Archibald Douglas, 1st Duke of Douglas, 3rd Marquess of Angus, 13th Earl of Angus and Abernethy, 1st Viscount of Jedburgh Forest, Lord Douglas of Boncle, Preston and Roberton, b. 1694, d. 21 Jul 1761 at Edinburgh, bur. Douglas, m. Mar 1738 Margaret (Peggy) Douglas (d. 24 Oct 1774, bur. Douglas), daughter of James Douglas of Mains. Died without issue.

• parents: the son of James Douglas, second marquess of Douglas (c.1646–1700), and his second wife, Mary Kerr (Ker; bap. 1674, d. 1736)

Had Archibald, the Duke of Douglas, not been a duke and the owner of vast swathes of Scotland, history would not have heard of him. He was virtually illiterate, took no part in the affairs of the nation, lived as a recluse, died childless and may well have been insane. In order to ensure the loyalty of the Douglases to the new regime, his dukedom came from Queen Anne when he was aged nine. His heir was his sister Jane and, should she fail to produce offspring, the duke’s fortune and most of his string of ancient titles would pass to his cousin, married to the Duchess of Hamilton. All looked set fair for the Hamiltons. Both Jane and her brother were unmarried, at least until 1746 when she made an unsuitable union with Colonel John Stewart, a Jacobite sympathiser.

Links

• http://douglashistory.co.uk/history/articles/douglas_cause.htm