Rear Admiral Sir Charles Douglas, 1st Baronet of Carr

Wikipedia Biographical Summary

"Rear Admiral Sir Charles Douglas, 1st Baronet of Carr (1727 – 17 March 1789) was a descendant of the Earls of Morton and a distinguished British naval officer. He is particularly known for his part in the Battle of the Saintes during the American War of Independence where he helped pioneer the tactic of "breaking the line".

Douglas was born in Carr, Perthshire, Scotland to Charles Ayton Douglas and Christian Hepburn of Kinglassie. Little is known of his early life, although it is established that he could speak six languages. He joined the Royal Navy at the age of twelve, and spent some time in the Dutch service before resuming his career with the British...

...Douglas was married three times: first to a Dutch woman called Uranie Lidie Marteilhe, with whom he had a son and a daughter; second to Sarah Wood of Yorkshire, the mother of Sir Howard Douglas; and third to a woman named Jane, daughter of John Baillie. There is a great deal of confusion regarding the identity of Sir Charles' third wife, whose last name has been variously reported as Baillie, Grew, and Brisbane. It appears that some sources have mistaken his sister, Helena Baillie, for his third wife because she raised his younger children while he was at sea. The name Helen Brisbaine is also an error based on a mistake in The Scottish Nation (1862) where it says she was married to Admiral Sir Charles Douglas when, in fact, she was the wife of Admiral Sir James Douglas. When his eldest daughter, Lydia Mariana, married Rev. Richard Bingham against his wishes, he disinherited her. Following his death, Lydia and her husband sued for a share of his estate, and the case was appealed until finally being decided against them in the House of Lords in 1796. The case is made famous because of a letter Lydia had written to Adam Smith, a friend and distant relative of Sir Charles, requesting his assistance in reconciling the father and daughter."

SOURCE: Wikipedia contributors, 'Sir Charles Douglas, 1st Baronet', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 16 February 2013, 00:19 UTC, <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sir_Charles_Douglas,_1st_...> [accessed 22 February 2013]

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• Reference: WikiTree Genealogy - SmartCopy: Mar 20 2018, 18:55:32 UTC