested in boxing, and was responsible for the development of the rules for conducting boxing matches that now bears his name, although he did not actually write them himself. He was a Representative Peer from 1872 to 1880, after which he resigned, refusing to take the oath of allegiance, which as an atheist he considered unacceptable. He also produced various writings on the subject of atheism and humanism. His eldest son, Francis Archibald Douglas (b.1867, d.1894), was created 1^st Baron Kelhead in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1893, giving him a seat in the House of Lords denied his father, stirring his father’s resentment. This, and the son’s close ties to Archibald Primrose, 5^th Earl of Rosebery, who became Prime Minister in 1894, created a bitter dispute between father and son. There was speculation at the time that Francis and Rosebery had an homosexual relationship, and that Queensberry threatened to expose the Prime Minister, but by most accounts Rosebery was an happily married man. Regardless, Francis was killed in an hunting accident, that may have been suicide or even murder, and his barony became extinct. In 1895, the Marquess was sued by Oscar Wilde after making defamatory remarks regarding the relationship between Wilde and another son, Alfred Bruce Douglas (b.1870, d.1945), but the case was withdrawn shortly after it opened after Queensberry’s lawyers threatened to expose Wilde’s relationships with several male prostitutes. Queensberry then successfully countersued, leaving Wilde bankrupt and imprisoned for two years.

10^th Marquess of Queensberry, Percy Sholto Douglas, b.1868, a.1900, d.1920

Son of the 9^th Marquess and Sibyl Montgomery (b.?, d.1935).

11^th Marquess of Queensberry, Francis Archibald Kelhead Douglas, b.1896, a.1920, d.1954

Son of the 10^th Marquess and Anna Maria Walters (b.1866, d.1917). He was a Representative Peer from 1922 to 1929.

12^th Marquess of Queensberry, David Harrington Angus Douglas, b.1929, a.1954

Son of the 11^th Marquess and Cathleen Sabine Mann (b.?, d.1959), daughter of the artist Harrington Mann and noted interior designer Dolly Mann. He was educated at Eton before joining the Royal Horse Guards. He chose to work in the pottery industry and was Professor of Ceramics at the Royal College of Art from 1959 to 1983. He was also President of the Design and Industry Association from 1976 to 1978 and was made a Fellow of the Chartered Society of Designers. As well as being 12^th Marquess, he is also 11^th Earl of Queensberry, 11^th Viscount Drumlanrig and 11^th Lord Douglas of Hawick and Tibbers.

The courtesy title for the heir is Viscount Drumlanrig.

(Last updated: 17/06/2011)

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