Robert Douglas, 12th Earl of Morton

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Coat of arms of the Earls of Morton

Robert Douglas, 12th Earl of Morton (* before 1661; † January 22, 1730 ) was a British peer and politician from the Scottish noble family Douglas .

Earl of Morton

He was the third son of James Douglas, 10th Earl of Morton († 1686) and his wife Anne Hay. In 1715 he succeeded his brother James Douglas, 11th Earl of Morton in Earls dignity . Like this he died unmarried, so that in 1730 his younger brother George Douglas (1662-1738), father of the Scottish-British scholar James Douglas , succeeded him as 13th Earl of Morton.

In 1725 Robert Douglas acquired the mansion Aberdour House in Aberdour , which replaced Aberdour Castle and Loch Leven Castle as the ancestral seat of the Earls of Morton and ended the age of castles in the Douglas clan.

politics

Thanks to the influence of his older brother James, Robert managed to be elected to the British House of Commons in 1709 as a member of the Bourough Wick . He held this mandate until 1710.

In Parliament, he and his brother were among the supporters of the Court Party led by the Duke of Queensberry . The personal focus of their political work, however, lay in the preservation or enforcement of the traditional claims of the Earls of Morton on the Orkneys and Shetlands . In addition, the political commitment and influence of Robert Douglas remained rather low even after taking over the dignity of Earls in 1715.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Robert Douglas, 12th Earl of Morton on thepeerage.com , accessed September 14, 2016.
  2. ^ The Douglas Archives : Robert Douglas, 12th Earl of Morton , accessed January 16, 2013
  3. ↑ Listed Building - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
predecessor Office successor
James Douglas Earl of Morton
1715-1730 		George Douglas
personal data
SURNAME Douglas, Robert, 12th Earl of Morton
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish nobleman
DATE OF BIRTH 17th century
DATE OF DEATH January 22, 1730