Dunbar Douglas, 4th Earl of Selkirk

Dunbar Hamilton Douglas, 4th Earl of Selkirk FRSE (1 December 1722 – 24 June 1799) was a Scottish peer.

The Earl of Selkirk
Scottish representative peer
In office
1787–1799
Succeeded byThe Earl of Galloway
Personal details
Born
Dunbar Hamilton

(1722-12-01)1 December 1722
Died24 June 1799(1799-06-24) (aged 76)
Spouse
Helen Hamilton
(m. 1758)
RelationsLord Basil Hamilton (grandfather)
Parent(s)Isabella Mackenzie
Basil Hamilton
Alma materUniversity of Glasgow

Early life

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Born Dunbar Hamilton, he adopted the name Dunbar Douglas upon his succession to the Earldom of Selkirk in 1744. He was the eldest son of the former Isabella Mackenzie and Basil Hamilton of Baldoon, MP for Kirkcudbright Stewartry. His only surviving sibling was Mary Hamilton, who married Ranald Macdonald of Clanranald.[1]

His maternal grandparents were Elizabeth (née Paterson) Mackenzie (a daughter of Kenneth Mackenzie of Suddie) and Col. Hon. Alexander Mackenzie (a son of Kenneth Mackenzie, 4th Earl of Seaforth). His paternal grandparents were Lord Basil Hamilton (a sixth son of William Hamilton, Duke of Hamilton and Anne Hamilton, suo jure Duchess of Hamilton).[2]

He attended Glasgow University from 1739, being greatly influenced by Francis Hutcheson, Professor of Moral Philosophy. In 1745 he was granted the honorary Doctorate of Civil Law.

Career

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The 4th Earl of Selkirk's house on Hyndford's Close in Edinburgh

In 1742 he was living at a mansion on Hyndford's Close, south of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh.[3]

Selkirk was a supporter of the government during the Jacobite Rising of 1745. He was Rector of the University of Glasgow from 1766 to 1768. He served as Lord Lieutenant of Kirkcudbright and, from 1787, as a Scottish representative peer.[4]

He succeeded to the title of 4th Earl of Selkirk (creation of 1646 in the Peerage of Scotland) and 4th Lord Daer and Shortcleuch (creation of 1646 in the Peerage of Scotland) on 3 December 1744.

 
John Paul Jones seizes Lady Selkirk's silver

In 1778, during the American Revolutionary War, Selkirk was the target of a raid by John Paul Jones, who was sailing in the service of the Continental Navy. Jones landed his ship, the Ranger, on the shore of St Mary's Isle, intending to kidnap the Earl. Finding only the countess and her young family at home, his men made off instead with the silver of the household.[5] The story is told more fully here.

In 1782, he became a member of the radical Society for Constitutional Information.[6]

In 1785 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Dugald Stewart, James Hutton, and Adam Smith.[7]

Lord Selkirk died on 24 June 1799 at his residence on George Street, Edinburgh and was buried at Holyrood Abbey on the 31st of that month[8]

Family

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On 3 December 1758, Lord Selkirk married Helen Hamilton (c. 1738–1802), daughter of Hon. John Hamilton and Margaret Home, and granddaughter of Thomas Hamilton, Earl of Haddington. He had seven sons, six of whom predeceased him. The youngest, Thomas, succeeded him as 5th Earl of Selkirk in 1799.

References

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  1. ^ Paul, James Balfour (1910). 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. D. Douglas. p. 518. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  2. ^ "Dunbar Hamilton, later Douglas, 4th Earl of Selkirk". The Douglas Archives. Archived from the original on 15 November 2010.
  3. ^ grant's Old and New Edinburgh vol.2 p.273
  4. ^ "Earl of Selkirk". Cracroft's Peerage. Archived from the original on 31 March 2012.
  5. ^ Evan Thomas (2004). John Paul Jones: Sailor, Hero, Father of the American Nav. pp. 125–128.
  6. ^ The collected writings of Lord Selkirk 1799-1809 (PDF). Manitoba Record Society. p. 9.
  7. ^ Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  8. ^ Balfour Paul, Sir James, Scots Peerage Edinburgh 1904. vol vii, p. 521
  9. ^ Lodge, Edmund (1859). The Genealogy of the Existing British Peerage and Baronetage: Containing the Family Histories of the Nobility. Hurst and Blackett. p. 703. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
Peerage of Scotland
Preceded by Earl of Selkirk
1744–1799
Succeeded by