Earl of Morton

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Coat of arms of the Earl of Morton

Earl of Morton is a hereditary British title of nobility awarded twice in the Peerage of Scotland .

Historic family houses of the Earls included Loch Leven Castle and Aberdour Castle and has been Dalmahoy House near Kirknewton in Midlothian since 1750 .

Award and subordinate titles

The title was bestowed on March 14, 1458, to James Douglas of Dalkeith , of the Clan Douglas . The award took place when Johanna, the deaf and mute daughter of King James I , married. Since 1457 he was lord of the feudal barony Dalkeith , with which his grandfather had been enfeoffed around 1430. The heirs apparent of the Earls of Morton used the courtesy title of Lord Dalkeith derived from it until these lands were sold by the 7th Earl to Francis Scott, 2nd Earl of Buccleuch in 1642 .

Since the 3rd Earl had no sons, a special inheritance regulation was made with regard to his title after some legal dispute in 1543 by the Court of Session and confirmed by the King, according to which the title was also passed on to the husband of his daughter Elizabeth, James Douglas of Pittendreich , if none should have male descendants, also to his brother David Douglas, 7th Earl of Angus and his male descendants. Accordingly, the title fell to James as 4th Earl in 1548.

The 4th Earl was ostracized and executed for high treason on June 2, 1581 in connection with his involvement in the murder of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley , his titles and lands were thereby stripped of him. A nephew of the 4th Earl, John Maxwell, 7th Lord Maxwell , obtained shortly thereafter that the lands were transferred to him on June 5, 1581 and on October 29, 1581, the title Earl of Morton , with the subordinate title, was conferred on him for the second time Lord Carlyle and Eskdaill , was awarded. His nephew and heir-designate Archibald Douglas, 8th Earl of Angus , achieved the restoration of the first bestowal title and the surrender of the lands in his favor as 5th Earl of Morton in 1586. The earl second bestowal was expropriated for this purpose in 1585 of the lands preserved in 1581. The dispute over the earl title did not end until 1620, when the son and heir of the earl's second bestowal Robert Maxwell renounced the title Earl of Morton and received the titles Earl of Nithsdale and Lord Maxwell, Eskdale and Carleill . The 5th Earl of Morton had held the title of 8th Earl of Angus since 1558 , which fell to another line of the family on his death in 1588.

In order to raise money for the cause of the royalists in the English Civil War , the 7th Earl sold his possessions in Dalkeith in 1642 to Francis Scott, 2nd Earl of Buccleuch , thereby giving up the subordinate title of Lord Dalkeith . From this point on, the heir to the title no longer led the courtesy title Lord Dalkeith , but the apparently invented courtesy title Lord Aberdour after another possession of the Earl in Aberdour .

The 16th Earl was raised on August 11, 1791 in the Peerage of Great Britain to Baron Douglas of Lochleven , of Lochleven in the County of Kinross . The title expired on his childless death in 1827, the remaining titles fell to his cousin as 17th Earl.

List of the Earls of Morton

James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton , Regent of Scotland 1572–1578
George Douglas, 16th Earl of Morton in the uniform of the Royal Company of Archers

Earls of Morton, first bestowal (1458)

Heir apparent is the only son of the current Earl, John David Sholto Douglas, Lord Aberdour (* 1986).

Earls of Morton, second bestowal (1581)

Literature and web links