John Hay, 1st Marquess and 2nd Earl of Tweeddale

Statesman and politician. The son of John Hay, 8th Lord of Yester (1593 - 1653), who became the Earl of Tweeddale in 1646, Hay was a remarkable survivor in stormy times. Initially fighting for Charles I, he became a Covenanter but later returned to a Royalist. He served Cromwell and later Kings Charles II, James VII and William III, becoming Lord Chancellor of Scotland. Created the Marquess of Tweeddale in 1694, he conducted the inquiry into the massacre at Glencoe (1695). He was put in charge of the Scottish expedition to Central America (the Darien Scheme) which intended to estabish a Scottish colony and trade links, and became the scape-goat when it collapsed following disease and mis-management losing the Scottish treasury a fortune.

John Hay, 1st Marquess and 2nd Earl of Tweeddale (c. 13 August 1625, Yester, East Lothian- 11 August 1697, Edinburgh) was Lord Chancellor of Scotland.

During the English Civil War he repeatedly switched allegiance between the Royalist cause and the Parliamentarians. He fought for Charles I and joined him at Nottingham in 1642, then for Parliament at the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644, on account of his attitude towards Covenanters, and four years later was again on the side of the Royalists at the Battle of Preston.

He succeeded as Earl of Tweeddale in 1654, and was imprisoned for support of James Guthrie in 1660. He was a member of the Commonwealth Parliaments of 1656 and 1659.

When Charles II was restored to the throne, he was appointed Lord President of the Scottish Council in 1663 and an Extraordinary Lord of Session in 1664.

He used his influence to moderate proceedings against the Covenanters, but with the the hardening of the official attitude in 1674 he was dismissed from office and from the Privy Council on the advice of Lauderdale.

He returned to the Treasury in 1680. Tweeddale supported William III and became a privy councillor in 1689. He was Lord Chancellor of Scotland from 1692-6.

He supported the revolution in Scotland. He was created Marquess of Tweeddale in 1694. As Lord High Commissioner to the Parliament of Scotland from 1694 to 1696 he ordered the inquiry into theGlencoe massacre in 1695. He was dismissed from the Chancellorship in 1696 for supporting the Darien scheme.

His portrait by Sir Peter Lely is held by the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

He died in Edinburgh and was interred on the family estate at Yester.

British statesman and lord high chancellor of Scotland from 1692 to 1696.

During the English Civil Wars he initially supported Charles I but then joined the Covenanters and fought in the Scottish ranks against the king at Marston Moor (July 1644). He fought with the Royalist section of the Covenanters at Preston (August 1648) and succeeded…